The Monk Afanasy Serpukhovskoy, in the world of Andrey, was born in Obonezhskaya Pyatina in the family of the priest Avksentiy and his wife Maria. From a young age, inclined to prayerful self-absorption and rejection from the world, he was looking for a worthy mentor in monastic work.

At this time, the fame of the exploits of the Monk Abba Sergius of Radonezh had already spread throughout Russia. The monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity on Makovets became for everyone a lamp and a model of the monastic dispensation. Here, in the monastic dormitory, the "hateful discord of this world" was overcome, the unity of the spirit was created in the union of love in the image of the Divine Trinity Itself. It was to Abba Sergius, to the Trinity on Makovets, that the young man Andrey from the far reaches of Novgorod directed his steps in search of spiritual perfection.