The article describes the nature of evil and the ways to combat it. The authors describe the evil differently, it depends on the genre of the work, the form of evil (corporeal or immaterial), the faith of the "villain" (orthodox or non-believer). The study is based on the analysis of "The Tale of the ruin of Ryazan by Batu", "Vita Feodosy Pechersky" by Nestor, "Tale of the siege of the Trinity-Sergius monastery" by Avrahamy Palitsyn and in comparing the forms of evil and its manifestations in different topoi: monastery and town.