Venerable Anatolius of Optina, the elder

Anatoly (Zertsalov) was born in 1824 and came to the Optina Hermitage in 1853. There he was a disciple of the elders Macarius and, after Macarius died in 1860, Ambrose. From 1874 he headed the hermitage (skete) of Optina and he was also the spiritual father of the Shamordino convent, which Ambrose had founded. People of every rank came to him for advice. He died at Optina in January 1894. Not to be confused with a later elder of Optina of the same name, Anatoly (Potapov), who died in 1922.