Leontiev was born and grew up on his father's estate in ,
Kaluga Governorate. His father, a nobleman, was a military officer but was discharged for "riotous behaviour". Still, the intervention of the Russian empress in behalf of the Leontiev brothers made him able to enter the Imperial
Corps of Pages. He was engaged at 23 but broke off the relationship for the sake of "freedom and art" – a decision that made things difficult for him. After completing medical school in
Moscow, Leontiev saw service as a doctor during the
Crimean War. In 1861, he carried off a local Crimean girl, the daughter of a Greek merchant, from
Feodosiya, eventually marrying her. He later lived in various Ottoman towns as a Russian consular agent, devoting his leisure time to writing oriental fiction on many themes, some of which included a condemnation of anti-homosexuality and implied that he may have been bisexual. In the summer of 1871, after praying to the
Virgin Mary, he was cured of
cholera and
dysentery and promised her he would take monastic vows. Later that autumn, he moved to the
Russian monastery on
Mount Athos. In 1880, he moved to the censorship department in
Moscow, where he published several acclaimed analyses of
Leo Tolstoy's novels. Seven years later, he secretly took the tonsure at the
Optina monastery, famous for its
startsy. He died as a monk in the
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Leontiev died on 24 November 1891 in
Sergiyev Posad from
pneumonia. == Works and political thought ==