Brief life. Saint Ambrose of Optina: biography, prayer and interesting facts

The future elder Ambrose was born on November 23, 1812, in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province, from sexton Mikhail Feodorovich and his wife Marfa Nikolaevna Grenkov. The newborn was named in St. baptism by Alexander, in honor of the Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, whose memory was celebrated on the very birthday of the baby.

As a child, Alexander was a very lively, cheerful and intelligent boy. He was devoted to children's amusements, so to speak, with all his being. They constantly filled his vivid Danish imagination, and therefore he did not sit in the house. Sometimes his mother would instruct him to rock the cradle of one of her youngest children. The boy usually sat down to work that was boring for him, but only as long as his mother, busy with household chores, did not lose sight of him ....

In July 1830, Alexander Grenkov, as one of the best students, was appointed to enter the Tambov Theological Seminary. In the seminary, as in the school, thanks to his rich abilities, he studied very well. Science came easy to him. His friend from the seminary said: “here it used to be for the last penny to buy a candle, repeat, repeat the given lessons; he (Grenkov) does not study much, but he will come to the class, he will answer the mentor, - exactly as written, the best of all. Having a lot of free time at his disposal from here, and having a naturally cheerful and lively disposition, he was inclined to amusements even in the seminary. Alexander Mikhailovich's favorite entertainment was to talk with his comrades, to joke, to laugh; so that he was always, so to speak, the soul of a gay society. The thought of a monastery never crossed his mind.

Elder Ambrose later said: “But once I became very sick. There was very little hope for recovery. Almost everyone despaired of my recovery; I myself had little hope for him. They sent for a confessor. He didn't drive for a long time. I said, "goodbye, God's light!" And immediately I made a promise to the Lord that if He raises me up healthy from the bed of illness, then I will certainly go to the monastery "...

Alexander recovered and in 1839 entered Optina Pustyn, a monastery in the Kaluga province. At that time, Optina Hermitage was an amazing miracle, which, perhaps, was not equal in the entire history of Orthodoxy: a succession of abbots and confessors of the monastery showed the world a continuous succession of holy miracle workers. The first holy confessor was Leo, followed by Macarius, who became Alexander's confessor.

In 1842, on November 29, Alesander took monastic vows in the mantle, and was named Ambrose, in the name of St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan. He was 30 years old.

Hieromonk Ambrose was only about 34 years old when he had already received the obedience to help Elder Macarius in spiritual work. This means that, despite such a young age, hegumen Moses and confessor Macarius predicted him to be an elder. But it was pleasing to the Providence of God that the young hieromonk entering into this great duty should first be subjected to a cruel and prolonged illness, so that he would be cleansed, like gold in a furnace.

His illness got worse and worse. The treatment didn't help. And therefore, in December 1847, he was forced to give a signature that he wanted to be left in a monastery outside the state, that is, he could not bear the obedience of a priest: hemorrhoids, since the autumn of 1846, brought my body to extreme exhaustion, from which the medical benefits, used for a year, could not restore me, and do not give any hope of a cure. Why am I, both now and henceforth, correcting the regular ministry, and I can’t bear any monastic positions. ”

Despite this, he not only never grieved over his illnesses, but even considered them necessary for his spiritual development. He never wished himself a perfect recovery and always said to others: "A monk should not be seriously treated, but only healed." To heal - in order, of course, not to lie in bed and not be a burden to others.

Hegumen Mark beautifully depicts the current position of his elder hieromonk Ambrose and his spiritual attitude towards him: having calmed down, I will begin to express my reckless sadness and grief, without self-reproach, contrary to the teachings of the holy fathers of the ascetics, but on the contrary, with the accusation of my neighbor, and even because of the hostile feeling that has settled in my soul, with such a desire that the elder immediately strictly enlighten the brother who upset me. After listening to everything with his characteristic imperturbable calmness and sympathy for my grief, the sickly old man would say in a deplorable tone: “Brother, brother! I am a dying person. Or: “I will die today or tomorrow. What will I do with this brother? After all, I'm not a pastor. You need to reproach yourself, put up with your brother, and you will calm down. After listening to such a plaintively pronounced answer, you will become numb "...

But at the beginning of the sixties, the elder, for all his bodily weakness, was forced to eat refectory food with hemp oil. Then, when his stomach began to refuse this food, the cell-attendants began to prepare soup for him, and at first they seasoned him with sunflower oil in half with hemp, and finally, due to the increased soreness of his stomach, with one sunflower. And then the insides of the Elder came into such a mood that at times he could not take any food. At the same time, the elder not only never grieved over his illness, but, on the contrary, was always in a cheerful mood and even often joked. They once read to him how one father of the family nursed his baby, and consoling him sang a song: “dri-ta-ta, dri-ta-ta, the cat married the cat.” And then one day someone turned to the sickly old man with compassion, and said: “What, father, is the cathar tormenting you?” Smiling, the elder answered: “Yes, brother, dri-ta-ta, dri-ta-ta.” The Elder ate no more food than a three-year-old baby could eat. His dinner lasted ten or fifteen minutes, during which the cell-attendants asked him questions about various people and received answers from him.

In letters to other people, the elder often asked to pray for him, "who speaks and does not do", or who does not fulfill those moral lessons that he taught others. In general, he did not seem to see, or did not want to see, his constant labors and deeds of love and self-sacrifice and the patient endure of constant, often cruel ailments, accepting all this as a well-deserved punishment for his sins. Often in letters to different persons repeated the gospel word addressed to him: “everyone will be rewarded according to his deeds.”

But, living himself in humility, without which salvation is impossible, the elder always desired to see this essential virtue in those who were related to him; and he treated the humble very favorably, on the contrary, he could not stand the proud; so that he beat some quite noticeably, some with a stick, some with a fist, or heaped dishonor on them. One woman complained like an old man that she had not gone a little crazy from sorrows. "Stupid! - the old man exclaimed in front of everyone, because smart people go crazy; and how can you go crazy when you don’t have it at all? Another complained to the priest that her shawl had been stolen from her. And he replied with a smile: "They took the shawl, but the nonsense remained." The elder sometimes generalized the concepts of "fool" and "proud."

After the death of Elder Macarius in 1860, Father Ambrose became the only confessor of the Optina brethren and pilgrims. He continued to engage in publishing activities. Under his leadership were published: "The Ladder" of St. John of the Ladder, letters and biography of Father Macarius and other books.

In 1862-1871, the elder suffered a number of serious illnesses. But even at that time he was engaged in the spiritual nourishment of hundreds who came to him, and conducted extensive charitable activities. Numerous cases of his spiritual foresight, miracles and healings are known.

Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Pogodin and other famous people of that time came to the elder.

He possessed an unusually lively, sharp, observant and penetrating mind, enlightened and deepened by constant concentrated prayer, attention to himself and knowledge of ascetic literature. By the grace of God, his insight turned into clairvoyance. He penetrated deeply into the soul of his interlocutor and read in it, as in an open book, without needing his confessions. With all the qualities of his richly gifted soul, Father Ambrose, despite his constant illness and frailty, combined inexhaustible cheerfulness, and knew how to give his instructions in such a simple and playful form that they were easily and forever remembered by every listener. When it was necessary, he knew how to be exacting, strict and demanding, applying "instruction" with a stick or imposing penance on the punished. The elder did not make any distinction between people. Everyone had access to him and could talk to him: a St. Petersburg senator and an old peasant woman, a university professor and a metropolitan fashionista.

There was one novice in the skete, already elderly, with a bald spot on his head - I. F. On the occasion serious illness Elder Ambrose, upset, he came to his house in the hope that it was possible to at least silently receive a blessing from the elder. Hope did not deceive him. With a heavy heart, he approached the sufferer lying on the bed, bowed at his feet as usual, and held out his hands to accept the blessing. Having given the blessing, the elder lightly hit him on the head, jokingly saying in a barely audible voice: “Well, you, bald abbot! ..”. “Like a mountain fell off my shoulders,” the novice said later, it became so easy, easy in my soul. When he came to his cell, he could not find a place for joy. Everyone walks around the cell, but repeats: “My God! What is it? Father, father, he himself is barely breathing, but he is joking all the time.

Hieromonk of the Optina Hermitage, Fr. Plato, who for some time was the confessor of the elder Ambrose: “How instructive was the confession of the Elder! What humility and contrition of heart he showed about his sins! And what sins? About those that we do not even consider sins. For example, due to the soreness of his stomach, and therefore by extreme necessity, he sometimes, contrary to the rule of the holy Church, on Wednesday or Friday, had to eat a piece of two or three Dutch herring. And the elder confessed this sin before the Lord with tears. At that time, he was kneeling before the holy icons, like a condemned man in the midst of a terrible and implacable Judge, tea of ​​mercy from the one who gives mercy, one even thinks, as one might suppose, with a humble thought, whether mercy will be given, whether sin will be forgiven. I’ll look, I’ll look at the weeping old man, Father Plato added, and I’ll cry myself.”

One young man, after some explanations with the elder, said that he wanted to arrange a shower. The father sympathizes with him. “Do you, he says, need it to take up little space? Well, it's possible; here's how to do it ... ”Several years pass. An announcement follows that new improved souls have appeared. It turned out that they were arranged, as Elder Ambrose had explained to the young man long before...

In the city of Dorogobuzh, Smolensk province, a noble widow had an only daughter, for whom many suitors wooed. Often they personally visited the elder to ask his blessing for marriage; but the father kept telling them: “Wait.” Finally, a very good groom was found, who was liked by both mother and daughter; and therefore the mother personally again began to ask the elder for blessings to give her daughter in marriage. But the priest ordered this groom to be refused, adding to this: “She will have such a wonderful groom that everyone will envy her happiness. Here, before we meet Holy Pascha. And how cheerfully the sun plays on this day! Let's take advantage of this beauty. Don't forget, remember, look!" The holiday of the Light has come Christ's Resurrection. The bride was the first to remember the father's words: “Mom! Do you remember that Father Ambrose advised us to look at the rising sun!” They left. The daughter suddenly spread her arms crosswise, and exclaimed: “Mom! Mother! I see the Lord risen in glory. I will die, die before Ascension." The mother was very struck by this, and said: “What are you, child, the Lord is with you. It can't be. You're not sick, you're healthy." The girl's words came true. A week before the Feast of the Ascension, her teeth ached, and she died from this seemingly harmless disease.

