Hieromonk Philaret was a native of the city of Vyazma, from a prosperous merchant family of the Pulyashkins. Early feeling disgusted with secular life, he entered a monastery at the age of 13 and from childhood immersed himself in reading spiritual books, of which there were many in his father's house. Subsequently, he spent several years in the Sarov hermitage, and then in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra under Metropolitan Gabriel as a hierodeacon. From St. Petersburg, Philaret moved to Moscow, spent some time in the Simonov Monastery, and then in the Novospassky Monastery, where he lived in one cell for more than 40 years, rarely leaving the gates of the monastery fence. Only on quiet summer evenings, when the movement of people stopped, did he go out with his friend Alexander and with another elder Michael, who adhered to the same teaching, for a solitary walk around the monastery walls. Having spent many years in the ascetic labors of monastic silence, Elder Philaret devoted the rest of his life to active service to people, giving advice and consolation to all those who needed it without distinction of persons and conditions. His cell was daily filled with a multitude of people of all ranks. Depressed with grief, oppressed by life, agitated by doubts, overwhelmed by passion, beset by misfortune from all sides, they came to him in order to pour out their sorrows before him and to receive from him consolation and instruction. In his conversations, his amazing meekness, extreme humility, ardent love for his neighbor, the beauty and power of his deep spiritual mind were especially clearly expressed. It often happened that from the multitude of visitors he had no time either to dine or to rest, in spite of the painful illness from which he had suffered all his life. And, in spite of this, he still found time for reading and copying the books of the fathers. Only shortly before his death (he died in 1842 at the age of 84) could he no longer serve the needy with his advice, because from the blow that befell him, his tongue could hardly pronounce anything other than his usual invocation of the name of the Savior and the Mother of God. Elder Philaret was the spiritual father of Natalia Petrovna Kireevskaya, the wife of the famous Russian philosopher and writer Ivan Vasilyevich, and through her he influenced the latter, interested him in the spiritual life of Russian monasticism, disposed him to a deeper study of Orthodoxy, and promoted his spiritual rapprochement with the elders of the Optina Hermitage. In addition to Kireevskaya, Father Philaret was the spiritual leader of the nun of the Moscow Ivanovo Convent Dosithea, who was distinguished by her high spiritual life. The fate of this nun is quite mysterious and many believed and consider her to be the daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Nun Dosithea, in turn, had a great spiritual influence on the famous ascetics of the Putilov brothers, in monasticism Moses of Optina, Isaiah of Sarov and Anthony of Maloyaroslavetsky.

As for Philaret's friend, Hieromonk Alexander, later Archimandrite of the Arzamas Monastery, it is known that he was born in the same year as Philaret, i.e. 1758, and came from an Orthodox family of Polish nobles. He knew Polish well. Devoted to the Orthodox Church, he especially loved the book of Metropolitan Stephen Yavorsky "The Stone of Faith" and the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov, whom he advised all those entering the monastery to have the book "The Spiritual Alphabet" and to study in it all their lives. He studied at the Kiev Academy. Then he entered the service of the Chamber Collegium. How long he stayed there is unknown, but only later did he himself say that at a young age he began a monastic life in the Moscow Novo-Spassky Monastery. While in St. Petersburg with the abbot of the monastery, he was tonsured into monasticism by Metropolitan Gabriel and ordained by him in 1793 to the rank of hierodeacon, and a month later to the rank of hieromonk, and always enjoyed his favor and was in constant correspondence with him. In the same year, 1793, he was appointed abbot and treasurer of the Novo-Spassky Monastery, but after 4 years he refused both positions and lived in the same monastery, spending time in prayer and in the study of the Holy Fathers, who were doing the Jesus Prayer mentally, and took on the great icon of the schema in his cell.

