Religiousity of Peter the Great in the context of a vital situation

The article discusses such phenomenon of Peter the Great’s personality as religiosity. Relevance and novelty of the research lies in the operationalization of the approach - the application of coping methods. The peculiarities of Peter the Great’s religiosity are analyzed by the example of the vital situation of the White Sea storm in 1694. Factors of religious coping as a way of one’s adaptability to the vital conditions are revealed through the effects of stress. The documentary corpus of the work is presented by published sources. Coping resources, coping strategies, and coping behavior as the coping mechanisms demonstrated by Peter I during stress and post-stress periods are identified during the course of the study. The author concludes that the vital situation demonstrates not a formal, but a rather deep level of the young monarch’s religiosity. The behavioral component dominated the monarch’s religiosity structure. This was expressed through the actions of Peter I during the storm and during the rescue on the territory of the Pertominsk Monastery. High vitality should be recognized as a distinctive feature of the young monarch’s personality. Peter I believed in the dualism of the result of salvation as the interaction of God and the anointed one (vertical coping), due to the combination of these factors. This strategy strengthened the monarch’s belief that the God’s blessing is given to the earthly affairs of a Christian autocrat. The relationship between the monarch, the Bishop Athanasius (Lyubimov) and the pilot Antipas is an example of joint (horizontal) coping in this situation. An example of this vital situation demonstrates the religiosity of Peter I in a particular period of his life. To study the evolution of religiosity it is necessary to involve a set of similar factors in other emergency situations (such as war, struggle for power, or the loss of the loved ones), as well as in everyday life. In this case it will be possible to investigate Peter the Great’s religiosity most fully.