About Optina Monastery in the novel The Brothers Karamazov
Also about the prototypes of Elder Zosima, and Dostoevsky's visit to the monastery after the death of his son Alyosha
Greetings to all Dostoevsky enthusiasts!
An article without spoilers for the novel — suitable for everyone! But if you want to read the novel with us, here's a useful link
I won't go into great detail in this article, as there are many materials on Optina Monastery that are only indirectly related to our novel. However, to understand the setting and the concept of staretship, I will share some key facts.
In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky merges Optina Monastery, located in Kozelsk (200 km south of Moscow), with the town of Staraya Russa (which he calls Skotoprigonyevsk), situated 650 km north of Optina Monastery. In the novel, this monastery sits close to where the Karamazovs live, creating a fictional landscape.
You can decide for yourself whether the town was moved to the monastery or vice versa. And if you're curious, St. Petersburg lies even farther north.
When was the monastery founded?
No reliable information about the time and circumstances of the Optina Monastery's founding has survived. According to the most widely accepted version of its origin, based on oral tradition, the hermitage was established by a robber named Opta, who repented of his misdeeds, took monastic vows under the name Macarius, and built a cell in the dense forest by the banks of the Zhizdra River. He spent the rest of his life there in prayer and repentance, and later, other ascetics settled in the area. Although this tradition remained fairly consistent, it is only approximately dated to the 14th century.
The first reliable records of the monastery date back to the reign of Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov (1613–1645). In 1629, the Kozelsk census books mention that Optina Monastery had been restored after a period of devastation.
By the end of the 17th century, Optina had only 14 brothers. Although Tsars Peter and Ivan Alekseevich, as well as Tsarevna Sophia, were listed among its benefactors, the monastery struggled due to a lack of resources to support the brotherhood. However, it gained popularity after adopting the practice of spiritual eldership.
The Monastery's Golden Age. The Skete and Spiritual Eldership
The establishment of the skete (hermitage) played a decisive role in the monastery's spiritual flourishing. The hermitage became the heart of Optina Pustyn, where intense ascetic practice—unceasing prayer, silence, and obedience—merged with the tradition of spiritual eldership.
The rules of life in the hermitage were established by Saint Philaret.
Women were forbidden to enter the hermitage, as were laymen without an elder's blessing.
Particularly strict restrictions were placed on food: throughout the year, except for Christmas, Easter, and continuous weeks, only fasting fare was permitted.
The skete was governed by hermitage superiors who, by tradition, also served as spiritual fathers to the brotherhood. They were chosen by the senior brothers.
Grace-filled spiritual eldership is a ministry to which God Himself calls.
The beginning of spiritual eldership at Optina Pustyn dates to 1829, when Hieroschemamonk Leo (Nagolkin) arrived at the monastery with several disciples. Before the tradition of spiritual eldership was established, the brotherhood primarily understood monastic struggle as external practices.
They stood through long services,
exhausted themselves with physical labor and prostrations,
fasted strictly,
and read lengthy prayer rules.
Some wore heavy chains, and during fasts, they barely ate anything.
However, when it came to inner work—the struggle with spiritual passions such as pride, vanity, cunning, anger, arrogance, and others—hardly anyone had a proper understanding.
Characteristics of Spiritual Eldership at Optina Monastery (as they describe it themselves)
Born in antiquity as a strictly monastic tradition—a spiritual union between mentor and disciple, sometimes even living in the same cell—spiritual eldership at Optina Monastery took on a new direction.
Its distinguishing feature became service to all people. The spiritual guidance of Optina elders extended beyond confession; it influenced a person's entire life. Beginning with a personal meeting, communication with the elder continued through correspondence, sometimes lasting decades, ensuring that no important event in the spiritual child's life went without the mentor's attention or direct guidance. While previously only the elder's closest disciples could receive his counsel, spiritual eldership at Optina Monastery became a true treasure for all.
Through God's wise providence, the grace-filled spiritual eldership at Optina continued uninterrupted for an entire century. The elders' disciples eventually became mentors themselves, passing the torch of spiritual eldership to their own students.
Prototypes of Elder Zosima
According to literary scholars, no single prototype can be definitively identified for Elder Zosima.
The most widely accepted prototype is Hieromonk Ambrose. However, evidence suggests that at Optina Monastery itself, they denied any similarity between Ambrose's and Zosima's characters and teachings, acknowledging only their physical resemblance.
Nevertheless, it was Ambrose whom Dostoevsky met when he visited the monastery after his son's death, and he depicted their dialogue in Chapter 3 of Book 2. Zosima's cell and meeting room were also modeled after Ambrose's room. Below are some photographs of how the room is arranged today as a museum.
