person
Fedyukov (the deacon)
Fedyukov
also: Федюков, дьячок, the deacon
The mysterious "incognito" signer of Navagin's visitors' list every Christmas and Easter for thirteen years, eventually revealed to be a humble parish deacon who signs his name at the homes of the great and noble whenever he sees a list lying out, while making his rounds with the Easter cross -- a small, harmless vanity rather than the sinister mystery Navagin imagined.
Reading notes
- A Secret §42 when we go round with the cross
The Easter custom of parish clergy "going round with the cross" ("ходить с крестом") meant visiting parishioners' homes during Bright Week to bless them and receive small gifts or payment, a normal source of supplemental income for underpaid lower clergy; it explains exactly how a humble deacon or sacristan gained access to the front halls of "persons of rank" like Navagin in the first place, and sets up his vain, harmless habit of signing his name wherever he sees a list -- a small dig at low-level clerical self-importance rather than at the Church itself.