Our Venerable Father Isaac I, Schema-Archimandrite and Superior of Optina
Life
Isaac I of Optina (born Ivan Ivanovich Antimonov; 31 May 1810 – 22 August 1894) was a Russian monastic who served as Superior of the Optina Hermitage from 1862 until his death in 1894. He held the rank of schema-archimandrite and is counted among the Optina Elders, the company of spiritual guides associated with one of the foremost centers of nineteenth-century Russian monasticism.
His long tenure as superior coincided with the height of Optina's influence as a center of the monastic renewal movement rooted in the hesychastic tradition. His spiritual formation was shaped by the Optina eldership, and in particular by Elder Ambrose. He was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1990 and formally canonized for general veneration by the Russian Orthodox Church on 7 August 2000.
Timeline 4 moments
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31 May 1810Birth in KurskBorn Ivan Ivanovich Antimonov in Kursk, Russia.
1862Appointed Superior of OptinaBecame Superior of the Optina Hermitage, an office he would hold for the rest of his life.
22 August 1894ReposeReposed at the Optina Hermitage in Kozelsk, Russia, after more than three decades as superior.
7 August 2000GlorificationFormally glorified for general veneration by the Russian Orthodox Church, having earlier been glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1990.
Contributions & Legacy
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Superior of Optina
From 1862 to 1894 Isaac served as Superior of the Optina Hermitage, near Kozelsk. During this period Optina was regarded as the most important spiritual center of the Church of Russia in the nineteenth century, renowned for the renewal of monastic life in the hesychastic tradition. He held the rank of schema-archimandrite.
His monastic life was influenced by the Optina elder Ambrose, one of the best-known of the Optina spiritual fathers. As superior, Isaac belonged to the unbroken line of elders through whom the monastery exercised its wider influence on Russian spiritual life.
Relics & Shrines
His remains are kept in the Kazan Church of the Optina Monastery.
Veneration
Isaac is commemorated on 22 August, the day of his repose, and together with all the Optina Elders on 11 October. He is distinguished from Isaac II of Optina (born 1865), a later superior of the same monastery.
