Schema-archimandrite Ambrose (Kurganov) passed away on this day in 1933. Vladimir was born in 1894 into a priest's family in the Penza (central Russia) region. His mother, Lyubov, passed away prematurely, and a nanny raised the children. At some point during his childhood, Vladimir’s brother committed suicide. Vladimir graduated from a primary ecclesiastical school and then studied at the seminary in Penza. Having yet to complete the course at the seminary, Vladimir entered the Faculty of History and Philology at the University of Warsaw. Archpriest Constantine Koronin became his spiritual father in Warsaw and taught him to pray Jesus prayer. World War One signified Vladimir's beginning to serve others, which lasted until his last breath. Vladimir enlisted with a medical detachment. In 1917, he graduated from the University of Rostov. Despite the revolution and war, Vladimir continued his search for spiritual life by interacting with monks. After graduating from the Moscow Military School (Aleksandrovskoe uchilishche), he became a sergeant major at a junior company. He took part in the defense of the Kremlin in October 1917. Military cadets were not a match against the Bolsheviks' assault on the Kremlin. It was bombarded with artillery, and many of the defenders were killed. From Moscow, Vladimir found his way to Optina Hermitage. There he became a novice and was assigned to work in a skete. He worked for the demanding monk-gardener Father Job, of whom it was said that whoever could work for him could become a monk. St. Nektarii of Optina supervised the novice's spiritual development. The superior of the monastery, Hegumen Theodosius, became Vladimir's spiritual father. During the Civil War, Vladimir fought in the White Army and was seriously wounded. With the evacuating troops, he arrived in Constantinople and then went to Serbia. Vladimir lived in the Petkovitsa monastery, where Bishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov) lived for some time. In 1922, Vladimir was tonsured a monk with the name Ambrose and became a subdeacon of Bishop Veniamin. When in 1923 Bishop Veniamin went to Czechoslovakia to engage in missionary work, Fr. Ambrose became a rector of the Monastery of the Holy Savior near the Bulgarian city of Yambol. On February 4, 1926, Fr. Ambrose became the rector of the Vvedensky Monastery, located in Milkovo, of the Branichevsky diocese. According to an agreement between the ROCOR and the Serbian Patriarchate, the monastery became Russian-Serbian in the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate. Already by the end of 1926, the monastery's role as one of the most important spiritual centers in Serbia became increasingly noticeable; there were 20 monks in the monastery, primarily Russian. That year, John (Maximovich) was tonsured in the monastery; among those associated with the brethren, there were such prominent future church figures as monk Anthony (Bartoshevich), the future Archbishop of Geneva and Western Europe, Anthony (Medvedev) of San Francisco and Western American, Anthony (Sinkevich) of Los Angeles and Southern California, Archbishop Tikhon (Troitskii) of San Francisco. In 1931, there were 17 monks in the monastery, of which 7 were Serbs and 10 were Russians. The monastery continues to grow and develop, as does its influence among the people. In 1932, 18-year-old Tomislav Strabulovich, later known throughout Serbia as Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, one of the famous Serbian confessors of modern times, entered the monastery as a novice. He recalled that the abbot created a unique atmosphere in Milkovo, allowing the monks to improve spiritually. At that time, about thirty monks lived there, most of them were Russian. The monks had to share cells. Their diet was very austere, not because of asceticism but because of a lack of provision. They also stretched thin when an able monk had to work several obediences. Sometimes a monk would go on kliros straight after a day of toil in a field. Father Thaddeus recalled Archimandrite Ambrose: "He never punished anyone, never thought badly of anyone, never looked at anyone with irritation. He loved everyone as he is, and prayed to God that He would enlighten the person." At the monastery, it turned out that he was sick with tuberculosis. He served as rector until his death, which occurred on May 17/30, 1933. Before his death, the abbot accepted the schema. Source: Viktor I.Kosik, Russkoe tserkovnoe zarubezh’e [Russian Church Diaspora] (Moscow, 2008). | 
