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Essay on Early Monasteries Influence on Russian Religion
The outward life of the Russian Orthodox Church in the nineteenth century differed little from that of the previous century. However, the gap between culture and faith was gradually overcome, most notably in the form of the elders of the monastery of Optina Pustyn (Franklin, Shepard, 34, 35). This ancient monastery southwest of Moscow had an undistinguished history until the nineteenth century when into its walls there entered a new calibre of monks seeking to renew spiritual life in Russia.
Optina Pustyn became a place of pilgrimage not only for the vast multitude of Russia's peasant wanderers but also for the leading cultural figures of the time. The writers Lev Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol and Feodor Dostoevsky and the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov all received counsel from the Optina elders.......
