Saint Ambrosii of Belaya Krinitsa
Encyclopedia
Ambrosii or Amvrosii (1791–1863) was the first Old Believers
' Metropolitan
of the Ancient Orthodox Church. He became a bishop in 1835, and converted to the Old Believers in 1846, thus establishing a full Church Hierarchy of the Old Believers. This hierarchy became known as the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
.
(Starovery in Russian
) or Old Ritualists (Staroobrjadtsy in Russian) or, as they are also called, Ancient Orthodox (Drevlepravoslavnye in Russian), are those Christians who remained faithful to the ancient rites, dogmas and ecclesiastical structures of Russian Orthodoxy as it was before the reforms in the seventeenth century introduced by Patriarch Nikon
of Moscow.
Many of the Old Believers migrated to Siberia
and neighboring countries, especially Romania
. Most of them have never lost or refused priesthood, even though some have denied it, and are therefore called "priestless" (Bespopovtsy in Russian): their view on priesthood is not motivated by the innovations of Nikon, but by their vision of the imminent kingdom of the Antichrist.
Over time, the Old Believers founded a center at the Rogozhky cemetery in Moscow, and later the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa ("White Fountain") in Bukovina, then part of Austria-Hungary
, now in Ukraine. Although there had been a few Old Believer bishops ordained by Non-Russian Orthodox prelates, none of them had left successors, because under the reign of Tsar Nicholas I several laws restricted the reception of converts from the Official Church.
In Austria-Hungary, Old Believers founded the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa, as a place of freedom for the Old Believers (which carried the name of Lipoveni), thanks to laws enacted in 1783 by the Emperor Joseph II. In Vienna, the Minister of Interior, Conte Kolovrat, and Archduke Ludwig prepared the way for the permission to be given by Ferdinand in 1844, to invite a foreign bishop to establish his headquarters in Belaya Krinitsa to serve the needs of the Old Believers in the domains of the Empire.
There existed for generations communities of Old Believers in Turkey
who were European refugees from the persecutions in Russia, and it was natural that the search for a bishop in order to establish an independent full Church Hierarchy was one of their first steps. According to reports from the Russian government after the middle of the 17th century about 4,000 Old Believers lived in Austria, mostly in Bukovina, on the border with Russia at the Prut river, and about 36,000 lived the Ottoman Empire. Of the latter, the majority lived in Dobruja, north at the Danube
delta. Osip Semenovich Goncharov, Ataman of the Nekrasov Cossacks, established contact between bishop Ambrosii and two Russian monks, Pavel and Alimpii, who were searching for an orthodox bishop willing to join the Old Believers.
. He was of Greek origin.
In 1811, the future Metropolitan Ambrosii, then still Andreas, was married, and shortly after he was ordained as a priest by Metropolitan Matthew. In 1814 he lost his wife, who had given him a son, named George after his grandfather. In 1817 he was elected Igumen of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki. Patriarch Constantine had him locum tenens of the patriarchal Greek Church in 1827. As is clear from a document dated 9 September 1835, he was ordained as a bishop of Sarajevo
in Bosnia by Patriarch Gregory, assisted by four other bishops. He remained in his position for five years before being removed by the Ottoman authorities
.
A Serb, Costantino Efimovic, acted as an interpreter between bishop Ambrosii and two above-mentioned monks from Russia, Pavel and Alimpii. Pavel and Alimpii examined the orthodox beliefs of Ambrosii. Bishop Ambrosii presented documents from the Patriarch of Constantinople which confirmed Ambrosii's canonical status. Bishop Ambrosii and his son then took time to investigate the status of the Russian Orthodox Old canonry and what he was asked, before giving its consent on 15 April 1846.
, where five hundred Nekrasov Cossacks
, together with the monks of the monastery of Slavo-Rus, their Father and Igumen Makarii Arkadii Lavrentiyevskii presented the Metropolitan the traditional tokens of hospitality: bread with salt. The government requested and obtained from the Patriarchate of Constantinople a favorable report on the bishop, before giving him permission to establish his residence in their domains. After a meeting to discuss the procedure for settlement of Ambrosii, on 28 October 1846 he held the office Vigil in honour of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker. The following day, after having read the usual confession of faith in Slavonic, Bishop Ambrosii was accepted according to Canon 95 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council
. The priest monk Ieronim, with the blessing of the first and the new Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa and all the Russian Old Believers, began the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Ambrosii.
The bishop read the prayers in his native language, Greek, but the deacon and the choir used Slavonic. Due to the absence of two other bishops, he used two archpriests, a procedure already used before in the history of the Church in cases of necessity, and described in some lives of saints. In August 1847 there was the ordination of Bishop Arkadii by Salvo-Rus, an ancient seat of an Orthodox monastery at Tulcea
, which still exists in Romania.
