Portrays the traditions and interior life of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Written by an anonymous Russian Christian, the original manuscript came into the hands of a monk on Mount Athos in the nineteenth century and was first published in 1884. These chronicles follow the author as he travels through mid-nineteenth-century Russia and Siberia, visiting the monasteries and shrines of the saints in order to "pray without ceasing." His journey leads hm to a staret, a Russian spriitual master who teaches him the spiritual discipline known as the Jesus Prayer - the uninterrupted mantra-like invocation of the name of Jesus. This extraordinary account brings the soul of Eastern Christinaity to the West.