For many Orthodox, the gold standard of spiritual direction is a personal relationship with a starets (or staritsa) – elder or spiritual father (mother). They are charismatic teachers in the hesychast tradition who are recognized as giving particularly insightful spiritual guidance (and may also be regarded as having gifts of prophecy and/or healing). But genuine startsi have always been rare – so much so that even Orthodox religious cannot always find suitable spiritual fathers/mothers.
In his introduction to Chariton of Valamo’s The Art of Prayer, Kallistos Ware describes the young monk’s response to this problem:
Father Chariton’s anthology springs directly from his own monastic experience. On his first entry to the monastery – following the normal custom in Orthodox religious communities — he was placed under the supervision of a staretz, who instructed the young novice in the practice of the Jesus Prayer, and at the same time in other forms of prayer and ascetic effort. On the death of his staretz, Chariton — in the absence of a living teacher — turned to books for guidance. It was his custom to copy down in a special notebook the passages which particularly impressed him, and so in course of time he compiled an anthology on the art of prayer. (p.10)
It strikes me that this is a good way forward for anyone in a similar situation (which, I suspect, includes most Orthodox in the West who want to take the spiritual life seriously).
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