The future elder Ambrose was born on November 23, 1812, in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province, from the sexton Mikhail Feodorovich and his wife Marfa Nikolaevna Grenkov. The newborn was named 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 his whole being. His vivid Danish imagination was constantly filled with them, and therefore he could not sit in the house. Sometimes his mother instructed 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 until his mother, busy with household chores, lost sight of him...

In July 1830, Alexander Grenkov, as one of the best students, was appointed to enter the Tambov Theological Seminary. At the seminary, as well as at the school, thanks to his rich abilities, he studied very well. Science came easy to him. His seminary comrade said: “here it used to be that you’d buy a candle with your last penny, repeat and repeat the given lessons; He (Grenkov) doesn’t study much, but he’ll come to class and answer the teacher, just as it’s written, better than anyone.” Having a lot of free time at his disposal from here, and having a naturally cheerful and lively disposition, he was inclined to have fun even in the seminary. Alexander Mikhailovich’s favorite pastime was talking with his comrades, joking, laughing; so that he was always, so to speak, the soul of a cheerful society. The thought of a monastery never occurred to him.

Elder Ambrose later said: “But one day I became very ill. 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 then 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 a monastery”...

Alexander recovered and in 1839 he entered the Optina Monastery, a monastery in the Kaluga province. At that time, Optina Pustyn was an amazing miracle, which, perhaps, had no equal in the entire history of Orthodoxy: a series of abbots and spiritual fathers of the monastery showed the world a continuous sequence of holy miracle workers. The first holy confessor was Leo, followed by Macarius, who became Alexander’s confessor.

In 1842, on November 29, Alexander took monastic vows 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 already received the obedience to help Elder Macarius in his clergy. This means that, despite such a young age, hegumen Moses and confessor Macarius intended him to be an elder. But God’s Providence was pleased to first subject the young hieromonk, who was entering into this great duty, to a severe and prolonged illness, so that he would be purified like gold in a furnace.

His illness became more and more intensified. The treatment didn't help. And therefore, in December 1847, he was forced to sign that he wanted to be left in a monastery outside the state, that is, he could not bear the priest’s obedience: “my long-standing illness: upset stomach and all the insides and relaxation of the nerves, - being aggravated by attacks of closed hemorrhoids, since the autumn of 1846, brought my body to extreme exhaustion, from which even medical benefits, used for a year, could not restore me, and do not offer any hope of recovery. Why am I, both now and in the future, correcting alternate ministries, and cannot carry out any monastic duties.”

Despite this, he not only never grieved over his illnesses, but even considered them necessary for his spiritual improvement. He never wished for a complete recovery and always said to others: “a monk should not undergo serious treatment, but only receive treatment.” To heal - in order, of course, not to lie in bed and not be a burden to others.

Abbot Mark perfectly depicts the current position of his elder monk Ambrose and his spiritual attitude towards him: “It sometimes happened that, furiously inflamed with anger at my neighbor and some personal insult to my pride, I would come to him for revelation, not yet Having calmed down, I will begin to express my unreasonable sadness and grief, without self-reproach, contrary to the teaching of the holy ascetic fathers, but on the contrary, accusing my neighbor, and even because of the hostile feeling ingrained in my soul, with such a desire that the elder would immediately admonish the brother who upset me. Having listened to everything with his characteristic imperturbable calm and sympathy for my grief, the sickly old man would say in a tearful tone: “Brother, brother! I am a dying man. Or: “I will die today and tomorrow.” What will I do with this brother? After all, I am not the abbot. You need to reproach yourself, make peace with your brother, and you will calm down.” After listening to such a plaintively pronounced answer, you will become numb”...

But in the early sixties, the old man, with all his physical weakness, was forced to eat meals with hemp oil. Then, when his stomach began to refuse this food, the cell attendants began to prepare soup for him, and first seasoned it with sunflower oil half and half with hemp, and finally, due to the increased soreness of his stomach, with one sunflower oil. And then the Elder’s insides got 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, he was always in a cheerful mood and even often joked. They once read to him how one father of a family was nursing his baby, and while comforting him he sang a song: “Dri-ta-ta, dri-ta-ta, a cat married a cat.” And then one day someone turned to the sickly old man with sympathy and said: “What, father, is catarrh tormenting you?” The elder answered with a grin: “Yes, brother, dri-ta-ta, dri-ta-ta.” The Elder ate no more food than a three-year-old baby could eat. His lunch lasted ten or fifteen minutes, during which the cell attendants asked him questions about various persons and received answers from him.

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

But, living himself in humility, without which salvation is impossible, the elder always wanted to see this most necessary virtue in those who treated him; and he treated the humble very favorably, but on the contrary he could not tolerate the proud; so that he beat some quite severely, some with a stick, some with his fist, or showered him with dishonor. One woman complained like an old man that she had almost gone crazy from her sorrows. "Stupid! - the old man exclaimed in front of everyone, because smart people go crazy; But how can you go crazy when you don’t have it at all?” Another complained to the priest that her shawl was stolen. And he answered with a smile: “They took the shawl, but the stupidity 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 the following were published: “The Ladder” by Rev. John Climacus, letters and biography of Father Macarius and other books.

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

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

He had an unusually lively, sharp, observant and insightful 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 was able to give his instructions in such a simple and humorous form that they were easily and forever remembered by everyone who listened. When necessary, he knew how to be exacting, strict and demanding, using “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 monastery, already elderly, with a bald spot on his head - I. F. On the occasion of the serious illness of Elder Ambrose, he came upset 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 heaviness of heart, he approached the sufferer lying on the bed, bowed at his feet as usual, and extended his hands to receive 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 from my shoulders,” the novice said later, my soul felt so light.” Having arrived at his cell, he found no place for joy. Everyone walks around the cell and repeats: “My God! What is it? Father, father, he can barely breathe, but he’s still joking.”

On this occasion, the hieromonk of Optina Pustyn, Fr. Plato, who was Elder Ambrose’s confessor for some time: “How edifying was the Elder’s confession! What humility and contrition of heart he showed about his sins! And what sins? About those that we don’t even consider to be sins. For example, due to the soreness of his stomach, therefore out of extreme necessity, he sometimes had, contrary to the rules of the Holy Church, to eat two or three pieces of Dutch herring on Wednesday or Friday. 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 among the terrible and implacable Judge, expecting mercy from the one who gives mercy, he even thinks, as one might assume, with a humble thought, whether mercy will be given, whether sin will be forgiven. “I’ll look, I’ll look at the crying old man,” added Father Plato, and I’ll cry myself.”

One young man, after some explanations with the elder, said that he wanted to have a shower at his place. 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, one noble widow had an only daughter, for whom many suitors wooed. They often visited the elder personally to ask for his blessing for marriage; but the priest kept telling them: “Wait.” Finally, a very good groom was found, whom both mother and daughter liked; and therefore the mother personally again began to ask the elder for his blessing to give her daughter away in marriage. But the priest ordered to refuse this groom, adding to this: “She will have such a wonderful groom that everyone will envy her happiness. Now, first we will celebrate Holy Easter. And how the sun plays merrily on this day! Let's take advantage of the vision of this beauty. Don’t forget, remember, look!” The holiday of the Holy One has arrived Christ's Resurrection. The bride was the first to remember the priest’s words: “Mom! Do you remember that Father Ambrose advised us to look at the rising sun!” We left. The daughter suddenly spread her arms crosswise and exclaimed: “Mom! Mother! I see the Lord risen in glory. I will die, I will die before the Ascension.” The mother was very amazed by this and said: “What are you, child, the Lord is with you. This can't be true. You are not sick, you are 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 an only son, an adult young man, dexterous and handsome. His father decided to give him away and brought him to the elder to receive his blessing for his planned business. They are both sitting in the corridor, and there are several monks 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 the 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; and bless, father, to Moscow.” The elder replies in a joking tone: “Moscow hits 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 the a good place. At that time, the owner was building some kind of building, where the young man who had just hired him was located. Suddenly several boards fell from above, which crushed both his legs. My father was immediately notified of this by telegram. With bitter tears he came to the elder to see about his grief. But the grief could no longer be helped. A sick son was brought from Moscow. He remained crippled for the rest of his life, incapable of any work...

The Moscow teacher M. P-a, nee Princess D-aya, 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. “Let’s pray together,” the elder told her, and both knelt next to each other. A few days later the mother returned to her son, who met her on his feet. At that very hour, as the elder prayed for him, a change came, and recovery began quickly. Again this lady, with her son now recovered, was in Optina in the summer of 1882, and lived there longer than she thought. Her husband, who was in the southern provinces, was worried about them, and finally set a telegram on the day when he would send horses to the station for them. M. P-a went to say goodbye to the priest. Father Ambrose, who never detained anyone without a particular reason, 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; stand for 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 listened to the elder. The next day the priest said: “Now with God, go.” Beyond Kursk, they learned that the Kukuevka disaster had occurred with the train that had been traveling the day before and on which they were planning to travel, in which 42 people were killed and 35 were injured.

Sometimes Elder Ambrose, in order to avoid human glory, following the example of his predecessor Elder Leo, adhered to a kind of semi-foolishness. If he predicted anything to anyone, it was often in a joking tone, so that the listeners crumpled; if he wanted to help someone who was sick, he hit the sore spot with his hand, like a boy’s sore eye, or sometimes with a stick, and the illness went away. For example, one monk came to the elder with a terrible toothache. Passing by him, the elder hit him with his fist in the teeth with all his might, and still cheerfully asked: “Dexterously?” “It’s clever, father,” the monk answered with general laughter, “but it really hurt.” But, leaving the elder, he felt that his pain had passed, and even then 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 nuns who were sitting in a hut awaiting 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 did you save? When? How? - questions were heard from all sides, - please tell me. Father Ambrose has laid down to rest; he will not receive you now, but for now you will keep us all occupied with your story.” “Even now I can hardly come to my senses from the horror of the villainous assassination attempt,” this is how the village mother began her story. My husband, the priest of village N, was preparing to serve the Divine Liturgy, and the day before he slept in his small office, and I fell fast asleep in my bedroom. But suddenly I feel like someone is waking me up. I hear a voice: “Get up quickly, otherwise they will kill your husband.” I opened my eyes; I see a monk standing. “Ugh, what nonsense! The demon tempts,” I said; crossed herself and turned away. But before I had time to fall asleep, someone pushes me for the second time, does not let me sleep and repeats the same words: “Get up, otherwise they will kill your husband.” I look - the same monk. I turned away again, crossed myself, and want to go back to sleep. But the monk again pulls me by the blanket and says: “Hurry, run as quickly as possible, they’ll kill you now.” I jumped out of bed, ran into the hall that separated my husband’s office from my bedroom, and what did I see? My cook goes with a huge knife into my husband’s office, and she is already at his door. I ran, snatched a huge knife from her shoulder from behind and asked: “What does this mean?” “Yes, I wanted,” he replies, to kill your husband because he is an merciless priest—your dad doesn’t spare people. I repented of my sin to him, and he imposed many bows on me every day; I asked him to have mercy on me, to reduce his 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 taking the knife, I ordered to send for a police officer, and soon the culprit was taken to the police. And my husband, the priest, not knowing anything about what had happened, celebrated mass, and we then 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 this?” - “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 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 about something: “I won’t kneel, why this humiliation?” She quickly walks around the room from corner to corner. The door opens and completely closes it in its corner. Everyone kneels down. The old man comes straight to the door, opens it and cheerfully asks: “What kind of giant is this standing here?” And then he whispers to the young girl: “This is Vera who came to see the hypocrite.” The introduction is done. Vera gets married, becomes widowed and returns under the wing of the priest to Shamordino (a convent near the Optina Monastery, founded by Elder Ambrose). He often reminded her how Vera came to the hypocrite, and another thought she had in the first days of their acquaintance, namely: she went into the monastery shop to buy a portrait of the elder. She was told that she could buy it for 20 kopecks. “My God,” she thought, how little! I would give a lot of rubles. What a cheap guy!” That same day, at the general blessing, the elder, passing by her, looked affectionately, stroked her head, and quietly said: “so cheap, cheap father!”

One young girl with a good education accidentally came to Elder Ambrose, was amazed by him, and begged him to take her to Shamordino. Her mother came, in her words, to snatch her daughter from “this terrible monastic world.” She went to the priest with indignation and reproaches. The elder offered her a chair. A few minutes of conversation passed, and the irritated mother involuntarily, not understanding what was happening to her, gets up from her chair and kneels down next to the old man. The conversation continues. Soon the mother nun joins the nun daughter...

