The Young Elder. A Biography of Blessed Archimandrite Ambrose of Milkovo

The life of Elder Ambrose (1894-1933), whilst short by earthly standards, is presented to the reader as an ideal of the monastic life. Born in pre-revolutionary Russia, he was a spiritual child of the Optina monastery and of Metropolitan Antony (Krapovitsky) the first hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad. He escaped from Russia to Constantinople and thence to Serbia. Tonsured a monk by Metropolitan Antony in 1923 he served as a deputy Abbot in Bulgaria, before returning to Serbia as Abbot of the Monastery at Milkovo. Founded in the fifteenth century, it became the Elder’s last and greatest work to labor for both its physical and spiritual rebirth.The life of Elder Ambrose (1894-1933), whilst short by earthly standards, is presented to the reader as an ideal of the monastic life.
This fascinating life is preceded by a detailed overview of the Orthodox understanding of monasticism and the chief characteristics of it, starting with the assumption that “Monasticism is the barometer of Church life.”