This little book about the life of Staretz Antonios is not a work of fiction nor a pious novel. It is a true story of a contemporary man of God.

Staretz Antonios (Hierodeacon Alexios) was a charismatic figure. He lived during a very difficult time for the Church, when the atheistic storm sought to demolish the Church and dissolve the connection of the Russian people with the Orthodox tradition.

He lived almost his entire life as a persecuted and wandering man. In the 1930s, he experienced the bitter ordeal of prison, camps, and exile. He was repeatedly tortured, reaching the brink of death multiple times, and was miraculously saved.

From the tortures, he lost his sight and later became a wandering monk, a blind wayfarer of God. The distances he traveled across the vast Soviet Union at that time were incredible. Secretly and quietly, like a gentle breeze, he became for many people the wise guide, the spiritual father, supporting, strengthening, comforting, and healing.

In 1994, he fell asleep in the Lord and was buried at the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine in Moscow.