A Russian monastic who was always looking to deepen his experience of hesychia, Saint Arsenius left for the Holy Mountain with a group of Athonite monks who had visited his monastery. Having arrived in the garden of the Theotokos, like a new Publica, he regarded himself as the least worthy of all who had ever set foot there. This deep and sincere humility led him ever more deeply into repentance, passing every night in prayer. Having richly inherited the phronema of Athos, he decided to return to his country and found a monastery dedicated to the Mother of God there. After receiving the blessing of his Archbishop, he located a place well suited for the ascetic life – the abandoned island of Konevets on Lake Ladoga. On the island he found a ruined pagan shrine that was infested by demons, but they fled at his rebuke not being able to withstand the fire of his humility. The monastery was firmly established, and many monks came to join him there.