St Sophrony of Essex

Born Sergei Sakharov in Moscow, he trained as a painter and exhibited in Paris before an intense spiritual search led him back to Christ. In 1925 he entered the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos, where he became the closest disciple of the elder Silouan. After Silouan's death he lived as a hermit in the Athonite desert and served as confessor to several monasteries. Leaving the Mountain for Paris, he published his elder's notes together with a profound study as 'Saint Silouan the Athonite,' the book that made the humble Russian monk known throughout the world. In 1959 he founded the Monastery of St John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights in Essex, England, a community of monks and nuns centered on the Jesus Prayer. His own writings, above all 'We Shall See Him As He Is,' explore prayer, repentance, and the person as the image of God. He reposed in 1993 and was canonized in 2019.