A
starets (, fem. стáрица) is an elder of a
Russian Orthodox monastery who functions as venerated adviser and teacher.
Elders or
spiritual fathers are charismatic spiritual leaders whose wisdom stems from God as obtained from ascetic experience. It is believed that through
ascetic struggle, prayer and Hesychasm (seclusion or withdrawal), the
Holy Spirit bestows special gifts onto the
elder including the ability to heal, prophesy, and most importantly, give effective spiritual guidance and direction.
Elders are looked upon as being an inspiration to believers and an example of saintly virtue, steadfast faith, and spiritual peace.
Elders are not appointed by any authority; they are simply recognized by the faithful as being people "of the Spirit". An
elder, when not in prayer or in voluntary seclusion, receives visitors (some who travel very far) and spends time conversing with them, offering a blessing (if the
elder is an ordained cleric) and confession, and praying. People often petition the
elder for intercessionary prayers, believing that the prayer of an
elder is particularly effective.
Personal
confessions to
elders are encouraged, although not all of them are ordained to the
priesthood. Many of them have a reputation amidst believers of being able to know the secrets of a person's heart without having ever previously met the visitor, and having the ability to discern God's plan for a person's life. This, as all of the
elder's gifts, is believed to come from the
Holy Spirit acting through the
elder.
Derivation, history and application
The institution may be traced to the beginnings of Christian monasticism in the 4th century. The original Greek term
geron (meaning "elder", as in gerontology) was rendered by the
Russian word
starets, from
Old Church Slavonic starĭtsĭ, "elder", derived from
starŭ, "old". The Greek tradition has a long unbroken history of elders and disciples, such as Sophronios and John Moschos in the seventh century, Symeon the Elder and
Symeon the New Theologian in the eleventh century, and contemporary charismatik gerontes such as
Porphyrios and
Paisios.
Sergius of Radonezh and
Nil Sorsky were two most venerated
startsy of Old
Muscovy. The revival of elders in the Slavic world is associated with the name of
Paisius Velichkovsky (1722-94), who produced the Russian translation of the
Philokalia. The most famous Russian
starets of the early 19th century was
Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833), who went on to become one of the most revered Orthodox saints.
The
Optina Pustyn near
Kozelsk used to be celebrated for its
startsy (Schema-Archimandrite Moses, Schema-Hegumen Anthony, Hieroschemamonk Leonid, Hieroschemamonk Macarius, Hieroschemamonk Hilarion, Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, Hieroschemamonk Anatole (Zertsalov)). 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 styled
starets by his followers, although he was not generally recognised as one. A more modern example of a
starets is Archimandrite
John Krestiankin (1910-2006) of the
Pskov Monastery of the Caves who was popularly recognized as such by many Orthodox living in Russia.
The concept of the
elder 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 an
elder, who uses the
Jesus Prayer as a starting point for spiritual discipline.
Other meanings
In
Bulgarian and several other southern Slavic languages the word translates literally to "old man". A word with a meaning closer to the translation in Russian would be
stareishina ().
See also
