The Venerable Optina Elder Ambrose was born on November 23, 1812 in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province, and was named Alexander in honor of the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, whose memory was celebrated on that day. His father Mikhail Fedorovich Grenkov was a rural sexton, and his mother Marfa Nikolaevna was involved in raising children. Alexander grew up as a lively and playful boy, he loved children's fun and noisy games. The entire upbringing of children in the family took place in a strictly religious direction. His father took Alexander with him to church, where the young boy read and sang in the choir. The family also loved reading divine books.
At the age of 12, Alexander entered the Tambov Theological School, and upon graduation in 1830, he entered the Tambov Theological Seminary. Thanks to his natural talent, teaching was easy for Alexander. However, those around him emphasized the integrity of his nature, moral purity and composure of spirit. As he later recalled: “I never thought of going to a monastery... however, others for some reason predicted to me that I would be in a monastery.” And soon the young seminarian was shown his true calling. A year before graduating from the seminary, Alexander became so seriously ill that those around him already despaired of his recovery. At this time, Alexander made a promise to the Lord that if He raised him up healthy from his sick bed, he would certainly go to a monastery. The young man recovered, but did not immediately have the opportunity to fulfill his vow: neither his superiors nor his parents would allow him to leave the seminary.
In 1836, Alexander graduated from the seminary course. He decided to choose a place for himself that would not embarrass him if he was completely determined to leave the world, and became a home teacher in the house of one of the landowners. Here he became acquainted with secular society, got to know different characters closer and deeper, which significantly expanded his life experience. At that time, as the elder later recalled, everyone who was in quarrels sought his advice and asked him to be a reconciliator.
In March 1838, Alexander Mikhailovich was approved as a teacher at the Lipetsk Theological School. When dealing with his students, he combined kindness with reasonable severity, which he himself was accustomed to in childhood. Outwardly, everything was going well - he was respected by his colleagues and superiors, but his inner voice haunted him. This is how the elder himself described his condition at that time: “After recovery, I kept shrinking for four whole years, did not dare to end the world right away, but continued to visit my acquaintances and did not give up my talkativeness. Sometimes you thought to yourself: well, from now on I’ll be silent, I won’t get distracted. And then, you see, someone invites you to come over, well, of course, I can’t stand it and get carried away by the conversations. But when you come home, your soul is restless; and you’ll think: well, now it’s all over forever - I’ll stop chatting completely. You look - they invited you to visit again, you start chatting again. And so I suffered for four whole years.”
To strengthen himself in his experiences, Alexander Mikhailovich resorted to solitary prayer in front of the image of the Mother of God of Tambov - a parental blessing. Carefully concealing his state of mind, he expected certain instructions from above, from the Lord. His secret doubts were strengthened by the Troekurov recluse Hilarion, who told Alexander Mikhailovich: “Go to Optina. You are needed there." However, for a final break with the world, some other decisive push was needed.
Once Alexander Mikhailovich was invited to visit friends. The evening passed with great excitement, Alexander Mikhailovich was cheerful and made those present laugh. The night after this evening, spent in sincere repentance, finally determined the fate of Alexander Mikhailovich. "Will! It's time to end it all! You cannot serve both God and mammon. You have to choose one thing! We must cleave completely to the One God! We must leave the world!” A few days later, without saying a word to anyone, Alexander Mikhailovich secretly left Lipetsk and headed to Optina Pustyn, where he arrived on October 8, 1839.
Located among a huge dense forest, the monastery was not particularly rich. In the monastery and in the monastery, sincere zealots of monastic deeds labored: Hegumen Moses (Putilov), the wise and humble abbot of the monastery, his brother, the head of the monastery, Hieromonk Anthony, who was distinguished by his special meekness and humility, and finally, the elders who controlled the spiritual life of the entire monastery - Hieroschemamonks Lev (Nagolkin) and Macarius (Ivanov), as well as many others devotees. Elder Leo, the founder of the eldership in Optina Hermitage, a mentor of high spiritual experience, who had the gift of reasoning and insight, accepted Alexander Mikhailovich among his students.
At first, Alexander Mikhailovich lived in a hotel, and then, with the blessing of Elder Leo, he moved to a monastery. On April 2, 1840, he was enrolled in the fraternity and dressed in a cassock. At first he was a reader for Elder Leo, then he worked in a bakery, and then became a cell attendant for Elder Macarius. The desire for a strict spiritual life was noticed by the elders. As Elder Ambrose recalled, “the late elder (Fr. Leo) then called Father Fr. Macarius says to him: “Here is a man who is painfully huddling with us, the elders. I have now become very weak. So I pass it on from floor to floor, own it as you know."
In the summer of 1841, the novice Alexander was tonsured into the ryassophore, and on November 29, 1842 into the mantle with the name Ambrose in honor of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (December 7). February 4, 1843 Fr. Ambrose was ordained a hierodeacon, and on December 9, 1845, a hieromonk. Almost immediately after the dedication of Fr. Ambrose became seriously ill. In October 1846, he was tonsured into the schema in a private manner, retaining his former name, and soon, due to illness, was removed from the staff of the monastery. Despite his many illnesses, Fr. Ambrose not only did not grieve for them, but even considered them necessary as the best means for educating the soul.
After the death of Elder Macarius in 1860, Fr. Ambrose took upon himself the difficult burden of senile service. They went to the elder in Optina as if they were a holy man, believing and hoping that they would receive healing from spiritual and physical ailments. Christian love, firm faith and the heartfelt prayer of the elder healed all visitors. The elder’s instructions were often brief, but succinct and were remembered by his students for a long time. “How to live to be saved?” - “We need to live unhypocritically and behave exemplarily, then our cause will be true, otherwise it will be bad”; “How to live?” - “To live is not to bother, not to judge anyone, not to annoy anyone, and my respect to everyone.”
Not only ordinary people, but also numerous monastics and representatives of the intelligentsia turned to him. Among the latter we can note F.M. Dostoevsky, K.N. Leontyeva, L.N. Tolstoy, Vl. Solovyova, S.P. Shevyreva, I.V. and P.V. Kireevskikh, M.P. Pogodin and many others. Many turned to the elder in writing, asking for his advice. The elder had special care for the Shamordino monastery, which was built with his blessing not far from the Optina Monastery. The monastery accepted mourning and disadvantaged women who did not have the opportunity to enter other monasteries. Here on October 10, 1891, the elder completed his earthly journey. A mournful solemn procession carried the coffin with the body of the deceased to Optina Pustyn and buried it at the south-eastern wall of the Vvedensky Cathedral, next to the grave of Elder Macarius.
For many years, the memory of the Optina ascetic was preserved among the people. In 1988, the Monk Ambrose of Optina was glorified by the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. The holy relics of the reverend elder were found and placed in the Vvedensky Cathedral of the monastery.
Published by Sretensky Monastery, 2006.
*Hereinafter Synodal translation.