Let us now give a story about a resident of Kozelsk, Kapiton. He had The only son, an adult young man, dexterous, handsome. The father decided to give him to the people and brought him to the elder in order to receive from him a blessing for the conceived work. Both are sitting in the corridor, and several monks are near them. Father Ambrose comes out to them. Kapiton, having received a blessing with his son, explains that he wants to give his son to people. The elder approves of the intention, and advises his son to go to Kursk. Kapiton begins to challenge the elder: “In Kursk, he says, we have no acquaintances; but bless, father, to Moscow. The elder in a playful tone answers: “Moscow beats from the toe and beats with boards; let him go to Kursk. But Kapiton still did not listen to the elder, and sent his son to Moscow, where he soon entered a good place. At that time, the owner was building some kind of building, where a young man who had just been hired by him was staying. Suddenly, several boards fell from above, which crushed both of his legs. The father was immediately notified of this by telegram. With bitter tears he came to the old man to see about his grief. But the grief could no longer be helped. The sick son was brought from Moscow. He remained crippled for the rest of his life, incapable of any work...

The Moscow teacher M. P., nee Princess D., had great faith in the elder. Her only son was dying of typhoid fever. Breaking away from him, she flew to Optina and begged the priest to pray for her son. “Pray together,” the elder said to her, and both knelt side by side. A few days later, the mother returned to her son, who met her on his feet. At the very hour when the elder was praying for him, a change came, and the recovery went quickly. Again, this lady, already with her son who had recovered, was in Optina in the summer of 1882, and lived there more than she thought. Her husband, who was in the southern provinces, worried about them, and finally appointed by telegram the day when he would send horses to the station for them. M. P-a went to say goodbye to the priest. Father Ambrose, never and no one without special reason not delaying, announced that he did not bless her to go. She began to prove that she could no longer live in Optina; and he said: “I do not bless you to go today. Tomorrow is a holiday; defend the late mass - and then you will leave. She returned to the hotel, where her son, who was waiting for her, was very dissatisfied with the father's decision; but the mother obeyed the elder. The next day, the priest said: "Now with God, go." Outside Kursk, they learned that the Kukuevskaya catastrophe happened with the train that was going the day before and on which they were going to go, in which 42 people died and 35 were injured.

Sometimes Elder Ambrose, in order to avoid human glory, following the example of his predecessor, Elder Leo, adhered to, as it were, half-foolishness. If he predicted something to someone, it was often in a joking tone, so that the listeners laughed; if he wanted to give help to someone in illness, he hit, as if on a sore eye of a boy, with his hand, or sometimes with a stick, in a sore spot, and the illness passed. For example, a monk came to the elder with a terrible toothache. Passing by him, the elder struck him with all his might in the teeth with his fist, and asked more cheerfully: “Smart?” - “Cleverly, father,” the monk answered with general laughter, “yes, it hurts a lot.” But, leaving the elder, he felt that his pain had passed, and after that it did not return ... There were many such examples, so that peasant women who suffered from headaches, having learned about such actions of the elder, often bowed their heads to him and said: “ Father Abrosim, beat me - my head hurts "...

In 1883, the wife of a village priest came to Father Ambrose and asked the sisters of the nuns who were sitting in a hut waiting for his blessing: “Where can I find my benefactor, monk Ambrose, who saved my husband from death? I came to kiss his feet." “What happened to you? How saved? When? How? - there were questions from all sides, - please, tell. Father Ambrose lay down to rest, he will not receive you now, but for now you will keep us all busy with your story. “I can hardly even now come to my senses from the horror of the villainous attempt,” this is how the rural mother began her story. My husband, the priest of the village N, was preparing to serve Divine Liturgy, and slept the day before in his little office, and I fell asleep in my bedroom. But suddenly I feel that someone is waking me up. I hear a voice: "Get up soon, otherwise they will kill my husband." I opened my eyes; I see a monk standing. "Tfu, what nonsense! The demon tempts,” I said; crossed herself and turned away. But before I could fall asleep, someone pushed me for the second time, didn’t let me sleep, and repeated the same words: “Get up, or they’ll kill my husband.” Look - the same monk. I turned away again, crossed myself, and want to fall asleep again. But the monk again pulls me by the blanket and says: "Hurry, run as soon as possible - they will kill you now." I jumped out of bed, ran into the hall that separated my husband's study from my bedroom, and what do I see? My cook comes with a huge knife into my husband's study, and she is already at his door. I ran, pulled out her huge knife from behind my shoulder and asked: “What does this mean?” - “Yes, I wanted to kill your husband because he is a merciless priest, - your dad does not spare people. I repented of my sin to him, and he made many prostrations on me every day; I asked him to have mercy on me, lower my bows, but no, he doesn’t want to. He does not have mercy on me, and I will not have mercy on him. Then, under the guise of carrying a knife, I ordered to send for the constable, and soon the guilty one was taken to the police. And my husband, the priest, not knowing anything about what had happened, celebrated mass, and then we went with him to my married sister, who was also the priest of the neighboring village. There I told her who saved my husband. The sister took me to her bedroom, and I suddenly saw on the wall a photograph of the monk who had appeared to me. I ask: "Where did you get it from?" - "From Optina". - “What Optina? What it is? Tell me quickly where this monk lives, the angel of God, sent from heaven to save from murder "...

One sister from a large landowner's family, who often visited the elder, for a long time begged her beloved sister, who had a very lively and impatient character, to go with her to Optina. She finally agrees to please her sister, but grumbles loudly all the way; and when he comes to the elder and sits in the waiting room, he is indignant at something: “I won’t kneel, what is this humiliation for?” She quickly walks around the room from corner to corner. The door opens and completely closes it in its corner. Everyone gets down on their knees. The elder goes straight to the door, throws it back and cheerfully asks: “What kind of giant is standing here?” And then in a whisper he says to the young girl: “It is Vera who came to watch the hypocrite.” Introduction done. Vera marries, becomes a widow, and returns under the wing of a priest to Shamordino (a nunnery near Optina Hermitage, founded by Elder Ambrose). He often reminded her of how Vera came to the hypocrite, and another thought of hers in the first days of their acquaintance, namely: she went into the monastery shop to buy a portrait of an elder. She was told that you can buy for 20 kopecks. My God, she thought, how little! I would give a lot of rubles. What a cheap father!” On the same day, with a general blessing, the elder, passing by her, looked affectionately, stroked her head, and quietly said: “so cheap father, cheap!”

One young girl with a good education accidentally came to the elder Ambrose, was amazed by him, and begged him to take her to Shamordino. Her mother came, she said, to snatch her daughter out of "this terrible monastic world." With indignation and reproaches she went to the priest. The elder offered her a chair. Not a few minutes of conversation passed, and the irritated mother involuntarily, not understanding herself what was happening to her, gets up from her chair and kneels beside the elder. The conversation continues. Soon the mother nun joins the nun's daughter...

One of the elder's contemporaries wrote down such a case. “Coming out of the fence, I noticed some special movement in a group of women. Curious to know what was the matter, I approached them. Some rather elderly woman, with a sickly face, sitting on a stump, told that she walked from Voronezh with sore legs, hoping that Elder Ambrose would heal her, that, having passed the bee-keeper, seven miles from the monastery, she got lost, got out out of strength, hitting the snow-covered paths, and in tears fell on a fallen log; but that some old man in cassocks and skullcaps came up to her, asked about the reason for her tears and showed her the direction of the way with a stick. She went in the direction indicated and, turning behind the bushes, she immediately saw the monastery. Everyone decided that this was either the monastery forester, or one of the cell-attendants; when suddenly a servant already familiar to me came out onto the porch and loudly asked: “Where is Avdotya from Voronezh?” Everyone was silent, looking at each other. The servant repeated his question louder, adding that her father was calling her. "My doves! Why, Avdotya from Voronezh, I myself am! - exclaimed the storyteller who had just arrived with sore legs, rising from the stump. Everyone silently parted, and the wanderer, hobbled to the porch, hid in his doorway. It seemed strange to me how Father Ambrose managed to find out so quickly about this wanderer and where she came from. I decided to wait for her return.

Fifteen minutes later, she left the house, all in tears, and to the questions that rained down on her, almost sobbing, she answered that the old man who showed her the way in the forest was none other than Father Ambrose himself, or someone very similar to him. In deep thought I returned to the hotel…

It is impossible to imagine the father without a sympathetic smile, from which it suddenly became somehow cheerful and warm, without a caring look that said that he was about to come up with and say something very useful for you, and without that animation in everything, - in movements, in burning eyes - with which he listens to you, and by which you understand well that at this moment he lives entirely with you, and that you are closer to him than to yourself.

Once a year, in the summer, Elder Ambrose used to go to the Shamorda community he was organizing for a few days to visit and see what it had and what it lacked. The elder accepted to the Shamorda monastery those who were not taken to others - the sick, the old, the crippled. There were more than 500 sisters in the community, an orphanage, an almshouse, and a hospital. The year is hungry, therefore bread is expensive. A large debt accumulated in his monastery. The superior is blind. He himself is in disgrace with his superiors, dishonored, and, moreover, on the brink of the grave. What diamond soul could not tremble at this? But the elder remained calm in spirit.

These visits, we will say in the words of the Shamorda sisters themselves, were a bright holiday for them. On the appointed day, from the very morning, everything was on its feet in Shamordin. Who, with meticulous diligence, prepared a cell for a dear guest, who busied themselves in the church in order to meet their beloved father with due honor; and who simply walked in excitement and joyful expectation. Finally, a prayer service was served, and all the sisters, with the abbess at their head, were located at the porch of the rector's building. Here, from behind the edge of the forest, a familiar carriage will appear, and everyone's hearts will beat joyfully. The horses run fast and stop at the entrance. An old man's gray beard is shown through the carriage window. And the father with a paternal smile bows merrily to both sides. - “Father dear! Our treasure, our angel! - enthusiastic greetings of the delighted sisters are heard from all sides. Batiushka gets out of the carriage and hurries to the cell prepared for him to change and rest; meanwhile, the sisters immediately rush into the carriage to take out the father’s things. Everyone wants to grab some of these “jewels”. And if one of them fails, she grabs at some end of the scarf or the sleeve of a spare cassock, and is quite happy that she had to bear something.

With a constant multitude of different people around the Elder, it was not without amusing incidents. One very rich landowner with a three-year-old daughter pressed him to him. While the mother was talking with the Elder, the smart little girl, left to herself, examined the father’s dead body, visited all its corners, and finally, bored with her loneliness, she stood in the middle of the cell, folded her hands on her chest, and looking pitifully at the Elder, began such a speech: “Poor old man! He is so old, he lies all on the bed, his room is small, he has no toys, his legs hurt, he cannot run; I have toys; Do you want, old man, I will bring the bunnies to play for you? This naive childish speech was followed by the appropriate answer of the Elder: “Bring it, bring it, girl,” he said, that’s how good you are; thank you for taking pity on the old man...

