The beginnings of F. A. Stepun's ethical principles: the analysis of the war diaries «From the letters of an artillery officer» (1918)

The article focuses on the First World War diaries of Fedor Stepun (1884-1965), a prominent philosopher and scholar among the Russian ex-patriots of the 1920-s. Stepun's war diary was first published in the abridged censured form under the pseudonym «N. Lugin» in the magazine «Severnye zapiski» (the Northern Notes) in 1916, issues 7, 8 and 9. This version was then expanded and built on due to the letters of 1916 - 1917, which were added to the body of the war diary, and it was published in 1918 in the book form as «From the Letters of an Artillery Officer», together with the notes «Iz deistvuiushchei armii» (From the Battlefield) by V. Ropshin (B. Savinkov). The article gives a detailed analysis of a central theme in Stepun's war diary, that is, his active Christian position, which is instrumental for the understanding of his philosophy as a whole.