Bishop Gabriel, being in Moscow for the coronation of Emperor Paul, often talked with Father Alexander and invited him to his Novgorod diocese, but he refused, not wanting to leave his solitude and his friend, who was striving for the same goal with him. Living in this way in the Novospassky monastery, he had contact with the Moldavian and Athonite elders, took advantage of their advice, and when they were in Moscow on various business, he received them and helped them a lot through his devoted Moscow acquaintances. He was also very willing to help those who aspired to the monastic life. Under his guidance, many led an attentive monastic life. Some of his disciples were abbots of monasteries. In 1810, Father Alexander was ordained archimandrite of the Arzamas Spassky Monastery, from where he conducted an extensive correspondence with his Moscow spiritual children and admirers. Living very modestly, but receiving considerable money from his posts, he distributed everything to the brethren, to monastic servants, to poor students of theological schools and to all those in need. After his death, only 40 kopecks in money and no clothes remained. Before his death, for 18 days he did not take food at all, except for a few drops of water, eating only the bread of life, the Body and Blood of the Lord. He died on April 29, 1845, having served as a priest for 52 years.

To characterize the elder, we will cite several excerpts from his letters. When the young ascetics Timothy and Jonah Putilov, spiritually guided by Father Alexander, went to live in Sarov, Elder Alexander gave them the following instruction:

"To my brethren in Christ Jesus, Timothy and Jonah, upon arrival at the Sarov hermitage, I advise: 1) While living there, go to the brethren and deal only with those with whom the abbot and spiritual father order. 2) To pass obedience without murmuring, and if you are burdened with anything, ask with humility to be transferred to another, if they do not transfer, submit. 3) Remember and live there without going anywhere, because even if you see any seeming inconveniences or temptations there, you will not eradicate them from yourself and will go over with them, then you will find ten times more in another place, and they will multiply with your vagrancy until you are completely returned to the world. And if you begin to obey your superiors and blame yourself, and recognize the temptations regarding the brethren for your own illness and infirmities, then you will always and in everything remain peaceful. 4) If obedience is difficult, then it seems difficult only because of disobedience and stubbornness; for you will see the same obedience of others who pass by in peace, who are also weaker than you. However, if they leave you, according to your desire, without obedience, then you will be so overcome by thoughts that you will not get along with them. Therefore, do not refuse obedience, but seek. 5) For your eternal spiritual benefit, always remember that in the face of any temptation there is victory through humility, self-reproach and patience. May the Most Merciful Lord enlighten you and make you wise, may He help you and preserve you; and may He protect you from all the snares of the enemy on the left and the right. 6) As you go through obedience, protect yourself from heavy ascents and preserve your health, for you will give an answer to God if, through insane zeal, you somehow harm yourself and burden your neighbors; for when you become crippled, then it is no longer you who will serve the brethren, but the brethren will be forced to serve you, and in this case you will have a bitter life, from which may the Lord have mercy on you."

In the same year, Elder Alexander wrote to Timothy Putilov: "I heartily rejoice that the merciful Lord did not allow you and Jonah to wander in the world any longer and defile your souls with delusion. Be patient for God's sake, and do not forget that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, etc. For it is better for us to fight with thoughts according to the Holy Ladder than with self-conceit. And it is not good for us to be passionless; for the demons for the most part then depart for the sake of our self-conceit, knowing that even without their deceit we can perish from our own pride and remain without repentance. You write that your thoughts hinder you; If you can hold back the wind, then restrain your thoughts. And the Holy Fathers say that it is possible for a monk to be passionate, but not to fulfill his passions. Consequently, we will be condemned for the fulfillment of the passions, and not only because we have them in us and are overcome by thoughts. And the first Adam, by his discerning sense, understood that the apple was good for food, but not for this knowledge, but for eating the apple, he was condemned. And God commanded him not not to be aware of the goodness of the fruit, but not to eat it. Therefore, do not trouble your soul with any thoughts, since you do not love them and do not delight in them. If you have a spiritual father and trust him, then reveal to him all your thoughts and struggles; and do not accept your own mind, as damaged and defiled by sins, and do not believe in anything until your death. Most of all, I beseech you, be obedient without reasoning, and humble yourselves before all; According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers, humility alone can be saved, and without it and with all virtues we cannot escape eternal condemnation. As for visual life, if only God would preserve us from active sins, God will give you reason, only for God's sake endure."

