| Saint Ambrose of Optina | |
|---|---|
Icon of St. Ambrose of Optina |
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| Venerable Father | |
| Born | 5 December 1812 Bolshaya Lipovitsa settlement, Tambov, Russia |
| Died | 23 October 1891 Shamordino |
| Honored in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | 13 May [O.S. 30 April] 1990 in Montreal, Canada by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad 7 August [O.S. 25 July] 2000 by the Moscow Patriarchate |
| Feast | 23 October [O.S. 10 October] (Repose) 10 July [O.S. 27 June] (Uncovering of Relics) |
| Attributes | Clothed as a monk, sometimes holding a scroll |
Venerable Ambrose of Optina (Russian: преподобный Амвросий Оптинский; name at birth: Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Grenkov - Александр Михайлович Гренков, December 5, 1812, Bolshaya Lipovitsa settlement, Tambov guberniya—October 23, 1891) was a starets and a hieroschemamonk in Optina Monastery, canonized in 1988 by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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Aleksandr was born in the family of sexton Mikhail Fyodorovich Grenkov and Marfa Nikolayevna Grenkova. He was the sixth of eight children. At the age of 12 Aleksandr entered the Tambov clerical school and later the Tambov theological seminary. Then he became a teacher in the Lipetsk clerical school and in 1839 entered the Vvedensk Monastery of the Optina Monastery in Kaluga guberniya when the monastery was in its spiritual heyday. His first guide was Starets (Elder) Leonid and then later Starets Makary, whom Ambrose shared a cell with. This gave him get help in his spiritual progress.
Ambrose had a very lively humor and sociable character which conflicted with his more stoic spiritual discipline. Ambrose had many struggles with illness throughout his life building upon these struggles for insight into the human condition. Ambrose was tonsured as a monk, after only three years, in 1842. He was given the religious name Ambrose in honour of Saint Ambrose of Milan. In another three years Ambrose advanced and was ordained a hieromonk (priest).
Due to illness Ambrose was forced into semi-reclusion for several years. This seclusion allowed him to concentrate on the mastering of the Jesus Prayer or hesychasm and to experience the meaning of hesychia, the silence of the soul before God or theoria. Even though of a weak constitution Father Ambrose continued work assisting Elder Makary with the translation of the Holy Fathers. Father Ambrose maintained his correspondence and counsel to pilgrims, and later as a staretz (Elder) out of love for all people he counseled and any who sought him.
When Elder Macarius died in September, 1860, Father Ambrose became the superior (igumen) of the monastery. Elder Ambrose remained the principal staretz of Optina for 30 years. Ambrose was visited by countless people, and his love for every person was so strong that he would even see people when he had passed the point of exhaustion being forced to lay down. Even then he would not refuse to listen to people coming to him to seek his counsel. The staretz had the gift of being able to see into people's souls where no secret was hidden from him. There is abundant testimony to his clairvoyance. Known for his deep kindness and compassion no one's question or counsel was refused.
Saint Ambrose founded Shamordino Convent in 1884. This convent, which is near Optina, opened its doors to women who were poor, sickly, or even blind. Most convents were very poor and had to rely on the incomes of women who had a certain personal wealth in order to remain open. Saint Ambrose made it possible for any woman who wished to become a nun. After the death of the first abbess, Mother Sophia, Father Ambrose went there in June 1890 to put the convent's affairs in order. He was unable to return to Optina due to illness, and died in the Shamordino cloister on October 10, 1891, and was buried in the Optina "desert" (poustin). His relics were placed in the Vvedensky Monastery.
Dostoevsky stated that in Elder Ambrose he had found a living example of the Christian ideal. Elder Nektary of The Brothers Karamazov referred to Ambrose as "an earthly angel and a heavenly man." Saint Ambrose is supposed to have been seen surrounded by the uncreated light more than once. In the Russian Orthodox tradition, this is the definitive sign of transfiguration and citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven to come, or paradise, similar to what has been attributed to Saint Seraphim of Sarov.
Ambrose was also a subject in Velikoe v malom i Antikhrist by Serge Nilus.