Venerable (Monastic) 20th century

Venerable Isaac II of Optina

1865 – 1938

Also known as Isaac Bobrikov

One of the Optina Elders who died as a martyr in 1938 and was later glorified with the Optina saints.

Feast Day

December 26

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Commemorated as

Venerable Hieromartyr Isaac II, Archimandrite and Last Abbot of Optina

Life

Isaac II of Optina, known in the world as Ivan Nikolayevich Bobrakov, was the last abbot of the Optina Hermitage and one of the monastics venerated collectively as the Optina Elders. By tradition he entered Optina as a novice in 1884, was tonsured into the mantia in 1898, and was ordained to the priesthood the same year. In 1913 he was appointed abbot with the rank of archimandrite, leading the monastery through the upheavals that followed the Russian Revolution until its closure by the Soviet authorities.

After the suppression of monastic life at Optina, Isaac was arrested on several occasions. Sources record an arrest in 1929 in the region around Kozelsk together with other monks, and a final arrest in the latter half of the 1930s. He was condemned to death by an NKVD tribunal and shot, dying as a martyr. The OCA synaxarion gives his repose as December 26, 1938, while other accounts place his execution among a group of Optina monks early in 1938; he is commemorated on December 26.

Isaac II was glorified together with the other Elders of Optina. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia numbered him among the glorified Optina saints in 1990; the Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration on June 13, 1996, and approved general-church (universal) veneration on August 7, 2000. He is counted both among the Venerable monastic elders of Optina and among the New Martyrs and Confessors who suffered under the Soviet persecution.

Timeline 6 moments Read Hide

1865 Born Born Ivan Nikolayevich Bobrakov.
1884 Entered Optina Entered the Optina Hermitage as a novice.
1898 Tonsure and ordination Tonsured into the mantia and ordained to the priesthood.
1913 Appointed abbot Appointed abbot of Optina with the rank of archimandrite, becoming its last abbot.
1938 Martyrdom Condemned by the NKVD and shot; commemorated on December 26.
2000 Universal glorification General-church veneration of the Optina Elders approved on August 7.

Contributions & Legacy

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Last Abbot of Optina

The Optina Hermitage, near Kozelsk in the Kaluga region, had become one of the most influential spiritual centers of nineteenth-century Russia through its succession of elders. Isaac II stood at the end of that succession as the monastery's final abbot before its dissolution under the Soviet state. Accounts of him describe a man of great calm and simplicity who was noted for the abundance of tears he shed during the Divine services.

His abbacy spanned the years of revolution, civil war, and the systematic closing of monasteries. The community of Optina was suppressed, and Isaac, like many of its monks, was subjected to repeated arrest as the authorities moved against the surviving clergy and monastics of the region.

Arrest and Martyrdom

Isaac was arrested in 1929 in the area of Kozelsk together with other Optina monks and held in custody before further imprisonment. He was arrested a final time in the late 1930s during the height of the Soviet terror and condemned to death by a tribunal of the NKVD.

He was shot together with a group of other Optina monks. Surviving records differ on the precise date, giving either the close of 1937–early 1938 or December 26, 1938; the day of his liturgical commemoration is December 26. His death places him among the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints