Astarets (Russian:стáрец,IPA:[ˈstarʲɪt͡s]; fem.ста́рица,staritsa) is an elder of anEastern Orthodox orEastern Catholic monastery or convent who functions as venerated adviser and teacher.Elders orspiritual fathers are charismatic spiritual leaders whose wisdom stems from God as obtained from ascetic experience. It is believed that throughascetic struggle, prayer andhesychasm, theHoly Spirit bestows special gifts onto the elder including the ability toheal,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 anordained cleric) and confession, and praying. People often petition the elder for intercessionary prayers, believing that the prayer of an elder is particularly effective.
Personalconfessions to elders are encouraged, although not all of them are ordained to thepriesthood. Many of them have a reputation among 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 theHoly Spirit acting through the elder.
The institution may be traced to the beginnings of Christian monasticism in the 4th century. The original Greek termgeron (meaning "elder", as ingerontology) was rendered by theRussian wordstarets, fromOld Church Slavonicstarĭtsĭ, "elder", derived fromstarŭ, "old". The Greek tradition has a long unbroken history of elders and disciples, such asSophronius andJohn Moschos in the seventh century,Symeon the Elder andSymeon the New Theologian in the eleventh century, and contemporary charismaticgerontes such asPorphyrios andPaisios.Sergius of Radonezh andNil Sorsky were two most veneratedstartsy of OldMuscovy. The revival of elders in the Slavic world is associated with the name ofPaisius Velichkovsky (1722–1794), who produced theChurch Slavonic translation of selected texts of thePhilokalia. The most famous Russianstarets of the early 19th century wasSeraphim of Sarov (1759–1833), who went on to become one of the most revered Orthodox saints.
TheOptina Pustyn nearKozelsk used to be celebrated for itsstartsy (Schema-Archimandrite Moses, Schema-Hegumen Anthony,Hieroschemamonk Leonid,Hieroschemamonk Macarius, Hieroschemamonk Hilarion,Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, Hieroschemamonk Anatole (Zertsalov)).[1] Such writers asNikolay Gogol,Aleksey Khomyakov,Leo Tolstoy andKonstantin Leontyev sought advice from the elders of this monastery. They also inspired the figure of Zosima inDostoyevsky's novelThe Brothers Karamazov.Grigori Rasputin was styledstarets by his followers, although he was not generally recognised as one. A more modern example of astarets is ArchimandriteJohn Krestiankin (1910–2006) of thePskov 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 throughJ. D. Salinger'sFranny and Zooey. In the novel, one of the characters refers to the 19th centuryanonymousRussian work,The Way of a Pilgrim. The title character ofThe Way of a Pilgrim (ostensibly, the author) is advised in the progress of his spiritual life by an elder, who uses theJesus Prayer as a starting point for spiritual discipline.
InBulgarian and several other South Slavic languages the word translates literally to "old man". A word with a meaning closer to the translation in Russian would bestareishina (Bulgarian:старейшина).