However, due to events in the USSR, Ambrose was forgotten for a long time. He was only canonized as a saint in 1988!
Bishop Tikhon of Zadonsk—Zosima's teachings were drawn from him. Dostoevsky himself mentions this in his letters. Unlike Ambrose, Tikhon had already been canonized as a saint and was revered as a miracle worker when Dostoevsky wrote the novel. This took place in 1861. It was customary to pray to Saint Tikhon for the healing of mental ailments, including depression, alcoholism, and various mental disorders.
According to Professor Moses Altman, another literary prototype for Zosima was Monk Pimen from Pushkin’s Boris Godunov. Like Zosima, Pimen was a military man in his youth, and one of his disciples strongly resembles Alexei. Furthermore, in his speech about Pushkin, Dostoevsky noted that one could write an entire book about Pimen’s character, which closely resembles Zosima’s. Based on this, Altman suggests that Book 5 of The Brothers Karamazov, The Russian Monk, became that very book about Pimen.
We'll see how well this matches when we read it in May. Has anyone here read Pushkin's Boris Godunov?
According to another Dostoevsky scholar - philologist Valentina Vetlovskaya - Catholic saint Francis of Assisi could have been a possible prototype.
There are several direct and indirect motifs in the novel supporting this. For instance, in the 2.1 chapter the landowner Maximov in conversation calls him "un chevalier parfait" ("perfect knight"), which is an unusual characteristic for an Orthodox monk. However, Francis of Assisi in his youth was fascinated by chivalric ideals and dreamed of becoming a knight.
In the book 5 Pro et Contra, Ivan in conversation with Alyosha calls Zosima "Pater Seraphicus" ("seraphic father"). Pater Seraphicus was the name of the saint who, according to legend, saw a seraph after a prolonged fast. Additionally, the novel emphasizes the poor description of the elder's cell, which aligns with Francis's requirement of evangelical poverty, as well as the large icon of the Mother of God, whose cult holds a central place in Franciscan teaching.
Are there any experts on the teachings of Francis of Assisi among you? What do you think about his comparison to Elder Zosima?
Let's vote on who you think is the strongest prototype for Elder Zosima?
About Dostoevsky's visit to Optina Monastery.
Fyodor Mikhailovich visited the monastery with his philosopher friend Vladimir Solovyov on July 7 (June 25 by the old calendar), 1878.
Dostoevsky stayed at the monastery for two days, from June 25 to 27. On June 29, he wrote a letter to his wife describing his trip to the monastery. However, he said almost nothing about his stay there:
We were at Optina Monastery for two days. Then we returned on the same horses.
The letter ends with a promise to share everything upon his return.
Apparently, it was this verbal account of her husband's visit to the monastery that Anna Dostoevskaya recorded in her memoirs.
Fyodor Mikhailovich met with the then-famous Elder Father Ambrose three times: once in a crowd, among people, and twice in private - and he came away from these conversations with a deep and profound impression. When Fyodor Mikhailovich told the elder about the misfortune that had befallen him and about my too violently manifested grief, the elder asked if I was a believer, and when Fyodor Mikhailovich answered affirmatively, he asked him to convey his blessing to me, as well as those words which later in the novel ['The Brothers Karamazov'] Elder Zosima said to the grieving mother.
According to Vladimir Solovyov's recollections, who visited the monastery with Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich did not submissively heed the elder's words at all. Solovyov recalled:
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, for instance, instead of obediently and with proper humility listening to the instructive speeches of the schema-monk elder, spoke more than him, became agitated, ardently objected to him, developed and explained the meaning of his words and, without noticing it himself, transformed from someone wishing to hear instructive speeches into a teacher.
Dostoevsky spoke not only with Ambrose but also with other inhabitants of the monastery.
By the way
In 1886, the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee banned the printing of Elder Zosima's Tale for public reading, citing its "mystical-social teaching, which was inconsistent with the spirit of the Orthodox faith and church teachings, as well as the existing order of state and social life."
In 1898, during a meeting of the Academic Committee, it was suggested that readers might struggle to understand Zosima's teachings and instructions. Based on this and several other concerns, Dostoevsky's complete works were removed from free public reading rooms.
Very interesting article! I had only known about Ambrose as a prototype for Zosima - he's the only one I'd ever read about. It's fascinating how Dostoevsky reimagined the physical space, keeping the actual monastery and its name while changing the city's name and repositioning it closer to the monastery. I love these parallel realities he creates - where something is simultaneously drawn from reality yet transformed into something new.
Now I'll try to find a good translation of Boris Godunov and read it.
Thanks a lot for providing this information on the elders, map and fotos, Dana!