A few months before the father’s death, a St. Petersburg artist, who sometimes turned to him for financial help, sent a Kazan icon Mother of God, a copy from the miraculous image, and with it the names of his family, asking the priest to pray for them. The priest ordered to put a note in the icon case behind the icon and said: “The Queen of Heaven herself will pray for them.” This icon was then carried in front of the coffin of Batiushka.

One poor family man, whom the priest had helped many times, before his last illness wrote to the elder with a request to help him buy warm clothes. Batiushka sent him as much as he needed, and at the same time he dictated a few words, adding at the end: “Remember that this is the last help from me.”

“I got to the cell of the priest,” Madame** writes in her notes, “I got 20 minutes before his death. Know that this happened by the will of God. I missed one servant of God. The old man still lay as he had at night. Breathing became less frequent. When I entered, Fr. Isaiah. Father Theodore (after reading for the last time at 11 o’clock in the afternoon the canon of the Mother of God for the exodus of the soul) overshadowed the elder with the cross. The rest of the nuns present were standing around. I fit at my feet." As soon as they finished the waste, the elder began to run out. His face became covered with deathly pallor. The breath became shorter and shorter. Finally, he took a deep breath. It happened again two minutes later. Then, according to the remark of the Lady **, “Batiushka raised his right hand, folding it for the sign of the cross, carried it to his forehead, then to his chest, to his right shoulder, and bringing it to his left, he hit hard on his left shoulder, apparently because it was him cost a terrible effort; and breathing stopped. Then he sighed for the third and last time...

For a long time those around the bed of the peacefully reposed elder stood, fearing to disturb the solemn moment of separation of the righteous soul from the body. Everyone was as if in a daze, not believing themselves, and not realizing that this was a dream or the truth. Bright and calm was his senile countenance. An unearthly smile lit up him. “We quietly approached,” remarks Mrs. **, “and kissed the old man’s still warm legs. Then we were taken out."

As soon as everyone came to their senses, a terrible wail and sob arose. Hearing this confusion, those in the neighboring rooms guessed what was the matter; they realized that what they were afraid to even think about had happened. The news of the death of the elder spread through the entire monastery with the speed of lightning, and the soul-rending cries of the Shamorda nuns merged into one single terrifying moan of helplessness and hopelessness...

Visitors were now beginning to pour into the community from all directions. In all the trains that traveled this and the following days, along the Kursk, Ryazan and other roads, conversations about the death of Elder Ambrose were heard every now and then. Many went to the funeral. The post station in Kaluga was besieged by requests for horses. At the same time, pedestrians walked along all the roads, so by this time up to eight thousand people had accumulated in Shamordin.

Thousands of people for more than a verst, walked and rode behind the coffin. The procession was slow. Often, despite the rain and cold, they stopped to make mortuary lithium. However, by the end of the procession, on the occasion of heavy rain, lithiums were already served on the move without stopping. When they approached the villages lying on the way, the transfer of the remains of the elder was accompanied by a funeral bell ringing. Priests in vestments, with banners and icons, came out of the churches to meet. The villagers spoke, prayed, many of them kissed the coffin of the deceased, and then joined those who accompanied him. Thus, as we approached Optina Pustyn, the crowd grew and grew. The coffin of the deceased elder was invariably, from the Shamorda community to the very Optina Hermitage, accompanied in vestments by one hieromonk Ilarius, who served the litia throughout the procession. It is remarkable that the burning candles with which they carried the body of the deceased elder, throughout the entire journey, despite heavy rain and the wind did not fade away.

Evening was coming, and it was already getting somewhat dark, when the old man's coffin was carried through the last village of Stenino, located a verst from Optina. The large seven hundred-pood Optina bell hummed dejectedly, shaking the air with rare measured strokes and spreading far the sad news of the approach of the deceased. Then all the clergy of the city of Kozelsk and the citizens came out to meet him, joining the large crowd of people. The procession was still far away. Like a black cloud, it moved towards the monastery. High above the heads of the escorts, through the evening twilight, one could see a black coffin, mysteriously illuminated by the bright flame of burning candles. Hesitating from the procession of those who carried him, he seemed to float through the air. Truly, this touching, sadly solemn transfer of the body of the deceased Elder, according to the remark of many, was more like the transfer of relics, and made a touchingly gracious impression on all those present ...

“And since the father had already died, I saw that his coffin was standing. And then four angels in white robes descended - such robes shining on them - and in their hands were candles and a censer. And I asked: "Why are they, so bright, descended to the tomb of the Father?" They answered me: "this is because he was so clean." Then four more angels in red robes descended, and their robes were even more beautiful than before. And I asked again, and they answered: "It's because he was so merciful - he loved so much." - And four angels in blue robes of inexpressible beauty descended. I. I asked: "why did they go down to the coffin." And they answered me: "this is because he suffered so much in his life, and so patiently carried his crosses."

Prepared on the basis of the book of a contemporary and brother of the Monk Ambrose - schirhimandrite Agapit "The Biography of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose".

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The Great Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose was born on November 23, 1812, in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov Province, into the family of sexton Mikhail Fedorovich and his wife, Martha Nikolaevna Grenkov. Before the birth of the baby, many guests came to his grandfather, the priest of this village. The parent was transferred to the bath. On November 23, there was a great turmoil in the house of Father Fyodor, and there were people in the house, and people crowded in front of the house. The elder jokingly used to say: “Just as I was born in the people, so I live in the people.”

Ambrose Optinsky. Gallery of icons.

The clerk Mikhail Fedorovich had eight children: four sons and four daughters; Alexander was sixth. As a child, he was a very lively, cheerful and intelligent boy. According to the custom of that time, he learned to read according to the Slavic primer, hours and psalms. Every holiday, together with his father, he sang and read on the kliros. When the boy was 12 years old, he was sent to the first class of the Tambov Theological School. He studied well and after graduating from college, in 1830, he entered the Tambov Theological Seminary. And here study was given to him easily.

Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina.

From the page Founder of the Kazan Amvrosiev Hermitage Hieroschemamonk Ambrose of the book Kazan Amvrosievskaya Hermitage for Women and its founder Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Amvrosy.

As his friend from the seminary later recalled: “Here, it used to be that you would buy a candle with the last money, repeat and repeat the given lessons; he (Sasha Grenkov) does not study much, but he will come to the class, he will answer the mentor, exactly as written, the best of all. In his last seminary class, he transferred dangerous disease and vowed to be tonsured as a monk if he recovered. After his recovery, he did not forget his vow, but for several years he put off his fulfillment, “shouldered”, as he put it. However, his conscience did not give him rest. And the more time passed, the more painful the pangs of conscience became. Periods of carefree youthful fun and carelessness gave way to periods of acute anguish and sadness, intense prayer and tears.

Icon. Ambrose Optinsky and Sofia Shamordinskaya.

In July 1836, Alexander Grenkov successfully graduated from the seminary, but did not go to either the theological academy or the priesthood. He seemed to feel in his soul a special vocation and was in no hurry to fit himself into a certain position, as if waiting for the call of God. For some time he was a home teacher in a landowner's family, and then a teacher at the Lipetsk Theological School. Possessing a lively and cheerful character, kindness and wit, Alexander Mikhailovich was very loved by his comrades and colleagues.

Ambrose of Milan and Ambrose of Optina. From an article by Shamordino, embroidered icons of the monastery.

One day (it was in Lipetsk), while walking in a nearby forest, he, standing on the bank of a stream, clearly heard in its murmur the words: “Praise God, love God ...” At home, secluded from prying eyes, he fervently prayed to the Mother of God, asking him to enlighten his mind and direct his will. In general, he did not have a persistent will and already in his old age he told his spiritual children: “You must obey me from the first word. I am a yielding person. If you argue with me, I can give in to you, but it will not be to your advantage.”

Ambrose Optinsky. From an article by Shamordino, embroidered icons of the monastery.

In the same Tambov diocese, in the village of Troekurov, lived the then-famous ascetic Hilarion. Alexander Mikhailovich came to him for advice, and the elder told him: “Go to Optina Hermitage and you will be experienced. You could go to Sarov, but there are no more experienced elders there, as before. When the summer holidays of 1839 came, Alexander Mikhailovich, together with his fellow seminary and colleague at the Lipetsk school, Pokrovsky, having equipped a wagon, went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to bow to the abbot of the Russian land, St. Sergius.

Ambrose Optinsky.

Returning to Lipetsk, Alexander Mikhailovich still continued to doubt and did not immediately decide to break with the world. This happened, however, after one evening at a party, when he "made everyone laugh. Everyone was cheerful and contented and went home in a good mood. As for Alexander Mikhailovich, if he had felt repentance in such cases before, now the vow came vividly to the imagination, given to God, I remembered the burning of the spirit in the Trinity Lavra and the previous long prayers, sighs and tears, the definition of God, transmitted through Father Hilarion. In the morning, determination was firmly ripe. Alexander Mikhailovich decided to flee to Optina secretly from everyone, without even asking permission from the diocesan authorities.

Being already in Optina, he reported his intention to the Tambov bishop. He was afraid that the persuasion of relatives and friends would shake his resolve, and therefore left secretly. Arriving in Optina, Alexander Mikhailovich found the very flower of monasticism: its pillars such as hegumen Moses, the elders Leo (Leonid) and Macarius. Hieroschemamonk Anthony, brother of Father Moses, ascetic and seer, was the head of the skete, equal in spiritual height to them. In general, all monasticism under the guidance of the elders bore the imprint of spiritual virtues; simplicity (cunning), meekness and humility were the hallmarks of Optina monasticism. The younger brethren tried in every possible way to humble themselves not only before their elders, but also before their equals, being afraid even with a glance to offend another.

On October 8, 1839, Alexander Grenkov arrived at the monastery. Leaving the cab driver at the Gostiny Dvor, he immediately hurried to the church, and after the Liturgy, to Elder Leo to ask for blessings to stay in the monastery. The elder blessed him to live for the first time in a hotel and rewrite the book "Sinful Salvation" (translated from Modern Greek) - about the struggle with passions. In January 1840, he went to live in a monastery, not yet wearing a cassock.

At that time, clerical correspondence was going on with the diocesan authorities regarding his disappearance, and the Kaluga bishop had not yet issued a decree to the Optina rector on the admission of teacher Grenkov to the monastery. In April 1840, Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov was finally dressed in a monastic dress. For some time he was Elder Leo's cell-attendant and his reader (rule and services). He worked in a bakery, cooked hops (yeast), baked rolls. Then in November 1840 he was transferred to the skete. From there, the young novice did not stop going to the elder Leo for edification.