One of the elder’s contemporaries recorded such a case. “Coming out of the fence, I noticed some special movement in the group of women. Curious to find out what was the matter, I approached them. Some rather elderly woman, with a sick face, sitting on a stump, said that she walked with sore legs from Voronezh, hoping that Elder Ambrose would heal her, that, having passed the beekeeper, seven miles from the monastery, she got lost, got lost exhausted, she found herself on snow-covered paths and fell in tears onto a fallen log; but that some old man in a cassock and skufa approached her, asked about the reason for her tears and pointed her in the direction of the path with a stick. She went to specified side and, turning behind the bushes, she immediately saw the monastery. Everyone decided that it was either the monastery forester, or one of the cell attendants; when suddenly a servant I already knew came out onto the porch and asked loudly: “Where is Avdotya from Voronezh?” Everyone was silent, looking at each other. The servant repeated his question louder, adding that the priest was calling her. “My dears! But Avdotya is from Voronezh, I myself am!” - exclaimed the narrator who had just arrived with sore legs, rising from the stump. Everyone silently parted, and the wanderer, hobbling to the porch, disappeared through its doors. 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.

About 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. I returned to the hotel in great thought”...

You can’t imagine Father without a sympathetic smile, which suddenly made you feel somehow cheerful and warm, without a caring gaze that said that he was about to come up with something very useful for you and say something very useful, and without that animation in everything, - in his movements, in his 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 Shamordino community he had established to stay for a few days and see what it had and what it lacked. The elder accepted into the Shamordino monastery those who were not accepted into others - the sick, the old, the crippled. The community had more than 500 sisters, a shelter, an almshouse, and a hospital. It's a hungry year, so bread is expensive. His monastery had accumulated a large debt. The abbess is blind. He himself is in disgrace with his superiors, disgraced, and at the same time on the edge 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 up and running in Shamordin. Some with careful diligence prepared a cell for the dear guest, some worked in the church to meet their beloved father with due honor; and some simply walked around in excitement and joyful anticipation. Finally, a prayer service was served, and all the sisters, with the abbess at their head, were located at the porch of the abbot's building. A familiar carriage will appear from behind the edge of the forest, and everyone’s heart will beat joyfully. The horses rush quickly and stop at the entrance. The gray beard of an old man appears through the carriage window. And the priest with a fatherly smile cheerfully bows to both sides. - “Dear Father! Our treasure, our angel!” - enthusiastic greetings from the delighted sisters are heard from all sides. The priest gets out of the carriage and hurries to the cell prepared for him to change clothes and rest; Meanwhile, the sisters immediately rush into the carriage to take out their father’s things. Everyone wants to grab some of these “jewels.” And if one of them fails, she grabs some end of the scarf or the sleeve of a spare cassock, and remains quite happy that she, too, had to carry something.

With the multitude constantly around the Elder different people, there were some funny incidents. A very rich landowner with her three-year-old daughter pressed her against him. While the mother was talking with the Elder, the smart girl, left to herself, examined the priest’s dead body, visited all its corners, and finally, bored with her loneliness, stood in the middle of the cell, folded her hands on her chest, and looking pitifully at the Elder, began the following speech: “Poor old man! He is so old, everything lies on the bed, his room is small, he has no toys, his legs hurt, he cannot run; I have toys; Do you want me to bring you some bunnies to play with, old man?” This naive childish speech was followed by the Elder’s appropriate response: “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 death of the priest, one St. Petersburg artist, who sometimes turned to him for financial help, sent the Kazan icon Mother of God, a copy of 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 for the icon and said: “The Queen of Heaven herself will pray for them.” This icon was then carried in front of Father’s tomb.

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. Father sent him as much as he needed, and at the same time dictated a few words, adding at the end: “Remember that this is the last help I will give you.”

“I ended up in my priest’s cell,” Madam** writes in her notes, “20 minutes before his death. Know that this happened by the will of God. One servant of God let me through. The old man lay still as he had at night. Breathing became less frequent. When I entered, Fr. was kneeling next to him. Isaiah. Father Theodore (after reading the canon of the Mother of God for the exodus of the soul for the last time at 11 o’clock in the afternoon) made the sign of the cross over the elder. The rest of the nuns present stood around. I fit at my feet.” As soon as the waste was finished, the elder began to run out. The face began to become deathly pale. The breathing became shorter and shorter. Finally he took a deep breath. About two minutes later it happened again. Then, according to Madame **, “Father raised his right hand, folded it for the sign of the cross, brought it to his forehead, then to his chest, to his right shoulder, and reaching to his left, he hit it hard on his left shoulder, apparently because it was for him it took a terrible effort; and the breathing stopped. Then he sighed again for the third and last time."

Those who surrounded the bed of the peacefully deceased elder stood for a long time, afraid to disturb the solemn moment of separation of the righteous soul from the body. Everyone seemed to be in a daze, not believing themselves and not understanding whether this was a dream or the truth. His old face was bright and calm. An unearthly smile illuminated him. “We quietly approached,” Mistress ** notes, “and kissed the old man’s open, still warm legs. Then they took us out."

As soon as everyone came to their senses, a terrible cry and sobbing arose. Hearing this commotion, 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 throughout the monastery with the speed of lightning, and the heart-rending screams of the Shamorda nuns merged into one terrifying groan of helplessness and hopelessness...

Visitors were now beginning to arrive in the community from all directions. In all the trains traveling 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 were going specifically to the funeral. The postal station in Kaluga was besieged by requests for horses. At the same time, pedestrians walked along all the roads, so that by this time up to eight thousand people had accumulated in Shamordin.

Thousands of people walked and rode for more than a mile behind the coffin. The procession was slow. Often, despite the rain and cold, they stopped to perform funeral lithiums. However, by the end of the procession, due to heavy rain, lithiums were already served on the move without stopping. When they approached villages along the way, the transfer of the elder’s remains was accompanied by the ringing of funeral bells. 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 accompanying 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 Optina Monastery itself, accompanied in vestments by one hieromonk Hilary, who served litias throughout the procession. It is remarkable that the burning candles with which the body of the late elder was carried did not go out throughout the entire journey, despite the heavy rain and wind.

Evening was coming, and it was already getting somewhat dark when the elder’s coffin was carried through the last village of Stenino, located a mile from Optina. The large seven-hundred-pound Optina bell hummed sadly, shaking the air with rare measured strikes and spreading far and wide the sad news of the approach of the deceased. Then all the clergy of the city of Kozelsk and 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 those accompanying him, through the evening twilight, a black coffin could be seen, mysteriously illuminated by the bright flame of burning candles. Swaying from the procession of those carrying him, he seemed to be floating through the air. Truly, this touching, sad and solemn transfer of the bodies of the deceased Elder, as many noted, was rather like the transfer of relics, and produced a touching and gracious impression on all those present...

“And when the priest had already died, I saw that his coffin was standing. And then four angels in white robes descended - their robes were so shiny - and in their hands they held candles and a censer. And I asked: “Why did they, so bright, go down to Father’s tomb?” They answered me: “This is because it 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 more angels descended in blue robes of inexpressible beauty. And I asked: “why did they go down to the tomb?” And they answered me: “This is because he suffered so much in life and bore his crosses so patiently.”

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

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He was tonsured into the schema:
1846-1848

The holy relics of St. Ambrose are in the Vvedensky Cathedral

Brief Life

In the Vvedensky Church of Optina Pustyn there is a shrine with the relics of St. Ambrose, the elder of Optina - a man who had a huge influence on the spiritual life of the whole Russia XIX century. We still resort to his prayerful help and intercession today. Miracles happen at the relics of the elder; people are healed of many, sometimes incurable, diseases.

The Monk Ambrose was not a bishop, an archimandrite, he was not even an abbot, he was a simple hieromonk. Being mortally ill, he accepted the schema and became a hieroschemamonk. He died in this rank. For lovers career ladder this may be incomprehensible: how is it possible that such a great elder is also just a hieromonk?

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow spoke very well about the humility of saints. He was once at a service in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where at that time there were many bishops and archimandrites present, to whom it is customary to address: “Your Eminence, Your Reverence.” And then, in front of the relics of our father Sergius of Radonezh, Metropolitan Philaret said: “I hear everything around: Your Eminence, Your Reverence, you alone, father, are simply 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 from F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy and other, the most educated people of that time. “I would be everything to everyone, so that I might save everyone” (1 Cor. 9:22). His words were simple, to the point, and sometimes with good humor:

“We must live on earth the way a wheel turns, just one point touches the ground, and the rest tends upward; and even if we lie down, we can’t get up.” “Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, but where it’s sophisticated, there’s not a single one.” “Don’t boast, peas, that you are better than beans; if you get wet, you’ll burst.” " Why does a person is it bad? “Because he forgets that God is above him.” “Whoever thinks that he has something will lose.” “Living simpler is 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 bother, not offend anyone, not annoy anyone, and my respect to everyone.” “To live - not to grieve - to be satisfied with everything. There’s nothing to understand here.” “If you want to have love, then do things of love, even without love at first.”

And when someone said to him: “You, father, speak very simply,” the elder smiled: “Yes, I asked God for this simplicity for twenty years.”

The Monk Ambrose was the third Optina elder, a disciple of the Monks Leo and Macarius, and the most famous and illustrious of all the Optina elders. It was he who became the prototype of Elder Zosima from the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” and the spiritual mentor of all Orthodox Russia. What was his life path?

When we talk about destinies, we usually mean the visible course of human life. But we must not forget about the spiritual drama, which is always more important, richer and deeper than a person’s external life. Saint Basil the Great defined man in these words: “Man is an invisible being.” This applies to the highest degree to spiritual people of such a level as the Monk Ambrose. We can see the outline of their outer life and only guess about the hidden inner life, the basis of which was the feat of prayer, the invisible standing before the Lord.

From the biographical events that are known, some important milestones of his difficult life can be noted. The boy was born in the village of Bolshaya Lipovitsa, Tambov province, into the pious Grenkov family, closely connected with the Church: his grandfather was a priest, his father, Mikhail Fedorovich, was a sexton. Before the birth of the child, so many guests came to see the priest-grandfather that the mother in labor, Marfa Nikolaevna, was transferred to a bathhouse, where she gave birth to a son, named in holy baptism in honor of the blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. Later, Alexander Grenkov, having already become an old man, joked: “Just as I was born in public, so I live in public.”

Alexander was the sixth of eight children in the family. He grew up lively, smart, lively, in a strict family he sometimes even got punishment for his children's pranks. At the age of 12, the boy entered the Tambov Theological School, which he brilliantly graduated first out of 148 people. From 1830 to 1836 the young man studied at the Tambov Seminary. 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.

But the ways of the Lord are inscrutable... Saint Philaret wrote: “The omniscient God chooses, destined from the cradle, and calls at the time determined by Him, in an incomprehensible way combining the combination of all kinds of circumstances with the will of the heart. The Lord in due time girds and leads His chosen ones no matter how they wish, but where they wish to go.”

In 1835, shortly before graduating from the seminary, the young man became dangerously ill. This illness was one of the first of numerous illnesses that tormented the old man all his life. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote: “I spent my whole life in illnesses and sorrows, as you know: but now, if there are no sorrows, there is nothing to save yourself. There are no exploits, no true monasticism, no leaders; Only sorrows replace everything. The feat is associated with vanity; vanity is difficult to notice in yourself, much less to cleanse yourself of it; grief is alien to vanity and therefore provides a person with a godly, involuntary feat, which is sent by our Provider in accordance with his will...” This first dangerous illness led to the fact that the young seminarian made a vow in case of recovery to become a monk.

But he could not decide to fulfill this vow for four years; in his words, “he did not dare to immediately end the world.” For some time he was a home teacher in a landowner family, and then a teacher at the Lipetsk Theological School. Decisive was the trip to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, prayers at the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The famous recluse Hilarion, whom the young man met on this journey, fatherly instructed him: “Go to Optina, you are needed there.”

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

In Optina, Alexander became a student of the great elders Leo and Macarius. In 1840 he was dressed in monastic dress, and in 1842 he took monastic vows with the name Ambrose. 1843 - hierodeacon, 1845 - hieromonk. Behind these short lines are five years of labor, ascetic life, and 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 replied: “I would be glad to leave the world, but in the monastery they will send me to work in a stable.” It is not known what kind of obedience they would give him, but he correctly felt that the monastery would try to humble his spirit in order to turn him from a spiritual writer into a spiritual worker.

Alexander was ready for the monastic trials. The young monk had to work in a bakery, bake bread, brew hops (yeast), and help the cook. With his brilliant abilities and knowledge of five languages, it probably would not have been easy for him to become just an assistant cook. These obediences cultivated in him humility, patience, and the ability to cut off his own will.

