Gradually, the writings of the Holy Fathers were more and more often included in the number of texts used for prayerful reading.11 If we turn to the history of Russian monasticism, we will see that since the time of St. Paisius Velichkovsky, Orthodox ascetics have seen a significant increase in interest in the works of their predecessors. This was part of a larger process of revival of spiritual life and eldership during this period.12 In the monasteries of St. Paisius, the reading of the writings of the Holy Fathers was the most important component of the education of a monk, along with the revelation of thoughts and the Jesus Prayer. In the Russian tradition, the most famous supporter of the inclusion of the works of the Fathers in the practice of prayerful reading was St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. His words are widely known that in our time without reading the works of the Holy Fathers, salvation is impossible for a monk. The disciples of the Monk Paisius, together with the elders, brought to Russia the practice of reading the writings of the Holy Fathers. The spread of both went side by side, since following the increase in the importance and authority of the elder, the attention to the word of the teachers of the past also grew. The handwritten Patericon or the book of the Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian was then as highly valued as in the first centuries of monasticism – a precious copy of the Gospel. It is not for nothing that the center of the processing and publication of the works of the Holy Fathers was precisely the Optina Hermitage – the heart of the elders' leadership.

Thanks to the spread of the tradition of St. Paisius, the preaching of St. Ignatius and other church writers, by the end of the 19th century, the prayerful reading of the Fathers became firmly established in the life of Russian monasteries. And when, with the onset of the atheistic era, the Russian ascetic was forced to go into the world to bear witness to his faithfulness to Christ, he passed on to those who were ready to accept the Good News and bear their cross even in the new conditions (Matthew 10:38 and others), together with the guidance and prayer of the elders, the commandment to prayerfully read the works of the Holy Fathers. A new generation of Christians was destined to keep the precepts of their departed teachers in the midst of a hostile world, often in painful spiritual solitude. At that time, from the pages of the preserved books, handwritten otechniks and patericons at the risk of their lives, the voices of the thousand-year-old Christian East, their native Russian Church, and sometimes their own teachers, new martyrs and confessors, sounded for them. The members of the persecuted Church delved into the power of these words, learned them in their hearts.

Among the texts offered for prayerful reading by the elders of that time, in particular, by the Zosima fathers, were the writings not only of recognized authorities, but often of completely unknown ascetics. This should not surprise the modern reader. An ascetic who has assimilated the law of the Lord in his heart is already able to choose among the multitude of texts precisely those in which the path to the knowledge of the living God is sealed, just as the Church, with her conciliar mind, selected the books that made up the Holy Scriptures.13 On the pages of the book of nun Ignatia are presented precisely those writings that have passed the exacting selection of ascetics at the beginning of the century and the era of persecution. In our days, the correctness of this selection has been confirmed. Six of the nine ascetics of piety, to whose letters Nun Ignatia refers in the second part of her book, have been glorified as saints in the last ten years, and their writings have been offered by the Church "for the edification of the faithful."

Abundant quotations from such texts, included in "Eldership in Russia", make this book a kind of anthology of the elder's work. Since some of the authors quoted by Nun Ignatia are little known, and their heritage is inaccessible, we have placed their letters in appendices, which are also intended to shed more light on the various epochs of the Russian eldership. We hope that this book will help us to delve deeper into the word of the departed Fathers, and that it will remain alive and effective for the present generation of Christians.

* * *

When Nun Ignatia wrote this book, the writings of the authors, excerpts from which she included in her work, were a bibliographic rarity, and those who read the manuscript of "Eldership in Russia" for the first time discovered the works of spiritual writers of the past. Today, when most of these works have been republished, the book of Nun Ignatia does not lose its significance, but turns to the reader in a new way. Constructed as an otechnik, in which both the selection and the juxtaposition of quotations are significant, it introduces the thoughtful and attentive reader into the world of the spiritual experience of the elders. It is important that on this path he is accompanied by an author who has learned this experience.

Part I

Prologue

I bow my knees to the Creator of all, I stretch out my hands to the Eternal Word, seeking the gift of words... (Following St. John Chrysostom, Ikos)

Truly, it is necessary for the one who begins these lines to kneel before the Creator, it is necessary to stretch out his hands to the Eternal Word, seeking in the depths of his soul a word worthy of depicting the deeds and feats of the saints.

In the days when the Russian Orthodox Church, and with her the whole world, celebrates the millennium of the Baptism of Rus' and when these days have come true, every Russian Orthodox must have his or her say. Our word is about the Russian eldership, since by God's Providence personal life and the life of loved ones were accomplished under the guidance of the elders.

Orthodoxy, and especially Russian Orthodoxy, has long been the subject of in-depth study for many representatives of non-Orthodox confessions. With great attention and love, in all the smallest details, Orthodox worship is studied. Much attention is paid to Orthodox fine arts and Russian icons. The lines about the Russian eldership are filled with the same interest, although the image of the elder is most often depicted as the image of a wanderer moving across the boundless expanses of the Russian land, carrying within himself the work and art of the Jesus Prayer.14