On the shores of the fast-running Zhizdra River, surrounded by a virgin forest, stood the Optina Hermitage, just several miles from the city of Kozelsk in the Kaluga province. It consisted of a majestic white Kremlin with 4 churches, fortress walls, and turrets. Optina’s lofty spiritual life was in complete harmony with its external beauty. After visiting Optina, the Russian writer Gogol described it as possessing exclusive spirituality and having a beneficial influence on all its surroundings.
The exact time of Optina’s appearance is unknown. According to tradition, it was founded in ancient times by the penitent brigand Optin. The city of Kozelsk is mentioned in the chronicles for the year 1146. In 1238, after a heroic defense, the city was captured by the Tatars, and all the inhabitants were killed. In the early 15th century Kozelsk came under the rule of Lithuania, then changed hands for half-a-century before ending up firmly with Moscow.
It is known that in 1625 the abbot of Optina was a certain Sergius. In 1630 the hermitage comprised a wooden church, six monastic cells and 12 monks, and was administered by hieromonk Theodore. Thus Optina is one of Russia’s most ancient monasteries.
Growth, decline, and revival
Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich and the local boyars donated lands to Optina and it began to flourish, but during the reforms of Peter the Great its lands were taken away, the monastery became impoverished, and finally was completely closed down in 1724; however, already by 1726 it was reopened upon the petition of the courtier Andrey Shepelev. After having been completely destroyed, the monastery slowly began to revive.
Optina’s full revival was accomplished only in 1795, when it came to the attention of Metropolitan Plato of Moscow. A certain Father Avraamius was appointed abbot of the hermitage, and 12 monks were transferred there. Father Avraamius, though of a sickly constitution, did a great deal for the monastery: he put its economy in order, walled in the hermitage, settled court affairs in favor of the monastery, built a bell tower, a hospital church, and monastic cells for the brothers, and planted spacious gardens.
But it is to its next abbot, the Archimadrite Moses, that the Optina Hermitage owes its flourishing and its glory. Major construction jobs were under-taken in his time, extensive fruit orchards and vegetable gardens were planted, land estates increased twofold… The flow of funds came from pilgrims who were attracted to the Optina Hermitage with its unique spirit reminiscent of ancient asceticism. Father Moses’ two brothers were also abbots of monasteries, and all of them were great ascetics and spiritually supported each other. Father Moses himself came to a realization of the essence and depth of spiritual life in his early youth. Afterwards he visited the clairvoyant eldress Dosithea in Moscow, who directed him towards the Sarov monastery, where he was instructed by St. Sera-phim himself. Subsequently Father Moses spiritually labored among the hermits of the Roslavl forests in a manner similar to the ancient Egyptian desert-dwellers, spending 6 days in solitude, reading the entire daily cycle of services and engaging in the Jesus prayer, and on Sundays joining the other elders in communal prayer. The French invasion of 1812 interrupted Father Moses’ hermetic life, and he moved to the Beloberezhskaya Hermitage, where he met three prominent ascetics: Fathers Theodore and Cleopas (disciples of St. Paisius Velichkovskiy) and their brother in fasting, Father Leonid, the future famous Optina elder.
In 1821 Bishop Philaret of Kaluga talked Father Moses into moving to Optina and taking on the construction of a skete near the monastery. Together with Father Moses his younger brother, Father Anatoly, and two other monks, Hilarion and Sabbatius, also came to Optina.
Thus was founded the Optina skete, in which flourished the Optina eldership and which spread the glory of the Optina Hermitage not only throughout its environs, but throughout all of Russia.
