After two long centuries of searching for a bishop, the Old Believers came to believe that establishing the see of the primate of the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ within their homeland was absolutely impossible. The grip of the state apparatus on the Old Faith tightened ever more, and the danger arose that the so-called “runaway” priests would be lost entirely. In light of these circumstances, at the Moscow Council of 1832 the Old Believers reached an original conclusion: to establish an Old Believer episcopal see abroad.

In 1836, the Old Believers selected two delegates, entrusting them with full ecclesiastical authority to search for and choose a bishop from the East. They were Monks Paul (Velikodvorskiy) (June 29, 1808 – May 5, 1854) and Gerontiy (Kolpakov) (1803 – July 30, 1868).

In 1839, both monks arrived at the Belaya Krinitsa Old Believer monastery, then located within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the Old Believers enjoyed freedom. Here, Gerontiy Kolpakov was elected rector of the monastery, and from then on Monk Alimpiy (Miloradov) (?–1856) assisted Paul in the search for a bishop.

At the request submitted to Austrian Emperor Ferdinand, the Belaya Krinitsa monastery became the permanent residence of the future Old Believer bishop. On September 6, 1844, Emperor Ferdinand signed a legal decree granting the request of the Old Believer monks. The Old Believers themselves would bear the cost of supporting the bishop they would receive, asking the Austro-Hungarian state for no privileges or financial assistance.

Thus, before receiving a bishop, the Old Believers secured a solid legal foundation and the support of the emperor himself—evidence of the high level of legal culture prevalent among Russian Orthodox Old Believer Christians.

In turn, the Moscow Council of priestly Old Believers (popovtsy), held in 1842, approved the bishop’s residence in Belaya Krinitsa. Thus, the extensive diplomatic effort bore fruit. All the legal and practical arrangements for receiving and supporting a bishop in Belaya Krinitsa had been made.

For a full ten years, Monks Paul and Alimpiy studied Orthodoxy in the East, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, North Africa, Arabia, the southern Balkans, and southern Europe. They studied the fundamentals of the faith, the history of the Church in the countries they visited, liturgical texts, the order and particular customs of divine services, and the relevance and continued observance of the canonical decrees of the Ecumenical and Local Councils.

Particular attention was given to the rite of the Sacrament of Baptism. Therefore, the special overarching task of the Old Believer monks during their mission was to investigate the baptismal practice of the Church from which a bishop might potentially join the Old Believers. Thus, in the Russian Empire, the Old Believers received priests in their existing rank after carefully examining whether they had been baptized by triple immersion.

Monks Paul and Alimpiy visited Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt, and studied the ecclesiastical life of these countries. On the banks of the Nile, Egyptian monks gave our monks a particularly warm welcome. For unknown reasons, however, this spiritual expedition did not produce the expected results. It is presumed that the Egyptian monks discouraged Paul and Alimpiy from searching for a bishop in that region by telling them of canonical violations that had occurred there at that time.

Monks Paul and Alimpiy conducted their research with particular care, even meticulousness. Increasingly, these monks, well versed in the canons, turned their attention to the liturgical and canonical practices and customs of the Greek Church.

The Old Believer envoys were somewhat astonished to observe triple-immersion baptism being practiced everywhere among the Greeks. After the Greek Church’s ecclesiastical life had been examined with the utmost care over a period of time, it became clear that the nineteenth-century Greek Church and the image of the Greek Church in the seventeenth century were fundamentally different phenomena—two different churches.

It turned out that in the Greek Church witnessed by Monks Paul and Alimpiy, triple-immersion baptism was practiced everywhere. This was documented in the Greek Rudder, the “Pedalion,” in the records of Local Church Councils, and in priests’ service books. Most importantly, in the mid-nineteenth century, as if to make amends for its earlier rapprochement with the Latins, the Greek Church consistently baptized Latins who had been baptized by pouring or sprinkling.

It became clear that the Old Believers had a real chance of restoring the three-rank hierarchy if they received a bishop from the Greek Church. It was decided to travel to Constantinople (formerly Tsargrad, now Istanbul).

Metropolitan Ambrose, born Amirey (Andrey) Pappa-Georgopoli (1791 – October 30, 1863), was Greek by nationality and Metropolitan of Bosno-Sarajevo; after 1846, he was Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa. He joined the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ and restored its three-rank hierarchy.

The son of the Greek priest Georgiy Pappa-Georgopoli, he was the twenty-second consecutive clergyman in his family. After receiving a spiritual education, he married in 1811, and that same year Metropolitan Matthew Megalos of Ainos ordained him to the priesthood. During their marriage, his wife gave birth to a son, Georgiy. She reposed in 1814. Seeing this as a sign from God, Amirey Pappa-Georgopoli, widowed at an early age, became a monk that same year, taking the name Ambrose.

