The paper deals with the analysis of the archetypical plot about a human’s pact with a devil. The pact is the structural core of the novel. The text is organized as the story of a betrayal, unfolding on the background of the hard war times. The story about a particular event is inscribed in the eternity, it is framed with scenes of the national mythology and history. Nastyona and her husband Andrey Guskov, who has become a deserter, undergo a severe moral trial by demonic machinations. The main motives of the «eternal» plot are reflected in each destiny like in a mirror. The woman’s image is illuminated by the authority of the Virgin, it is assimilated to Sophia-bride and to the fornicatress (Sofia fallen), the image of the deserter is referred to the motives of the beast-werewolf and Judah. A significant sense load in this novel falls on «St. George’s Complex», traditional for the V. Rasputin’s poetics. War is seen as an existential situation, the fight with the barbarians, similar to Baptism, the resolution of which is given at the mercy of everyone, requires personal self-identity.