A Girl's Journey to Sainthood: Venerable Ascetic Dosithea of Kiev

Some people know from an early age that they want to live solely for Christ. As a young girl from a noble Russian family, Dareia Tiapkin developed a deep love for monastic life and spiritual struggle while living in a monastery alongside her grandmother, the nun Porphyria. A crisis developed, however, when Dareia’s parents arranged for her to marry. Now a teenager of fifteen, Dareia made the fateful decision to flee her family. Not wanting to be caught and returned home, the girl cut her hair, dressed like a boy, and entered a men’s monastery, where she became the “monk” Dositheos. From this beautifully illustrated book, children will learn the amazing story of the girl who, with God’s grace, lived an ascetic life and grew in holiness to become a revered starets and a great saint of the Orthodox Church.