Metropolitan Ambrose was distinguished by his particular zeal in divine service and the life of the Church and community. Active and energetic, he soon drew attention and was appointed rector of the Holy Trinity Monastery of Halki, on the island of Halki in the Sea of Marmara. At the same time, he was Metropolitan Matthew’s closest assistant in diocesan affairs (a position known as “protosynkellos”).

In 1835, on the ninth day of September, Patriarch Gregory IV of Constantinople consecrated Archimandrite Ambrose as a bishop and entrusted him with one of the most troubled dioceses of the time—the Diocese of Bosnia and Sarajevo.

During Ambrose’s primacy, the Diocese of Bosnia and Sarajevo was a Slavic region, inhabited primarily by Serbs, that was administratively subordinate to and part of the Ottoman Empire. The liturgical practice of the Orthodox Christians in this province was very close to the Russian: services in the churches were conducted from Slavonic books, and the books were often printed in Moscow.

Thus, over the five years of his episcopal service, this ethnic Greek became thoroughly acquainted with Church Slavonic and learned to read and speak it fluently.

Orthodox Christians in this region lived in troubled times. The Turkish authorities seized every opportunity to humiliate Christians, burden them with heavy taxes, close churches, use violence, and restrict their rights. As a rule, Greek bishops who became heads of West Slavic dioceses remained silent and watched indifferently as their flocks were subjected to de facto genocide. Metropolitan Ambrose broke with this “tradition.” During his five years of episcopal service in the region, he devoted all his efforts to alleviating, in some way, the lot of the flock entrusted to him. He could not watch Christians being humiliated and oppressed without concern, and openly condemned the actions of the Turkish authorities, calling on Christians to remain steadfast in the faith. The Patriarch of Constantinople was directly subordinate to the Turkish sultan in administrative matters and complied with the latter’s wishes at the first demand. The Turkish authorities, for their part, could not tolerate the actions of the “stubborn” bishop. This came to an end on September 12, 1840, when Metropolitan Ambrose’s administration of the Diocese of Bosnia and Sarajevo ended. Under pressure from the Ottoman authorities, Patriarch Anthimus II issued a decree relieving Vladyka Ambrose of his position as ruling bishop and placing him in retirement, outside the active clergy.

After being deposed from his episcopal office, Metropolitan Ambrose lived in Constantinople with the family of his son George. He received a small pension from the Patriarchate of Constantinople and was permitted to serve divine services.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1846, the monks Pavel and Alimpiy approached Metropolitan Ambrose. At their first meeting, warm and trusting relations immediately developed between the Old Believer delegates and the Metropolitan. Pavel and Alimpiy explained to the Holy Hierarch the purpose and meaning of their visit. The Old Believer monks emphasized that Metropolitan Ambrose was not simply to perform an ordination “mechanically.” The question was Metropolitan Ambrose’s transfer from the Greek Church to Ancient Orthodoxy through recognition of its truth, grace, and salvific power. To accomplish this, he needed to renounce heretical customs and enter the Church of Christ with the purest intentions and a pure heart. To this end, the monk Pavel held lengthy discussions with Metropolitan Ambrose, telling him about the ancient piety preserved by the Old Believers, their customs and traditions, and explaining the history of the Schism and the methods by which it was imposed in Russia.

Most importantly, the monk Pavel was able to explain clearly to the Greek Metropolitan that the rites and “ceremonies” found in the Greek Church and the Russian Synodal Church were heretical and of later origin. He persuaded the future founder of the Belaya Krinitsa hierarchy that it was not the Russian Church but the Greek Church that had departed from the ancient customs. The Old Believers, by contrast, are that Church of Christ which has preserved the Apostolic Tradition and the soul-saving sacraments in their purity.

Alongside their mission of instruction, the Old Believer monk-delegates faced another, fundamentally important canonical question: how Metropolitan Ambrose had been baptized. His reception into the Church was considered possible only on the condition that he had received baptism by triple immersion, the only correct form of baptism in Christianity. This question became a cause of discord among the Old Believers who accepted the priesthood, as will be discussed below.

