Optina Monastery

Optina, near Kozelsk, became famous in the 19th century for its line of elders, Leonid, Macarius, Ambrose and others, who received visitors from every walk of life. Gogol, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy all came here. Closed and ruined under the Soviets, it was returned to the Church in 1987. In 1993, on Pascha, three of its monks were murdered, and pilgrims pray at their graves.

• Date: 14th–19th century