In the skete, he was the cook's assistant for a whole year. He often had to come to Elder Macarius for service, either to be blessed with regard to food, or to strike at the meal, or on other occasions. At the same time, he had the opportunity to tell the elder about his state of mind and receive answers.

Elder Leo was especially fond of the young novice, affectionately calling him Sasha. But out of educational motives, he experienced his humility in front of people. He pretended to thunder against him with anger. To this end, gave him the nickname "Chimera". By this word he meant an empty flower, which is found on cucumbers. But he said to others about him: "The man will be great." anticipating imminent death, the elder Leo called the father of Father Macarius and told him about the novice Alexander: “Here is a man painfully huddled with us, the elders. I am very weak now. So, I give it to you from floor to floor, use it as you know. After the death of Elder Leo, Brother Alexander became Elder Macarius' cell attendant (1841-1846). In 1842, he was tonsured into a mantle and named Ambrose (in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan, commemorated December 7). This was followed by hierodeaconhood (1843), and two years later, ordination to hieromonk.

The health of Father Ambrose during these years was greatly shaken. During a trip to the priestly consecration in Kaluga on December 7, 1845, he caught a cold and fell ill, having received a complication on internal organs. Since then, he has never been able to truly recover. However, he did not lose heart and admitted that bodily weakness had a beneficial effect on his soul. “It’s good for a monk to be sick,” Elder Ambrose liked to repeat, “and one doesn’t need to be treated in an illness, but only to heal.”

And to others, as a consolation, he said: “God does not require bodily exploits from the patient, but only patience with humility and thanksgiving.” On March 29, 1846, Hieromonk Ambrose was forced to leave the state due to illness, being recognized as incapable of obedience, and began to be listed as a dependent of the monastery. Since then, he could no longer celebrate the liturgy; he could hardly move, could not stand the cold and drafts, suffered from perspiration, so that he sometimes changed clothes and shoes several times a day. He ate liquid or pureed food and ate very little.

From September 1846 to the summer of 1848, Father Ambrose's state of health was so threatening that he was tonsured into the schema in his cell, retaining his former name. However, quite unexpectedly for many, the patient began to recover and even go outside for walks. This fracture was a clear action of the power of God, and Elder Ambrose himself later said: “Merciful is the Lord! In the monastery, those who are sick do not die soon, but stretch and stretch until the disease brings them real benefit. In a monastery it is useful to be a little sick, so that the flesh would be less rebellious, especially among the young, and less trifles would come to mind. And then with full health, especially young ones, what kind of wasteland does not come to mind.

During these years, the Lord brought up the spirit of the future great elder not only with bodily infirmities. Fr. Ambrose had a beneficial effect on communication with the older brethren, among whom there were many true ascetics. Here is one of the cases that Elder Ambrose himself later told about. Shortly after Fr. Ambrose was ordained a deacon and was once supposed to serve a liturgy in the Presentation Church, before the service, he approaches Abbot Anthony, who was standing in the altar, to receive a blessing from him.

Father Anthony asks him: “Well, are you getting used to it?” Father Ambrose cheekily answers him: “With your prayers, father!” Then Father Anthony continues: “For the fear of God?..” Father Ambrose realized the inappropriateness of his tone at the altar and became embarrassed. “So,” Father Ambrose concluded his story, “the old elders knew how to accustom us to reverence.” Particularly important for the spiritual growth of Father Ambrose during these years was his fellowship with Elder Macarius. Despite his illness, Fr. Ambrose remained as before in complete obedience to the elder, giving him an account of even the smallest thing. With the blessing of Father Macarius, he was engaged in the translation of patristic books, in particular, he prepared the "Ladder" for printing. Reverend John, hegumen of Sinai.

Thanks to the guidance of Elder Macarius, Father Ambrose was able to learn the art of arts—noetic prayer—without much stumbling. This monastic work is fraught with many dangers, since the devil tries to lead a person into a state of delusion and with significant sorrows, since an inexperienced ascetic, under plausible pretexts, tries to fulfill his will. A monk who does not have a spiritual guide can severely damage his soul along the way, as happened in his time with Elder Macarius himself, who independently studied this art.

Father Ambrose was able to avoid troubles and sorrows precisely because he had the most experienced mentor in the person of Elder Macarius. The elder loved his disciple, which, however, did not prevent him from educating him as a strict ascetic. When they stood up for Father Ambrose: “Father, he is a sick man!” - the old man answered: “But do I really know you worse? Reprimands and remarks to a monk are brushes with which sinful dust is wiped off his soul; and without this, the monk will rust.”

Even during the life of Elder Macarius, with his blessing, some of the brethren came to Father Ambrose for the revelation of thoughts. Here is how Abbot Mark, who ended his life in retirement in Optina, tells about this: “As far as I could notice, Father Ambrose lived at that time in complete silence. I went to him daily for the revelation of thoughts and almost always found him reading patristic books; if he did not find him in his cell, then this meant that he was with Elder Macarius, whom he helped in correspondence with spiritual children, or worked in translations of patristic books.

Sometimes I found him lying on the bed and in tears, but always restrained and hardly noticeable. It seemed to me that the elder always walked before God, or as if he always felt the presence of God, in the words of the psalmist, “he always saw the Lord before me” 8, and therefore, whatever he did, he tried to do for the Lord’s sake and to please Him ... Seeing such concentration of my elder, I was always in trembling reverence in his presence. Yes, otherwise I could not be. Having knelt before him, as usual, and having received a blessing, he used to very quietly ask: “What do you say, brother, is it pretty?” Perplexed by his concentration and placidity, I used to say: “Forgive me, for the Lord’s sake, father, did I come at the wrong time?” “No,” the elder will say, “say what you need, but briefly.”

And, having listened to me with attention, he will give useful instruction with a blessing and let me go with love. He taught instructions not from his own wisdom and reasoning, although he was rich in spiritual intelligence. If he taught spiritually, then in the rank of a student, he offered not his own advice, but without fail the teaching of the Holy Fathers. If Father Mark complained to Father Ambrose about someone who offended him, the elder would say in a deplorable tone: “Brother, brother! I am a dying man." Or: "I'm going to die today. Tomorrow. What will I do with this brother? After all, I'm not a pastor. You need to reproach yourself, humble yourself before your brother, and you will calm down.

In addition to the monks, Father Macarius tried to bring Father Ambrose closer to his worldly spiritual children. Seeing him talking to them, Elder Macarius will jokingly say: “Look, look! Ambrose is taking my bread away.” So Elder Macarius gradually prepared himself a worthy successor. When Elder Macarius reposed (September 7, 1860), circumstances gradually developed in such a way that Father Ambrose took his place.

40 days after the death of Elder Macarius, Father Ambrose moved to live in another building, near the skete fence, on the right side of the bell tower. On the western side of this building, an extension called a “shack” was made to receive women, since women were not allowed to enter the skete. For thirty years, until his departure for Shamordino, Father Ambrose lived here. He had two cell-attendants with him: Father Michael and Father Joseph, the future elder. The main clerk was Father Clement (Zederholm), the son of a Protestant pastor, who converted to Orthodoxy, a master of Greek literature.

To listen to the morning rule, the elder would get up at 4 in the morning, ring the bell, to which his cell-attendants would come to him and read morning prayers: 12 selected psalms and the first hour 10, after which he remained alone in mental prayer. Then, after a short rest, the elder listened to the clock: the third, the sixth with pictorial and and, depending on the day, the canon with the akathist to the Savior or the Mother of God, which he listened to while standing.

After prayer and a light breakfast, the working day began, with a short break at lunchtime. The food was eaten by the old man in the amount that is given to a three-year-old child. During the meal, the cell-attendants continued to ask him questions on behalf of the visitors. After some rest, hard work resumed, and so on until late evening. Despite the extreme sickness of the old man and fatigue, the day always ended in the evening. prayer rule, consisting of small compline, the canon to the Guardian Angel and evening prayers. From everyday reports, the cell-attendants, who now and then brought to the elder and led out visitors, could hardly keep on their feet. The elder himself at times lay almost unconscious. After the rule, the elder asked for forgiveness - "the Christmas tree sinned in deed, word, thought." The attendants accepted the blessing and headed for the exit. The clock will ring. "How much it?" the old man asks in a weak voice. They answer him: "Twelve."

Father Ambrose was of medium height, but very hunched. He walked with difficulty, leaning on a stick. Being painful, most often he lay and even received visitors reclining on the bed. Handsome in his youth, the elder seemed pensive when he was alone, but in the presence of others he always seemed cheerful and lively. His face constantly changed expression: either he looked at his interlocutor with tenderness, or burst into a young, infectious laugh, then, bowing his head, silently listened to what was said to him, and then remained silent for several minutes before starting to speak. His black eyes gazed steadily at the visitor, and it was felt that this gaze penetrated into the innermost depths of the human heart, that there was nothing secret for him. Nevertheless, its visitors did not feel heaviness, but, on the contrary, were in a joyful state. Always friendly and cheerful, the elder liked to joke even in hours of extreme fatigue, at the end of the day, after a twelve-hour reception of visitors who replaced each other in his cell.

Two years later, the old man suffered a new illness. Since then, he could no longer go to the temple of God and took communion in his cell. In 1869, his health was so bad that they began to lose hope of recovery. The Kaluga Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God was brought. After a prayer service and cell vigil, and then unction, the elder's health improved, but extreme weakness has not left him since then. It is hard to imagine how, being nailed to a suffering cross, in complete exhaustion, he could receive crowds of people every day and answer dozens of letters. The words came true with one's own eyes: "The power of God is made perfect in weakness."

Among the spiritual gifts of Elder Ambrose, which attracted thousands of people to him, mention should also be made of perspicacity. He penetrated deeply into the soul of the interlocutor and read in it. With a light, invisible hint, he pointed out to people their weaknesses and made them seriously think about them. One lady, who often visited Elder Ambrose, became very addicted to playing cards and was embarrassed to admit it. Once, at a general reception, she began to ask the elder for a card. The elder, looking at her attentively, said: “What are you, mother? Do we play cards in the monastery?” Taking the hint, she repented of her weakness.

One girl who graduated from high school in Moscow, whose mother had long been the spiritual daughter of Father Ambrose, who had never seen the elder, called him a hypocrite. Her mother persuaded her to visit Father Ambrose. Having come to the elder for a general reception, the girl stood behind everyone, at the very door. The old man came out and, opening the door, closed the young girl with it. After praying and looking around at everyone, he suddenly looked out the door and said: “And what kind of giant is this? Is it Vera, come to watch the hypocrite?” After that, after talking with her, he managed to convince her to change her lifestyle. Soon her fate was decided - she entered the Shamorda monastery. Those who with complete confidence surrendered themselves to the guidance of the elder never repented of this, although they sometimes heard advice from him, which at first seemed strange and impracticable.

