Optina Elders

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I have a few other of these books but can’t upload sadly.

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https://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot ... ptina.html

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The Orthodox Word

July - August 1975

A Living Link with Optina

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The Orthodox Word

N o .129

1986

St. Nektary of Optina

“Once N Pavlovich asked the Elder, “Is it possible to hope for the unification of the churches” He replied No!, Only an Ecumenical Council could do that, but there will be no more councils. There have been seven councils. Like the seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. For our age, The number of fullness is the number seven. Eight is the number of the future age. Only separate people will be united to the Church.”— Elder Nektary of Optina, Page 182

"And in the last days before Christ's coming it will be preserved in the following form: one Orthodox Bishop, one Orthodox priest, and one Orthodox layman. I'm not saying that there won't be any churches at all - maybe there will be - but Orthodoxy itself will be preserved only in such a form."
Elder Nektary of Optina, page 179.

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Elder Macarius of Optina is a translation of the largest compilation of materials on this elder of 19th century Russian spirituality. A disciple of elder Leonid (Volume I of the Optina Elders Series), Elder Macarius stands out as the perpetuator of the blessed tradition of holy eldership, which flourished so widely in pre-Revolutionary Russia. he was an embodiment of ancient Patristic wisdom; meek, gentle, loving and noble, he had the power of humility that strengthens the infirm, chastens the proud-minded, and exorcises evil spirits.

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Russian Letters of Spiritual Direction, 1834-1860

In the last century a cross-section of Russian society - peasants, nobles, writers, soldiers - streamed to the Optino Hermitage for advice - and received it, from a succession of startsi, or "elders," monks whose God-given wisdom and insight enabled them to serve as spiritual guides to others.

In these letters of spiritual direction by Macarius, second of the Optino startsi (who were all recently glorified as Saints by the Church), we find the reason for this quest. "Should I complain to my employer about working conditions in his factory?" "How can I get along better with my husband?" "How should I pray?" Such were the questions asked of Staretz Macarius.

His response was invariably concrete, and not a generalized rule of conduct for all. Yet, at the same time, St. Macarius' words of council reflect a tradition stretching back to the Desert Fathers. This realization of freedom within tradition'so characteristic of true Orthodox spirituality'makes St. Macarius' advice to nineteenth-century Russians pertinent for us today as well. All five works help to illumine the spiritual tradition so faithfully embodied in Staretz Macarius.

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The Life of St. Isaac I (Antimonov, the "Elder") of Optina (1894).