“The Path of Open Love”: the Thoughts of St. Ambrose of Optina on the Salvation of the laity and monastics

Abstract

The flourishing of the phenomenon of Optina eldership, which manifested itself most eloquently during the service of Elder Ambrose (Grenkov), was characterized, among other things, by the synthesis of contradictions between the ecclesiastical and secular, worldly and monastic in a society divided into classes. At the same time, the situation of synthesis itself arose as a result of the penetration of the tasks of spiritual guidance of monastics, assigned to the figure of the elder for a long period in the history of the Russian spiritual tradition, into the “toolkit” of spiritual guidance of the laity. In some cases, this practice led to the equality of methods of  spiritual guidance for both monastics and laity. It is the elder’s service of St. Ambrose that most vividly demonstrates this dynamic. Using his spiritual heritage as an example, the article will show that the elder’s openness was directed equally to representatives of different social strata of the Russian people, and in questions about the path to salvation it was predominantly universal in nature. Elder Ambrose paid special attention in spiritual life to the experience of bearing external sorrows of both monastics and laymen as an essential stage preceding “inner Christianity”. At the same time, the outcome of the path of salvation is determined, according to the elder, not by achievements at the “external” and “internal” levels of spiritual life, but by the mercy of God.