St. Sophrony of Essex

Sergei Sakharov was a promising painter in Paris who gave up art for prayer and became a monk on Mount Athos. There he became the disciple of St. Silouan, and after the elder’s death he lived as a hermit and spiritual father. He published St. Silouan’s writings, and in 1959 he founded the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England, where monks and nuns from many nations pray the Jesus Prayer together. He reposed in 1993 and was glorified in 2019.

• Feast: July 11 (New Calendar)
• Lived: 1896–1993
• Place: Essex, England