273
edits
Changes
→Early life
His father being a priest, Mikhail studied at theological schools in Smolensk, then enrolled in the St. Petersburg Academy, where he studied from 1813 to 1817. At this time he met his future spiritual father, [[Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow|Filaret]], later Metropolitan of Moscow. He also developed an interest in the [[Philokalia]]; the writings of Protestant mystics such as Jung-Stilling and Johann Arndt; in Quakerism; and in the work of the [[Russian Bible Society]] (suspect for its English Protestant ties).
The following year Makarii (as he was now called) was tonsured as a monk, ordained as a priest, and enrolled at the [[Lavra of the Caves]] in [[Kiev]]. In 1821 he transferred to Kostroma Seminary, where he received the rank of [[archimandrite]]. At this time, on the recommendation of his confessor, Fr. Liverii, he began practicing [[hesychasm]]. He also met St. [[St. Seraphim of Sarov]], who had just emerged from forty years of seclusion.
Fr. Makarii left Kostroma in 1824, apparently out of a desire for the [[cenobitic]] life, coupled with frustration over his administrative role. He eventually settled in the Glinsk Hermitage in Putivl village, near [[Kursk]]. There he conceived of the idea of becoming a missionary to Siberia.