Today, October 24, the Church remembers the Council of the Optina Elderstranslated

The Council of the Optina Elders, a whole host of Russian ascetics of the 19th-20th centuries, is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on October 24.

The venerable elders labored in Optina Pustyn, one of the centers of church life in Russia, located near the city of Kozelsk in the Kaluga region.

The legacy of the Optina elders is one of the spiritual treasures of Russian Orthodoxy.

One of the topics that the reverend fathers paid attention to in their teachings was prayer. The importance of prayer for a person and, in particular, for his salvation, the conditions under which it is performed most favorably, as well as the spiritual levels of the prayer path - all these topics, one way or another, were reflected in their heritage.

Of the general host of holy elders of Optina Hermitage, the venerable ones most famous for their teachings are: Macarius (1788-1860), Anthony (1795-1865), Ambrose (1812-1891) and Anatoly the Elder (Zertsalov) (1824-1894).

In addition to these fathers, Optina also revealed other devotees of the faith: Saints Leo (1768-1841) (his memory is celebrated on October 24), Moses (1782-1862), Hilarion (1805-1873), Isaac (1810-1894), Joseph (1837-1911), Barsanuphius (1845-1913), Anatoly the Younger (Potapov) (1855-1922),…