Ambrose of Optina

Life events

1. Born — 1812

   Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Grenkov was born on December 5, 1812, in the Bolshaya Lipovitsa settlement, Tambov guberniya, the sixth of eight children of sexton Mikhail Fyodorovich Grenkov; his grandfather was the village priest.

2. Educated — 1824

   At the age of 12, Aleksandr entered the Tambov clerical school and subsequently the Tambov theological seminary; in 1835, shortly before graduation, a severe illness prompted him to vow to become a monk if he recovered.

3. Other — 1839

   In October 1839, on the counsel of elder Hilarion of Troekurovo — who told him 'Go to Optina and you will be experienced' — Aleksandr entered Optina Monastery in Kaluga guberniya, where his first spiritual guides were Starets Leonid and then Starets Makary.

4. Tonsured — 1842

   After three years at Optina, Aleksandr was tonsured as a monk in 1842 and given the religious name Ambrose in honour of Ambrose of Milan.

5. Ordained — 1845

   Approximately three years after tonsure, Ambrose was ordained a hieromonk (priest-monk); on the journey to Kaluga for ordination he contracted a severe cold, after which his health remained so poor that he could barely serve liturgically.

6. Other — 1860

   When Starets Makary died in September 1860, Ambrose succeeded him as principal elder of Optina Monastery, a role he held for thirty years, receiving countless pilgrims including the writers Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

7. Other — 1884

   In 1884 Ambrose founded Shamordino Convent near Optina, which admitted women who were poor, sick, or blind regardless of personal wealth — a departure from the common practice of convents relying on the income of wealthier novices.

8. Died — 1891

   Ambrose died on October 10, 1891, at Shamordino Convent, unable to return to Optina due to illness; he was buried at Optina Monastery, his relics placed in the Vvedensky Church and in 1998 moved to the church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Chronic illness forced Ambrose into semi-reclusion after ordination, during which he practised the Jesus Prayer (hesychasm — hesychia, silence of the soul before God) and assisted Starets Makary in translating the Church Fathers, including The Ladder of Divine Ascent. (likely)
• Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky both visited Ambrose at Optina during his thirty-year tenure as principal starets; Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov refers to Ambrose through a character who called him 'an earthly angel and a heavenly man'. (likely)
• Ambrose was canonized at the 1988 Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the millennial council marking a thousand years since the Christianization of Rus'. (likely)
• According to accounts preserved in the Russian Orthodox tradition, Ambrose was observed more than once surrounded by the uncreated light, the same phenomenon attributed to Seraphim of Sarov, regarded as a sign of theosis. (legendary)
• Despite being recognized as a starets with clairvoyant gifts, Ambrose maintained a secret correspondence with a hidden wandering elder, consistently seeking external counsel rather than acting on his own judgment. (likely)