Having perspicaciously discerned the gifts of the future elder in the young man, the Monks Leo and Macarius took care of his spiritual growth. For some time he was Elder Leo’s cell attendant and his reader; he regularly came to Elder Macarius for work and could ask him questions about spiritual life. The Monk Leo especially loved the young novice, affectionately calling him Sasha. But for educational reasons, I experienced his humility in front of people. Pretended to thunder against him with anger. But he told others about him: “He will be a great man.” After the death of Elder Leo, the young man became the cell attendant of Elder Macarius.

During a trip to Kaluga for ordination as a hieromonk, Father Ambrose, exhausted by fasting, caught a severe cold and became seriously ill. From then on, he was never able to recover, and his health was so poor that in 1846 he was taken out of state due to illness. For the rest of his life, he could barely move, suffered from perspiration, so he changed clothes several times a day, could not stand the cold and drafts, and ate only liquid food, in an amount that would barely be enough for a three-year-old child.

Several times he was near death, but each time miraculously, with the help of God's grace, he returned to life. From September 1846 to the summer of 1848, the state of health of Father Ambrose 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. In 1869, his health was again 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 a cell vigil, and then unction, the elder’s health responded to treatment.

The Holy Fathers list about seven spiritual causes of illness. They say about one of the causes of illness: “Having become righteous, the saints endured temptations either because of some shortcomings, or in order to receive greater glory, because they had great patience. And God, not wanting their excess patience to remain unused, allowed them temptations and illnesses.”

The Monks Leo and Macarius, who introduced the traditions of eldership and mental prayer in the monastery, had to face misunderstanding, slander, and persecution. The Monk Ambrose did not have such external sorrows, but, perhaps, none of the Optina elders bore such a heavy cross of illness. The words came true on it: “The power of God is made perfect in weakness.”

Particularly important for the spiritual growth of the Monk Ambrose during these years was communication with Elder Macarius. Despite his illness, Father Ambrose remained in complete obedience to the elder, even reporting to him on the smallest things. With the blessing of Elder Macarius, he was engaged in translating patristic books, in particular, he prepared for printing the “Ladder” of St. John, abbot of Sinai. Thanks to the elder’s guidance, Father Ambrose was able to learn the art of arts—noetic prayer—without much stumbling.

Even during the life of Elder Macarius, with his blessing, some of the brethren came to Father Ambrose to open their thoughts. In addition to the monks, Father Macarius brought Father Ambrose closer to his worldly spiritual children. Thus, the elder gradually prepared himself a worthy successor. When Elder Macarius reposed in 1860, circumstances gradually developed in such a way that Father Ambrose was put in his place.

The elder received crowds of people in his cell, did not refuse anyone, people flocked to him from all over the country. He got up at four or five in the morning, called his cell attendants, and read morning rule. Then the elder prayed alone. At nine o'clock the reception began: first for the monastics, then for the laity. At about two o'clock they brought him meager food, after which he was left alone for an hour and a half. Then Vespers was read, and the reception resumed until nightfall. At about 11 o'clock the long evening ritual was performed, and not before midnight the elder was finally left alone. So for more than thirty years, day after day, Elder Ambrose accomplished his feat. Before Father Ambrose, none of the elders opened the doors of their cells to a woman. He not only accepted many women and was their spiritual father, but also founded a convent not far from the Optina Monastery - the Kazan Shamordin Monastery, which, unlike other convents of that time, accepted more poor and sick women. By the 90s of the 19th century, the number of nuns in it reached 500 people.

The elder possessed the gifts of mental prayer, insight, and miracles; many cases of healing are known. Numerous testimonies tell of his gracious gifts. One woman from Voronezh, seven miles from the monastery, got lost. At this time, an old man in a cassock and skufa approached her, and he pointed her in the direction of the path with a stick. She went in the indicated direction, immediately saw the monastery and came to the elder’s house. Everyone who listened to her story thought that this old man was the monastery forester or one of the cell attendants; when suddenly a cell attendant came out onto the porch and asked loudly: “Where is Avdotya from Voronezh?” - “My dears! But I myself am Avdotya from Voronezh!” - exclaimed the narrator. About fifteen minutes later, she left the house all in tears and, sobbing, answered questions that the old man who showed her the way in the forest was none other than Father Ambrose himself.

Here is one of the cases of the elder’s foresight, told by the artisan: “I should have gone to Optina for money. We made the iconostasis there, and I had to receive quite a lot from the rector for this work. a large sum money. Before leaving, I went to Elder Ambrose to get a blessing for the return journey. I was in a hurry to go home: I was expecting to receive a large order the next day - ten thousand, and the customers were sure to be with me the next day in K. The people on that day, as usual, died for the elder. He found out about me that I was waiting, and he ordered me to tell him through my cell attendant that I should come to him in the evening to drink tea.

Evening came, I went to the elder. Father, our angel, held me for quite a long time, it was almost getting dark, 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 and see me for tea.” How is this so? - I think. I didn’t dare contradict him. The elder detained me for three days. I had no time for prayer at the all-night vigil - it just pushed into my head: “Here is your elder! Here's a seer for you...! Now your earnings are whistling.” On the fourth day I came to the elder, and he said to me: “Well, now it’s time for you to go to court!” Go with God! God bless! Don’t forget to thank God when it’s time!”

And then all sorrow disappeared from me. I left Optina Hermitage, but my heart was so light and joyful... Why did the priest tell me: “Then don’t forget to thank God!?” I arrived home, and what do you think? I am at the gate, and my customers are behind me; We were late, which means we were against our agreement to come for three days. Well, I think, oh my gracious old man!

A lot has passed since then. My senior master falls ill towards death. I came to the patient, and he looked at me and began to cry: “Forgive my sin, master! I wanted to kill you. Remember, you were three days late arriving from Optina. After all, the three of us, according to my agreement, kept watch for you on the road under the bridge for three nights in a row: they were jealous of the money you brought for the iconostasis from Optina. You wouldn’t have been alive that night, but the Lord, for someone’s prayers, took you away from death without repentance... Forgive me, the damned one!” “God will forgive you, as I forgive.” Then my patient wheezed and began to come to an end. The kingdom of heaven to his soul. Great was the sin, but great was the repentance!”

As for healings, they were countless. The elder covered up these healings in every possible way. Sometimes he, as if as a joke, hits his head with his hand, and the illness goes away. One day, a reader who was reading prayers suffered from severe toothache. Suddenly the elder hit him. Those present grinned, thinking that the reader must have made a mistake in reading. In fact, his toothache stopped. Knowing the elder, some women turned to him: “Father Abrosim! Beat me, my head hurts.” After visiting the elder, the sick recovered, and the lives of the poor improved. Pavel Florensky called Optina Pustyn “a spiritual sanatorium for wounded souls.”

The spiritual power of the elder sometimes manifested itself in completely exceptional cases. One day Elder Ambrose, bent over, leaning on a stick, was walking from somewhere along the road to the monastery. Suddenly he imagined a picture: a loaded cart was standing, a dead horse was lying nearby, and a peasant was crying over it. The loss of a nursing horse 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, lazy one!” - and the horse obediently rose to its feet.

Elder Ambrose appeared to many people at a distance, like St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, either for the purpose of healing or for deliverance from disasters. To some, very few, it was revealed in visible images how powerful the elder’s prayerful intercession before God was. Here are the memories of one nun, the spiritual daughter of Father Ambrose, about his prayer: “The elder straightened up to his full height, raised his head and raised his hands up, as if in a prayerful position. At this time I imagined that his feet separated from the floor. I looked at his illuminated head and face. I remember that it was as if there was no ceiling in the cell; it was split apart, 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 I saw, and, crossing me, said the following words: “Remember, this is what repentance can lead to. Go."

Prudence and insight were combined in Elder Ambrose with an amazing, purely maternal tenderness of heart, thanks to which he was able to alleviate the heaviest grief and console the most sorrowful soul. Love and wisdom—it was these qualities that attracted people to the old man. The elder's word came with power based on his closeness to God, which gave him omniscience. This was a prophetic ministry.

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 summer, the elder tried three times to return to Optina, but was unable to due to ill health. A year later the disease worsened. He was given unction and received communion several times. On October 10, 1891, the elder, sighing three times and crossing himself with difficulty, died. The coffin with the body of the old man, under the drizzling autumn rain, was transferred to Optina Pustyn, and not one of the candles surrounding the coffin went out. About 8 thousand people came to the funeral. On October 15, the elder’s body was interred on the south-eastern side of the Vvedensky Cathedral, next to his teacher, Elder Macarius. It was on this day, October 15, in 1890, that Elder Ambrose established a holiday in honor of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Spreader of the Loaves,” before which he himself offered up his fervent prayers many times.

Years passed. But the path to the elder’s grave was not overgrown. These are times of grave upheaval. Optina Pustyn was closed and ruined. The chapel at the elder’s grave was razed to the ground. But it was impossible to destroy the memory of the great saint of God. People randomly designated the location of the chapel and continued to flock to their mentor.

In November 1987, Optina Pustyn was returned to the Church. And in June 1988, by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Monk Ambrose, the first of the Optina elders, was canonized. On the anniversary of the revival of the monastery, by the grace of God, a miracle occurred: at night after the service in the Vvedensky 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 abandon us sinners through his intercession before our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever, Amen.

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

The beginning of life's journey

The Monk Ambrose of Optina (biography will be described below) was born in 1812, December 5, according to the new style. The world's name was Alexander Mikhailovich Grenkov. The life of Ambrose 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 which 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 Alexander’s birth. About this, the monk subsequently often joked: “I was born in public and spend my whole life in public.” Sasha grew up smart, cheerful and fidgety, often playing pranks. I learned to read and write from the Book of Hours and the Psalter. On Sunday and church holidays the boy sang and read with his father on the choir.

The father passed away early, 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 and after graduation he entered a theological seminary, which he also graduated with honors. After that, he did not enter the theological academy and was also in no hurry to accept the priesthood, as if reflecting on his future path.

Ambrose Optinsky was distinguished throughout the world by his cheerful disposition, excellent sense of humor and was the soul of any company. He often joked and thereby 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 of seminary, he became seriously ill. And then he tearfully prayed to God for his own healing, promising to become a monk if he recovered. The young man recovered and did not forget his promise to the Lord, but he did not yet decide to cut his hair as a monk and postponed this decision. Most likely, he doubted whether he could become a good monk with such love of life, mobility and cheerful disposition.

So time passed, the young man worked, had fun in his spare time, and spent time in noisy companies. But more and more often he felt pangs of conscience, as if someone was rushing him to fulfill what he had promised. And then one day, during a walk in the forest, Ambrose of Optina heard a Voice in the murmuring stream: “Praise God! Save God! Then he began to fervently pray to the Mother of God to enlighten him and strengthen him.

Monasticism

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

During the summer holidays, my colleague and I went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There Alexander fervently prayed for God's help. Upon returning 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 his unrestrained vow to God. The future ascetic spent the entire night in repentance and tearful prayer, and in the morning he left home forever. Fearing that his loved ones would interfere with his plans, he did not say anything to anyone.

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

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

Upon arrival in Pustyn, Alexander immediately found Elder Leo with the goal of taking his blessing for monastic life. The monk blessed the young man to live for the first time in the monastery hotel and translate the 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 wait for the bishop’s decree to enroll him in the monastery’s staff.

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 see Elder Leo. The elder loved him very much, affectionately calling him “Sasha.” Soon Leo, feeling his approaching death, said to Macarius: “I hand over this novice to you.”

After Leo's death, Alexander became Macarius' cell attendant. In 1841, the novice was cut 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.

From then on, Ambrose Optinsky felt a deterioration in his health, caught a severe cold and suffered a serious complication in his internal organs. In his spiritual instructions he often said that illnesses bring great benefits to the soul. The patient is not required to perform ascetic labors, but only patience and prayer.

Throughout his monastic life, the saint resignedly endured constant illness. His gastritis worsened, vomiting began, neurological pain appeared, and his kidneys hurt. Despite his illnesses, Ambrose, with the blessing of Macarius, translated spiritual books, and most importantly, taught the young monk unceasing mental prayer.

Important! The Jesus Prayer, otherwise called the “smart” prayer, is performed by monks and pious laymen. It consists of saying with your mind the words in your heart, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Usually it is helped by saying the rosary - this way you can find out how many times the prayer has been read.

Eldership

In 1860, Elder Macarius reposed, and Ambrose took over the baton. By that time, he had already achieved holiness and had been receiving people for 12 years with the blessing of Macarius. Thus the words of Saint 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 photos of those years.

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

Informative! Who is he and how does he help people?

