even the expression “God-bearing” people, is merely the conclusion of the conversation we had abroad more than two years ago,
Stavrogin has great influence over the most important men to the ‘society’ and of the ‘society’ - Pyotr Verkhobensky, Shatov, and Kirillov. So he is a headman even if he says he only incidentally helps them out over what is essentially boredom. And we know later that Pyotr wants to replace the ‘Russian God’ with Ivan Tsarevich, who he identifies to be Stavrogin.
