1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ambrose (Archbishop)

AMBROSE (Andrey Sertis-Kamenskiy) (1708–1771), archbishop of Moscow, was born at Nezhine in the government of Chernigov, and studied in the school of St Alexander Nevskiy, where he afterwards became a tutor. At the age of thirty-one he entered a monastery, where he took the name of Ambrose. Subsequently he was appointed archimandrite of the convent of New Jerusalem at Voznesensk. From this post he was transferred as bishop, first to the diocese of Pereyaslav, and afterwards to that of Krusitsy near Moscow, finally becoming archbishop of Moscow in 1761. He was famous not only for his interest in schemes for the alleviation of poverty in Moscow, but also as the founder of new churches and monasteries. A terrible outbreak of plague occurred in Moscow in 1771, and the populace began to throng round an image of the Virgin to which they attributed supernatural healing power. Ambrose, perceiving that this crowding together merely enabled the contagion to spread, had the image secretly removed. The mob, suspecting that he was responsible for its removal, attacked a monastery to which he had retired, dragged him away from the sanctuary, and, having given him time to receive the sacrament, strangled him. Ambrose’s works include a liturgy and translations from the Fathers.