Here is one of the cases told by one of the elder’s visitors, a certain artisan: “Shortly before the elder’s death, about two years, I had to go to Optina for money. We made the iconostasis there, and I had to get quite a bit from the rector for this work. a large sum money. I received my money and before leaving I went to the elder Ambrose to be blessed on my way back. I was in a hurry to go home: I was waiting the next day to receive a large order - ten thousand, and the customers were bound to be with me the next day. On this day, the old man, as usual, had a death for the people. He found out about me that I was waiting, and he ordered me to tell through my cell-attendant that I should come to him in the evening to drink tea. Although I had to hurry to the court, the honor and joy of being with the elder and drinking tea with him were so great that I decided to postpone my trip until the evening in full confidence that I would drive at least all night and manage to get there on time.

Evening comes, I went to the old man. The old man received me so cheerful, so joyful that I don’t even feel the ground under me. Father, our angel, kept me for quite a long time, it was almost dusk, and he said to me: “Well, go with God. Spend the night here, and tomorrow I bless you to go to mass, and after mass come to me to drink tea. "How is it so?" - I think, but I did not dare to contradict the old man. I spent the night, I was at mass, I went to the old man to drink tea, and I myself mourn for my customers and think everything: maybe, they say, I will have time to get to K at least in the evening. No matter how it is! I drank tea. I want to say to the old man: bless me to go home, but he didn’t even let me say a word: “Come,” he says, “spend the night with me.” My legs even buckled, but I don’t dare to object.

The day has passed, the night has passed! The next morning I was already bolder and I think: I haven’t been, and today I’ll leave; maybe a day my customers waited for me. Where are you! And the elder did not let me open my mouth. “Go,” he says, “to the vigil today, and tomorrow to mass. I have to spend the night again tonight!” What a parable is this! At this point, I completely grieved, I confess, I sinned against the old man: these are the seer! He knows for sure that, by his grace, a profitable business has now gone out of my hands. And I was so uneasy with the old man, which I can’t even convey. I had no time for prayer at that time at the Vespers - it just pushes me in the head: “Here is your elder! Here's a seer for you! Now your earnings are whistling!” Oh, how annoying I was at that time!

And my elder, as if it were a sin, well, for sure, God forgive me, as a mockery of me, he meets me joyfully after the vigil! I dare not speak out loud. I spent the night in this order and the third night. During the night, my grief gradually subsided: you can’t bring back what has slipped through your fingers ... The next morning I come from mass to the elder, and he tells me: “Well, now it’s time for you and to the court! Walk with God! God bless! Don’t forget to thank God in time!”

And then all sorrow fell away from me. I left Optina Hermitage, but my heart was so light and joyful that it is impossible to convey ... Why did the priest say this: “Do not forget to thank God in time”? It must, I think, because the Lord honored me to visit the temple for three days in a row. I’m going home slowly and don’t think about my customers at all: it was very gratifying to me that the priest treated me like that. I came home, and what did you think? I am at the gate, and my customers are behind me: they were late, which means that they were against the agreement to come for three days. Well, I think: oh, you, my blessed old man! Truly marvelous are Thy works, O Lord! You listen to what happened next! A lot has passed since that time.

Our father Ambrose is dead. About two years after his righteous death, my senior master falls ill. He was my trusted man, and he was not an employee, but straight gold. He lived with me hopelessly for more than twenty years. Sick to death. We sent for a priest to confess and take communion, while in memory. Only, I see, the priest comes to me from the dying man and says: “The patient is calling you to his place, he wants to see you. Hurry up before you die." I came to the patient, and as soon as he saw me, he somehow got up on his frills, looked at me, and how he would cry: “Forgive my sin, master! After all, I wanted to kill you ... "-" What are you, God be with you! You're delirious..." - "No, master, he really wanted to kill you.

Remember, you arrived from Optina three days late. After all, there are three of us, according to my agreement, for three nights in a row they guarded you on the road under the bridge; they envied you for the money that you brought from Optina for the iconostasis. You wouldn’t be alive that night, but the Lord, for someone’s prayers, took you away from death without repentance ... Forgive me, the accursed one, let go, for God’s sake, my darling in peace! “God will forgive you, as I forgive!” Here my patient wheezed and began to end. Kingdom of heaven to his soul. Great was the sin, but great was the repentance!”

The elder often gave instructions in a half-joking manner, encouraging the discouraged, but the deep meaning of his speeches did not diminish in the least. People involuntarily thought about the figurative expressions of Father Ambrose and remembered the lesson given to them for a long time. Sometimes at general receptions the invariable question was heard: how to live? In such cases, the elder answered complacently: “We must live on earth as the wheel turns, touches the earth with just one point, and tends upward with the rest; and as soon as we lie down, we can’t get up. ”

Sometimes he spoke as if in proverbs: “Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, and where it’s tricky, there’s not a single one”, “Don’t boast, peas, that you are better than beans: if you get wet, you will burst yourself”, “ Why man happens bad? “Because he forgets that God is above him.” One day, a wealthy landowner from Oryol comes to the priest and announces that he wants to install water supply in his vast apple orchards. Batiushka is already fully embraced by this plan. “People say,” he begins, “people say this is the best way,” and he describes in detail how the plumbing should be done. The landowner, returning to the village, begins to read about this subject; it turns out that the priest described the latest inventions in this area. The landowner is back in Optina. “Well, what about plumbing?” the father asks. There are rotten apples all around, and this landowner has a rich harvest of apples.

Judgment and perspicacity were combined in Elder Ambrose with an amazing tenderness of heart, thanks to which he was able to alleviate the most difficult grief and console the most mournful soul. A resident of Kozelsk, 3 years after the death of the elder, in 1894, said: “I had a son, he served on the telegraph, carried telegrams. Batiushka knew him and me. My son often carried telegrams to him, and I went for a blessing. But my son fell ill with consumption and died. I came to him - we all went to him with our grief. He stroked my head and said: “Your telegram has been cut off!” - “I broke off,” I say, “father!” - and cried. And so it was easy on my soul from his caress, as if a stone had fallen. We lived with him as with our own father. He loved everyone and took care of everyone. Now there are no such elders. And maybe God will send more!”

From morning to evening people came to him with the most burning questions, and he always grasped the essence of the matter at once, explained it incomprehensibly wisely, and gave an answer. In the course of 10-15 minutes of such a conversation, more than one issue was resolved, and during this time, Father Ambrose accepted into his heart the whole person - with his affections, desires. Metropolitan Evlogii (Georgievsky), who visited Optina Hermitage as a young man, recalled Elder Ambrose: “People of all classes, professions and conditions came to Father Ambrose for spiritual help. He carried a Narodnik feat in its own way. He knew the people and knew how to talk to them.

He edified and encouraged people not with lofty teachings, not with words of abstract morality - a well-aimed riddle, a parable that remained in the memory a topic for reflection, a joke, a strong folk phrase - these were the means of his influence on souls. He used to come out in a white cassock with a leather belt, in a cap - in a soft kamilavka - everyone rushes to him. There are ladies, and monks, and women. Sometimes the women had to stand behind - how could they get into the front rows! - and the old man, it used to be, right into the crowd - and to them, through the tightness with a stick, paves his way ... He will talk, joke - you look, everyone will perk up, have fun. He was always cheerful, always smiling.

And then he sits on a stool by the porch, listens to all kinds of requests, questions and bewilderments. And with what everyday affairs, even trifles, they did not come to him! What kind of answers and advice he did not have to give! They ask him about marriage and children, and is it possible to drink tea after an early mass? And where is the best place to put the stove in the house? He will sympathetically ask: “And what kind of hut do you have?” And then he will say: “Well, put the stove there ...”

There were no trifles for the old man. He knew that everything in life has its price, and therefore there was no question that he would not answer with participation and a desire for good. Once a woman stopped the old man, who was hired by the landowner to go after turkeys, but for some reason her turkeys were dying. The hostess wanted to count her. “Father! she turned to him with tears, “I have no strength; I myself am undernourished over them, - I keep my eyes peeled, but they prick. The lady wants to drive me away. Have pity on me, dear." Those present laughed at her. And the elder asked her with sympathy how she feeds them, and gave her advice on how to support them differently, blessed her and let her go. To those who laughed at her, he noticed that in these turkeys her whole life. After it became known that the woman's turkeys were no longer dying.

As for the healings, they were innumerable. The elder hid the cases of healing in every possible way. He sent the sick to the desert to the Monk Tikhon of Kaluga, where there was a spring. Before Elder Ambrose, no healings were heard in this desert. Sometimes Father Ambrose sent the sick to St. Mitrofan of Voronezh. It happened that they were healed on the way and returned back to thank the elder. Sometimes he, as if in jest, hits his head with his hand, and the disease passes. Once a reader who read prayers suffered from a severe toothache.

Suddenly the old man hit him. Those present chuckled, thinking that the reader must have made a mistake in reading. In fact, his toothache stopped. Once Elder Ambrose, bent over, leaning on a stick, was walking along the road to the skete. Suddenly he sees: there is a loaded wagon, a dead horse lies nearby, and a peasant is crying over it. The loss of a horse-nurse in peasant life is a real disaster! Approaching the fallen horse, the old man began to slowly go around it three times. Then, taking a twig, he lashed the horse, shouting at it: "Get up, you lazybones!" and the horse rose obediently to its feet.

One nun, the spiritual daughter of Father Ambrose, recalled: “In his cell, lamps and a small wax candle burned. It was dark for me to read from the note and there was no time. I said that I remembered, and then in a hurry, and then added: “Father, what else can I tell you? What to repent? I forgot." The elder reproached me for this. But suddenly he got up from the bed on which he was lying. Having taken two steps, he found himself in the middle of his cell. I involuntarily turned on my knees after him. The elder drew himself up to his full height, raised his head and raised his hands upwards, as if in a position of prayer. It seemed to me at that time that his feet were separated from the floor. I looked at his illuminated head and face.

I remember that there seemed to be no ceiling in the cell, it parted, and the elder’s head seemed to go up. This was clear to me. A minute later, the priest leaned over me, amazed at what he saw, and, crossing me, said the following words: “Remember, this is what repentance can lead to. Go." I left him, staggering, and all night wept for my foolishness and carelessness. In the morning they gave us horses, and we left. During the life of the elder, I did not dare to tell this to anyone. He forbade me once and for all to talk about such cases, saying with a threat: “Otherwise you will lose my help and grace.”