The Russian Foreign Ministry threatened to retaliate the government of the Roman Catholic, if it had not withdrawn the permission to the Old Believers to establish their own Metropolia in the Habsburg Empire. The Holy Synod, by which the Tsar controlled the State Church since the abolition of the Patriarchate under Peter I, likewise threatened to cut all financial assistance from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, if he had not done everything in its power to induce the Metropolitan Ambrosii to change its position. Metropolitan Ambrosii, however, refused. Certainly the Old Believers convinced him that the system of the Holy Synod
, established in 1700 by Peter I to check the status of the church in place of the patriarch, and with whom they have not wanted to do was not a canon. By decree of Tsar Paul I, the Russian rulers had declared "the Church" and all the bishops of the church had been obliged to honour an oath to that effect.
Metropolitan Ambrosii lived fifteen years in exile and suffered from his isolation. Nonetheless he had helpend the Old Believers in their need to establish a full Church Hierarchy. He saw this as the Will of God. On 28 October 1863 he sent his last official act as primate of the Russian Old Believer Archbishop Antonii and all the bishops under his jurisdiction. The document begins with the words: "For the mercy of God, the humble Archbishop and Metropolitan of all the Old-Rite Orthodox, Ambrosii." In the text he expresses regret that he lived so far away from his flock, and that his health did not allow him to do more, but that he remains open to discuss any issue relating to the church people, under his spiritual care. This document clearly refuted allegations from some enemies of the Old Faith that wanted people to believe that the Holy Metropolitan had eventually rejected his flock.
Metropolitan Ambrosii died in 1863. Metropolitan Kirill held his funeral at Belaya Krinitsa monastery, but the Metropolitan was buried in the Greek-Orthodox cemetery of Trieste
.
established a commission to investigate the issue of Metropolitan Ambrosii and his acceptance of the primacy of the Russian Old Orthodox Church. The committee issued a decree of recognition of the hierarchy established by Metropolitan Ambrosii. This decree met with disapproval of Pobedonostsev, the Chairman of the Holy Synod of the Russian-Orthodox State Church
.
Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
' Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
of the Ancient Orthodox Church. He became a bishop in 1835, and converted to the Old Believers in 1846, thus establishing a full Church Hierarchy of the Old Believers. This hierarchy became known as the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy
Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy is the first full and stable church hierarchy created by the Old Believers.The hierarchy was created in 1846 by acceptance of the Greek Metropolitan Ambrose...
.
Introduction
The Old BelieversOld Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
(Starovery in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
) or Old Ritualists (Staroobrjadtsy in Russian) or, as they are also called, Ancient Orthodox (Drevlepravoslavnye in Russian), are those Christians who remained faithful to the ancient rites, dogmas and ecclesiastical structures of Russian Orthodoxy as it was before the reforms in the seventeenth century introduced by Patriarch Nikon
Patriarch Nikon
Nikon , born Nikita Minin , was the seventh patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church...
of Moscow.
Many of the Old Believers migrated to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and neighboring countries, especially Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. Most of them have never lost or refused priesthood, even though some have denied it, and are therefore called "priestless" (Bespopovtsy in Russian): their view on priesthood is not motivated by the innovations of Nikon, but by their vision of the imminent kingdom of the Antichrist.
Over time, the Old Believers founded a center at the Rogozhky cemetery in Moscow, and later the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa ("White Fountain") in Bukovina, then part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, now in Ukraine. Although there had been a few Old Believer bishops ordained by Non-Russian Orthodox prelates, none of them had left successors, because under the reign of Tsar Nicholas I several laws restricted the reception of converts from the Official Church.
In Austria-Hungary, Old Believers founded the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa, as a place of freedom for the Old Believers (which carried the name of Lipoveni), thanks to laws enacted in 1783 by the Emperor Joseph II. In Vienna, the Minister of Interior, Conte Kolovrat, and Archduke Ludwig prepared the way for the permission to be given by Ferdinand in 1844, to invite a foreign bishop to establish his headquarters in Belaya Krinitsa to serve the needs of the Old Believers in the domains of the Empire.
There existed for generations communities of Old Believers in Turkey
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
who were European refugees from the persecutions in Russia, and it was natural that the search for a bishop in order to establish an independent full Church Hierarchy was one of their first steps. According to reports from the Russian government after the middle of the 17th century about 4,000 Old Believers lived in Austria, mostly in Bukovina, on the border with Russia at the Prut river, and about 36,000 lived the Ottoman Empire. Of the latter, the majority lived in Dobruja, north at the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
delta. Osip Semenovich Goncharov, Ataman of the Nekrasov Cossacks, established contact between bishop Ambrosii and two Russian monks, Pavel and Alimpii, who were searching for an orthodox bishop willing to join the Old Believers.
Biography of Saint Ambrosii
Ambrosii was born Andreas Popovic in 1791 in Maistra, at that time part of the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. He was of Greek origin.
In 1811, the future Metropolitan Ambrosii, then still Andreas, was married, and shortly after he was ordained as a priest by Metropolitan Matthew. In 1814 he lost his wife, who had given him a son, named George after his grandfather. In 1817 he was elected Igumen of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki. Patriarch Constantine had him locum tenens of the patriarchal Greek Church in 1827. As is clear from a document dated 9 September 1835, he was ordained as a bishop of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in Bosnia by Patriarch Gregory, assisted by four other bishops. He remained in his position for five years before being removed by the Ottoman authorities
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
A Serb, Costantino Efimovic, acted as an interpreter between bishop Ambrosii and two above-mentioned monks from Russia, Pavel and Alimpii. Pavel and Alimpii examined the orthodox beliefs of Ambrosii. Bishop Ambrosii presented documents from the Patriarch of Constantinople which confirmed Ambrosii's canonical status. Bishop Ambrosii and his son then took time to investigate the status of the Russian Orthodox Old canonry and what he was asked, before giving its consent on 15 April 1846.
