Reverend Ambrose

Contents About this book and its compiler About this book and its compiler The name of Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov is familiar, perhaps, to every admirer of the Optina elders, but few people in Russia know about his fate, since the spiritual writer, ascetic and shepherd ended his days in a foreign land. For the pious reader, an unexpected discovery will even be that the author of the book about Hieroschemamonk Ambrose should also be remembered as a hieroschemamonk - like Elder Ambrose, Fr. Sergius privately accepted the schema, retaining his former name. “I come from a poor and deeply religious merchant family of a small district town,” - this is how Father Sergius wrote about himself 1. He was born on June 10, 1867 in the city of Bakhmut, Yekaterinoslav province. The boy was only two years old when his mother died. Nevertheless, his childhood remained one of the brightest memories in his memory: his father married for the second time, and his stepmother, who took care of the children, shared their joys and sorrows, was there both in days of illness and on holidays, according to the recollections of Father Sergius, became for him “almost his own mother” 2. From the father's house the road led to the house of God. “My father taught me to pray, to love church and church singing. Thanks to my father, church and holidays, especially Christmas and Easter, occupied a central place in our home life and were its main content and educational element. Every Saturday I went with my father to the all-night vigil and fell in love with church singing. Without instructions and teachings, the church took possession of my soul” 3. From these childhood experiences, perhaps, began the formation of Father Sergius as a priest, shepherd, and spiritual mentor to many, many hundreds of people. For him, blood kinship was inextricably linked with spiritual kinship. And therefore, the words “Russian Orthodox people” were not just a familiar phrase for Father Sergius, but deeply felt words, personally experienced. At nine years old, the boy was sent to a preparatory class at a theological school, but not because they wanted to make him a clergyman, there was simply no other school in the town at that time. Three years later he was transferred to the 2nd grade of the Taganrog gymnasium, then to a gymnasium. The boy had a lively mind, loved to study, read a lot - he graduated from the gymnasium as the first student. However, the future path remained uncertain for him. The time has come for youthful quests. Like many young people, Father Sergius experienced a period of doubt and disappointment in what was dear to him since childhood, what filled life with meaning. These were “the most difficult years of my life,” he wrote, already being an 80-year-old man, “my faith faded away, my spiritual and physical purity was lost” 4. He came to Moscow, entered the university at the Faculty of Medicine, then transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology. However, neither academic studies nor noisy student life captured him completely. In the summer of 1891, “we, four students of Moscow University (one physician, two lawyers and one philologist), traveled on foot from Moscow to Kyiv in order to get to know our homeland better” 5 . There were many meetings and impressions during the trip. It was as if the life of the Russian Orthodox people and the Russian Orthodox Church began to open up anew to the young man. Thinking about which path to choose, how to find a business to which he could devote his life, student Sergei Chetverikov came to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The conversation with Archimandrite Anthony (Khrapovitsky), 6 the then rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, turned out to be decisive: the future father Sergius moved from the university to the academy. He passed the exams and was accepted on the scholarship of St. Sergius. “The period of my wanderings is over. I found my way and calmed down" 7. For four years, the Lavra became his home. He fell in love with the night prayer services in the chapel near the place where the Mother of God appeared to St. Sergius, and the festive crowd, when crowds of pilgrims filled not only the churches, but also the courtyard of the monastery. Books and lectures by teachers educated the mind of the future shepherd, and the soul grew under the wise leadership of Elder Barnabas, who lived not far from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in the monastery of the Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God. In the summer of 1894, the future shepherd again visited Optina Hermitage, lived there for a week, and fasted (he first saw Optina during his trip to Rus' - as if in passing). This time he “took a close look at Optina Pustyn” - and “felt there the breath of true spiritual life” 8. He began to subscribe to Optina publications, probably not expecting that in the future he himself would write two books and several articles about the famous monastery and its devotees. In 1896, Sergei Ivanovich Chetverikov completed a course at the