Optina Elders
From the introduction of Elder Leonid of Optina (St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2002)
Over the course of one century—from Elder Leonid's arrival in 1829 until the Monastery's forced closure by the Communists in 1923—Optina, with its Skete of St. John the Forerunner, was at the center of a tremendous spiritual revival in Russia.