From all over Russia, the poor and the rich, the intelligentsia and the common people flocked to the old man's hut. Famous people visited public figures and writers: F. M. Dostoevsky, V. S. Solovyov, K. N. Leontiev, L. N. Tolstoy, M. N. Pogodin, N. M. Strakhov. And he received everyone with the same love and benevolence. Charity became his need, he distributed alms through his cell-attendant, and he himself took care of widows, orphans, the sick and suffering. IN last years During the life of the elder, 12 versts from Optina, in the village of Shamordino, the female Kazan hermitage was arranged with his blessing, in which, unlike other women's monasteries of that time, poor and sick women were admitted. By the 90s of the XIX century, the number of nuns in it reached 500 people.

It was in Shamordin that Elder Ambrose was destined to meet the hour of his death. On June 2, 1890, as usual, he went there for the summer. At the end of the summer, the elder tried three times to return to Optina, but could not because of ill health. A year later, on September 21, 1891, the disease intensified: he lost both his hearing and his voice. As a student at the Moscow Theological Academy, Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) once again visited the elder shortly before his death: “He then lived in the convent he founded, in Shamordin, 15 versts from Optina Hermitage. I visited him in August, and on October 18 he died. The old man was already very sick. He always had some kind of excruciating disease of the legs. He used to sit on the bed, receive visitors and still bandage his sore legs. And now he was lying in complete exhaustion. I told him everything that was on my heart. The elder listened and said with dead lips: “Blessed path, blessed path ...”

His near-death suffering began - so severe that, as he admitted, he had never experienced the like in his entire life. On October 8, Hieromonk Joseph consecrated him and communed him the next day. On the same day, the rector of Optina Hermitage, Archimandrite Isaac, came to the elder in Shamordino. The next day, October 10, 1891, at half past twelve, the elder, after sighing three times and crossing himself with difficulty, died. On October 14, under the drizzling autumn rain, the body of the elder was transferred to Optina Pustyn.

The coffin was carried on their shoulders, and it towered over a huge crowd of people who came to see the elder on his last journey. From passing villages, the clergy and the people joined the procession with icons and banners. The funeral procession was more like the transfer of relics. The large candles that surrounded the coffin did not go out on the way, despite the bad weather. A few years before his death, Elder Ambrose commissioned an icon of the Mother of God blessing the harvest, and called it - "The Mother of God the Argumenter of Bread." He set a celebration for her on October 15th. It was on this day that his body was interred. He was buried near the Optina monastery church, next to his mentor, Elder Macarius.

Biography

The beginning of life

Service in Optina Hermitage

Expressions of Ambrose of Optina

Ambrose Optinsky(in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov; November 23 (December 5), 1812 - October 10 (22), 1891) - clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church, hieromonk. Glorified as a saint on June 6, 1988 at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church; revered during his lifetime as an old man. The prototype of the elder Zosima in the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov".

Days of Remembrance:

• October 10 (23) - death;
• October 11 (24) - in the Cathedral of the Optina Elders;
• June 27 (July 10) - Uncovering the relics of the reverend.

Biography

The beginning of life

It is now generally accepted that Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov was born on November 23 (December 5), 1812. Although the sources, directly and indirectly, indicated another date: November 21, 1812 and 1814 (in the certificate of the student of the Tambov Theological Seminary Alexander Grenkin dated July 15, 1836, it is indicated: "... having 22 years of age ...").

He was born in the house of his grandfather, a priest, in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province, in the family of sexton Mikhail Fedorovich and Marfa Nikolaevna Grenkov; was the sixth of eight children. His father died early and Alexander lived in a large family with his grandfather's mother.

At the age of twelve, he was sent to the Tambov Theological School for semi-public maintenance. In July 1830, as one of the best graduates, he was sent to the Tambov Theological Seminary. While studying at the seminary, he fell seriously ill and vowed to be tonsured as a monk. However, after graduating from the seminary in 1836 (in the first category), he became a home teacher for children to a wealthy landowner. Then, from March 7, 1838, he was a teacher of Greek at the Lipetsk Theological School.

After a secondary illness, having visited, together with his comrade and colleague Pavel Stepanovich Pokrovsky, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Elder Hilarion from the village of Troekurov, in the fall of 1839 he secretly went away from everyone to the monastery of Optina Pustyn indicated by the elder.

Service in Optina Hermitage

On October 8, 1839, Alexander Grenkov arrived in Optina Pustyn. Elder Fr. Leo blessed him to live in a hotel and rewrite the translation of the work of the Greek monk Agapia Landa "Sinful Salvation". In January 1840, Alexander went to live in the monastery, and on April 2, 1840, after resolving the situation with his disappearance from the Lipetsk School, he was accepted as a novice among the brethren of the monastery; he was a cell-attendant and reader at the elder Leo, he worked in a bakery. In November 1840 he was transferred to the skete, where he worked in the kitchen for a year.

Even before the death of Elder Leo, in 1841 he began to undergo obedience with the elder Fr. Macarius. In obedience to his will, in the summer of 1841 he was tonsured into a cassock, and on November 29, 1842 - into a mantle, with a name in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan; On February 4, 1843, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on December 9, 1845, he was ordained a hieromonk in Kaluga, and during the trip he caught a cold and became seriously ill, having received a complication in the internal organs, so that due to illness he could hardly serve.

During his visit, on August 23, 1846, to Optina Hermitage, Bishop Nikolai, at the request of the abbot and confessor of the monastery, Hieromonk Ambrose was appointed assistant to Fr. Macarius "in the clergy". By the spring of 1848, the state of health of a young monk who had embarked on the path of elderhood became so threatening that, probably at that time, he was tonsured into the great schema without changing his name, removed from the state and listed as dependent on the monastery. After that, his health improved somewhat.

After the death of the elder, Fr. Macarius On September 7, 1860, Ambrose took over the work of eldership.

Elder Ambrose constantly had some kind of ailment: “his gastritis intensified, then vomiting opened, then nervous pain was felt, then a cold with feverish chills and just a severe fever.” In 1862, Elder Ambrose suffered a dislocation of his arm, the unsuccessful treatment of which further weakened his health, so that he could no longer go to church services, and in winter he could not leave the premises at all. In August 1868, he fell dangerously ill with hemorrhoidal bleeding. Abbot Isaac sent a monk to the village with a request to bring the Kaluga Icon of the Mother of God to Optina Hermitage. The miraculous icon was delivered to the monastery. After a prayer service with an akathist to the Theotokos in the elder's cell and prayers, Ambrose received relief from an illness that visited him periodically until his death.

In 1870, he received a rare award at that time - a golden pectoral cross.

The name of the elder Ambrose is associated with the establishment in 1884 of the Shamorda convent. He blessed his spiritual child, schema-nun Sophia, to create a women's community near Optina, in the village of Shamordino, which was later transformed into a monastery. October 1 (14), 1884, when the first church was consecrated, arranged by the labors and prayers of Ambrose, is considered the day of the creation of the monastery.

The abbess Sophia, appointed by him, arranged the monastic life of the monastery during the four years of her rectorship. After her death, Elder Ambrose blessed another spiritual daughter as abbess, nun Euphrosyne, whom at the end of her life he did not bless to retire, despite her illnesses.

In the Shamorda monastery founded with his blessing, he died on October 10, 1891. On his marble headstone are engraved the words of the Apostle Paul:

Meetings, conversations, lectures

Evgeny Pogozhev (Poselyanin) said:

V. V. Rozanov wrote:

Expressions of Ambrose of Optina

Spiritual legacy of Elder Ambrose

• Reply to those favorable to the Latin Church
• Fear of God
• Pater. Christian marriage
• Advice for spouses and parents

Saint Ambrose was the third most famous and glorified of all the Optina elders. He was not a bishop, an archimandrite, he was not even an abbot, he was a simple hieromonk. Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow once said very well about the humility of the saints before the relics of our father Sergius of Radonezh: “I hear all around Your Eminence, Your Reverence, you alone, father, just reverend.”

This is how Ambrose, the elder of Optina, was. He could talk to everyone in his language: help an illiterate peasant woman who complained that turkeys were dying, and the lady would drive her out of the yard. Answer questions F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy and other, the most educated people of that time. It was he who became the prototype of the elder Zosima from the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" and the spiritual mentor of all Orthodox Russia.

Alexander Grenkov, future father Ambrose, was born on November 21 or 23, 1812, in the spiritual family of the village of Bolshiye Lipovitsy Tambov Diocese, grandfather is a priest, father, Mikhail Fedorovich, is a sexton. Before the birth of the child, so many guests came to the grandfather - the priest, that the mother, Marfa Nikolaevna, was transferred to the bathhouse, where she gave birth to a son, named in holy baptism in honor of the right-believing Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, and in this turmoil she forgot exactly which the number he was born. Later, Alexander Grenkov, having already become an old man, joked: “As I was born in people, so I live in people.”

Alexander was the sixth of eight children in the family. At the age of 12, he entered the Tambov Theological School, which he brilliantly graduated as the first of 148 people. Then he studied at the Tambov Seminary. However, he did not go to either the Theological Academy or the priesthood. For some time he was a home teacher in a landowner's family, and then a teacher at the Lipetsk Spiritual School. Possessing a lively and cheerful character, kindness and wit, Alexander was very loved by his comrades. Before him, full of strength, talented, energetic, lay a brilliant life path, full of earthly joys and material well-being. In the last class of the Seminary, he had to endure a dangerous illness, and he vowed to be tonsured a monk if he recovered.

After his recovery, he did not forget his vow, but for four years he put off its fulfillment, “shrinking,” as he put it. However, his conscience did not give him rest. And the more time passed, the more painful the pangs of conscience became. Periods of carefree fun and carelessness gave way to periods of acute melancholy and sadness, intense prayer and tears. Once, when he was already in Lipetsk, walking in a nearby forest, he, standing on the bank of a stream, clearly heard the words in its murmur: "Praise God, love God..."

At home, secluded from prying eyes, he fervently prayed to the Mother of God to enlighten his mind and direct his will. In general, he did not possess a persistent will and already in his old age he said to his spiritual children: “You must obey me from the first word. I am a yielding person. If you argue with me, I can give in to you, but it will not be to your advantage.”. Exhausted from his indecision, Alexander Mikhailovich went for advice to the well-known ascetic Hilarion, who lived in that area. "Go to Optina, - the old man told him and you will be experienced.

After tears and prayers in the Lavra, worldly life, entertaining evenings at a party seemed to Alexander so unnecessary, superfluous, that he decided to urgently and secretly leave for Optina. Perhaps he did not want the persuasion of friends and family to shake his resolve to fulfill his vow to dedicate his life to God.