For now, it is important to note that Vladyka Ambrose provided all the necessary direct and indirect evidence that he had been baptized by triple immersion, and this was sufficient for his reception into Ancient Orthodoxy. Specifically:

1. Before God and the holy icon, kissing it and making the sign of the cross, Metropolitan Ambrose publicly testified that he had received baptism by triple immersion (and this prayerful act was sufficient for believers).
2. During their nearly ten-year mission among the Orthodox peoples of the East, the Old Believers Pavel and Alimpiy had established in practice that the only form of Holy Baptism in the Greek Church was baptism by triple immersion.
3. The Greek book of canon law, the Pidalian, as well as the priestly service books of the mid-nineteenth century, contained comprehensive instructions requiring triple immersion.
4. In its canonical practice in the mid-nineteenth century, the Greek Church administered full baptism by triple immersion to all converts from the Latin Church who had been baptized by pouring or sprinkling.
5. Metropolitan Ambrose was the twenty-second priest in his family. It is unlikely that his priestly ancestors, familiar with the canonical rules, would have dared to baptize the infant Andrey (Amirey) Pappa-Georgopoli in any way other than by triple immersion.
6. It is unlikely that the canonically rigorous Old Believers would have received just any bishop willing to join them. Metropolitan Ambrose was received only after a thorough investigation of his biography.

After these doctrinal and historical matters had been carefully investigated and all doubts dispelled, Metropolitan Ambrose and the monks Pavel and Alimpiy signed a document on both sides on April 16, 1846. The document recorded the agreement that the Metropolitan would travel to the Belaya Krinitsa Monastery and join the Church of Christ there, after which his episcopal consecration would take place at the monastery.

Immediately after the written agreement was drawn up, the monk Alimpiy left Constantinople and hastened to the Austrian Empire, to Belaya Krinitsa, to bring the Old Believers the glad tidings that a bishop would soon arrive at the monastery.

Once in Belaya Krinitsa, on June 18, 1846, Metropolitan Ambrose presented the following documents for full legal protection:

a) a petition for Austrian citizenship;

b) his episcopal certificate of ordination;

c) a document guaranteeing the unhindered celebration of divine services within the Patriarchate of Constantinople;

d) a charter setting forth the dogmatic and canonical agreement between the Russian Old Believers and Metropolitan Ambrose.

October 12, 1846 Metropolitan Ambrose arrived in Belaya Krinitsa.

Two months later, so that the hierarch could settle into his new surroundings and learn the culture and way of life of the Old Believers, December 27, 1846 the council meeting of the Belaya Krinitsa Monastery issued a decree admitting Metropolitan Ambrose (Pappa-Georgopoli) into the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ by the second rank.

December 28, 1846, after confessing to his spiritual father, the hieromonk Jerome, and completing the appointed prayers, he was anointed with holy chrism in the church’s altar.

Passing through the royal doors, Metropolitan Ambrose of Belaya Krinitsa bestowed the blessing of a Holy Hierarch upon Christians who had endured nearly two centuries of suffering and who, amid the storm of heresies, strove—like the Christians of the first centuries—to preserve and restore the life of the Church.

To establish a canonical threefold hierarchy, the Old Believers in Belaya Krinitsa selected candidates for ordination as deacons, priests, and bishops to serve Old Believer parishes and sees. A number of ordinations took place. Thus, the Belaya Krinitsa hierarchy of the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ expanded and grew stronger both numerically and spiritually. The mission begun by Metropolitan Ambrose together with the monks Pavel and Alimpiy yielded spiritual fruit.

The course of events most anticipated and foreseen by the Old Believers who accepted the Belaya Krinitsa hierarchy was that this hierarchy would not be recognized, first, by the Synodal New Rite Church and, second, by other local churches under pressure from the Russian emperor. Synodal missionaries sought to find the slightest pretext in Metropolitan Ambrose’s biography, in the rite by which he was received, and in the subsequent ordinations he performed, in order to accuse the Old Believer hierarchy of being devoid of grace.

Claims that Vladyka Ambrose was supposedly bought by the Old Believers, acted out of self-interest, did not know Russian, lacked a certificate of ordination, or failed to give one to his successor, Bishop Kiril, remain at the level of gossip and conjecture and require no detailed examination.

It must be noted that at the time of his reception into the Old Belief, Vladyka Ambrose was not under suspension and, on the basis of Canon 15 of the First-and-Second Council of Constantinople, had every right to break communion in prayer with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the view of the Old Believers, this church, like the New Rite Church, was and remains heretical. This canon provides virtually the only means for those under a bishop’s omophorion—clergy and laity—to leave his jurisdiction. There is only one reason and ground for this: heresy.

Metropolitan Ambrose performed a single episcopal ordination, which Synodal missionaries also hold against the Old Believers.

In doing so, they cite the widely known First Apostolic Canon: “Let a bishop be ordained by two or three bishops.” We do not presume in any way to reject this canon. The rule is divinely inspired and true, for it confirms the conciliar nature of the Church, its mystical, collective character in decision-making, and is intended to guard against every kind of schism and ecclesiastical arbitrariness. Yet the meaning of the First Apostolic Canon is better understood, and its significance more precisely defined, in the context of church history and its relationship to the other canons of the Kormchaia Book.

