And a similar eerie tale :
"...in Shamordino, knocking was heard at the doors and windows, etc.
When they communicated this to the Elder, he said, "Well, he won't knock anymore."
"But who is knocking, Batiushka?" [the nuns] asked [Fr Amvrosy].
"He who was knocking won't knock anymore," [ Elder Amvrosy insisted, without offering any further explanation. ]
St Amvrosy of Optina
Re: St Amvrosy of Optina
Re: St Amvrosy of Optina
April 14, today, is the Day of St. Meliton, Bishop of Sardis [in today's Turkiye, where the ruins can still be seen].
Perhaps the nun named Melitona in the 1st post of this thread was named for him in a feminine version.
Re: St Amvrosy of Optina
Here is the writeup of probably Mother Evfrosinia of Lesna Convent, Normandie, France, about St Ambrose of Optina. Though there is no attribution but surely it must be she, as probably few others at the Convent speak English as a native speaker.
Today is St Amvrosy's Feast Day.
She copied out a truly incredible story from his biography which I had been wishing to do for years ! But now i happened upon it online already at her blog, Pilgrims Path. [She seems to have had to abandon the blog as her new duties as Abbess took up her time - I assume]
Mother Evfrosinia writes a quick summary before introducing the most stunning story probably of all those about the extraordinary Elder Amvrosy :
"In this day and age of so many false elders and deluded spiritual guides it is especially important to remember the humility and the sobriety of the Optina Elders, their refusal to ascribe any of their success to themselves, their constant self-effacement, and the respect and Christian love that they demonstrated towards all that came to them. Many of St. Ambrose’s spiritual children attest to this...
But the most amazing account of St. Ambrose’s guidance concerns a [business] affair that went on for many years. He had a spiritual son that was a carpenter, specializing in building iconostases for churches. This man was very devoted to the Elder and wouldn’t start any project without his blessing. At one point in his career he was completing a big project not far from Optina, and had a new job lined up, also in the same district. He decided to visit Optina and Elder Ambrose in between the two projects. Having collected his payment for the completed iconostasis, he set out to Optina, where the Elder greeted him joyfully, and recommended that he spend a few days at the monastery, preparing for and receiving Holy Communion, as it had been some time since his previous visit. The carpenter hadn’t intended to spend quite so much time at Optina, but he was determined to be obedient. After receiving the Sacrament he went to the Elder to ask for a blessing for his next job. He was intending to meet his customers on his way home. Much to his chagrin, St. Ambrose suddenly recommended that he receive the Sacrament of Unction, and he again agreed, though not without a bit of grumbling. Nevertheless, he figured he could still catch his customer. When he again came to say goodbye to St. Ambrose, much to his disappointment, though the Elder greeted him warmly and thanked him profusely for his obedience, he requested that the man spend one more day at Optina. “Tomorrow morning come and have breakfast with me, and then you can head on home”, he said. “Huh, and they call him clairvoyant”, the carpenter thought. But he couldn’t ignore the Elder’s loving kindness, and he didn’t want to pass up the chance to actually have a brief meal with him, and somehow he felt that this was some sort of test, so he thought, “Well, it’s not that great of a loss, I’ll find other clients”, and stayed the day. He left the following morning greatly consoled by the Elder’s farewell and by his gifts. And then it turned out that his client had been held up on other business, and he arrived at just the right time to finalize everything having to do with this new project. “So the Elder knew after all”, he thought. The project was successful and extremely profitable, and the carpenter wisely ascribed his success to his obedience to St. Ambrose, and continued seeking his guidance up until his repose.
But this is only the first part of the story!
Many, many years later, and several years after the Elder’s repose, the carpenter’s main assistant, his most trusted worker of many years, lay dying. He called for the carpenter and asked to speak to him privately. “Master”, he said, “I have something to confess to you that I must get off of my conscience before I die”. “There’s nothing between us to confess”, the carpenter said, “We’ve worked together all these years, and I never had reason to suspect you of anything. Go in peace!” “No, master”, the man said, “I have sinned gravely against you. Do you remember the year when you had that big project not far from Optina? I grew jealous, master, and I decided to kill you. I knew that they were going to pay you before you went to the monastery, and that you’d be traveling with a load of money from Optina. Since your family knew that you were going to stop on the way home to meet with a new client, I figured I could do away with you and it would be some time before they realized you were missing. And I would be far away by then… My son and I, we waited for you in the woods for several days, we were stalking you. But you got held up in Optina for a whole week by the Elder, and by then I figured you suspected something, and headed on back home. But you never said anything, and I understood that the Elder’s prayers had protected you and kept me from committing a great evil. So forgive me now, Master, and let me depart in peace”.
And only then did the carpenter learn that not only had St. Ambrose not been testing him, not only had he known that everything would work out with his new project...[Elder Amvrosy] had saved the carpenter’s very life.
By the prayers of St. Ambrose of Optina may we all learn true discernment, true charity and true humility"
https://pilgrimspath.blog/2018/12/20/a-genuine-elder/
Re: St Amvrosy of Optina
35 years of a revived Shamordino Convent were marked this week.
