Valaam Monastery
Amos (his baptismal name) was born to a peasant family in the Novgorod Republic, east of Ladoga. At the age of 19, he left home for the Valaam Monastery and became a monk and occasional isolation. In 1506, Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod, appointed him Hegumen of the Trinity monastery, which later became known as Alexander-Svirsky Monastery.