The biographical material staretz Sophrony (1896-1993) is reduced to very little: a Russian painter who has lived an unusual experience of God in the shelter of a revered teacher, the starets Silouan (or san Silvano), on Mount Athos ; Many years later, in 1959, he will found in Essex, not far from London, the Monastery of San Juan Bautista. As a Russian, it is immediate testimony of both the Soviet Revolution and two world wars. And it is overwhelmed by the intensity of the suffering of the world. The other times -second schematic painter stroke of his biography, still in it, but latently: wrenched himself for the sake of his exclusive surrender to God. And it is, above all, a monk in the presence of God.

Its mission in this world speaks indirectly in the autobiography: "Many on earth have been granted happiness to see this wonderful light. Most of the beneficiaries have saved this blessing as the most precious secret of his life and fascinated by this treasure, they have passed into another world. Others, however, has been ordered to testify to his brothers, near and far, this higher reality. " This mission coincided with his appointment as spiritual father in Athos, a task in which he spent his life for many years. From this clarification we can clearly understand the theological ministry staretz Sophrony, permeating the pages of this book. He knew he had been granted an extraordinary capacity for formulation. Its existence was so compromised that it could qualify theological.