First, let us turn to Holy Scripture. In particular, in his epistle to his disciple Titus, the holy Apostle Paul instructs him to ordain bishops in every city (see Titus 1:5–7).

Second, church history attests to the indisputable fact that single-bishop ordinations were practiced in the ancient Christian Church. (According to some sources, this practice continued until the ninth century.) The Apostolic Canons appeared before the First Ecumenical Council (325), that is, in the second or third century. Thus, the canon was already in force, while the practice of ordaining bishops by a single bishop continued alongside it, without giving rise to any doubt or confusion.

Third, according to liturgical custom, when the sacrament of ordination is celebrated, one bishop (the senior hierarch) directly performs the ordination, while the others concelebrate with the presiding hierarch. (In New Rite churches, all the bishops present lay hands at once.)

Fourth, if we open the Kormchaia Book, we will find no canon anywhere that prohibits a bishop from serving, deposes him from his rank for performing a single-bishop ordination, or declares such an ordination invalid.

Fifth, in its interpretation of Canon 19, the First Ecumenical Council provides for the ordination of a bishop by a single bishop as well. It speaks of those coming to Christianity from the heresy of the Paulicians, whom a bishop of the Church is permitted to ordain to all three sacred orders after baptism and due examination.

Finally, sixth, we come to the principal canon that permits ordination by a single bishop. Here is the precise canonical basis for a single-bishop episcopal ordination: opening the Kormchaia Book, we read Canon 29 of Emperor Justinian, from the Scroll of New Constitutions: “If three bishops cannot be found, then it is lawful to ordain a bishop with two, or even with one.” Thus, the body of canons of the Orthodox Church provides for extraordinary cases in which one hierarch may ordain a bishop if neither three nor two bishops are available. Such a sacrament may take place amid persecutions or the spread of a heresy, when scarcely any Orthodox bishops remain and, as a result, the hierarchy is threatened with extinction. In view of the foregoing, there is no reason to doubt the canonicity of the first single-bishop ordination performed by Metropolitan Ambrose.

Metropolitan Ambrose himself still had a path of suffering for the Old Faith and of confessing the faith ahead of him. One can only imagine the storm of indignation this discovery of a bishop by the Old Believers and the restoration of the threefold hierarchy—abroad, no less—provoked in Emperor Nicholas I and the New Rite metropolitans. A true historical paradox had occurred: Old Believers, persecuted and subjected to every kind of lawful and unlawful means of suppression during the reign of Nicholas I, had restored the threefold hierarchy beyond the reach of the gendarmes, the secret imperial police, and New Rite missionary preachers with their regular denunciations. Nicholas I himself quickly devised a means of exerting direct pressure on the Belaya Krinitsa episcopate. This method was based on the principle of direct political interference in the internal affairs of Austria-Hungary.

Compared with the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary was weaker militarily and politically, and Emperor Ferdinand I himself was not known for firmness or resolve. At the end of 1847, Nicholas I directly demanded that the Austro-Hungarian emperor impose sanctions on Metropolitan Ambrose and put an end to the activities of the Belaya Krinitsa Monastery. Fearing the consequences, Ferdinand did not dare defy the formidable Russian tsar and complied. By decree of July 26, 1848, the first Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa, Ambrose Pappa-Georgopoli, was sent into lifelong exile in the city of Cilli (now in Slovenia). Before this, in the interests of clemency, Metropolitan Ambrose was offered the opportunity to return to his former rank under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but he refused, remaining faithful to the Church of Christ and thereby proving the sincerity and purity of his intentions when he joined the Old Believers. (Soon afterward, in December 1848, Ferdinand himself abdicated the imperial throne and devoted the rest of his life to agriculture.)

Metropolitan Ambrose lived for 15 years in the place of exile assigned to him—the city of Cilli, where there were almost no Orthodox Christians. Yet there was no room for despondency in his life. Even from there, he guided his flock: he wrote encyclicals and letters and regularly received Old Believer delegates. In March 1848, the Belaya Krinitsa Monastery was also closed, but political changes in Austria-Hungary soon created favorable conditions for its activities to resume. And soon, on January 4, 1849, Bishop Kiril (Timofeyev) was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Belaya Krinitsa.

Metropolitan Ambrose reposed in the Lord on July 11, 1863 and was buried in the Italian city of Trieste, since there were no Orthodox cemeteries in Cilli. Metropolitan Kiril served a memorial service for him in absentia.

The Old Believers have not forgotten Metropolitan Ambrose’s spiritual struggle, and in 1996, at the First World Old Believer Council in Belaya Krinitsa, Metropolitan Ambrose was numbered among the saints. His feast day is set for October 30 Old Style (November 12 New Style).

Roman Atorin,
Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the State University of Management (Moscow)

Translated from the original article in Russian.