Then came the crisis — an illness that brought him to the edge of life and death, forcing him to confront his soul."
a religious experience some say he saw the Virgin Mary, or angels, or perhaps a truth beyond comprehension. He would never be the same
After that night, the violent peasant began to transform. He abandoned his old habits and set out across Russia as a wandering holy man. Barefoot, unkempt, and intense, he traveled from monastery to monastery, preaching repentance and claiming