Soon, he went on a journey to the Holy Land and visited Palestine, Constantinople, and Mount Athos, acquainting himself with a mystical doctrine of Hesychasm and reading patristic literature.

[9] It appears that Nilus of Sora and his closest associate Paisius Yaroslavov were much more tolerant towards the heretics than most of the Russian clergy, led by Archbishop Gennady and Joseph Volotsky.

Historical accounts of that period do not shed any light on the outcome of these "negotiations", but from that time on there seems to have been no interaction between Nilus of Sora and Paisius (Yaroslavov) on one side and Gennadius and Joseph Volotsky on the other.

It was so deeply crystallized in church life of that period that such persons as Maximus the Greek and the elder Artemiy, who had tried to show the deep basics of Orthodoxy, were considered as Heretics.

[8] In his teachings, he developed mystical and ascetical ideas along the lines of Gregory Sinaite's hesychasm, asking the believers to concentrate on their inner world and personal emotional experiences of faith as means for achieving unity with God.

Nilus of Sora demanded that monks participate in productive labour and spoke in support of monastic reforms on a basis of a secluded and modest lifestyle.

Although he spoke in favour of Ivan III’s policy of secularization of monastic lands,[11] Nilus of Sora did not live long enough to see the end of this struggle.