Theological Academy. “That year, at the Academic Act, professor of the academy and university V. O. Klyuchevsky read his famous speech about St. Sergius. I listened to this amazing speech, and it showed me the program for my new life” 9. He was soon ordained: on July 14, 1896, as a deacon, and a week later, on July 21, as a priest. Father Sergius began his priestly ministry in 1896 in the Glukhov district of the Chernigov province as the rector of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross under the Russian Labor Orthodox Brotherhood. The brotherhood was founded by the Chernigov landowner N.N. Neplyuev, whose acquaintance made an indelible impression on Father Sergius. For some time (since 1898) he had the opportunity to be the rector of the famous Pyatnitskaya Church in Chernigov, a monument of ancient Russian architecture of the 12th century. Almost simultaneously with his priestly service, the teaching activity of Father Sergius began. For more than twenty years he served as a teacher of law in various educational institutions: first at the Model School at the Saratov Women's Diocesan School (1898–1900), then at the 2nd Saratov Gymnasium (1901) and, finally, at the Petrovsky Poltava Cadet Corps (1907–1919). Here he gained enormous experience and in 1911 became chairman of the brotherhood of teachers of the law, and in June 1917 he was elected fellow chairman of the All-Russian Congress of Clergy and Laity in Moscow, where he was delegated as a representative of the Poltava diocese. Father Sergius and his family usually spent the summer in the monastery. In 1905, while living in Optina Pustyn, he participated in the preparation of a collection of letters from elders Ambrose and Anatoly (Zertsalov). The letters were published by the monastery in 1909 10. “Acquaintance with the letters of Fr. Ambrose aroused in me the desire to compile his full biography, which I did in the summer of 1911 in the same Optina Hermitage. I spent the next summer in Shamordin, finishing there and preparing for publication my biography of the elder Fr. Ambrose" 11. In memory of this work, the rector of Optina, Archimandrite Xenophon, blessed Father Sergius as a gift of the cell confessional stole of the great elder. From working on the Optina material, Father Sergius quite naturally moved on to working on the biography of the elder Paisius Velichkovsky, especially since he had the opportunity to serve him in Poltava, the elder’s homeland. Since 1913, with the blessing of the church authorities, Father Sergius began studying material in the archives of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Orel, Optina Hermitage, and the Novo-Nyametsky Monastery in Bessarabia. However, it was not possible to finish the work soon. In 1919–1920, together with the Poltava Cadet Corps, he was evacuated abroad. Vladikavkaz, Kutais, Borjom, Batum, then Crimea and, finally, Constantinople. For some time, Father Sergius continued his teaching activity in the building, but soon - “due to a nervous breakdown,” as he himself writes 12 - he asked to come to the parish. This time he had to serve in the small Serbian village of Lika, somewhere between Bosnia and Croatia. Here Father Sergius served for three years. In the silence of the rural parish, he was able to regain peace of mind, and then put his materials on the history of eldership in order. In 1924, the head of Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe, Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievsky), granted the request of Fr. Sergius about transferring to Bratislava, where his son lived. The Bishop knew that “Fr. Sergius is an outstanding priest with a high pastoral mood, an ascetic monastic spirit and an expert in Russian monasticism and eldership,” so he gladly appointed him rector of the Russian Holy Cross parish founded there. “Father Chetverikov organized the parish well and did not limit himself to Bratislava, but began to extend far beyond its borders. There are many Russian nests scattered in Slovakia - families of Czech prisoners of war who returned from Russia married to Russians. Father Chetverikov developed extensive missionary activity throughout Slovakia, caring for up to ten such nests” 13. In 1928, he moved to Paris, where on Montparnasse Boulevard, a church was built in honor of the Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The church began to attract pilgrims from outside and grew in size with a parish. According to contemporaries, Father Sergius was a huge authority not only for the laity, but also for the clergy. In the church, of which he was rector, Orthodox priests who were temporarily without parishes found shelter and consolation, receiving the opportunity to serve the liturgy. Shepherding was his calling. To help a person remember Christ, to enter the church fence and thereby order and sanctify what seems to be the ordinary vanity of life - and indeed it is, if it is not sanctified by the thought of the Eternal... People who, by the will of fate, were cut off from their Motherland, but did not want to forget who they were and where they came from, needed just such a shepherd - with a living sense of tradition, truly Russian and truly Orthodox Father. Father Sergius was called the “martyr of the desk,” because in addition to the enormous number of letters that he considered himself obligated to write to everyone who needed his spiritual experience, he published several significant books and about fifty articles. The main theme of his works is the traditions of Russian spiritual life: he wrote about the Russian elders, about Paisius Velichkovsky, about Ambrose of Optina and the Optina Monastery; His interests included the pastoral experience of John of Kronstadt and the educational activities of Demetrius of Rostov; Father Sergius has books and articles about “smart doing” - the Jesus Prayer; many of his works are devoted to pedagogical problems, which he considered from the point of view of an Orthodox priest. Father Sergius wrote only about what he knew well. In the preface to the book about Optina Pustyn, he notes: “My entire subsequent story will be based mainly on my own observations and impressions” 14. In 1931, while finalizing a book about the Venerable Paisius of Velichkovsky (for his glorification by the Russian Orthodox Church, the 2nd edition of this book was published in Russian) 15, Father Sergius visited Bucharest, got acquainted with the libraries of the Neamets and Sekul monasteries, where Elder Paisius labored, and once again visited the New Neamets Monastery on the Dniester. A significant place in the life of Father Sergius was occupied by the Valaam monastery - “northern Athos”, whose ascetics, like the Optina residents, revived the best traditions of Orthodox monasticism with the work of their hands and “smart work”. After traveling to Valaam in 1930, Father Sergius fell in love with the silence of this monastery and repeatedly went there for literary and spiritual work. At the request of Abbot Khariton, he took part in the compilation of a remarkable monument of Valaam spiritual literature - the book “What is the Jesus Prayer according to the tradition of the Orthodox Church,” although his name is not mentioned either on the title page or in the preface. It was probably at this time that Father Sergius was granted monastic vows in his cell, but continued his active pastoral service until the end of his life. In 1939, having arrived in Valaam, he witnessed the tragic days in the history of the monastery. On Christmas Eve 1940, Father Sergius, together with the brethren of the monastery, was forced to evacuate to Finland. At first he lived in the interior of the monastery, and then - so as not to burden the brethren - he moved to Helsingfors, from where he moved to Bratislava to live with his son Feodosius Sergeevich. The last years of Fr.'s life were spent here. Sergius. He still continued to work at his desk (at that time he wrote the work “A Thousand Years of Russia at the Feet of Christ”), not leaving in his care those who thirsted for spiritual consolation. Father Sergius himself was most burdened by the fact that he had to live three kilometers from the church, which due to extreme weakness he could not attend. Father Sergius Chetverikov reposed in the Lord on April 29, 1947, at the 80th year of his life and 51st year of pastoral activity. In his spiritual will, written on December 13, 1944, with an addition on the Day of the Holy Trinity, June 24, 1945, he asked: “I ask that my funeral service be performed according to the schematic rite, as one who has been tonsured in the cell schematic monastery, although I have spent my entire life in active pastoral service. However, I leave the question of the burial order to be finally decided by the brothers-co-pastors. In the end, I still think: since the tonsure was secret, it shouldn’t be discovered.” “The cell confessional epitrachelion of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, which belongs to me, received by me in memory of the compilation of his biography from the rector of the Optina Monastery, Fr. Archimandrite Xenophon, I ask you to accept as a prayerful memory and as a sign of gratitude and love my spiritual father, Fr. Abbot Philemon, Valaam tonsure." “I ask you to bury me as simply as possible, in the simplest wooden coffin, without decorations, in the cemetery in Slaviy Udolye, among Russian graves.” The great elder of Optina Hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, was the first of the host of reverend fathers and elders of Optina to be canonized for all-Russian veneration - at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 6–9, 1988: “Elder Ambrose was canonized for the holiness of life and the virtues it revealed: humility, concern for others, clairvoyance and miracle-working. The basis is also the continuous veneration of him by the church people, who honor their elder as a great ascetic who has great boldness before God” 16. “By the grace of God, you have inherited an inestimable treasure and you have found a quiet, serene refuge in heaven. By the action of God's Providence, during the days of the triumphant millennium of the Baptism of Rus', you were glorified and canonized. Now, to bless your holy memory, let