About the book: 2004 / Having entered Optina Pustyn, Nikolai Belyaev for three years (from 1907 to 1910 year) kept, with the blessing of Elder Barsanuphius, a spiritual diary, which we offer to our readers. The diary is especially interesting because, in addition to a sincere, lively description of the life of the monastery, it reveals to us the spiritual life of the great Optina elder Barsanuphius, for the novice Nikolai wrote down in detail, with love, all his conversations and instructions in the Diary. The diary shows how the spiritual growth of a young novice, a truly devoted disciple of an elder, gradually occurs, and helps to understand how great the importance of the spiritual guidance of elders in the matter of human salvation is. In this edition, the full text of the Diary is published for the first time - significant abbreviations have been made in all publications known to us. The diary is accompanied by comments, which are compiled from the memoirs of Ivan Belyaev, brother of Fr. Nikon.