Conversion to the Old Faith
After a trip along the Danube, Bishop Ambrosii and the monks Pavel and Alimpii arrived in Tulcea, nowadays in RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where five hundred Nekrasov Cossacks
Nekrasov Cossacks
Nekrasov Cossacks, Nekrasovite Cossacks, Nekrasovites, Nekrasovtsy are descendants of Don Cossacks which, after the defeat of the Bulavin Rebellion fled to the Kuban , headed by Ignat Nekrasov, hence the name. The Kuban was then under the rule of the Crimean Khanate...
, together with the monks of the monastery of Slavo-Rus, their Father and Igumen Makarii Arkadii Lavrentiyevskii presented the Metropolitan the traditional tokens of hospitality: bread with salt. The government requested and obtained from the Patriarchate of Constantinople a favorable report on the bishop, before giving him permission to establish his residence in their domains. After a meeting to discuss the procedure for settlement of Ambrosii, on 28 October 1846 he held the office Vigil in honour of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker. The following day, after having read the usual confession of faith in Slavonic, Bishop Ambrosii was accepted according to Canon 95 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council
Third Council of Constantinople
The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and other Christian groups, met in 680/681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills...
. The priest monk Ieronim, with the blessing of the first and the new Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa and all the Russian Old Believers, began the Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Ambrosii.
The bishop read the prayers in his native language, Greek, but the deacon and the choir used Slavonic. Due to the absence of two other bishops, he used two archpriests, a procedure already used before in the history of the Church in cases of necessity, and described in some lives of saints. In August 1847 there was the ordination of Bishop Arkadii by Salvo-Rus, an ancient seat of an Orthodox monastery at Tulcea
Tulcea
Tulcea is a city in Dobrogea, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea county, and has a population of 92,379 as of 2007. One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city.- History :...
, which still exists in Romania.
The Russian Foreign Ministry threatened to retaliate the government of the Roman Catholic, if it had not withdrawn the permission to the Old Believers to establish their own Metropolia in the Habsburg Empire. The Holy Synod, by which the Tsar controlled the State Church since the abolition of the Patriarchate under Peter I, likewise threatened to cut all financial assistance from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, if he had not done everything in its power to induce the Metropolitan Ambrosii to change its position. Metropolitan Ambrosii, however, refused. Certainly the Old Believers convinced him that the system of the Holy Synod
Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
, established in 1700 by Peter I to check the status of the church in place of the patriarch, and with whom they have not wanted to do was not a canon. By decree of Tsar Paul I, the Russian rulers had declared "the Church" and all the bishops of the church had been obliged to honour an oath to that effect.
Exile and death
In response to diplomatic pressure, the Austrian-Hungarian authorities closed the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa on 3 March 1848, and Metropolitan Ambrosii was sent into exile in Tzill in Styria. After the outbreak of revolutions in Vienna, with the assistance of Count Kolovrat, the Minister mentioned, the monastery of Belaya Krinitsa was reopened at the end of 1848, though the Metropolitan had to remain in exile. The successor of the latter was Antonii (Shutov), who became the first Old Believers' archbishop of Moscow.Metropolitan Ambrosii lived fifteen years in exile and suffered from his isolation. Nonetheless he had helpend the Old Believers in their need to establish a full Church Hierarchy. He saw this as the Will of God. On 28 October 1863 he sent his last official act as primate of the Russian Old Believer Archbishop Antonii and all the bishops under his jurisdiction. The document begins with the words: "For the mercy of God, the humble Archbishop and Metropolitan of all the Old-Rite Orthodox, Ambrosii." In the text he expresses regret that he lived so far away from his flock, and that his health did not allow him to do more, but that he remains open to discuss any issue relating to the church people, under his spiritual care. This document clearly refuted allegations from some enemies of the Old Faith that wanted people to believe that the Holy Metropolitan had eventually rejected his flock.
Metropolitan Ambrosii died in 1863. Metropolitan Kirill held his funeral at Belaya Krinitsa monastery, but the Metropolitan was buried in the Greek-Orthodox cemetery of Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
.
Investigation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople
In 1899 the Patriarch of ConstantinoplePatriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
established a commission to investigate the issue of Metropolitan Ambrosii and his acceptance of the primacy of the Russian Old Orthodox Church. The committee issued a decree of recognition of the hierarchy established by Metropolitan Ambrosii. This decree met with disapproval of Pobedonostsev, the Chairman of the Holy Synod of the Russian-Orthodox State Church
Most Holy Synod
The Most Holy Governing Synod was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1721 and 1918, when the Patriarchate was restored. The jurisdiction of the Most Holy Synod extended over every kind of ecclesiastical question and over some that are partly secular.The Synod was...
.