us all sing: Alleluia" 17. The 50-page brochure “The Life and Instructions of the Venerable Ambrose, Elder of Optina” (1989) became the first book to come out of the walls of the Optina Hermitage after the resumption of monastic life there. In 1992, the Posad publishing house, with the participation of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, reprinted a reprint of the Optina Archimandrite Agapit (Belovidov) “The Biography in God of the late Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose with his portrait and facsimile in two parts” (Moscow, 1900) - the most lengthy and detailed biography of St. Ambrose. Previously, this Optina edition was reprinted twice, in 1965 and 1990, at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville (USA, New York), and in 1997 it was again published by the Optina Monastery. In 1993 in Moscow, the Brotherhood of St. Alexius, under the title “Reverend Ambrose of Optina and his epistolary legacy,” volume 191 pages, posthumously published the work of Archimandrite John (Maslova, † 29. VII. 1991), written by him as a candidate’s course essay at the Department of Patrolology of the Moscow Theological Academy in 1968–1969 18. In the same 1993, a serious scientific study by Abbot Andronik (Trubachev) “Reverend Ambrose of Optina” was published. Life and Creations" (published by the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery) volume 223 pages. The epigraph to the publication of this fundamental work, completed on the eve of the canonization of Elder Ambrose, was taken from the words of the Optina ryassophore monk Erast Vytropsky: “Everything that has so far been published about Father Ambrose does not satisfy me at all; however, I believe that nothing will ever satisfy me, if only because now it is still impossible to write much about him... What will you say or how will you express the feelings of someone who personally came to the elder with an indignant thought against himself, in painful thought, how to overcome himself in order to express this very thought to him? What do you say if the elder himself saved you from this unpleasant feeling - retelling such a thought; when he met me, he smiled and put his hand on his head, depicting a repentant man! Such mysterious spiritual movements, this life of souls, cannot be put on paper” 19. The work of Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov, now being reproduced, 20 was the last biography of the Monk Ambrose, published by the “old” Optina, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the ever-remembered elder 21. It seems that in the current era of worldwide apostasy, when deviation from the truth becomes the norm of life, a new edition of the book by Fr. Sergius Chetverikov will be a good gift to all faithful admirers of the great Optina elder, “in the Fatherland and in the diaspora.” To date, the Optina Hermitage has published two biographies of the ever-memorable Optina elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose: one short, written by E.V., the other, lengthy, compiled by Fr. Archimandrite Agapit. But the first is too short, and the second has long been sold out. Meanwhile, recently some new reports about the elder have appeared in the press, and a collection of letters from the elder to monastic and lay persons has been published, published by the Optina Hermitage. In view of these new data, the need arose naturally to compile a new biography of the late priest. Regardless of what has been said, the compiler of this biography, who owes much to Optina Pustyn in the ordering of his inner spiritual life, had a special motivation to begin compiling a description of the life of Fr. Ambrose. He wanted to get closer to the elder’s personality, to live, so to speak, in the rays of his spiritual light, to experience step by step the circumstances of the elder’s life, to imprint deeper in his consciousness and feeling the thoughts, words, moods, and instructions of the elder, and in this to find edification, consolation, and moral support for himself. Without being a monk, without even personally knowing Fr. Ambrose, the compiler, of course, could not penetrate deeply into the inner world of the elder, and this, undoubtedly, had an unfavorable effect on his work, but he sincerely wanted to do everything to present in his description a living image of a great teacher of life and a loving leader towards God, and if he failed, he asks readers to cover his mistakes with their condescending love. This year marks exactly one hundred years since the birth of Fr. Ambrose. May this book, written with sincere love and reverence for the elder, serve to revive and strengthen the spiritual connection of the spiritual children of the elder with their ever-memorable mentor, may it attract to him the hearts of those who did not have the consolation of knowing him personally, may it teach us all to understand, love and, to the best of our ability, to realize in ourselves that bright image of a Christian, the wondrous personification of which was the deceased unforgettable elder! May it, finally, be a favorable offering to the elder from