The article attempts to study the methods of depicting saints in the texts by N. S. Leskov on the example of the images of saint bishops Philaret Drozdov and Philaret Amphiteatrov. The polarity of expressive means in the descriptions of the characters is emphasized as largely driven by the narrator’s pathos. The analysis is based not only on the material of the Trifles from the Life of Archbishops, but also of some other works.