Background

Saint Ambrose of Optina was born on December 5, 1812 in Bolshaya Lipovitsa village, Tambov, Russian Federation in the family of sexton Mikhail Fyodorovich Grenkov and Marfa Nikolayevna Grenkova. He was the sixth of eight children.

Education

At the age of 12 Aleksander entered the Tambov clerical school and later the Tambov theological seminary. In 1835, shortly before the graduation, Aleksandr became severely ill and made a vow if he got well to become a monk. He recovered but delayed his decision and became a private teacher in a family of a landlord and later in the Lipetsk clerical school.

In 1839, Aleksandr entered 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.

Career

Aleksander 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). On the trip to Kaluga for ordination, Ambrose caught cold. Since then, his health became so poor that he almost could not serve as a 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, in particular, with the translation of The Ladder of Divine Ascent. 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 replaced him as the principal elder 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 and gift of healing which he tried to conceal. 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 Church of the Monastery.

Views

Quotations: "One should live without hypocrisy and behave in such a way as to set an example, then our actions will be right, otherwise they will turn out bad."

"Live without cares, judge no-one, vex no-one, and honour everyone."

"From kindness, people see things entirely differently."

"Do not be greatly disturbed by the arrangement of your fate. Have only the unwavering desire for salvation and, standing before God, await His help until the time comes."

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• 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."

Connections

Father:

Mikhail Fyodorovich Grenkov

Mother:

Marfa Nikolayevna Grenkova

colleague:

Kireevskaya Nataliya Petrovna

Nataliya Petrovna was the wife of Kireevsky Ivan Vasilievich.

colleague:

Kireevsky Ivan Vasilievich

Ivan Vasilievich was the husband of Kireevskaya Nataliya Petrovna.

References

• Elder Ambrose of Optina The Elders of Optina Monastery have had a tremendous impact on Russian society. During the course of a century, their prophecy and God-illumined counsel attracted spiritual seekers from far and wide. Elder Ambrose is considered the pinnacle of Eldership in Optina. He embodied the virtues of all the elders in the highest degree--divine humility, purity of mind and heart, overflowing love, and total self-sacrifice for the salvation of his fellow man. Because he had attained the depths of humility, the Lord blessed him with spiritual gifts by which to heal suffering souls. He read human hearts, was granted to know the past, present and future of people, and spoke to them the direct, revealed word of God. So great were his gifts that hundreds of people flocked daily to his humble cabin in central Russia. Among these were the writers Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Leontiev and Solovyev. Dostoyevsky was so moved by his pilgrimage to Optina and Elder Ambrose that he wrote his last and greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, with the specific intention of depicting the spiritual image of Optina Monastery and the Elder. The well-known character of Elder Zosima in his book was modeled after Elder Ambrose, whose words of counsel Dostoyevsky put directly into the mouth of his unforgettable character. This edition of Elder Ambrose's life is a faithful English translation of the original Optina edition, printed in Russia in 1912. Through its pages we enter the world of a heavenly man, an angel in the flesh who beheld the mysteries of the future age: the perfect love and silent oneness of immortal spirits.
  1997