Although the beginning of monastic life in Optina monastery dates to at least as early as the sixteenth century, it is most known for its tradition of spiritual eldership in the tradition of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) of Moldavia, which flourished there in the nineteenth century—particularly in the monastery’s Skete of St. John the Forerunner. This pleiad of spiritual luminaries bears a significance to Russian Orthodox spirituality that cannot be overestimated.