Starets

A starets (Russian: ??????; Romanian: stare?) is an elder of a Russian Orthodox or Romanian Orthodox monastery who functions as venerated adviser and teacher. Startsy are charismatic spiritual leaders whose wisdom stems from intuition rather than experience. Personal confessions to them are encouraged, although most of them are not formally ordained to priesthood.

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The institution may be traced to the beginnings of the Christian monasticism in the 4th century. The original Greek term geron was rendered by the Russian word "starets", derived from the Slavic adjective for "old". Sergii Radonezhsky and Nil Sorsky were two most venerated startsy of Old Muscovy. The revival of staretsdom is associated with the name of Paisiy Velichkovsky (1722-94), who produced the Russian translation of the Philokalia. The most famous starets of the early 19th century was Serafim of Sarov (1759-1833), who went on to become one of the most revered Orthodox saints.

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The Optina Pustyn near Kozelsk used to be celebrated for its startsy. Such writers as Nikolay Gogol, Aleksey Khomyakov, Leo Tolstoy, and Konstantin Leontyev sought advice from the elders of this monastery. They also inspired the figure of Zosima in Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov. Grigori Rasputin was blasphemously styled starets by his followers.

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The concept of the starets may be familiar to many Western readers through J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey. In the novel, one of the characters refers to the 19th century anonymous Russian work, The Way of a Pilgrim. The title character of The Way of a Pilgrim (ostensibly, the author) is advised in the progress of his spiritual life by a starets, who uses the Jesus Prayer as a starting point for spiritual discipline.

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Russian Orthodox: REDIRECT Russian Orthodox Church...

Romanian Orthodox: redirectRomanian Orthodox Church...

Intuition: Intuition has many meanings across many cultures, including:...