In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky mentions: 

“It [Eldership, Startsii] was revived among us towards the end of last century by one of the great “ascetics,” as they called him, Paissy Velitchkovsky, and his disciples. But to this day it exists in few monasteries only, and has sometimes been almost persecuted as an innovation in Russia. It flourished especially in the celebrated Kozelski Optin Monastery. When and how it was introduced into our monastery I cannot say. There had already been three such elders and Zossima was the last of them.” (Brothers, Book 1, Chapter 5, Elders)

St. Paisius Velichkovskii is often attributed with the restoration of the tradition of the stillness of the soul (hesychasm), the Jesus Prayer, and the revival of monasticism to the Orthodox East in 19th century Eastern Europe. Fr. John McGuckin writes:

“St. Paisius Velichovsky, who was the towering spiritual figure who first brought the Philokalic tradition to the Slavic lands, and who can be rightly regarded as the modern Father of the Jesus Prayer. St. Paisius was regarded as a major Starets in the great Optina hermitage near Moscow, and it was his teaching that undoubtedly inspired the creation of The Way of the Pilgrim. Sadly, although he is one of the most important of the early modern spiritual masters of the Orthodox tradition, next to nothing is available in accessible studies about him. The life and work of this major figure in the history of spirituality goes largely unnoticed; yet he was a man who lies behind the major revival of the Philokalic spirituality that characterizes modern Orthodoxy.” (McGuckin, John (2009), Spiritus, Johns Hopkins University Press)

St. Paisius Velichkovskii is my patron saint. On this journey, I intend to visit several monasteries closely associated with him in Romanian Moldavia (Neamts, Secu, Sihastria, and Agapia), as well as Optina Pustyn near Moscow.