Father Alexander wrote to a certain Andrei Stepanovich that Christ should be sought not outside oneself, but within oneself: "As for your intention and desire to go to Jerusalem and Mount Athos, I cannot give you a decisive answer. My advice to you is this: choose a poor monastery somewhere in your homeland, closed from the world, and in it try to find Jesus Christ not in Mount Athos, but in your heart. For it is impossible to find Him anywhere else except in our heart. And when the Lord vouchsafes you to find Him in your heart, then the most crowded square for you will be Jerusalem and Athos. One of the saints said, if a treasure is buried in your house, and you do not know about it, then in this case it happens to you as if this treasure did not exist. In the same way, we all seek Jesus Christ in different places, not knowing that He is always within us. May Almighty God illuminate your heart and show you the place where Jesus Christ dwells."

A very important place in central Russia, where the spiritual threads coming from Elder Paisius were intertwined, was also the Bryansk Svensky Monastery of the Oryol Diocese. At the beginning of the 19th century, monk Seraphim and schemamonk Athanasius lived there, the same one who brought the Philokalia to Metropolitan Gabriel. Schema-monk Athanasius, one of the Senate secretaries, left the world, wandered on the holy Mount Athos and in Moldavia, lived in the monastery of Elder Paisius, who entrusted him to his disciple Sophronius, and was engaged in translating and copying patristic books. In 1805, already living in the Svensk monastery, he received from the elder Sophrony an instruction not to interfere in the monastic order and to live in silence. He died in the same Svensk Monastery in 1811 in the arms of the elder Schema-monk Athanasius (Zakharov), to whom before his death he handed over his wonderful collection of the works of the Holy Fathers. While living in the Svensk Monastery, Elder Athanasius together with Elder Seraphim had a spiritual influence on the future abbot of the Optina Hermitage, Timothy Putilov, who lived there for some time. There the abbot of the monastery, later rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, the Bishop of Kaluga and the Metropolitan of Kiev, the patron of monasticism and eldership, the famous Philaret, had the opportunity to learn from the elders about spiritual work.

Special attention should be paid to these meetings and cohabitations in the Bryansk Monastery. Those connections were established here, which later resonated elsewhere, as we will see later. In spiritual connection with the Bryansk monastery stands a group of desert dwellers of the Smolensk diocese, who asceticized in the late 18th century and early 19th century in the forest sketes of the Roslavl district. This peculiar group of Russian hermits was in close communion with Elder Paisius. It included the elder's direct disciples, such as Dositheus, who lived for 40 years in the Roslavl forests, and Arsenius, who later moved to the Pskov Nikandrov Monastery, and other ascetics who did not know Elder Paisius personally, such as Hierodeacon Anastassy, Athanasius, who was the spiritual father of the Svensk Monastery for the last 19 years of his life, Arsenius from the Beloberezhskaya Hermitage, Moses and Anthony Putilov, who later moved to the Optina Hermitage together with the hermits Hilary and Dorotheus.

Let us now turn to one of the most glorious and famous monasteries in the history of the Russian eldership, the Optina Hermitage. This hermitage was restored from its desolation by the famous Moscow Metropolitan Platon, who appointed a disciple of Peshnosh, Archimandrite Macarius Abraham, as its abbot (Metropolitan Platon himself was a great admirer of Elder Paisius. In the library of the Nametsky Monastery there is a book of conversations of St. Macarius the Great, sent by Metropolitan Platon to Elder Paisius with the following inscription: "To the Venerable Father Archimandrite Paisius, the spiritual guide and mentor of the Neamt Monastery, This book that is beneficial to the soul by such a feat of a glorified man, as a blessing with the request of God-pleasing prayers for himself, is sent by the humble Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow. 1791, July 3 days in Moscow"). This appointment brought the Optina Hermitage into the circle of the spiritual influence of the Elder Paisius, since Abraham, a disciple of Macarius, a zealous admirer of the Elder Paisius and the keeper of his tradition, transferred these legends to the Optina Hermitage as well. He introduced here a cenobitic rule and elevated the spiritual life. However, even before Abraham, the Optina Hermitage was no stranger to the influence of Elder Paisius. As early as 1800, a disciple of Elder Paisius, monk Theophanes, settled there. He was a native of the Vladimir province, in his youth he served in the Black Sea Cossack army, left military service due to illness, lived for some time in the Sophroniev Hermitage with Archimandrite Theodosius, from where he went to Moldavia to Elder Paisius, and lived there for three years, undergoing the obedience of a cook. After the death of the elder, he returned to Russia and entered the Optina Hermitage. He was distinguished by extreme non-acquisitiveness and great meekness, he was a strict faster, and a great man of prayer. Zeal for the fasting podvig prompted him once to spend the entire Holy Forty Days without food at all. He revealed this to one of the brethren who were close in spirit. "I believe," he said, "that I will not die from fasting." The brother did not reject or confirm his intention. And Theophanes did not eat anything during the entire fast, and only once a week did he drink warm water. During all 40 days, he performed the entire service in private, made many prostrations, heated the cell himself and seemed cheerful. Once, noticing that Theophan had lost a lot of weight, his brother said to him: "Father, you have exhausted yourself very much", "Nothing!" - answered Theophanes, "Christ the Savior poured out all His blood for me on the cross, and there is still much blood in me". Having endured the podvig he had taken upon himself with God's help, at the end of Lent he communed of Christ's Holy Mysteries. Subsequently, he tried again to repeat this feat, but caught a cold, fell ill with a severe cough and, gradually weakening, died in 1819. When his brother asked him, "Is there anything he is afraid of at the hour of death?" he answered: "I joyfully wish to depart from this life," raised his hand for the sign of the cross and quietly departed to the Lord.

In 1821, the Kaluga diocese was governed by the Right Reverend Philaret (Amfiteatrov). Being a great lover and admirer of monasticism and especially of Elder Paisius, he, like Metropolitan Platon, paid special attention to the Optina Hermitage and for greater success of monastic life in it he decided to build a skete in the name of the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. For the construction of the skete, he invited the hermits of the Roslavl forests known to him - Dositheus, Moses, Anthony, Hilary and others, who laid the foundation for the famous skete at the Optina Hermitage. A few years later, Father Moses became the abbot of the Optina Hermitage, and his brother Anthony became the head of the skete, and thus the spiritual life of the Optina Hermitage was concentrated in the hands of the experienced keepers of the Paisian traditions. In 1829, they were joined by Hieromonk Leonid, a disciple of Elder Theodore, who had come from the Alexander Svirsky Monastery, and with his arrival in the Optina Hermitage, the famous Optina eldership began.

From such a combination of diverse spiritual influences came the remarkable flowering of the Optina eldership.

Having settled in the Optina Hermitage, Elder Leo soon gained great influence and wide fame not only among the brethren of the monastery, but also among the surrounding population and pilgrims of the hermitage.

Every year the flow of people to him increased. Everyone, being received by the elder with fatherly love, revealed to him his spiritual wounds and found consolation in his conversation, and many, possessed by bodily illnesses, and those possessed by demons, received help from his prayers and anointing with oil from the lampada that burned in front of his cell Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. By his good influence, both on the brethren of the monastery, of which he was an elder and spiritual father, and on the pilgrims who came, Elder Leo greatly contributed to the uplift and improvement of the Optina Hermitage, both internal and external. Under the shadow of the monastery, a multitude of brethren gathered from various places, seeking wise guidance in their spiritual struggle. Knowing the spiritual experience and talent of Elder Leo, the abbot of the Optina Hermitage, Father Moses, entrusted all those who came to live in the monastery to the Elder as a spiritual guide. Gifted with spiritual discernment, having a keen memory, and the gift of speech, Father Lev gave everyone appropriate instruction from the books of the fathers and the Holy Scriptures. In front of the people, the elder liked to hide the lofty disposition of his spirit under the extreme simplicity of his word; his speech was distinguished by a peculiar combination of the spiritual power of the Scriptures and the vivid expressiveness of the popular language. In addition to his daily studies at the monastery, the elder received many letters from various people who asked him to resolve their perplexities, and, out of his love for his neighbors, the elder either wrote to them himself or dictated the necessary answers. Father Lev died at the age of 72. In his dying illness he often called upon the name of the Lord, and at last he calmed down, crossed himself, blessed the brethren and calmly gave up his spirit into the hands of God.