Silouan, an unlettered young peasant from the heart of European Russia, finished his military service in the autumn of 1892 and within a week set off for the Russian Monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos. There, rooted in a tradition reaching back to the very beginnings of Christian monasticism, he came to a personal experience of Christianity akin to that of the Desert Fathers.
This compelling account of Silouan's life, written by his closest disciple Archimandrite Sophrony, reveals not only Silouan's personality and teaching, but also the spiritual struggles which truly made him a staretz (i.e., a monk whose God-given wisdom and insight enable him to serve as a spiritual guide for others.) Staretz Silouan's own writings are gathered in a companion volume, Wisdom from Mount Athos, also available from SVS Press.