began in 1853. Therefore, it was "between those two dates," 1853 and 1861, that the Pilgrim arrived at Irkutsk and found a spiritual father, two of the major events in the Pilgrim's narrative. Franny and Zooey The Way of a Pilgrim is central to the plot of both stories in Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Franny Glass, a young college student, is fascinated with The Way of a Pilgrim, describing it as a way "to see God," and saying that the Jesus Prayer is similar to techniques in Hinduism and Buddhism. Her brother Zooey knows that Franny's copy of the book actually belonged to their late brother, Seymour. Zooey questions her seeming obsession with the prayer. Franny and Zooey became an international best-seller, and was influential in spreading the popularity of The Way of a Pilgrim outside of monastic traditions and to people of different religious backgrounds. Reception to the way of prayer described in the book The Way of a Pilgrim is one of the most widely circulated prayer manuals in the Western world, with the Jesus Prayer possibly the most widely practiced Christian prayer after the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary. The popularity of the book was influential in the modern rediscovery of hesychasm as a living practice. The pilgrim's method of prayer that is described in the book has received a mixed reception over the years from academics and clergy. Saint Ignatius Bryanchaninov wrote that the book might give a student the impression that "unceasing prayer of the heart," one goal of the practice, can be achieved after only a few weeks of practice, but that the pilgrim's experience and preparation were remarkable. His life leading up to the practice, and his study under a starets (his spiritual father), prepared him for the beneficial results he received. In an introduction to the translation by Olga Savin, Thomas Hopko describes the book as a "spiritual classic" which teaches that ceaseless prayer is not only the goal, and the one thing worth living for, but is "life itself." Like other clergy, he points out that the pilgrim teaches the practice of ceaseless prayer should be done with the guidance of a spiritual father, and with active participation in the Church and liturgy. He wrote that the book is for all who are pilgrims, and that it "provides protection and nourishment for the trip, pointing to its perils and