The article deals with the analysis of the image of the elder Zosima as a key image in Dostoevsky’s works. The image of the Zosima is considered in the context of «small time» (from the point of view of his modern prototypes and the Dispute of K. Leontiev and Rozanov about «Pink Christianity») and the «great time» (M.M. Bakhtin) – through the perspective of the early Christian tradition. We  reveal prototypes of Zosima and new intertextual layers of his image – allusions and quotations to the Optinsky hagiography (Macarius of Optina, Father Palladius), to the pilgrimage literature (monk Parthenius), to the Orthodox hagiographic tradition (St. Sergius of Radonezh), to the Patristics (Anba Isaiah, Theodore the Studite, St. Isaac Sirin etc.) and to the Franciscan texts. These images allowed Dostoevsky to create the composite image of the «pure and perfect Christian», a new type of Christianity, performing social service in the world. Rich cultural genealogy of the image of Zosima and also the Dispute of Leontiev and Rozanov about him  show that Dostoevsky expressed deep renewal of Orthodox tradition in the elder Zosima.