Saint Nikandr was born in 1865 in the Kamianets-Podilskyi province to a peasant family of Dmytro Prusak. He was named Nikifor at baptism. He received his education at home. Choosing the monastic path, he labored in the Alexandr-Afon Zelenchuk Desert, where on March 7, 1896, he was tonsured into monasticism and named Nikandr. On June 8, 1896, he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and on November 30, 1897, as a hieromonk. The monastery administration characterized him as a very capable and hardworking monk. In 1901, he was sent to the Caucasian Nikolaev Missionary Monastery, and in 1908, he returned to the Zelenchuk Desert. In 1913, Hieromonk Nikandr was transferred to the Bolkhov Trinity Optina Monastery of the Oryol Diocese and appointed to serve as the treasurer; in 1916, he was transferred to the Tolga Monastery of the Yaroslavl Diocese.
Hieromonk Nikandr (Prusak) was shot on June 30 (July 13), 1918, by the godless Bolsheviks who seized power in the country and was buried in an unknown grave.