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

Everyone knows his words:

1. “You can live in peace, but not in the south, but live quietly.”
2. “To live is not to bother, not to judge 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 cartload, but a whole convoy.”
4. “Monks cannot be treated, but only sometimes treated.”
5. “Don’t boast, peas, that you are better than beans; if you get wet, you’ll burst.”
6. “You shouldn’t talk in church. For this, sorrows are sent.”

The rumor about the kind and wise old man soon spread throughout Rus'. People of different classes traveled to Optina Pustyn: rich and poor, he made no distinction between people, he accepted everyone equally with love. Such famous writers as Leo Tolstoy and Dostoevsky came to the elder.

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) walked nervously back and forth around the room.

And when the girl found herself behind the door in the corner, the door suddenly swung open, an old man came out and said, looking behind the door: “Who do we have here? Oh, 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.

Shamordino monastery

In the last years of his life, the elder began arranging a convent in Shamordino (located 12 versts from Optina Pustyn). He spiritually cared for this monastery until his death. It is known that one of the Shamordin nuns was Leo Tolstoy’s sister, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya.

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

The elder reposed in the Lord on October 22, 1891 in the Shamordino Monastery. Before his death he took great schema. The image of the saint formed the basis of Dostoevsky’s work “The Brothers Karamazov”. Just as in the novel, in fact, the smell of decomposition initially emanated from his relics. Ambrose predicted this during his lifetime. But later the stench disappeared and a wonderful fragrance spread.

Useful video: life and instructions of Ambrose of Optina

Veneration of a saint

Saint Ambrose of Optina was canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1988, the day of remembrance is October 23 and July 10 according to the new style. On Memorial Day, crowds of people flock to the Vvedensky Cathedral of Optina Pustyn, where the relics of Ambrose of Optina rest. There is also an icon of Ambrose of Optina, from which many receive healing from illnesses. The icon depicts the elder in the schema, as he was buried.

Many people are interested in what Saint Abrosius of Optina helps with?

The Elder is prayed to on various occasions:

• for various physical and mental illnesses (including demonic possession);
• in case of family discord, quarrels, divorce;
• in the desire to find a companion (life partner);
• in official troubles;
• about children who are unable to study;
• about admonishing lost children.

And the saint helps people who turn to him in prayer in many other ways.

The women's monastery of Ambrose of Optina is located in Belarus on the site of the discovery of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Zhirovichi. In 2005, it received the status of a monastery, and it was decided to name it in honor of Ambrose of Optina. Thus, the veneration of the saint spread beyond Russia, to Belarus.

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

Useful video: showing the way to salvation for Ambrose of Optina

Conclusion

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

Optina 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 Marfa Nikolaevna. Before the birth of the baby, many guests came to his grandfather, the priest of this village. The parent, Maria Nikolaevna, was transferred to the bathhouse. November 23 in the house of Fr. Theodore there was great turmoil - there were people in the house, and people were crowding in front of the house. On this day, November 23, Alexander was born future elder Optina Hermitage - St. Ambrose of Optina. The elder jokingly said: “Just as I was born in public, so I live in public.”

Mikhail Fedorovich had eight people: four sons and four daughters; Alexander Mikhailovich was the sixth of them.

As a child, Alexander was a very lively, cheerful and intelligent boy. According to the custom of that time, he learned to read from the Slavic primer, book of hours and psalter. Every holiday he and his father sang and read in the choir. He never saw or heard anything bad, because... was brought up in a strictly church and religious environment.

When the boy turned 12 years old, he was sent to first grade at the Tambov Theological School. He studied well and after graduating from college, in 1830, he entered the Tambov Theological Seminary. And here studying was easy for him. As his seminary comrade later recalled: “Here, it used to be, you’d buy a candle with your last money, repeat, repeat the assigned lessons; he (Sasha Grenkov) studied little, but he would come to class and begin to answer the mentor, just as it was written, better everyone." In July 1836, Alexander Grenkov successfully graduated from the seminary, but did not go to the Theological Academy or become a priest. It was as if he felt a special calling in his soul and was in no hurry to attach himself to a certain position, as if awaiting the call of God. For some time he was a home teacher in a landowner 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. In his last year at the seminary, he had to suffer a dangerous illness, and he vowed to become a monk if he recovered. Upon recovery, he did not forget his vow, but for several years he put off fulfilling it, “sorry,” as he put it. However, his conscience did not give him peace. And the more time passed, the more painful the remorse became. Periods of carefree youthful fun and carelessness were followed by periods of acute melancholy and sadness, intense prayer and tears.

Once, being already in Lipetsk and walking in the neighboring 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 to enlighten him mind and direct its will. In general, he did not have a persistent will and already in old age he said to his spiritual children: “You must obey me from the first word. I am a compliant person. If you argue with me, I can give in, but this will not be to your benefit.” In the same Tambov diocese, in the village of Troekurovo, lived the famous ascetic Hilarion at that time. Alexander Mikhailovich came to him for advice, and the elder told him: “Go to Optina Pustyn - and you will be experienced. You could go to Sarov, but now there are no experienced elders there, as before.” (Elder St. Seraphim died shortly before this). When the summer holidays of 1839 arrived, Alexander Mikhailovich, together with his seminary comrade and colleague at the Lipetsk School, Pokrovsky, equipped a tent and went on a pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra to bow to the abbot of the Russian land, Ven. Sergius.

Returning to Lipetsk, Alexander Mikhailovich continued to doubt and could not immediately decide to break with the world. This happened, however, after one evening at a party, when he made everyone present laugh. Everyone was cheerful and happy and in a great mood went home. As for Alexander Mikhailovich, if before in such cases he felt repentance, now his vow vividly appeared in his imagination, given to God, he remembered the burning of the spirit in the Trinity Lavra and the previous long prayers, sighs and tears, the definition of God, transmitted through Fr. Hilarion.

The next morning, this time the determination was firmly matured. Fearing that the persuasion of his relatives and friends would shake his determination, Alexander Mikhailovich secretly left for Optina from everyone, without even asking permission from the diocesan authorities.

Here Alexander Mikhailovich found during his lifetime the very flower of her monasticism: such pillars as Abbot Moses, elders Leo (Leonid) and Macarius. The head of the monastery was Hieroschemamonk Anthony, equal to them in spiritual height, brother of Fr. Moses, ascetic and seer.

In general, all monasticism under the leadership of the elders bore the imprint of spiritual virtues. Simplicity (non-guilefulness), meekness and humility were the hallmarks of Optina monasticism. The younger brethren tried to humble themselves not only in front of their elders, but also in front of their equals, afraid to even offend another with a glance, and at the slightest misunderstanding they rushed to ask each other for forgiveness.

So, Alexander Grenkov arrived at the monastery on October 8, 1839. Leaving the cabman at the guest yard, he immediately hurried to the church, and after the liturgy, to Elder Leo to ask for his blessing to stay in the monastery. The elder blessed him to live in a hotel for the first time and rewrite the book “The Salvation of Sinners” (translation from Modern Greek) - about the fight against passions.

In January 1840, he went to live in a monastery, not yet putting on a cassock. At this time, there was clerical correspondence with the diocesan authorities regarding his disappearance, and the decree from the Kaluga bishop to the rector of Optinsky had not yet been received from the monastery about the admission of teacher Grenkov to the monastery.

In April 1840, A. M. Grenkov finally received the blessing to wear monastic robes. For some time he was Elder Leo's cell attendant and his reader (rules and services). At first he worked in the monastery bakery, brewed hops (yeast), baked rolls. Then in November 1840 he was transferred to a monastery. From there the young novice did not stop going to Elder Leo for edification. At the monastery he was an assistant cook for a whole year. He often had to come to Elder Macarius in his service, either to receive a blessing regarding the meal, or to ring the bell for the meal, or for other reasons. At the same time, he had the opportunity to tell the elder about his state of mind and receive answers. The goal was not for temptation to defeat a person, but for a person to defeat temptation.

Elder Leo especially loved the young novice, affectionately calling him Sasha. But for educational reasons, I experienced his humility in front of people. Pretended to thunder against him with anger. For this purpose, he gave him the nickname "Chimera." By this word he meant the barren flower that occurs on cucumbers. But he told others about him: “He will be a great man.” Expecting imminent death, Elder Leo called Father Fr. Macarius and told him about the novice Alexander: “Here is a man who is painfully huddling with us, the elders. I am now very weak. So I am handing him over to you from half to half, in possession, as you know.”

After the death of Elder Leo, brother Alexander became the cell attendant of Elder Macarius (1841-46). In 1842, he was tonsured and named Ambrose (in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan, commemorated December 7). This was followed by hierodeaconry (1843), and 2 years later - ordination to hieromonk.

Health o. Ambrose suffered greatly during these years. During a trip to Kaluga for priestly consecration on December 7, 1846, he caught a cold and was ill for a long time, suffering complications in his internal organs. Since then he has never truly recovered. 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 when you’re sick, you don’t need to be treated, but only to be treated.” And he said to others as a consolation: “God does not require physical feats from the sick, but only patience with humility and gratitude.”

From September 1846 to the summer of 1848, the state of health of Father Ambrose 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 went outside for walks. This turning point in the course of the illness was a clear action of the power of God, and Elder Ambrose himself subsequently said: “The Lord is merciful! In the monastery, the sick do not die soon, but drag on and drag on until the illness brings them real benefit. In the monastery, it is useful to be a little sick “so that the flesh rebels less, especially among young people, and trifles come to mind less.”

During these years, not only did the Lord cultivate the spirit of the future great elder through physical infirmities, but also communication with the older brethren, among whom there were many true ascetics, had a beneficial effect on Father Ambrose. Let us give as an example one case that the elder himself later spoke about.

Soon after Fr. Ambrose was ordained a deacon and was supposed to serve the liturgy in the Vvedensky Church; before the service, he approached Abbot Anthony, who was standing in the altar, to receive a blessing from him, and Fr. Anthony asks him: “Well, are you getting used to it?” O. Ambrose cheekily answers him: “With your prayers, father!” Then Fr. 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 former elders knew how to accustom us to reverence.”

Communication with Elder Macarius was especially important for his spiritual growth during these years. Despite the illness, Fr. Ambrose remained as before in complete obedience to the elder, even in the smallest thing he gave an account to him. With the blessing of Fr. Macarius, he was engaged in the translation of patristic books, in particular, he prepared for printing the “Ladder” of St. John, abbot of Sinai.

Thanks to the leadership of Elder Macarius, Fr. Ambrose was able to learn the art of art without much stumbling - mental prayer. 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 leader can greatly damage his soul along this path, as happened in his time with the elder Macarius himself, who independently studied this art. Father Ambrose was able to avoid troubles and sorrows when undergoing mental prayer precisely because he had a most experienced mentor in the person of Elder Macarius. The latter loved his student very much, which, however, did not stop him from subjecting Fr. Ambrose undergoes some humiliation to break his pride. Elder Macarius raised him to be a strict ascetic, adorned with poverty, humility, patience and other monastic virtues. When for about. Ambrose will intercede: “Father, he is a sick man!” “Do I really know worse than you,” the elder will say. “But reprimands and comments to a monk are brushes with which the sinful dust is erased from his soul; and without this, the monk rusts.”

Even during the life of Elder Macarius, with his blessing, some of the brethren came to Fr. Ambrose for the opening of thoughts.

This is how abbot Mark (who ended his life in retirement in Optina) talks about it. “As far as I could notice,” he says, “Fr. Ambrose lived at that time in complete silence. I went to him every day to reveal his thoughts and almost always found him reading patristic books. If I didn’t find him in his cell, then this meant that he was with Elder Macarius, whom he helped in correspondence with his spiritual children, or worked in translations of patristic books. Sometimes I found him on the bed and with restrained and barely noticeable tears. It seemed to me that the elder always walked before God or something would always feel the presence of God, according to the word of the psalmist: “...I will set out the sight of the Lord before me” (Ps. 16:8), and therefore, whatever he did, he tried to do for the sake of the Lord and to please Him. Therefore, he always complained, fearing that I would offend the Lord with something, which was reflected on his face. Seeing such concentration of my elder, I was always in trembling reverence in his presence. Yes, I could not be otherwise. When, as usual, I knelt before him, In order to receive a blessing, he very quietly asked me: “What do you have to say, brother?” Puzzled by his concentration and tenderness, I answered: “Forgive me, for the Lord’s sake, father. Maybe I came at the wrong time?” “No,” the elder will say, “speak what is necessary, but briefly.” And, having listened to me with attention, he will reverently teach useful instructions and dismiss me with love.

