Monastery of Optina Pustyn - An Important Spiritual Centre In
the 19th century Optina Pustyn, a male monastery located by the
right bank of the Zhizdra River, near Kozelsk, was a very
important spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church. There
is no documentation as to when the Optina Pustyn monastery was
established, but legend states that a former outlaw by the name
of Opta founded the monastery in the 15th century. It was here
that he took the monastic vows, changing his name to Makarii,
and asked forgiveness for his sins. The Russian words Optina
Pustyn means, “living together”, because before 1504 nuns were
allowed residence in the cloister. The first piece of evidence
was found in the 17th century during Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich’s
reign. At this point it was a small wooden structure with a few
monastic cells, one church and less than twenty monks. The
majority of the monastery was built during the 18th and 19th
centuries when it was being changed to a center of Russian
staretsdom, where many staret