Pavel Pavlovich Stoykov was born on [[November 21]] (November 8th [[Julian Calendar|OS]]), 1792, in Malorossia guberniya of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) in a rich noble family. His parents&mdash;collegiate registrar Pavel and Paraskeva&mdash;were devoutly religious people. They infused in the heart of their son belief in God and piety. Since his youth Pavel felt a flaming love for holy places and making [[pilgrimage]]s to them. He related about himself: "All my desire was to pray to God, my intention was to go on pilgrimage to rescue my soul, because surrounding life was full of secular vanity and impeded my holy wish."<ref>Quotation from [http://www.taganrogcity.com/saint_pavel.html Saint Starets Pavel of Taganrog]</ref> His father never let him become a [[clergy]]man, but wanted to provide his son with a higher education. However, the 16-year-old Pavel Pavlovich followed the voice of his heart. He secretly left the home of his parents and for a year, traveled on pilgrimages [[pilgrimage]]s to [[monastery|monasteries]]. On his return he suffered severe punishment from his father.

When Pavel was 25 years old, his father divided his property between Pavel and his elder brother, Ivan. The young [[ascetic]] dispensed his inheritance in Christ's name. Then, with his father's blessing, young Pavel left home forever. He wandered to many of the holy places of Russia, including several times to the [[Monastery of the Kiev Caves|Kiev Pechersk Lavra]] and [[Pochaev Lavra of the Dormition of the Theotokos|Pochaev Lavra]]. He often went to the north of Russia, visiting monasteries at [[SolovetskyMonastery|Solovetsky]], Verkolskiy, Kojeozerskiy, and many others.