He taught instructions not from his own wisdom and reasoning, although he was rich in spiritual intelligence. If he taught the spiritual children related to him, then it was as if in the midst of a student, and he offered not his advice, but certainly the active teaching of the Holy Fathers." If Father Mark complained to Father Ambrose about someone who had offended him, the elder would , will say in a mournful tone: “Brother, brother! I am a dying man." Or: "I will die today or tomorrow. What will I do with this brother? After all, I am not the abbot. You need to reproach yourself, humble yourself before your brother - and you will calm down." Such an answer evoked self-reproach in Father Mark's soul, and he, humbly bowing to the elder and asking for forgiveness, left calmed and consoled, "as if he had flown away on wings."

In addition to the monks, Fr. Macarius brought Fr. Ambrose and with his worldly spiritual children. Seeing him talking with them, Elder Macarius jokingly said: “Look, look! Ambrose is taking away my bread!” Thus, Elder Macarius gradually prepared himself a worthy successor. When Elder Macarius reposed (September 7, 1860), circumstances gradually developed in such a way that Fr. Ambrose was put in his place. 40 days after the death of Elder Macarius, Fr. Ambrose moved to live in another building, near the monastery fence, on the right side of the bell tower. On the western side of this building, an extension was made, called a “hut” for receiving women (they were not allowed into the monastery). Father Ambrose lived here for thirty years (before leaving for Shamordino), independently serving his neighbors.

There were two cell attendants with him: Fr. Mikhail and Fr. Joseph (future elder). The main scribe was Fr. Clement (Zederholm), the son of a Protestant pastor, converted to Orthodoxy, a most learned man, master of Greek literature.

To listen to the rule, at first he got up at 4 in the morning, rang the bell, at which his cell attendants came to him and read the morning prayers, 12 selected psalms and the first hour, after which he remained alone in mental prayer. Then, after a short rest, the elder listened to the hours: the third, sixth with pictorial ones and, depending on the day, a canon with an akathist to the Savior or the Mother of God. He listened to these akathists standing. After prayer and a light breakfast, the work day began with a short break at lunchtime. The old man ate food in the amount that would be given to a three-year-old child. While eating, the cell attendants continue to ask him questions on behalf of the visitors. After some rest, hard work was resumed - and so on until late in the evening. Despite the extreme exhaustion and illness of the elder, the day always ended with the evening prayer rule, consisting of Small Compline, the canon to the Guardian Angel and evening prayers. From the continuous reports, the cell attendants, who continually brought visitors to the elder and took out visitors, could barely stand on their feet. The elder himself at times lay almost unconscious. After the rule, the elder asked for forgiveness, “for those who have sinned in deed, word, or thought.” The cell attendants accepted the blessing and headed towards the exit. The clock will ring. “How much is this?” the elder will ask in a weak voice, and they will answer: “Twelve.” “It’s late,” he will say.

Two years later the old man suffered new disease. His health, already weak, completely weakened. From then on, he could no longer go to the temple of God and had to take 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 a cell vigil and then unction, the elder’s health responded to treatment, but extreme weakness did not leave him throughout his life.

Such severe deterioration was repeated more than once. It is difficult to imagine how he could, being pinned to such a suffering illness, in complete exhaustion, receive crowds of people every day and answer dozens of letters. The words came true on it: “The power of God is made perfect in weakness.” If he had not been the chosen vessel of God, through whom God Himself spoke and acted, such a feat, such a gigantic work could not have been accomplished by any human forces. Life-giving Divine grace was clearly present and assisting here.

The grace of God, which rested in abundance on the elder, was the source of those spiritual gifts with which he served his neighbors, comforting the grieving, confirming the faith of those who doubted and edifying everyone on the path of salvation.

Among the spiritual grace-filled gifts of Elder Ambrose, which attracted thousands of people to him, one should first of all mention clairvoyance. He penetrated deeply into the soul of his interlocutor and read in it, as in an open book, without needing his explanations. With a slight hint, imperceptible to anyone, he pointed out to people their weaknesses and forced them to think seriously about them. One lady, who often visited Elder Ambrose, became very addicted to playing cards and was embarrassed to admit it to him. One day, at a general reception, she began to ask the elder for a card. The elder looked at her carefully, with his special, intent gaze, and said: “What are you doing, mother? Do we play cards in the monastery?” She understood the hint and repented to the elder of her weakness. With his insight, the elder greatly surprised many and persuaded them to immediately surrender completely to his leadership, in the confidence that the priest knew better than them what they needed and what was useful and harmful for them.

One young girl who graduated from higher courses in Moscow, whose mother had long been the spiritual daughter of Fr. Ambrose, having never seen the elder, did not love him and called him a “hypocrite.” Her mother persuaded her to visit Fr. Ambrose. Arriving at the elder’s general reception, the girl stood behind everyone, right at the door. The old man entered and, opening the door, closed the young girl with it. After praying and looking at everyone, he suddenly looked outside the door and said: “What kind of giant is this? Is it Vera who came to see the hypocrite?” After that, he talked with her alone, and the young girl’s attitude towards him completely changed: she fell in love with him passionately, and her fate was decided - she entered the Shamordino monastery. Those who submitted with complete trust to the elder’s guidance never repented of it, although they sometimes heard from him such advice that at first seemed strange and completely impossible to implement.

Usually a lot of people gathered at the Elder’s place. And now one young woman, who was persuaded to visit Father, is in an irritated state that she is forced to wait. Suddenly the door opens wide. An old man with a clear face appears on the threshold and says loudly: “Whoever is impatient here, come to me.” He approaches the young woman and leads her to him. After a conversation with him, she becomes a frequent guest of Optina and a visitor to Father Fr. Ambrose.

A group of women gathered at the fence and one elderly woman with a sick face, sitting on a stump, said that she had walked from Voronezh with sore legs, hoping that the elder would heal her. Seven miles from the monastery, she got lost, exhausted, finding herself on snow-covered paths, and fell in tears on a fallen log. At this time, some old man in a cassock and skufa approached her and asked about the reason for her tears; he pointed in the direction of the path with a stick. She went in the indicated direction and, turning behind the bushes, immediately saw the monastery. Everyone decided that it was the monastery forester or one of the cell attendants; when suddenly a servant she knew came out onto the porch and asked loudly: “Where is Avdotya from Voronezh?” Everyone was silent, looking at each other. The servant repeated his question louder, adding that Father was calling her. - “My dears! But Avdotya is from Voronezh, I myself am!” - exclaimed the storyteller who had just arrived with sore legs. Everyone parted, and the wanderer, hobbling to the porch, disappeared through the door. About fifteen minutes later she left the house all in tears, and sobbing she answered questions 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. But in the monastery there was no one like Fr. Ambrose, and in the winter he himself could not leave his cell due to illness, and then suddenly he appeared in the forest as a signpost for the wanderer, and then half an hour later, almost at the minute of her arrival, he already knows about her in detail!

Here is one of the cases of elder Ambrose’s foresight, told by one of the elder’s visitors - a certain artisan: “Not long before the elder’s death, about two years old, I had to go to Optina to get money. We made an iconostasis there, and I received money from the abbot for this work. to receive quite a large sum of money. I received my money and before leaving I went to Elder Ambrose to take a blessing for the return journey. I was in a hurry to go home: I was expecting to receive a large order the next day - ten thousand, and the customers were sure to be at the next day me in K. The people on this day, as usual, were killed by the elder. He found out about me that I was waiting, and ordered me to tell him through my cell attendant that I should come to him for tea in the evening. Even though I had to hurry to the court, but the honor and joy of being with the old man and drinking tea with him was so great that I decided to postpone my trip until the evening, in full confidence that even though I would travel all night, I would manage to get there on time.

Evening came, I went to the elder. The old man received me so cheerful, so joyful that I didn’t even feel the ground beneath me. Father, our angel, held me for quite a long time, it was almost getting dark, 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 and see me for tea.” How can this be so? - I think. I didn’t dare contradict him. I spent the night, was at mass, went to the elder to drink tea, and I myself grieved for my customers and kept thinking: Maybe, they say, I’ll at least have time to get to K in the evening. How could it not be so! I took a sip of tea. I want to say to the elder: “Bless me to go home,” but he didn’t let me utter a word: “Come,” he says, “to spend the night with me.” My legs even gave way, but I don’t dare object. The day has passed, the night has passed! In the morning I was already bolder and I thought: I was not there, but today I will leave; Maybe one day my customers were waiting for me. Where are you going? And the elder did not let me open my mouth. “Go,” he says, “to the all-night vigil today, and tomorrow to mass. Spend the night with me again!” What a parable this is! At this point I was completely saddened and, to admit, I sinned against the elder: here is a seer! He knows for sure that, by his grace, a profitable business has now slipped out of my hands. And I’m so uneasy about the old man that I can’t even express it. I had no time for prayer that time at the all-night vigil - it just pushed into my head: “Here is your old man! Here is your seer...! Now your earnings are whistling.” Oh, how annoying I was at that time! And my elder, as if it were a sin, well, just like that, forgive me, Lord, in mockery of me, he greets me so joyfully after the all-night vigil! ... I felt bitter, offended: and why, I think, is he rejoicing... But I still don’t dare to express my sorrow out loud. I spent the night in this manner for the third night. During the night, my grief gradually subsided: you can’t turn back what floated and slipped through your fingers... The next morning I come to the elder, and he told me: “Well, now it’s time for you to go to the yard! Go with God! God bless! And don’t forget about the time Thank God!"

And then all sorrow disappeared from me. I left the Optina Hermitage, but my heart was so light and joyful that it was impossible to convey... Why did the priest tell me: “Then don’t forget to thank God!?”... It must, I think, for that that the Lord deigned to visit the temple for three days. I drive home slowly and don’t think about my customers at all; I was very pleased that my father treated me this way. I arrived home, and what do you think? I am at the gate, and my customers are behind me; We were late, which means we were against our agreement to come for three days. Well, I think, oh my gracious old man! Truly wonderful are Your works, O Lord! ... However, that’s not how it all ended. Just listen to what happened next!

A lot of time has passed since then. Our father Ambrose died. Two years after his righteous death, my senior master fell ill. He was a person I trusted, and he was not a worker, but straight gold. He lived with me hopelessly for more than twenty years. Sick to death. We sent for a priest to confess and give communion while we still remember. Only, I see, the priest comes to me from the dying man and says: “The sick man is calling you to his place, he wants to see you. Hurry up, lest he die.” I came to the patient, and when he saw me, he somehow rose to his elbows, looked at me and began to cry: “Forgive my sin, master! I wanted to kill you...” “What are you, God bless you! You’re delusional.” you..." "No, master, he really wanted to kill you. Do you remember, you were three days late coming from Optina. After all, there are three of us, according to my agreement, for three nights in a row they were watching you on the road under the bridge; for money, what are you "I was bringing the iconostasis from Optina, they were envious. You wouldn't have been alive that night, but the Lord, for someone's prayers, took you away from death without repentance... Forgive me, the accursed one, let me go, for God's sake, in peace my darling!" "God forgive you, just as I forgive you." Then my patient wheezed and began to come to an end. The kingdom of heaven to his soul. Great was the sin, but great was the repentance!

Elder Ambrose's foresight was combined with another most valuable gift, especially for a shepherd - prudence. His instructions and advice provided visual and practical theology for people thoughtful about religion. The elder often gave instructions in a half-joking form, thereby encouraging the discouraged, but the deep meaning of his speeches did not detract from this. People involuntarily thought about the figurative expressions of Fr. Ambrose and remembered the lesson given to him 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 a wheel turns, just one point touches the ground, and the rest tends upward; but we, as soon as we lie down, cannot get up.”

Let us cite as an example some other statements of the elder.

“Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, but where it’s sophisticated, there’s not a single one.” “Don’t boast, peas, that you’re better than beans; if you get wet, you’ll burst.”

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

“Whoever thinks that he has something will lose.”

The elder’s prudence also extended to practical issues, far from the problems of spiritual life. Here's an example.

A wealthy Oryol landowner comes to the priest and, among other things, announces that he wants to install a water supply system in his vast apple orchards. Father is already completely covered by this water supply. “People say,” he begins with his usual words in such cases, “people say that this is the best way,” and describes in detail the construction of the water supply system. The landowner, upon returning, begins to read literature on this topic and learns that the priest described the latest inventions in this technique. The landowner is back in Optina. "Well, what about the plumbing?" - asks the priest. Everywhere apples are spoiling, and the landowner has a rich harvest of apples.

Prudence and insight were combined in Elder Ambrose with an amazing, purely maternal tenderness of heart, thanks to which he was able to alleviate the heaviest grief and console the most sorrowful soul.