Eldership in general
Grace-filled eldership is one of the highest achievements of the spiritual life of the Church, it is its cream, its crown of spiritual labors, the fruit of solitude and divine contemplation. It is organically related to inner monastic asceticism, which has as its purpose the achievement of a dispassionate state, and so it appeared toge-ther with monasticism at the dawn of Christianity. It also emerged in Russia with the arrival of Christianity there and became widespread, but in time it faded away and by the end of the 17th century disappeared and was forgotten, so that when it was revived in the early 18th century by Paisius Velichkovsky, it seemed to be something new and extraordinary. For this reason the church hierarchy often felt at a loss before this manifestation, which led to the frequent persecutions to which elders such as St. Seraphim of Sarov, several of the Optina elders, and others were subjected. However, not all hierarchs persecuted eldership of course; on the contrary, many sponsored it and even venerated it.
The Optina eldership
But the eldership of which we will speak, to wit, the Optina eldership, has its unique characteristics that distinguish it from the general concept of eldership. Although throughout the entire history of Christianity elders were considered to be all experienced monks who were not only entrusted with the spiritual care of young novices, but were also assigned to take care of the spiritual life of laymen, – the Optina elders were distinguished by an exclusive profundity of spiritual life, perso-nal holiness, and the gift of clair-voyance, and although they were primarily concerned with the spiritual purification and salvation of all those who came to them, nevertheless they also consistently aided people in their worldly affairs and troubles, and by virtue of clairvoyance were able to help people find a way out of their most hopeless situations; more-over, the elders also possessed the gifts of healing and miracle-working.
Optina eldership
A strict keeper of the fast and ascetic himself, Father Moses was full of the most tender love for people and commiserated with their frailties and sins. His art of talking with each person in the latter’s own manner was incomparable: with educated people he spoke on an intellectual level, while with simple folk he spoke in accordance with their understanding of things and their manner of speech. He understood full well the needs of each person, and he had infinite compassion for the poor.
He was also distinguished by extraordinary humility. “I am worse than all others,” – Father Moses would often say. “Other perhaps only think that they are the worst, but I know for sure that I am worse than others.” Thus the elder spoke humbly of himself, but it was obvious to those who were close to him and knew his life that he possessed many spiritual gifts, including the gift of contemplative prayer. In 1825 Father Moses was appointed abbot of the Optina monastery, while his brother, Father Anatoly, became the abbot of the skete. Having gone through the same school of asceticism in the Roslavl forests as his brother, he, too, was distinguished by extreme humility and obedience. He did not make any decisions without the blessing of his elder and brother, Father Moses. Due to the heavy physical work he personally had to do in helping his brother build the skete, already at the age of 40 he had open wounds on his legs, which did not heal to the end of his life and caused him great suffering. At the same time he had to do many things himself, because many of the monks, especially those who served, were quite elderly. But under his administration there was amazing order and beauty in the skete, which greatly impressed all visitors.
However, neither Father Anatoly, nor Father Moses took upon themselves the direct responsibility of spiritual leadership of the monastery brotherhood. Yet, being great elders themselves, they understood the importance of eldership and provided the great elders whom they attracted to the Optina skete with a wide scope of activity. Thus the planting and flourishing of eldership in the Optina Hermitage was due to the efforts of these two elders. Unfortunately, Bishop Niko-lay of Kaluga did not understand eldership, and he brought great woe to the elders and would have harmed their efforts even more, had it not been for the intercession of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, who profoundly understood and appreciated the significance of eldership.
From the time of Peter the Great a process of denationalization was taking place among Russian intelligentsia: they admired all things coming from the West and disdained their own native ones; the finding of something positive in one’s homeland was considered to be a divergence from the norm and was mocked. Similarly the field of religion was being infiltrated by the spirit of Western Protestantism, and genuine ancient Orthodoxy was being extinguished. National, patriotic, as well as religious feelings continued to be preserved only among the common people.