Little is known about Shamordino in these years by people outside Russia ; in fact, not much is really known about its years after the repose of the great Elder Amvrosy [1891] !
We have the names of the Abbesses, but scarce information in English.
"On Tuesday, May 27, the day before the leavetaking of Pascha, the Kazan-St. Ambrose Shamordino Monastery solemnly celebrated the 35th anniversary of its revival after being closed and desecrated by the godless authorities in 1923
The monastery was founded by the great elder St. Ambrose of Optina in 1884.
On May 27, 1990, the first restored church, in honor of the Assuage My Sorrows Icon of the Mother of God, was consecrated and Nun Nikona was elevated to the rank of abbess.
The abbesses and sisterhoods of other area monasteries and pilgrims filled the monastery on the joyous occasion.
***
The Shamordino Monastery owes its revival, among others, to the abbot of Optina Hermitage, Metropolitan Ebvlogy (Smirnov, †2020). For the solemn celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’, desecrated holy churches and monasteries began to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. And in 1987, Optina Hermitage was among the first to be returned. In spring 1990, Bishop Evlogy appealed to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia with a petition to open the Shamordino Monastery.
On May 3, 1990, Pat. Pimen signed a decree on the renewal of the monastery. On May 15, the monastery was officially transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Nun Nikona (Peretyagina, †2012) of the Riga Holy Trinity Monastery was appointed abbess, and Abbot Polycarp (Nichiporuk, † 2024), a monk of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, who participated in the revival of Danilov monastery—the first monastery returned to the Russian Orthodox Church—was appointed spiritual father of the monastery.
On May 27, 1990, the first of the restored churches was consecrated, in honor of the icon of the Mother of God Assuage My Sorrows, and Nun Nikona was elevated to the rank of abbess.
https://orthochristian.com/170162.html
Re: St Amvrosy of Optina
"Alexander (Grenkov), the future elder, received the name Ambrose in monastic tonsure in honor of St. Ambrose of Milan. The ancient saint, like the Optina elder, had not originally thought of monastic life—he was preparing for state service and became a lawyer. Yet both, by Divine Providence, were given a special direction in life, which at first had flowed in an entirely different channel. The future St. Ambrose of Milan was elected bishop even before his baptism, but afterward studied theology, fought against heresies, and became a teacher of the Church. As for Alexander, during an illness that left little hope for recovery, he made a vow to enter a monastery. After that, his life became filled with zeal; simple people sought him out, members of the capital’s intelligentsia came to visit the elder and left written notes about him.
The iconography of St. Ambrose of Optina is based on the icon painted for his canonization. That icon, in turn, was created from both portraits and photographs of the saint. St. Ambrose of Optina is among the first Russian saints to have been photographed.
Elder Ambrose’s time coincided with the early era of photography. Both photography and contemporary lithography of that period are remarkable for their choice of subjects. Soon, photography, like lithography, would come to include everything dear to the heart of an Orthodox pilgrim, from the cathedrals of the Kremlin to remote monasteries and their holy relics.
Optina Hermitage itself was also captured in printed architectural plans. The unusually colorful views of that time were based on the more traditional schematic, monochrome (essentially black-and-white) plans with conventional symbols marking the buildings. Through the use of geodesy, geometry, artistic taste, and pious inspiration, a new type of colored planimetry was created, representing a bird’s-eye view.
On these plans, the monastery buildings were rendered precisely and realistically, and trees of various species—including the pine groves surrounding the monastery—were painted in a picturesque manner. In reality, in the nineteenth century, one could view the monastery and its coniferous woods “from above,” from a bird’s-eye view, only from a hot-air balloon.
Today, [elder Amvrosy] is venerated as one of the Optina Elders, whose collective commemoration was established in 2000 [in the Moscow Patriarchate]. The synaxis includes the venerable fathers Leo (Nagolkin), Macarius (Ivanov), Moses (Putilov), Anthony (Putilov), Hilarion (Ponomaryov), Anatoly (Zertsálov), Isaac (Antimonov), Nectarius (Tikhonov), Joseph (Litovkin), Barsanuphius (Plikhankov), Anatoly (Potapov), Nikon (Belyaev), and Isaac (Bobrakov). Together with these other Optina Elders, St. Ambrose is also commemorated in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Kaluga Land.
Throughout the Kaluga Diocese, there are many depictions of Father Ambrose—not only in icons but also in other forms of church ornamentation. It is well known that exterior church murals are usually reserved for the most significant sacred figures and events. At the Holy Gates of the Vvedensky (Presentation) Monastery of Optina, there is a wall painting depicting Father Ambrose alongside other Optina Elders who influenced him—Joseph, Leo, Hilarion, and Macarius—set against the background of the monastery itself.
The icon of the Synaxis of the Optina Elders is located in the Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi, Moscow. A mosaic image of Saint Ambrose is placed above the entrance to the Church of St. Ambrose in Shamordino Convent, to whom he gave special spiritual care during his lifetime.