One resident of Kozelsk, 3 years after the death of the elder, in 1894, told the following about herself: “I had a son, he served at the telegraph office, delivered telegrams. Father knew both him and me. My son often carried telegrams to him, and I went for a blessing. But then my son fell ill with consumption and died. I came to him - we all went to him with our grief. He stroked me on the head and said: “Your telegram was cut off!” “It was cut off,” I said, “father!” and began to cry. And my soul felt so light from his affection, as if a stone had been lifted. We lived with him, as if with our own father. Now there are no such elders anymore. And maybe God will send more! "

Love and wisdom - it was these qualities that attracted people to the old man. From morning to evening they came to him with the most urgent questions, into which he delved deeply and lived with them at the moment of conversation. He always grasped the essence of the matter at once, explained it with incomprehensible wisdom and gave an answer. But during the 10-15 minutes of such a conversation, more than one issue was resolved, and during this time Fr. Ambrose contained in his heart the whole person - with all his attachments, desires - his entire world, internal and external. From his words and his instructions it was clear that he loved not only the one with whom he was speaking, but also all those loved by this person, his life, everything that was dear to him. Offering his solution, Fr. Ambrose had in mind not just one thing in itself, regardless of the consequences that might arise from it both for this person and for others, but meaning all aspects of life with which this matter came into some contact. How much mental stress must there be to solve such problems? And such questions were proposed to him by dozens of lay people, not counting monks and fifty letters that came and were sent daily. The elder's word came with power based on his closeness to God, which gave him omniscience. This was a prophetic ministry.

There were no trifles for the old man. He knew that everything in life has a price and its consequences; and therefore there was no question that he would not answer with sympathy and a desire for good. One day, the old man was stopped by a woman who had been hired by the landowner to go after the turkeys, but for some reason her turkeys were dead, and the landlady wanted to pay her off. “Father!” she turned to him with tears, “I have no strength; I can’t get enough of them myself, I’m on the edge of my seat, and they’re pricking me. The lady wants to drive me away. Have pity on me, darling.” Those present laughed at her. And the elder asked her with sympathy how she fed them, and gave her advice on how to support them differently, blessed her and sent her away. To those who laughed at her, he noticed that her whole life was in these turkeys. Afterwards it became known that the woman’s turkeys no longer pricked.

As for the healings, they were countless and it is impossible to list them in this short essay. The elder covered up these healings in every possible way. He sent the sick to Pustyn to Rev. Tikhon of Kaluga, where the source was. Before Elder Ambrose, healings had not been heard of in this Desert. You might think that Rev. Tikhon began to heal through the elder’s prayer. Sometimes Fr. Ambrose sent the sick to St. Mitrofan of Voronezh. It happened that they were healed on the way there and returned back to thank the elder. Sometimes he, as if as a joke, hits his head with his hand, and the illness goes away. One day, a reader who was reading prayers suffered from severe toothache. Suddenly the elder hit him. Those present grinned, thinking that the reader must have made a mistake in reading. In fact, his toothache stopped. Knowing the elder, some women turned to him: “Father Abrosim! Beat me, I have a headache.”

The spiritual power of the elder sometimes manifested itself in completely exceptional cases.

One day Elder Ambrose, bent over, leaning on a stick, was walking from somewhere along the road to the monastery. Suddenly he imagined a picture: a loaded cart was standing, a dead horse was lying nearby, and a peasant was crying over it. The loss of a nurse's horse in peasant life is a real disaster! Approaching the fallen horse, the elder began to slowly walk around it. Then, taking a twig, he lashed the horse, shouting at it: “Get up, lazy one,” and the horse obediently rose to its feet.

Elder Ambrose appeared to many people at a distance, like St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, either for the purpose of healing or for deliverance from disasters. To some, very few, it was revealed in visible images how powerful the elder’s prayerful intercession before God was. Here are the memories of one nun, the spiritual daughter of Fr. Ambrose.

“In his cell there were lamps burning and a small wax candle on the table. It was dark and I had no time to read from the note. I said that I remembered, and then in a hurry, and then added: “Father, what else can I tell you? What to repent of? “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 straightened up to his full height, raised his head and raised his hands up, as if in a prayerful position. At that time it seemed to me that his feet had 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 had parted, and the elder’s head seemed went up. This clearly appeared to me. A minute later, the priest leaned over me, amazed at what I saw, and, crossing me, said the following words: “Remember, this is what repentance can lead to. Go." I left him, staggering, and cried all night about my foolishness and negligence. In the morning they gave us horses and we left. During the life of the old man, I could not tell this to anyone. He once and for all forbade me to talk about such cases, saying with a threat: “Otherwise you will lose my help and grace.”

From all over Russia, rich and poor, intelligentsia and common people flocked to the old man's hut. It was visited by famous public figures and writers: F. M. Dostoevsky, V. S. Solovyov, K. N. Leontiev, L. N. Tolstoy, M. N. Pogodin, N. M. Strakhov and others. And he received everyone with the same love and goodwill. Charity was always his need; he distributed alms through his cell attendant, and he himself took care of widows, orphans, the sick and suffering. In the last years of the elder’s life, 12 versts from Optina, in the village of Shamordino, a women’s Kazan hermitage was established with his blessing, into which, unlike other convents of that time, more poor and sick women were accepted. By the 90s of the 19th century, the number of nuns in it reached 500 people.

It was in Shamordino 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 summer, the elder tried three times to return to Optina, but was unable to due to ill health. A year later, on September 21, 1891, the illness became so severe that he lost both his hearing and his voice. His dying sufferings began - so severe that he, as he admitted, had never experienced anything like them in his entire life. On September 8, Hieromonk Joseph administered unction to him (together with Fr. Theodore and Anatoly), and the next day he gave him communion. 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 eleven, the elder, sighing three times and crossing himself with difficulty, died.

The funeral liturgy with the funeral service was performed in the Vvedensky Cathedral of Optina Pustyn. About 8 thousand people came to the funeral. On October 15, the elder’s body was interred on the southeastern side of the Vvedensky Cathedral, next to his teacher, Hieroschemamonk Macarius. It is very noteworthy that it was on this day, October 15, and just a year before his death, in 1890, that Elder Ambrose established a holiday in honor of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Spreader of the Loaves,” before which he himself offered up his fervent prayers many times.

Immediately after his death, miracles began in which the elder, as in life, healed, instructed, and called for repentance.

Years passed. But the path to the elder’s grave was not overgrown. These are times of grave upheaval. Optina Pustyn was closed and ruined. The chapel at the elder’s grave was razed to the ground. But it was impossible to destroy the memory of the great saint of God. People randomly designated the location of the chapel and continued to flock to their mentor.

In November 1987, Optina Pustyn was returned to the Church. And in June 1988, Elder Ambrose of Optina was canonized by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. On October 23 (New Art.), the day of his death (the established day of his memory), a solemn bishop's service was performed in Optina Pustyn in front of a large crowd of pilgrims. By this time the relics of St. Ambrose had already been found. All those who participated in the celebration experienced on this day that pure and inexpressible joy that the holy elder so loved to bestow on those who came to him during his lifetime. A month later, on the anniversary of the revival of the monastery, by the grace of God a miracle happened: at night after the service in the Vvedensky Cathedral, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and the relics, as well as 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 abandon us sinners through his intercession before our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever! Amen

Selected Instructions of Elder Ambrose

"How to live?" - the elder heard this very important question from all sides. As usual, he answered in a joking tone: “To live, don’t bother, don’t judge anyone, don’t annoy anyone, and my respect to everyone.” This tone of the elder’s speech often brought a smile to the lips of frivolous listeners. But if you seriously delve into this instruction, then everyone will see a deep meaning in it. - “Don’t push,” i.e. so that the heart is not carried away by the inevitable sorrows and failures for a person, but is directed to the One Source of eternal sweetness - God; through which a person puts up with sorrows or “resigns himself,” and thereby calms down. - “Don’t judge,” “don’t annoy.” The most common condemnations and annoyances among people are the offspring of destructive pride. They alone are enough to bring a person’s soul down to the bottom of hell; but outwardly, for the most part, they are not considered a sin. - “My respect to everyone” - indicates the commandment of the Apostle: "warn each other in respect"(Rom. 12:10). Reducing all these thoughts to one general one, we see that in the above saying the Elder preached mainly humility - this is the basis of spiritual life, the source of all virtues, without which it is impossible to be saved.

About how much we care about the body and how much about the soul

The Gospel says: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his life?”(Mark 8:36). That's how precious the human soul is! She is more valuable than the whole world, with all its treasures and benefits. But it’s scary to think how little we understand the dignity of our soul. All our thoughts turn to the body, this dwelling of worms, this fallen coffin, from morning to evening, but to the immortal soul, to the most precious and beloved creation of God, to the image of His glory and greatness, barely one thought turns all week. The most flourishing years of our life are devoted to the service of the body, and only the last minutes of decrepit old age are devoted to the eternal salvation of the soul. The body daily revels, as at a rich man’s feast, with full cups and sumptuous dishes, but the soul barely collects the crumbs of the divine word on the threshold of the house of God. The insignificant body is washed, dressed, cleaned, adorned with all the treasures of nature and art, but the dear soul, the bride of Jesus Christ, the heir of heaven, wanders with exhausted steps, clothed in the clothes of a wretched wanderer, without alms.

The body does not tolerate a single spot on the face, any uncleanness on the hands, no patch on the clothes, and the soul from head to toe, covered with filth, does nothing but move from one sinful mire to another, and with its annual, but often hypocritical confession , only multiplies the patches on his clothes, and does not renew them. The well-being of the body requires various kinds of fun and pleasure; it often exhausts entire families; people are sometimes ready for all kinds of work for it, and the poor soul barely has one hour a day. Sundays for service Divine Liturgy, barely a few minutes for morning and evening prayers, he forcibly collects one handful of copper coins for alms, and is satisfied when he expresses the remembrance of death with a cold sigh. For health and preservation of the body, they change the air and home, call on the most skillful and distant doctors, abstain from food and drink, take the most bitter medicines, allow themselves to be burned and cut, but for the health of the soul, to avoid temptations, to avoid sinful infection, they do not not a single step, but remain in the same air, in the same unkind society, in the same vicious house, and do not look for any doctor of souls, or choose a doctor unfamiliar and inexperienced, and hide from him what is already known and heaven and hell, and what they themselves boast about in their societies. When the body dies, then one hears sorrow and despair, but when the soul dies from mortal sin, then they often don’t think about it.

So we do not know the dignity of our soul, and like Adam and Eve, we give our soul for a red-looking fruit.

Why don't we at least cry like Adam and Eve? For the most part, we are concerned with acquiring goods, only, unfortunately, they are often earthly and temporary, and not heavenly. We forget that earthly blessings are fleeting and unstoppable, while heavenly blessings are eternal, infinite and inalienable.

All-merciful Lord! Help us to despise everything that is fleeting, and to take care of the only need for the salvation of our souls.

About salvation

While a Christian lives on earth, his salvation, according to the word of St. Peter of Damascus, is between fear and hope, and people are still looking for complete satisfaction on earth, and, moreover, from a place and from people, while the Lord himself speaks in the Gospel : "You will be sorrowful in the world." These words clearly show that no matter where a Christian lives, he cannot live without some kind of sorrow. There is only one peace of mind - in fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel, as stated in the psalms : “There is much peace for those who love Your law, and there is no offense for them.” If something or someone tempts or confuses us, then it clearly shows that we do not quite correctly relate to the law of God’s commandments, of which the main commandment is not to judge or condemn anyone. Each one will be glorified or ashamed by his deeds the Last Judgment God's. And also in Old Testament It was prescribed to pay attention to yourself and your own salvation and correction of your own soul. This is what we should be most concerned about.

Nowhere does the Lord want to force a person involuntarily, but everywhere he submits to our good will, and by their own free will people are either good or evil. Therefore, in vain we will accuse that those living with us and those around us interfere and hinder our salvation or spiritual perfection. Samuel lived and was raised by Elijah the priest, with his depraved sons, and preserved himself, and was a great prophet. Eve also transgressed God’s commandment in paradise. But Judas, and his three-year life in the face of the Savior Himself, did not make him better, when he saw so many miracles, constantly heard the Gospel sermon, but became even worse, selling his Teacher and the Savior of the world for thirty pieces of silver.

Our mental and spiritual unsatisfactoriness comes from ourselves, from our inability and from an incorrectly formed opinion, which we do not want to part with. And it brings upon us confusion and doubt and various bewilderments; and all this torments and burdens us and leads us to a desolate state. It would be good if we could understand the simple patristic word: “If we humble ourselves, then in every place we will find peace, without bypassing with our minds many other places where the same, if not worse, may happen to us.”

