On the pages of this book, in the lives of the elders, you will see the entire history of Optina Pustyn - the foundation, the heyday and the closure of the monastery. There were not many of them, the Optina elders—fourteen in a hundred years. Thanks to them, Optina Pustyn became the spiritual center of Russia and a place of pilgrimage for many people. In the 19th century they said: “Go to Optina for experience.” And they walked... with troubles and illnesses - the common people, with questions about the meaning of life - representatives of the intelligentsia. The Kireevsky brothers, N.V., came to Optina Pustyn more than once. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.