# Peter Sidorov — The Kingdom of God Is Within You character guide

> Peter Sidorov in The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Tolstoy.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Peter, Sídorov

**First appearance:** 0005-iii

## Snapshot

A Russian peasant conscript who lays down his rifle rather than his conscience, proving that the divine life-conception can take root in the least likely soil.

## Who they are

Sidorov stands among the ordinary men — peasants, soldiers, sectarians — whose refusals Tolstoy cites against the charge that non-resistance is a philosopher's fantasy. His world is the barracks and the village, where obedience is survival and dissent means prison or worse. He matters because his quiet no dramatizes the book's wager: that the transition from social to divine life-conception is happening now, in actual bodies, under actual threat.

## Relationships

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_psychological_

Peter Sidorov is portrayed as a peasant who internalizes and struggles with the radical teachings of Jesus Christ, leading to personal transformation.

### [Jacob](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/characters/jacob)

_social_

Jacob and Peter Sidorov are fellow peasants or villagers, interacting within the context of rural Russian life.

### [Catherine the Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/characters/catherine_the_great)

_rivalry_

Catherine the Great represents the oppressive state authority that Peter Sidorov and other peasants resist or suffer under.

## In the story

### [Chapter IX: Christian Liberation from Human Power](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/chapters/ix)

Mentioned as an example of a Russian peasant who refused military service, illustrating Christian resistance.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/chapters/ii)

A recruit called into the examination room during the levy, representing the common soldier forced into state violence.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/chapters/vi)

Referenced implicitly as a young man compelled to become a soldier, renouncing his own will and human sentiments.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned in the context of authentic cases of oppression and resistance.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/characters/peter_sidorov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_kingdom_of_god_is_within_you_se/characters