About humility

You need to humble yourself in front of everyone, and consider yourself worse than everyone else. If we did not commit the crimes that others committed, then this may be because we did not have the opportunity to do so; the situation and circumstances were different. There is something good and kind in every person, but we usually see only vices in people, and see nothing good.

To the question, is it possible to desire improvement in spiritual life? The elder replies: “You can not only desire, but also must try to improve in humility, that is, in considering yourself in the feeling of your heart worse and lower than all people and every creature. It is natural and necessary for a sinner to humble himself. If he resigns himself, then circumstances will subdue him, providentially arranged for his spiritual benefit.In happiness, he usually forgets himself, and attributes everything to himself, to his impotent strength and imaginary power, but as soon as any misfortune visits him, he asks for mercy from an imaginary enemy.

The Elder also told how sometimes unexpectedly circumstances humble a person: “Once someone hosted a dinner at his place and sent out his servants to invite guests. One of the invitees asked the careless servant sent to him: “Did your master really not find anyone better to send than you?” to me?" To this the messenger replied: "They sent good after good, but I was sent to your mercy."

Elder Ambrose also spoke to edify his disciples about humility: “One visitor came to the rector, Archimandrite Moses, but did not find him at home, he went to his brother O. Abbot Anthony. In the midst of the conversation, the guest asked Fr. abbot: “Tell me, father, what rule do you follow?” O. Anthony answered: “I had many rules: I lived in the desert and in monasteries, and all the rules were different, but now there is only one tax collector left: "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

At the same time, Father also told how “Alone kept wanting to wander here and there, and to Kyiv and Zadonsk, and the elder alone said to her: “All this is not good for you, you’d better sit and say Mytarev’s prayer.”

About disbelief

“I once told Father,” his spiritual daughter writes, about one family, that I feel very sorry for all of them, they don’t believe in anything, neither in God nor in the future life. It’s a pity precisely because they, perhaps, and it’s not their own fault, they were brought up in such unbelief, or there were other reasons. Father shook his head and said angrily: “There is no excuse for atheists. After all, the Gospel is preached to everyone, to everyone, even to the pagans; Finally, by nature, we are all from birth endowed with the feeling of knowing God, so it is our own fault. You ask whether it is possible to pray for such people. Of course, you can pray for everyone."

Some, the Elder also said, renounced faith in God out of imitation of others and out of false shame. And here’s a case: one of them didn’t believe in God. And when, during the war in the Caucasus, he had to fight, in the midst of the battle, when bullets were flying past him, he bent down, hugged his horse, and read all the time: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.” And then, when, remembering this, his comrades laughed at him, he renounced his words. Then Father added: “Yes, hypocrisy is worse than unbelief.”

About repentance

To give a proper understanding of the power and importance of repentance, Elder Ambrose said: “What a time has come now! It used to be that if someone sincerely repents of his sins, he will already change his sinful life to a good one, but now it often happens like this: a person will tell in confession all his sins in detail, but then again he takes on his own."

The Elder also conveyed an edifying story: “A demon sat in the form of a man and dangled his legs. He who saw this with spiritual eyes asked him: “Why aren’t you doing anything?” the demon answered: “Yes, I have nothing left to do but dangle my legs, people.” everyone does better than me."

"Three degrees for salvation. St. John Chrysostom said: a) do not sin b) having sinned, repent c) whoever repents poorly must endure the sorrows that come."

“It happens, as Father said, that although our sins are forgiven us through repentance, our conscience still does not cease to reproach us. The late Elder Fr. Macarius, for comparison, sometimes showed his finger, which was once cut long ago; the pain had long since passed, but the scar remains. Likewise, even after the forgiveness of sins, scars remain, that is, reproaches of conscience."

“Although the Lord forgives the sins of those who repent, every sin requires a cleansing punishment. For example, the Lord himself said to a prudent thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise,” and meanwhile after these words they broke his legs, and what was it like on just his hands , with broken legs, hang on the cross for three hours? This means he needed purifying suffering. For sinners who die immediately after repentance, the prayers of the Church and those praying for them serve as purification, and those who are still alive must themselves be purified by correction of life and alms covering sins."

About suffering

“God does not create a cross for a person, that is, cleansing mental and physical suffering. And no matter how heavy the cross may be for another person, which he bears in life, yet the tree from which it is made always grows on the soil of his hearts."

“When a person, the Elder said, walks the straight path, there is no cross for him. But when he retreats from it and begins to rush in one direction or the other, then different circumstances appear that push him back onto the straight path "These shocks constitute a cross for a person. Of course, they are different, depending on who needs what."

“There is a mental cross, sometimes a person is confused by sinful thoughts, but a person is not guilty of them if he does not deign to them. The Elder spoke as an example: “One ascetic was overwhelmed by unclean thoughts for a long time. When the Lord who appeared to her drove them away from her, she cried out to Him: “Where have you been before, O sweet Jesus?” The Lord answered: “I was in your heart.” She said: “How could this be? After all, my heart was filled with unclean thoughts.” And the Lord said to her: “Therefore, understand that I was in your heart, that you had no inclination towards unclean thoughts, but tried more to get rid of them, but not being able to, you were sick about it, and with this you prepared a place for me in your heart.” "

“Sometimes innocent suffering is sent to a person so that, following the example of Christ, he suffers for others. The Savior Himself first suffered for people. His apostles also suffered for the Church and for people. To have perfect love means to suffer for your neighbors.”

About love

Love covers everything. And if someone does good to their neighbors out of the desire of their heart, and not driven only by duty or self-interest, then the devil cannot interfere with such a person.

Love is of course higher than everything. If you find that there is no love in you, but you want to have it, then do deeds of love, although at first without love. Lord will see Your wish and diligence and will put love into your heart. “Whoever has a bad heart should not despair, because with the help of God a person can correct his heart. You just need to carefully watch yourself, and not miss the opportunity to be useful to your neighbors, often open up to the elder and do alms within your power. This, of course, cannot be done suddenly, but the Lord is long-suffering. He only ends a person’s life when he sees him ready for the transition to eternity, or when he sees no hope for his correction.

About alms

About alms, Elder Ambrose said: “St. Demetrius of Rostov writes: if a man on a horse comes to you and asks, give it to him. How he uses your alms, you are not responsible for that.”

Also: “St. John Chrysostom says: start giving to the poor what you don’t need, what you have lying around, then you will be able to give more, even with deprivation of yourself, and finally you will be ready to give everything you have.”

About laziness and despondency

“Boredom is the grandson’s despondency, and laziness is the daughter’s. To drive it away, work hard in business, don’t be lazy in prayer; then boredom will pass and diligence will come. And if you add patience and humility to this, you will save yourself from many evils.”

“Why do people sin?”, the Elder sometimes asked a question, and he himself solved it: “Or because they do not know what to do and what to avoid; or if they know, they forget; if they don’t forget, they become lazy and despondent. On the contrary: since people are very lazy in matters of piety, they very often forget about their main duty, to serve God. From laziness and oblivion they reach extreme foolishness or ignorance. These are three giants: despondency or laziness, oblivion and ignorance, from which the entire human race is bound by insoluble bonds. And then comes negligence with all its host of evil passions. That is why we pray to the Queen of Heaven: “My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with your holy and all-powerful prayers, drive away from me your humble and accursed servant laziness, despondency, oblivion, foolishness, negligence, and all nasty, evil and blasphemous thoughts.”

About patience

“When someone annoys you, never ask why or why. This is not found anywhere in Scripture. On the contrary, it says: “If someone hits you on the right cheek, turn your right cheek to him and the other.” It’s really not convenient to hit the gum cheek, but this should be understood this way: if someone slanders you, or innocently annoys you with something, this will mean hitting the gum cheek. Don’t complain, but bear this blow patiently, putting your left cheek forward, that is, remembering your wrong deeds. And if perhaps you are innocent now, then before you sinned a lot; and thus you will be convinced that you are worthy of punishment. Self-justification is a great sin."

“Father, teach me patience,” said one sister. “Learn,” answered the Elder, and begin with patience when you find and encounter troubles.” - “I can’t understand how one can not be indignant at insults and injustices.” The Elder’s answer: “Be fair yourself, and do not offend anyone.”

About irritability

“No one should justify their irritability by some illness, it comes from pride. And the husband's anger, according to St. Apostle James, does not practice God's righteousness. In order not to indulge in irritability and anger, one should not rush."

About envy and rancor

The elder said: “You need to force yourself, albeit against your will, to do some good to your enemies, and most importantly, not to take revenge on them, and be careful not to somehow offend them with the appearance of contempt and humiliation.”

One person asked: “I don’t understand, Father, how you not only are not angry with those who speak ill of you, but also continue to love them.” The elder laughed a lot at this and said: “You had a little son, were you angry with him if he did or said something wrong?” On the contrary, didn’t you try to somehow cover up his shortcomings?”

About pride

There are a lot of people who have nothing to be proud of at all. On this occasion, the Elder relayed the following story: “One confessor told her confessor that she was proud. “What are you proud of?” he asked her, “Are you really noble?” “No,” she answered.” “Well, talented?” " - No. “So you’re rich?” No. “Hm... in that case, you can be proud,” the confessor finally said.”

To the question: how is it that the righteous, knowing that they live well according to the commandments of God, are not exalted by their righteousness, the Elder answered: “They do not know what end awaits them.” Therefore, he added, “Our salvation must be accomplished between fear and hope. No one should ever give in to despair, but one should not hope too much."

On the meaning of temptations

The freedom of rational beings has always been tested and is still being tested until it is established in goodness. Because goodness cannot be established without testing. Every Christian is tested in some way: one by poverty, another by illness, another by various bad thoughts, another by some kind of disaster or humiliation, and another by various bewilderments. And this tests the firmness of faith, and hope, and the love of God, that is, to what a person is more inclined, to what he cleaves more, whether he strives for grief, or is still nailed to earthly things. So that a Christian man, through such trials, can see for himself what position and disposition he is in and involuntarily humble himself. Because without humility, all our deeds are vanity, as the God-wise and God-bearing fathers unanimously affirm.

The freedom of even the angels was tested. And if the inhabitants of heaven did not escape the test, then how much more must the freedom and will of those living on earth be tested.

About the meaning and necessity of fasting

We can see the need to observe fasts in the Gospel and, firstly, from the example of the Lord Himself, who fasted for forty days in the desert, although he was God and had no need for this. Secondly, to the question of His disciples why they could not cast out a demon from a person, the Lord answered: “Because of your unbelief;"and then added : “This kind cannot come out except through prayer and fasting.”(Mark 9:29). In addition, there is an indication in the Gospel that we must fast on Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday the Lord was handed over to be crucified, and on Friday he was crucified.

Meager food is not defilement. It does not defile, but fattens the human body. And St. the apostle Paul says : “Even if our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed from day to day.”(2 Cor. 4:16). He called the outer man the body, and the inner man the soul.

Every deprivation and every compulsion is valued before God, according to what is said in the Gospel: “C The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away"(Matthew 11:12). And those who boldly and willfully violate the rule of fasting are called enemies of the cross, and God is their womb and glory in their shame. And in the psalms it is said: " Lost from the womb"Of course, it is a different matter if someone breaks fast due to illness and bodily infirmity. But those who are healthy from fasting are healthier and kinder, and moreover, they are more durable, although they seem skinny in appearance. With fasting and abstinence, the flesh does not rebel so much, and sleep does not overwhelm you so much, and fewer empty thoughts enter your head, and spiritual books are read more readily and are better understood.

And so, if, by the grace of God, you have manifested a good desire to cleanse yourself from internal vices, then let it be known to you that this kind cannot be removed by anything other than fervent prayer and fasting, however, prudent fasting. Otherwise, we had one example of an unreasonable post here. One landowner, who spent his life in bliss, suddenly wanted to observe a severe fast: he ordered himself to crush hemp seed throughout Lent and ate it with kvass, and from such a sharp transition from bliss to fasting, his stomach was so spoiled that doctors continued to couldn't fix it. However, there is also a patristic word that we should not be killers of the body, but killers of the passions.

About prayer

So that people would not remain careless and would not place all their hope in outside prayer help, the Elder repeated the usual folk saying: “God help me, and the man himself doesn’t lie down.”

One nun said: “Father! Through whom should we ask for prayer help if not through you?” The elder replied: “And ask yourself!” Remember, the twelve Apostles asked the Savior for their Canaanite wife, but He did not hear them, and when she began to ask, she begged."

But since prayer is the most powerful weapon against the invisible enemy, he tries in every possible way to distract a person from it. The Elder relayed the following story: “On Athos, one monk had a starling, a talker, whom the monk loved very much, being carried away by his conversations. But it’s strange, as soon as the monk begins to fulfill his prayer rule, the starling starts talking and doesn’t let the monk pray. Once on the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ, a monk approached the cage and said: “Skvorushka, Christ is risen!” And the starling replies: “That’s our misfortune, that he has risen,” and immediately died. And an unbearable stench filled the monk’s cell. Then the monk realized his mistake and repented."

