Moscow, September 2, 2019
pravoslavie.ru
Meeting at Danilov Monastery on August 30 under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church appointed a new abbot for Moscow’s famous Sretensky Monastery.
Following the transfer of the previous abbot, His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov), to the Diocese of Pskov in May of last year, the Holy Synod has appointed His Eminence Archbishop Ambrose of Verey as the new head of the monastic abode, reports the press service of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Hieromonk John (Ludischev), a longtime brother of the monastery, served as acting abbot in the interim. Abp. Ambrose himself labored as a monk of Sretensky Monastery from 2000 to 2004.
Abp. Ambrose was also appointed as the new rector of the Sretensky Theological Seminary, a position which Met. Tikhon also previously held. He had previously served as the rector of both the St. Petersburg and Moscow Theological Academies, where he was greatly loved by the students.
OrthoChristian.com long served as the website of Sretensky Monastery during Met. Tikhon’s long tenure as abbot.
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Abp. Ambrose was born on June 15, 1970 in a family of workers in the Kursk Province. He labored in the Church from 1982, and following his service in the army, he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary.
He was tonsured as a monk at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra with the name Ambrose on April 7, 1994 and was ordained as a hierodeacon there on May 29 of the same year. He was ordained as a hieromonk on October 8.
He graduated from the seminary in June 1995 and from the Moscow Theological Academy in June 1999, having completed a dissertation on “The Soteriology of St. John Chrysostom.”
In August 2000, he was appointed vice-rector of the pastoral courses that evolved into the Sretensky Theological Seminary and became a member of the Sretensky brotherhood, serving also as dean of the monastery and director of the monastery choir.
He was elevated to the rank of igumen on June 3, 2004, and was elected as bishop of Prokopiev on December 24. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on December 28 and consecrated as bishop on March 26, 2005.
He was appointed as bishop of Bronnitsy on July 19, 2006, and as bishop of Gatchina and rector of the St. Petersburg theological schools on October 6, 2008. He was elevated to the rank of archbishop on February 1, 2014.
On July 14, 2018, he was appointed rector of the Moscow theological schools and appointed as Archbishop of Verey.
He was appointed as acting rector of the Sretensky Theological Seminary on July 9, 2019, and was dismissed from his post as rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and appointed rector of the Sretensky Theological Seminary and abbot of Sretensky Monastery on August 30.