Holy Vvedensky stauropegial monastery Optina Pustyn

Optina Pustyn. Vvedensky Cathedral

In the autumn of 1839 he arrived at Optina Pustyn, where he was kindly received by the elder Leo. Soon he took tonsure and was named Ambrose, in memory of St. Mediolan, then he was ordained a hierodeacon and, later, a hieromonk. It was five years of work, ascetic life, hard physical work.

When the famous spiritual writer E. Poselyanin lost his beloved wife, and his friends advised him to leave the world and go to a monastery, he answered: “I would be glad to leave the world, but in the monastery they will send me to work at the stable”. It is not known what kind of obedience they would give him, but he truly felt that the monastery would try to humble his spirit in order to turn him from a spiritual writer into a spiritual worker.

So Alexander had to work in a bakery, bake bread, cook hops (yeast), help the cook. With his brilliant abilities, knowledge of five languages, it was probably not easy for him to become just a cook's assistant. These obediences brought up in him humility, patience, the ability to cut off his will.

For some time he was the cell-attendant and reader of the elder Leo, who especially loved the young novice, affectionately calling him Sasha. But out of educational motives, he experienced his humility in front of people. He pretended to thunder against him with anger. But he said to others about him: "The man will be great." After the death of Elder Leo, the young man became the cell-attendant of Elder Macarius.

Reverend Lev of Optina	Venerable Macarius of Optina

Soon after his ordination, exhausted by fasting, he caught a bad cold. The illness was so severe and prolonged that it forever undermined the health of Father Ambrose and almost chained him to bed. Due to his ill condition, until his death, he could not perform liturgies and participate in long monastic services. For the rest of his life, he could hardly move, suffered from perspiration, so he changed clothes several times a day, could not stand the cold and drafts, ate only liquid food, in an amount that was barely enough for a three-year-old child.

Comprehending about. Ambrose, a serious illness had undoubtedly providential significance for him. She tempered his lively character, protected him, perhaps, from developing conceit in him, and forced him to go deeper into himself, to better understand himself and himself. human nature. It was not for nothing that later Fr. Ambrose said: “It’s good for a monk to be sick. And in the disease it is not necessary to be treated, but only to be treated!.

Perhaps none of the Optina Elders bore such a heavy cross of illness as St. Ambrose. The words came true on it: "The power of God is made perfect in weakness." Despite his illness, Father Ambrose remained as before in complete obedience to Elder Macarius, giving him an account of even the smallest thing. With the blessing of the elder, he was engaged in the translation of patristic books, in particular, he prepared for printing the "Ladder" of St. John, Abbot of Sinai, letters and biography of Fr. Macarius and other books.

In addition, he soon began to gain fame as an experienced mentor and leader in matters not only spiritual, but also practical life. Even during the life of Elder Macarius, with his blessing, some of the brethren came to Fr. Ambrose for the revelation of thoughts. So Elder Macarius gradually prepared himself a worthy successor, joking about this: “Look, look! Ambrose is taking my bread away.” When Elder Macarius passed away, the circumstances were such that Fr. Ambrose gradually took his place.

He possessed an unusually lively, sharp, observant and penetrating mind, enlightened and deepened by constant concentrated prayer, attention to himself and knowledge of ascetic literature. Despite his constant illness and frailty, he combined inexhaustible cheerfulness, and knew how to give his instructions in such a simple and playful form that they were easily and forever remembered by every listener:

"We must live on earth as the wheel turns, touches the earth with just one point, and tends upward with the rest; but we, as soon as we lie down, we cannot get up."

"Where it's simple, there are a hundred angels, and where it's tricky - there's not a single one."

"Don't boast, peas, that you are better than beans, if you get wet, you will burst yourself."

"Why is a person bad? - Because he forgets that God is above him."

"Who thinks about himself that he has something, he will lose."

"Life is simpler - the best. Don't break your head. Pray to God. The Lord will arrange everything, just live easier. Don't torture yourself thinking about how and what to do. Let it be - as it happens - this is living easier."

"You need to live, not to grieve, not to offend anyone, not to annoy anyone, and all my respect."

"To live - not to grieve - to be happy with everything. There is nothing to understand here."

"If you want to have love, then do deeds of love, even if at first without love."

Once he was told: “You, father, speak very simply” The old man smiled “Yes, I have been asking God for this simplicity for twenty years”.

The elder received crowds of people in his cell, did not refuse anyone, people flocked to him from all over the country. So for more than thirty years, day after day, Elder Ambrose accomplished his feat. Before Father Ambrose, none of the elders opened the door of their cell to a woman. He not only received many women and was their spiritual father, but also founded a nunnery near Optina Hermitage - the Kazan Shamorda Hermitage, which, unlike other nunneries of that time, received more poor and sick women.
The Shamorda monastery first of all satisfied that ardent thirst for mercy for the suffering, which Fr. Ambrose. Here he sent many helpless ones. The elder took the most active part in the construction of the new monastery. They used to bring in a dirty, half-naked child, covered in tatters and rashes from impurity and exhaustion. “Take him to Shamordino,” the elder orders (there is a shelter for the poorest girls). Here, in Shamordino, they didn’t ask if a person was capable of being useful and bringing benefits to the monastery, but simply they accepted everyone, put them to rest. By the 90s of the XIX century, the number of nuns in it reached 500 people.

Father Ambrose did not like to pray in plain sight. The cell-attendant who read the rule had to stand in another room. Once they were reading a prayer canon to the Theotokos, and one of the skete hieromonks decided at that time to approach the priest. The eyes of Ambrose were directed to heaven, his face shone with joy, a bright radiance rested on him, so that the monk could not bear him.

From morning until evening, the elder, dejected by illness, received visitors. People came to him with the most burning questions, which he assimilated to himself, with which he lived at the moment of conversation. He always at once grasped the essence of the matter, incomprehensibly wisely explained it and gave an answer. There were no secrets for him: he saw everything. A stranger could come to him and remain silent, but he knew his life, and his circumstances, and why he came here. From all-day reports, the cell-attendants, who now and then brought to the elder and led out visitors, could hardly keep on their feet. The elder himself at times lay unconscious. Sometimes, in order to somehow alleviate the foggy head, the elder ordered to read to himself one or two of Krylov's fables.

As for healings, there were no number of them and it is impossible to list them. The elder covered up these healings in every possible way. Sometimes he, as if in jest, hits his head with his hand, and the disease passes. It happened that a reader who read prayers suffered from a severe toothache. Suddenly the old man hit him. Those present chuckled, thinking that the reader had made a mistake in reading. In fact, his toothache stopped. Knowing the elder, some women addressed him: “Father Abrosim! Beat me, my head hurts."

From all over Russia, the poor and the rich, the intelligentsia and the common people flocked to the old man's hut. And he received everyone with the same love and benevolence. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, F.M. Dostoevsky, V.S. Solovyov, K.N. Leontiev (monk Clement), A.K. Tolstoy, L.N. Tolstoy, M.P. Pogodin and many others. V. Rozanov wrote: “Beneficence flows from him spiritual, and, finally, physical. Everyone rises in spirit, just looking at him ... The most principled people visited him (Fr. Ambrose), and no one said anything negative. The gold has passed through the fire of skepticism and has not tarnished.”

The spiritual strength of the elder manifested itself sometimes in quite exceptional cases. Once Elder Ambrose, bent over, leaning on a stick, was walking from somewhere along the road to the skete. Suddenly a picture appeared to him: a loaded cart was standing, a dead horse was lying nearby, and a peasant was crying over it. The loss of a horse-nurse in peasant life is a real disaster! Approaching the fallen horse, the elder began to slowly walk around it. Then, taking a twig, he whipped the horse, shouting at it: “Get up, lazybones!” - and the horse obediently rose to its feet.

Elder Ambrose was destined to meet the hour of his death in Shamordino. On June 2, 1890, as usual, he went there for the summer. At the end of the summer, the elder tried three times to return to Optina, but could not because of ill health. A year later, the disease worsened. He was unctioned and received communion several times. Suddenly the news came that the bishop himself, dissatisfied with the slowness of the elder, was going to come to Shamordino and take him away. Meanwhile, Elder Ambrose was getting weaker every day. October 10, 1891 the old man, sighing three times and crossing himself with difficulty, died. And so, as soon as the bishop managed to drive half the way to Shamordin and stopped to spend the night in the Przemyslsky monastery, he was given a telegram informing him of the death of the elder. The bishop's face changed and he said in embarrassment: "What does this mean?" The bishop was advised to return to Kaluga, but he replied: “No, probably this is the will of God! Ordinary hieromonks are not buried by bishops, but this is a special hieromonk - I want to perform the funeral of an elder myself.”

It was decided to transport him to Optina Pustyn, where he spent his life and where his spiritual leaders, the elders Leo and Macarius, rested. A heavy deadly smell soon began to be felt from the body of the deceased.

However, he spoke directly about this circumstance long ago to his cell-attendant, Fr. Joseph. To the question of the latter, why is this so, the humble old man said: “This is for me for having taken too much undeserved honor in my life”. But it is marvelous that the longer the body of the deceased stood in the church, the less the dead smell began to be felt. And this despite the fact that from the multitude of people, who for several days almost did not leave the coffin, there was unbearable heat in the church. On the last day of the funeral of the elder, a pleasant smell began to be felt from his body, as if from fresh honey.

Under the drizzling autumn rain, none of the candles surrounding the coffin went out. The elder was buried on October 15, on that day, the elder Ambrose established a holiday in honor of miraculous icon Mother of God "The Conqueror of Bread", before whom he himself offered up his fervent prayers many times. The words of the Apostle Paul are engraved on the marble tombstone: “Be weak, as if weak, but I will acquire the weak. All things to all, that I may save every one” (1 Cor. 9:22).

The icon above the shrine of the holy elder Ambrose is myrrh-streaming.

In June 1988, by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, St. Ambrose, the first of the Optina Elders, was canonized as a saint. On the anniversary of the revival of the monastery, by the grace of God, a miracle happened: at night, after the service in the Presentation Cathedral, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the relics and the icon of St. Ambrose streamed myrrh. Other miracles were performed from the relics of the elder, with which he certifies that he does not leave us sinners by his intercession before our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever, Amen.

Troparion, tone 5:
Yako to healing spring, we flow to you, Ambrose, our father, you truly instruct us on the path of salvation, protect us with prayers from troubles and misfortunes, console you in bodily and spiritual sorrows, moreover, teach humility, patience and love, pray to the Humanitarian Christ and the Zealous Intercessor to save souls ours.

