Optina Monastery

The Optina Pustyn (Russian: Óптина пýстынь, romanized: Óptina pústyn', literally Opta's hermitage) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for men near Kozelsk in Russia.

In the 19th century, the Optina was the most important spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church and served as the model for several other monasteries, including the nearby Shamordino Convent.

The cloister boasted a rich library, collected with help from the Slavophile Kireyevsky brothers, both buried within the monastery walls.

The local starets Saint Amvrosy[2] is said to have been a prototype of Father Zosima in Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov.

Saint Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15) was powerfully influential in bringing the almost-lost hesychastic tradition of Orthodox spirituality to Russia in the eighteenth century, and his labors found in Optina Monastery a 'headquarters' from which they spread throughout the Russian land.