That God most importantly looks at the inner prayerful mood of a person’s soul, the Elder said: “One day a patient with legs came to Father Abbot Anthony and said: “Father, my legs hurt, I can’t bow down, and this confuses me.” O. Anthony answered him: “Yes, the Scripture says: “With Eun, give it yours to me heart", and it doesn't say - "legs."

One nun told the Elder that she saw an icon of the Mother of God in a dream and heard from her: “Make a sacrifice.” Father asked: “What did you sacrifice?” She replied: “What will I bring, I have nothing.” Then Father said: “In the psalms it is written: the sacrifice of praise will glorify me."

About external and moral progress

One of Father’s spiritual daughters conveyed to him the following questions from her son: 1. “According to the Gospel, human society before the end of the world is presented in the most terrible form. This rejects the possibility of constant improvement of humanity. Is it possible after this to work for the good of humanity, being sure that no means are not able in the final result before the end of the world to achieve the possible moral perfection of humanity. 2. The duty of a Christian is to do good and try to ensure that this good triumphs over evil. At the end of the world, the Gospel says, evil will triumph over good. How can try for the victory of good over evil, knowing that these efforts will not be crowned with success, and that evil will ultimately triumph?”

Answer of Elder Ambrose: Tell your son: evil has already been defeated, defeated not by the efforts and forces of man, but by our Lord and Savior Himself, the Son God's Jesus Christ, who for this reason came down from heaven to earth, became incarnate, suffered as humanity, and through His suffering on the cross and resurrection crushed the power of evil and the evil ruler of the devil, who ruled over the human race, and freed us from devilish and sinful slavery, as he himself said: "I give you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the might the enemy, and nothing will harm you"(Luke 10:19). Now, in the sacrament of baptism, all Christian believers are given the power to trample on evil and do good, through the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, and no one is anymore forcibly possessed by evil, except those who are careless about keeping God's commandments, and especially those who voluntarily indulges in sins.To want to overcome with one’s own strength evil, which has already been defeated by the coming of the Savior, shows a misunderstanding of the Christian sacraments Orthodox Church, and reveals a sign of haughty human arrogance, which wants to do everything on its own, without turning to God’s help, while the Lord himself clearly speaks : "You can't do anything without me" (John 15:5).

You write: the Gospel says that at the end of the world, evil will triumph over good. This is not said anywhere in the Gospel, it only says that in Lately faith will diminish: "But the Son of Man, when he comes, will he find faith on earth?(Luke 18:8) and “Because iniquities abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). And St. The apostle Paul says that before the second coming the Saviors " A man will appear iniquity, son of perdition, adversary and exalted above all that is called God or Holy"(2 Thess. 2:3-7), that is, the Antichrist. But it is immediately said that the Lord Jesus will kill him with the spirit of His mouth; and will abolish him with the appearance of His coming.. Where is the triumph of evil over good? And in general all kinds of the triumph of evil over good is only imaginary, temporary.

On the other hand, it is also unfair that humanity on earth is constantly improving. There is progress or improvement only in external human affairs, in the convenience of life. For example, we use railways and telegraphs, which did not exist before: coal is being dug up, which was hidden in the bowels of the earth, etc. In the Christian-moral respect, there is no general progress. At all times there have been people who achieved high moral Christian perfection, guided by the true faith of Christ and following the true Christian teaching, consistent with the Divine Revelation, which God revealed in His Church through God-inspired men, prophets and apostles. There will be such people in the time of Antichrist, which for their sake will be shortened, according to what was said: " And if If those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."(Matthew 24:22).

Moral perfection on earth, imperfect, is achieved not by all of humanity in the aggregate, but by each believer in particular, to the extent of fulfilling the commandments of God and to the extent of humility. Final and complete perfection is achieved in heaven, in the future endless life, for which short-term earthly human life serves only as preparation, just as the years spent by a young man in an educational institution serve as preparation for future practical activity. If the purpose of humanity was limited to its earthly existence, if for a person everything ended on earth: then why " The earth and everything on it will burn"(2 Peter 3:10). Without a future blessed, endless life, our earthly stay would be useless and incomprehensible.

The desire to work for the benefit of humanity, a very plausible one, is placed in the wrong place. Everyone wants to verbally work for the good of their neighbors and care not at all or very little about the fact that they first need to evade evil themselves, and then take care of the benefit of their neighbors.

The broad ideas of the younger generation about great activities for the benefit of all mankind are similar to those who, without finishing a high school course, dreamed a lot about themselves that they could be a professor and a great mentor at the university. But on the other hand, think. that if we cannot move forward all of humanity, then it is not worth working at all - this is just the other extreme. Each Christian is obliged, according to his strength and in accordance with his position, to work for the benefit of others, but so that all this is done on time and in order, and so that the success of our labors is presented to God and His holy will.

In conclusion, I will say: advise your son not to confuse external human affairs with spiritual and moral ones. Let him find progress in external inventions, partly in the sciences. But in Christian and moral terms, I repeat, there is no and cannot be universal progress in humanity. Everyone will be judged according to their deeds.

Troparion, tone 5

Like a healing spring, we flow to you, Ambrose, our father! You faithfully instruct us on the path of salvation, protect us from troubles and misfortunes with prayers, comfort us in physical and mental sorrows, and, moreover, teach us humility, patience and love. Pray earnestly to Christ the Lover of Mankind and Intercessor for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion, tone 2

Having fulfilled the covenant of the Chief Shepherd, you inherited the grace of the elders, your heart aching for all those who flow to you. In the same way, we, your children, cry out to you with love: Holy Father Ambrose, pray to Christ God that our souls will be saved.

Prayer

O GREAT ELDER and servant of God, Rev. Father Ambrose, praise the Optina monastery and all Rus', teacher of piety! Desiring to serve the Lord, you labored tirelessly, in vigils, in prayers and fasts, and you were a mentor to monastics and a beloved teacher to all people.

We glorify your humble life in Christ, for the sake of which God exalted you while still on earth, and especially crowned you with heavenly glory in the palace of eternal glory.

Accept now the prayer of us who honor you, and be our immutable patron. Deliver us from sorrowful circumstances, mental and physical illnesses, from crafty and disorderly people and from sinful falls. For our Fatherland, ask for peace, silence, spiritual renewal and unshakable prosperity. Pray to the merciful Lord, may He bestow upon us everything that is for the benefit and salvation of our souls, and may He grant us the honor of ending our lives in repentance and keeping His commandments. On the day of judgment may he merit us to stand on the right hand and to live eternally in the Kingdom of His glory. Amen.

Elder Ambrose of Optina is one of the most revered saints in Rus'. It seemed that his life was continuous suffering - he was constantly and seriously ill. But the Monk Ambrose thanked God for everything and everyone who came to him for advice asked for the same thing - to thank God and love their neighbors.

He comforted the mourning and healed the sick. He really spoke about deep and serious things. in simple language- for which the people loved him. During his life, Ambrose of Optina became one of the most revered elders among the people, and after his death - a saint.

When did Saint Ambrose of Optina live?

The Monk Ambrose of Optina was born in 1812 in the Tambov Province and died in 1891 at the age of 78.

19th century - what time was it for Russian society? Perhaps it was somewhat reminiscent of the current one. Western influence, the influence of time in general - and society, once more or less integral in views and beliefs, found itself increasingly divided. Among the intelligentsia, which considered itself the advanced part of society, new and diverse movements emerged and strengthened. Marxists, Slavophiles, Westerners. Searching all around, intoxication with creativity, and everything - for the most part - pushing Church life into the background.

As a result, many prominent people of society and culture (writers, musicians, artists) might not know anything about the wonderful elders and saints who at the same time lived and gathered thousands of pilgrims around them. Seraphim of Sarov, Macarius, Leo and Ambrose of Optina. Almost like now...

But the country continued to live Church life. The common people, villagers, villagers (and many city dwellers) never thought of forgetting God. And while the intelligentsia was in search, most of the people still found their last stronghold in Christ, the councils of priests and elders. For example, those who lived in one of the strongholds of eldership in Rus'.

Elder Ambrose of Optina: a brief life

Few specific facts about the life of Ambrose of Optina have been preserved. It is known that he was born either in 1812 or 1814. It is known that he was sick a lot. It is known that he was ill, essentially, all his life, suffering from a variety of ailments.

The life of Ambrose of Optina tells that he first became seriously ill at the age of 23 and then promised to go to a monastery if he recovered. I didn’t keep my promise, I got a job as a teacher in some rich house, and maybe I would have continued to work, but I got sick again. And only after that he fulfilled the vow he had once made - he became a monk.

One of the sides of the spiritual path of Elder Ambrose is the path of illness. He continued to be ill almost his entire life. His gastritis either worsened, then he started vomiting, then he felt nervous pain, then he had a cold with feverish chills and just a severe fever. These are just some of his illnesses. Sometimes he was on the verge of life and death.

The Monk Amrovsy of Optina was often and seriously ill.

Towards the end of his life, the saint’s physical health became so weak that he could no longer go to services or leave his cell.

But the Monk Amrovsy of Optina not only did not grieve over his illnesses, but also considered them necessary for his spiritual strengthening. (In principle, already then, in the 19th century, the idea took root that the time had come when a person could be saved only by illness - the entire structure of society in its very fundamental principles had become so far from the Church.)

The Monk Ambrose was the third Elder of Optina, a disciple of the Monks Leo and Macarius, and as a result became the most famous and illustrious of all.

The life says that the Monk Macarius, whose novice Ambrose was from the very beginning, quickly realized that before him was a future great monk, and saw in him his “successor.” And so it happened. Saint Ambrose took upon himself the work of eldership in 1860, after the death of St. Macarius, and did not leave it almost until his very last breath.

Miracles of St. Ambrose of Optina

Pilgrims flocked to St. Ambrose from all over the country. Some needed guidance, others needed consolation, others complained of illness. And Elder Ambrose gave advice to some, consoled others, and could heal others.

The rumor about Ambrose of Optina spread very quickly. Both simple peasants and intellectuals spoke of the elder as an amazingly simple and bright monk who radiated Love and peace.

He had his own “peculiarity” - a way of expressing himself. His words were simple in form, if not vernacular. And because of this, they are easily understandable to anyone: a city dweller, a writer, a shoemaker, and a tailor.

He said:
"Sins like walnuts“You can crack the shell, but it’s difficult to pick out the grain.”

or:
“We must live as a wheel turns: just one point touches the ground, and the rest strives upward.”

or:
“To live is not to grieve. Don’t judge anyone, don’t annoy anyone, and everyone has my respect.”

People were amazed at how he could talk so simply about seemingly complex things from spiritual life.

“I have been begging for this simplicity from God all my life,” answered the Monk Ambrose.

Or:
“Where it’s simple, there are a hundred angels, but where it’s sophisticated, there’s not a single one.”

Or:
“Where there is no simplicity, there is only emptiness.”

Ambrose of Optina Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828–1910) - one of the most famous classics Russian literature - was excommunicated from the Church during his lifetime. The case was out of the ordinary, but was caused not only and not so much by the views of the writer himself (in his quest he actually followed the path of Protestantism), but by his fame and popularity.

He either transferred his thoughts about spiritual life, about the Church and the denial of many of its dogmas and traditions onto the pages of books that were read by thousands, or in any case carried away many people with him. “The great Tolstoy, his philosophy is interesting!”

Lev Tolstoy.

It is known that Leo Tolstoy visited Optina three times, and also met with Elder Ambrose of Optina. He tried to reason with the writer. It is also known that the saint had very bad impressions of Tolstoy. He called him "the embodiment of pride."

Leo Tolstoy, too, seemed to admire the beauty of Optina and the spiritual strength of the monk. But on the other hand, lines have been preserved in which the writer speaks very arrogantly about the elder.

It is known that right before his death, Leo Tolstoy came to Optina (Amvrosy Optina had already died by that time), but did not dare to cross the threshold of the monastery - fearing, probably, that he would not be accepted by anyone there.

Ambrose Optinsky: what helps

Day of Ambrose of Optina

The Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Ambrose of Optina three times a year.

• October 23- this is the day of death of the saint
• October 24- this is the day of remembrance of all Optina saints
• July 10- on this day the relics of Elder Ambrose were found

In addition, two more celebrations directly relate to St. Ambrose:

• August 10 is the day of remembrance of the Tambov saints
• September 23 is the day of remembrance of the Lipetsk saints

Reverend Father Ambrose, pray to God for us!

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