In the nineteenth century, lithography, like iconography, often presented not only sacred subjects but also introduced the faithful to holy sites and relics. The very monasteries and their interiors were considered sacred. Lithographs guided the pilgrim’s attention toward what was most worthy of veneration. This is what distinguishes them from modern photography, which tends to be momentary and often arbitrary. Even a “church photographer” today might photograph a fence or a dove on a dome without explaining the subject’s sacred meaning.
During the time of Father Ambrose, photography was only beginning to take on genre characteristics and was used to depict concrete realities. A well-known photograph shows Elder Ambrose blessing the grave of Mother Sophia, the first abbess of Shamordino Convent. The photo was published before the Revolution, clearly titled as such. Another is captioned “St. Ambrose on the threshold of his cell.” The very presence of these inscriptions indicates that such photographs were meant as direct, documentary representations—visual evidence of what one actually saw.
It is similar to a nineteenth-century pilgrim who, having visited a distant monastery, would purchase printed materials or postcards with captions describing what was shown—perhaps a close view of the Vvedensky Cathedral. While the icon seeks to reveal the heavenly reality, the photograph conveys the earthly reality—but directly and precisely: a photograph of the church, the relics, or the saint’s personal belongings.
Nonetheless, the foundation of the saint’s iconography ultimately rests on his portraits. Hieromonk Daniel (Bolotov) painted several portraits, some of which are preserved at Optina Monastery. One portrait, dated 1892 (now in the Central Academic Church of the Moscow Theological Academy), was created a year after the elder’s repose. It depicts him wearing both his pectoral and commemorative crosses, the latter awarded in remembrance of the Crimean War.
In this painting, Father Ambrose reclines on pillows, gazing directly before him. The work had several authorial replicas, including one showing the elder with his spiritual daughter Olga Goncharova. These portraits carry a distinctly iconographic spirit: St. Ambrose appears in monastic garb and skufia, embodying calm dignity and spiritual insight.
Subsequent iconographers naturally adopted this visual type for use in painted icons. Above the saint’s reliquary in the Entrance Cathedral of Optina Monastery stands a hagiographic icon of St. Ambrose, executed by Monk Artemy (Nikolayev).
Saint Ambrose is invariably depicted in the Synaxis of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land. He himself made a notable contribution to the development of modern Marian iconography: It was by his blessing that the image of the Mother of God from the “All Saints” icon of the Bolkhov Monastery was taken as the prototype for the icon of the “Multiplier of Wheat.”
This icon was created in 1889, during a severe drought. Its veneration continues to this day, although drought, for the modern person, may seem a less pressing concern. The feast of the icon was entered into the liturgical calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1995. In the Moscow region, on the grounds of the Shchyolkovo Bread Factory, a church has been built in honor of this icon, and the memory of St. Ambrose is particularly celebrated there.
Father Ambrose deeply influenced his contemporaries through his spiritual insight, which was united with simplicity and warmth in his dealings with those who came to him. His sayings—remarkable for their precision and pastoral depth—are still widely published in collected form today.
It is worth noting that while quotations of secular thinkers often appear detached from their original context, the words of Father Ambrose never lose their integrity. He spoke as he lived, naturally and directly. His counsel was often brief, no long discourses, yet always edifying.
In one letter to a spiritual daughter, he even expressed himself entirely through folk proverbs, evidently chosen to suit her particular situation.
The Icon of the Mother of God “Multiplier of Wheat” remains closely associated with Saint Ambrose and his compassionate intercession for those suffering from famine or hardship.
The image of Saint Ambrose of Optina is best known through thousands of icons. He is typically depicted as a venerable monk, holding a prayer rope or a scroll. When the scroll is unrolled, it often bears one of his familiar sayings.
A half-length icon on a blue background is kept in the Church of the Donskaya Mother of God in Mytishchi, showing the saint holding a staff in his right hand and prayer beads in his left.
In the Church of St. Elias (Ilyinsky) in Shuya, Ivanovo region, St. Ambrose appears in a medallion fresco opposite St. John of Svyatogorsk and beside St. Seraphim of Vyritsa.
In the Iveron Chapel in Moscow, the wall decoration features a tiered composition of especially revered saints; above the image of St. Ambrose is that of St. Theophan the Recluse.
In the old iconostasis of the Church of St. Nicholas in Zhegalovo, Shchyolkovo, some of the pre-revolutionary icons of the local tier have not survived; they have been replaced by icons of newer saints, among them St. Ambrose of Optina.
Thus, from nineteenth-century portraits and photographs to the mosaics and frescoes of the present day, the image of St. Ambrose continues to live and inspire, linking the earthly and the heavenly realms through humility, wisdom, and pastoral love."
Zhanna Kurbatova
Translation by OrthoChristian.com
Sretensky Monastery
10/23/2025
[1] He and the other Optina Elders were canonized earlier by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).—OC.