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Elder Simeon of Pskov-Pechersk: How to Treat Those Who Hate Us
25:29
What the video says
The video presents the counsel of Elder Simeon Yelnin on how to conduct oneself toward enemies. He teaches that we must act 'according to Christ' rather than taking our emotional direction from those who attack us, refusing to let another person's hostility decide what kind of person we become. The elder warns that the deeper danger is not another person's anger but letting it enter us as memory, judgment, resentment, and hatred.
Forgiveness is presented as spiritual warfare, not sentimentality: it does not deny evil or forbid boundaries, firmness, or speaking the truth, but it refuses to build one's life around an injury. Prayer for enemies, humility, discernment instead of condemnation, and looking for good in others are given as practical disciplines. The teaching ends with the call to guard the heart, since the greatest victory is not defeating an enemy but refusing to become his enemy in return.
Key moments
- Elder Simeon teaches that with those hostile toward us we are to conduct ourselves according to Christ, not according to fear, pride, or the desire to please people.
- When attacked, we instinctively begin living according to the attacker, becoming angry when they are angry; the elder says not to let another person's hostility decide what kind of person we become.
- Do not pay attention to those who provoke you; make the sign of the cross, pray, remain sober in mind, and remember that everyone is mortal and stands under the same judgment.
- The deeper danger is that another person's anger may enter us, growing from memory into thought, judgment, resentment, and hatred, so that we carry an enemy inside our own mind.
- Forgiveness is spiritual warfare, not sentimentality: it does not call evil good and does not forbid boundaries, distance, or speaking sharply, but it refuses to keep the wound alive.
- Christ commands us to pray for those who persecute us, not to admire or approve of them; praying forces us to remember that the person is more than the offense committed against us.
- Every person is God's creation and bears the image of God; we see behavior while God sees the heart, so discernment ('this behavior is dangerous') differs from condemnation ('this person is hopeless').
- Meekness keeps us from hatred and firmness from compromise; let the enemy answer before God for what he has done, and guard your own heart from resentment, revenge, and pride.
Elder Simeon Zhelnin of the Pskov Caves answers a practical question: what should a Christian do when someone becomes hostile toward him? His counsel, drawn from Georgy Malkov's 2014 book on his life and teachings, is to conduct oneself 'according to Christ' rather than taking emotional direction from the attacker. He warns that the real danger is not another person's anger but letting it enter us, where it grows from memory into thought, judgment, resentment, and hatred, so that we carry an enemy inside our own mind.
Forgiveness is presented as spiritual warfare rather than sentimentality. It does not call evil good and does not forbid boundaries, distance, or speaking the truth sharply, but it refuses to keep the wound alive or build one's life around an injury. The elder gives concrete disciplines: do not pay attention to provocations, make the sign of the cross, pray, remain sober in mind, and remember that everyone is mortal and stands under the same judgment.
Christ commands prayer for persecutors, not admiration of them; praying forces us to remember that a person is more than the offense committed against us. Every person bears the image of God, and we see behavior while God sees the heart, so discernment that calls behavior dangerous differs from condemnation that calls a person hopeless.
Meekness keeps us from hatred and firmness keeps us from compromise. The teaching ends with the call to guard the heart, since the greatest victory is not defeating an enemy but refusing to become his enemy in return.
Main points
- Conduct yourself toward the hostile 'according to Christ', not according to fear, pride, or the desire to please people.
- Do not let another person's hostility decide what kind of person you become; his anger can grow into judgment, resentment, and hatred inside you.
- Forgiveness does not call evil good and does not forbid boundaries or firm speech, but it refuses to keep the wound alive.
- Pray for persecutors rather than approve of them; discernment about behavior differs from condemnation of the person.
- Let the enemy answer before God for what he has done, and guard your own heart from resentment, revenge, and pride.