St Theophan the Recluse

Georgy Govorov served as a scholar, seminary rector, and bishop of Tambov and then Vladimir before doing something almost unheard of for a hierarch: in 1866 he resigned his see and withdrew to the Vysha monastery, and from 1872 lived in total reclusion, seeing almost no one for over twenty years. His cell became a workshop for the whole Russian church. He translated the Philokalia into Russian as the Dobrotolyubie, wrote The Path to Salvation and commentaries on the Epistles, and answered an enormous correspondence — thousands of letters of practical spiritual direction to laypeople, monks, and mothers of families. His constant theme was attention of the heart: keeping the mind in the heart before God amid ordinary duties. He served the Liturgy daily in a tiny chapel in his cell and reposed on the feast of the Theophany. He was canonized in 1988.