Simeon of Polotsk

Simeon of Polotsk is one of the outstanding figures of not only Belarusian and Russian, but moreover, Slavic culture in general. The style of sermons is quite simple, alien to pretentiousness. Speech structures are natural and easy to understand. The thought of each teaching is expressed definitely, there are no aimless digressions to the side, no artificial applications. To dry abstractions, which are especially difficult to understand by ear, Polotsky prefers descriptions and stories that visually provide thought and give artistic depiction to the sermon. A talented preacher, scholarly polemist and theologian, translator and teacher, Simeon Polotsky went down in history as a writer, playwright, poet, founder of Russian syllabic poetry.