Religiosity of a student of the pre-revolutionary period according to the diary of N. S. Pedashenko

The article introduces for the first time into academic circulation a previously unknown diary for the years 1912–1920. N. S. Pedashenko (1894–1980), a graduate of the Faculty of History and Philology of the Imperial Moscow University (1917) and a future priest (since 1949), is presented for the first time. Based on the diary, the author's religiosity is analyzed in the context of the phenomenon of religious conversion, which became characteristic of Russian intellectuals at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The article reconstructs the circle of reading theological literature of the author of the diary and the circle of his interaction with the clergy and various church figures of the early 20th century. In the university space Pedashenko gets closer to professors of theological sciences — I. V. Popov, S. I. Smirnov and A. I. Almazov. Pedashenko became acquainted with M. A. Novoselov in Orthodox circles in Moscow, at whose meetings he became close to representatives of the student section of the Novoselov Circle, his peers and future priests (V. Nadezhdin, S. Sidorov, and many others). This personal context of relationships was formed in Pedashenko due to his desire to transfer after university to the theological academy. Although this intention was realized only in the postwar 1940s, we show how Pedashenko’s diary already in his early years makes sense of his vocation to the priesthood. In addition to his personal churchliness, this ministry was also motivated by his awareness of the hostility and sinfulness of the secular world, to the transformation of which the future theologian and priest wanted to devote his life.