his unworthy admirers and admirers who labored in its compilation and publication, and may the loving elder cover us all with his holy prayers before the Throne of God! Those readers of this biography who have any information or memories about the elder Fr. Ambrose, not included in this book, the compiler earnestly asks that they be reported to either the rector of Optina Pustyn or the compiler of the biography. All this new information may be useful in the subsequent publication of the book. 1912. July 14 days. Shamordino P.S. In order not to burden the text of the book with callouts, we place here a list of aids used by the compiler: 1. Biography in Bose of the late Optina elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1900 2. Hieromonk Gregory. The legend about the life of the Optina elder Fr. Hieroschemamonk Ambrose. 1892 3. A short story about the life of the Optina elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1893 4. Historical description of the Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1896 5. Historical description of the Optina Hermitage monastery. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1862 6. Kazan Ambrosievskaya women's hermitage and its founder, Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose. Ed. Shamordino desert, 1908 7. Biography of the Optina Elder Leonid. Publication of Optina Pustyn, 1890 8. The story of the life and exploits of the elder of Optina Hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Macarius. Comp. I. L. 1861 9. Biography of the rector of Optina Hermitage, Archimandrite. Moses. 1882 10. K. Leontyev. Father Kliment Zederholm. Ed. Shamordino desert, 1908 11. Sakharov. In a quiet haven. 12. E. Villager. Father Ambrose. 13. O. S. Sokolov. The ever-memorable elder of the Russian land, ascetic of the Kozel Optina Hermitage, Fr. Ambrose (Grenkov). Ed. Tambov Archival Commission. 14. Collection of letters from Fr. Ambrose to the monastics. Vol. 1 and 2. Ed. Optina Pustyn, 1908 15. A collection of his letters to worldly persons. Ed. Forerunner Skete, 1906 16. Collection of letters from Hieroschemamonk Macarius to monastics. 1863 18. Life and writings of the Moldavian elder Paisius (Velichkovsky). 19. F. P. Ch-n. Bereavement. 20. Laskovsky. Brothers Kireevsky. 21. Oral and written stories and memories of various individuals. Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov. My response. (How I became an Orthodox shepherd and about my shepherding in the R.S.H.D. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of my priesthood. 10/23-XII-1946) // Bulletin of Church Life. No. 8. Paris. July, 1947. (Hereinafter - My response.) P. 28. Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov. Optina Pustyn. Historical sketch and personal memories. Paris. 1926. (Next: Optina Pustyn). S. 5. Subsequently, Metropolitan, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad. “In the service of God - in the service of neighbors. What benefits do Orthodox monasteries bring to the Russian people? (According to the letters of the Optina elders, Fr. Ambrose and Fr. Anatoly.) With a view of the Optina Hermitage and portraits of the elders. (Priest......)" [sic on the title page]. The fourth edition of the Kozelskaya Optina Hermitage, significantly expanded and revised. Printing house of the Kazan Ambrosievskaya women's hermitage, 1909. The path of my life. Memoirs of Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky), based on his stories by T. Manukhina. M.: Moscow worker. Publishing department of the All-Church Orthodox Youth Movement, 1994. pp. 420–421. Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov. Moldavian elder Paisius Velichkovsky. His life, teaching and influence on Orthodox monasticism. [Paris].: YMCA-PRESS, 1988. Canonization of saints. Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. Trinity-Sergius Lavra, June 6–9. 1988, p. 145. Akathist to our venerable and God-bearing father Ambrose, the elder of Optina and the wonderworker of all Russia. Kontakion 12. John (Maslov), archimandrite. Hieroschemamonk Ambrose of Optina (Grenkov) and his epistolary heritage. Appendix: Selected sayings of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose, extracted from various sources and arranged in alphabetical order. E[pact] V[ytropskiy]. Historical description of the Kozelskaya Optina Hermitage and the Predtechev Skete (Kaluga province). Publication of Optina Pustyn. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 1902. Archpriest Sergius Chetverikov. Description of the life of the blessed Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose in connection with the history of Optina Pustyn and its eldership. Compiled from previous biographies and new sources. Edition of Kozelskaya Optina Pustyn. Printing house of the Kazan Ambrosievskaya Shamordino women's hermitage, 1912. Materials for the book about. Sergius was provided with the Optina Hermitage, about which correspondence has been preserved (OR RSL. F. 213. 74. 22), - indicated in the book: Unknown Nilus / Comp. R. Bagdasarov and S. Fomin. M.: Orthodox Pilgrim, 1995. T. 2. P. 518. You might be interested in: