Definition of "starets" [starets]

• A spiritual adviser, often a monk or religious hermit, in the Eastern Orthodox Church. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Abbot of that monastery was a gentleman by birth, a learned writer and a starets, that is, he belonged to that succession of monks originating in Walachia who each choose a director and teacher whom they implicitly obey."
• "Well, the starets tells him about the Jesus Prayer first of all."
• "Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov is writing about that familiar figure of the old Russia, the starets, or holy man: 'A starets takes your soul, your will, into his soul and will."