The war of 1812 somewhat revived the spirit of patriotism, but even such great writers as Pushkin, Lermontov, and others had to pay for any deep expression of patriotic feelings. It was at this point in time that the Optina Hermitage became a certain counterfoil to all that was happening around it; it became a guiding light for many writers and philosophers, not to mention common people who were seeking the meaning of life in true Orthodoxy. For them Optina represented a union of the supreme spiritual endeavor of constant prayer that was crowned by an abundance of grace coming from acquiring the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and service to the world in all its fullness, covering both its spiritual and earthly needs. More-over, up until that time, due to the religious regulation of Peter the Great and the decrees of 1787 and 1808, the publication of books of spiritual content was left to the sole discretion of the Holy Synod, and such books could be printed only by its printing press. As a result, only one ascetic book – the Philokalia – was published in 1793, and readers were deprived of spiritual literature, while at the same time civil publications spewed out a multitude of translations of Western pseudo-mystical works, many of which, published with the permission of civil censors, were openly hostile to Orthodoxy. In these circumstances the publication of the works of the Holy Fathers was of great and historical significance. Due to the presence of highly-educated elders, the great and multi-faceted help of various writers, men of letters, and philosophers, as well as full understanding, support, and blessing on the part of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, the works and lives of prominent Church Fathers, both ancient and contemporaries such as Paisius Velichkovsky, were translated from Greek and Slavonic into Russian and were published. This publication began in mid-19th century, and by the end of that century the library founded by Father Moses contained 5,000 books.
The published books were sent out to academies, seminaries, libraries, ruling bishops, and inspectors, and the this formerly inaccessible ascetic literature became accessible to monastics and all religiously-oriented Russian people. True Ortho-doxy shone forth and became fortified against Western falsely-oriented books. Thus the appearance of these Orthodox books was an event impossible to evaluate in simple words.
Special merit in the undertaking of this great deed, on a par with elder Macarius, of whom we will speak separately, belonged to the prominent Russian philosopher Ivan Vasilyevich Kireyevsky and his wife (the first editions, besides the couple’s work on them, were published at their personal expense).
Elder Leo
The first elder co-opted by Fathers Moses and Anatoly for eldership at Optina was Father Leo. He was born in 1768 in Korachevo, served in the world as a bailiff and circulated among the merchant class. During his long journeys on business affairs he encountered members of all classes of society and became well-versed in the manners and way of life of each class. This experience stood him in good stead during the years of his eldership, when the most diverse people, both well-known and unknown, came to see him and to open their souls to him.
Father Leo began his monastic life in Optina Hermitage, but later transferred to the Beloberezhsky Hermitage where he underwent training in monastic virtues – obedience, patience, and various external endeavors – under the tutelage of the prominent Athonite ascetic Father Vassily. Here Father Leo went through his spiritual labors under the name of Leonid. Later he spent some time in the Choln monastery, where he met Father Theodore, a disciple of Paisius Velichkovsky, and became his loyal follower. Elder Theodore began to train Father Leonid in the supreme monastic endeavor, that “science of sciences and art of arts,” as the labor of constant prayer is called, and by means of which the heart is cleansed of all passions. Here Father Leonid also met Abbot Philaret, the future Metropolitan of Kiev. This meeting subsequently had great importance for him.
Afterwards Father Leonid was appointed abbot of the Beloberezhsky Hermitage, and Father Theodore, under whose guidance Father Leonid spent almost 20 years, moved together with him. Here they were joined by yet another prominent ascetic and disciple of St. Paisius, Father Cleopas. In 1808 Father Leonid resigned from abbotship of the monastery and went off to live in the deep forest, settling down in a communal cell with Fathers Theodore and Cleopas. Here, in ascetic solitude and silence, he became a schema-monk with the name of Leo.
However, a while later the three monks were expelled from their dwelling by the new abbot of the monastery, because a great multitude of people flocked to see them. There followed many years of wandering from monastery to monastery, and after Father Theodore’s death Father Leo spent some time in the Ploshchansk Hermitage, where he met Father Macarius – his future assistant in eldership at the Optina Hermitage and subsequent successor.
Finally, in 1829, this founder of the spiritual school from which issued the entire constellation of successive elders came to Optina Hermitage. However, Father Leo’s merit does not only lie in the foundation of eldership: he was the stimulus which inspired succeeding generations of elders for an entire century until the very end of the existence and flourishing of the famous Optina Hermitage.