Kontakion, tone 2:
Having fulfilled the covenant of the Shepherd, you inherited the grace of the elders, sick of heart for all those who flow to you with faith, the same we, your children, with love cry out to you: Father Saint Ambrose, pray to Christ God to be saved to our souls.

Prayer to the Monk Ambrose, Elder of Optina
Oh, great elder and servant of God, our reverend father Ambrose, Praise of Optina and all Rus', teacher of piety! We glorify your humble life in Christ, even as God exalted your name, still existing on earth, and most of all crowning you with heavenly honor after your departure to the chamber of eternal glory. Now accept the prayer of us, your unworthy children, who honor you and call on your holy name, deliver us by your intercession before the Throne of God from all mournful circumstances, mental and bodily ailments, evil misfortunes, pernicious and crafty temptations, send peace to our Fatherland from the great-gifted God, peace and prosperity, be the immutable patron of this holy monastery, in it you yourself labored in prosperity and pleased you with all in the Trinity, our glorious God, He deserves all glory, honor and worship, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and in ages of ages. Amen.

Many people flock to Optina Hermitage to the shrine with the relics of St. Ambrose of Optina. Popular veneration of this saint began long ago, during his lifetime. Ambrose did not important title, was neither hegumen nor archimandrite. This saint reposed in the rank of a simple hieroschemamonk. However, he achieved such holiness that the rumor spread not only throughout Russia, but also abroad.

The beginning of life

The Monk Ambrose of Optina (biography will be described below) was born in 1812, on December 5, according to the new style. In the world he bore the name Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov. The life of Ambrose of Optinsky began in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province. Sasha's grandfather was a priest in the village, and his father served as a sexton. The boy was the sixth child, after two more children were born. There were eight children in the Grenkov family: four boys and four girls.

Informative!: what are these tablets and what is the meaning

Many guests came to the house for the birth of Alexander. On this occasion, the monk later often joked: "I was born in public and spend my whole life in public." Sasha grew up smart, cheerful fidget, often naughty. He learned literacy from the Book of Hours and the Psalter. Sunday and church holidays the boy sang and read with his father in the kliros.

The father left early in the other world, leaving the mother alone with eight children. The family had to move in with their grandfather, a priest. When the boy was twelve years old, he was sent to a religious school.

Sasha studied well even after graduation educational institution entered the seminary, which he also graduated with honors. After that, he did not enter the theological academy, and the rank was also in no hurry to accept, as if thinking about the future path.

Ambrose Optinsky in the world was distinguished by a cheerful disposition, an excellent sense of humor and was the soul of any company. He often joked and thus made his friends laugh.

After graduating from the seminary, Alexander Grenkov taught for some time at the Lipetsk Theological School and gave private lessons to the children of landowners.

When he was still in his last year at the seminary, he fell seriously ill. And then he tearfully prayed to God for his own healing, promising to accept monasticism in case of recovery. The young man recovered and did not forget his promise to the Lord, but he did not dare to cut his hair as a monk, he put off this decision. Most likely, he doubted whether he could become a good monk with such vitality, mobility and a cheerful disposition.

So time passed, the young man worked, had fun at his leisure, spent time in noisy companies. But more and more often he felt pangs of conscience, as if someone was urging him to fulfill the promise. And then one day, while walking in the forest, Ambrose of Optina heard a Voice in the murmur of a stream: “Praise God! Save God! Then he began to earnestly pray to the Mother of God to enlighten him and strengthen him.

Monasticism

At that time, the perspicacious old man Illarion lived in the Tambov province. Alexander went to him for guidance on which monastery to enter. The ascetic replied: "Go to Optina Pustyn, you are needed there." But even after that, the young man did not immediately rush to the monastery, but continued to work.

During the summer holidays, together with a colleague, went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There Alexander fervently prayed for God's help. Upon his return from the monastery, he continued to live in the world, still doubting his acceptance of monasticism.

But one day, after another friendly party, Alexander especially felt remorse for an unrestrained vow to God. The future ascetic spent the whole night in repentance and tearful prayer, and in the morning he left home forever. Fearing that his relatives would not interfere with his plans, he did not say anything to anyone.

Arriving in Hermitage, Alexander found the eldership in full swing. Eldership has been developed in Rus' since antiquity. Usually, monks were called elders, who achieved a certain spiritual experience thanks to asceticism, unceasing prayer. These people had the gift of insight, healing, so people from all over the country flocked to them to get advice and spiritual guidance.

The first Optina elder was the Monk Leo (1768-1841), who laid the foundation for eldership in this monastery. Then his followers were: Macarius, Moses, Anthony, Hilarion. The young Alexander Grenkov, who arrived in Pustyn, found still alive the Monk Leo and Macarius, the pillars of the eldership. The day of arrival at the monastery is December 8, 1839.

Upon arrival in Pustyn, Alexander immediately found Elder Leo in order to take his blessing for the monastic life. Reverend blessed young man to live for the first time in a monastery hotel and to translate a spiritual book.

A month later, the elder allowed Alexander to live in the monastery itself, without putting on a cassock. It was necessary to settle matters with the authorities of the school where Grenkov taught and await the decree of the bishop on enrolling him in the staff of the monastery.

Only six months later, Alexander was allowed to put on a cassock and live as a novice in the Desert. At first, he worked in a bakery and was a cell-attendant for Elder Leo. Then the young novice was transferred to the Skete, where he often saw Elder Macarius.

There Alexander also worked as a cook, and in free time went to the old man Leo. The elder loved him very much, affectionately calling him "Sashenka". Soon Leo, feeling his imminent death, said to Macarius: “I am handing over this novice to you.”

After Leo's death, Alexander became Macarius' cell-attendant. In 1841, the novice was trimmed into a cassock, and a year later - into a mantle with the name Ambrose (in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan). In 1843 he became a hierodeacon, and two years later - a hieromonk.

Since then, Ambrose of Optinsky felt a deterioration in his health, caught a bad cold and received a serious complication in his internal organs. In his spiritual instructions, he often said that illnesses are of great benefit to the soul. The patient is not required to work asceticism, but only patience and prayer.

Throughout his monastic life, the saint meekly endured constant illnesses. At times his gastritis became aggravated, vomiting began, then neurological pains appeared, then his kidneys ached. Despite his illnesses, Ambrose, with the blessing of Macarius, translated spiritual books, and most importantly, he taught the young monk unceasing mental prayer.

Important! The Jesus Prayer, otherwise called "clever", is done by monks and pious lay people. It consists in saying with the mind the words in the heart, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Usually she is helped to pronounce the rosary - so you can find out how many times the prayer has been read.

eldership

In 1860, Elder Macarius reposed, and Ambrose took over. By that time, he had already reached holiness and had been receiving people for 12 years with the blessing of Macarius. Thus the words of St. Hilarion came true, Ambrose of Optina became an elder after the death of Macarius.

In the photo, the saint is often depicted lying on the bed (in this position he received visitors, because he did not have the strength to get up due to illness). But the face is always bright and joyful in the photo of those years.

Radiant, kind eyes, an open smile are visible. In 1862, the monk finally fell into bed, could no longer attend divine services, and therefore took communion in his cell. But, despite this, he did not stop receiving streams of visitors, answering letters.

Informative! Who is he and how does he help people

The saint had a sharp mind and an excellent sense of humor, often joked, and besides, he knew how to compose poetry. The teachings of Elder Ambrose of Optina were almost all in poetic, half-joking form.

Everyone knows his words:

1. "You can live in the world, but not in a jura, but live quietly."
2. “To live is not to grieve, not to condemn anyone, not to annoy anyone, but my respect to everyone.”
3. The elder often said: “To live in a monastery, you need patience, not a cart, but a whole convoy.”
4. “Monks are not allowed to be treated, but only sometimes to heal.”
5. “Do not boast, pea, that you are better than beans, if you get wet, you will burst yourself.”
6. “You shouldn't talk in church. Sorrows are sent for this.”

The rumor about the kind and wise old man soon spread throughout Rus'. People of different classes went to Optina Hermitage: rich and poor, he did not distinguish between people, he accepted everyone equally with love. They came to the old man like that famous writers like Leo Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

His insight was amazing. There was a case when an unbelieving young lady was brought to him, who all the way called Ambrose a hypocrite and did not believe in his holiness. When all the people were waiting for the elder to come out, Vera (that was the name of the unbelieving young lady) paced nervously up and down the room.

And when the girl was behind the door in the corner, the door suddenly flew open, the old man came out and said, looking through the door: “Who is here with us? And, this is Vera, she came to look at the hypocrite! It was so sudden and amazing that the girl immediately forgot about her disbelief and fell to her knees.

Shamorda monastery

In the last years of his life, the elder took up the arrangement convent in Shamordino (located 12 versts from Optina Pustyn). He spiritually nourished this monastery until his death. It is known that one of the Shamorda nuns was the sister of Leo Tolstoy, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya.

The nuns loved the monk and often prayed for his health. Sometimes the monk even got angry with them: “They begged again!”

The elder reposed in the Lord on October 22, 1891 in the Shamorda Monastery. Before his death, he accepted the great schema. The image of the saint formed the basis of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Just as in the novel, in fact, the smell of decomposition emanated from his relics at first. This was predicted by Ambrose during his lifetime. But later the stench disappeared, and a wondrous fragrance spread.

Useful video: life and instruction of Ambrose of Optina

veneration of a saint

Saint Ambrose of Optina canonized Orthodox Church in 1988, memorial day - October 23 and July 10 in a new style. On Memorial Day, crowds of people flock to the Vvedensky Cathedral of Optina Hermitage, where the relics of Ambrose of Optina are buried. There is also the icon of Ambrose of Optina, from which many receive healing from illnesses. The icon depicts an old man in a schema, as he was buried.

Many are interested in what St. Avmrosy Optina helps with?

The elder is prayed on various occasions:

• with various bodily and mental illnesses (including demonic possessions);
• with family strife, quarrels, divorce;
• in the desire to find a companion (life partner);
• in office troubles;
• about children who are not given education;
• about enlightening lost children.

And there is much more that the saint helps those who turn to him in prayers.

The women's skete of Ambrose of Optina is located in Belarus at the place where the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Zhirovichi was found. In 2005, it received the status of a skete, and it was decided to name it in honor of Ambrose of Optinsky. So the veneration of the saint spread beyond the borders of Russia, in Belarus.

Interesting! The skete is currently under construction, although some churches are already in operation.

Useful video: showing the way to the salvation of Ambrose of Optinsky

Conclusion

Saint Ambrose of Optina made an invaluable contribution to the national eldership. He became a favorite saint for many people. They pray to him in various troubles and needs, and the reverend always helps. Even after death, he continues to love the people and cordially responds to requests addressed to him.