Nilus of Sora

Sorsky Nile ( Nile ( Nilus ) of Sora, Russian Нил Сорский; * 1433 in Moscow Nikolai Maikov, Russian Николай Майков; † May 7, 1508 ) was a Russian starets.

Nile was born into a noble family in Moscow. He joined the Kirillo- Belozersky monastery. In order to study the lifestyle of the local monks, he went on pilgrimage to Mount Athos, where he became a follower of Hesychasm. Upon his return to Kirillo- Belozersky monastery he founded in the vicinity of the monastery a hermit settlement ( in Russia under the name Skit known), and devoted himself in the solitude of the Jesus prayer. He gathered disciples around him, from which the movement of the so-called " unselfish " (Russian " Нестяжатели " / " Nestjaschateli " ) was born, a movement that wanted to return to the monastic - ascetic ideals of the Desert Fathers and against the lifestyle of the monks in rich large monasteries occurred, as it was by Joseph of Volokolamsk ( Iossif Wolozki ) and his followers, the Iossifljanern represented. Nile organized the lives of his students in Skiten. He served as Elder and lived as his students in simplicity and poverty by selling their handmade products.

Beginning of the 16th century arose between the unselfish and the Iossifljanern to disputes. A Sobor in 1503 decided this issue in favor of the Iossifljaner. The unselfish were pushed back by it. Despite the initial failure of his movement Nile laid the foundation for the heyday of the Jesus prayer and Starzentums in Russia at the end of the 18th and throughout the 19th century.