Ambrose (Fontrier)

Born June 2, 1917 in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire. His father, Vasily, had French roots, but did not speak French; Kyriakul's mother was Greek. He was the oldest child in the family.

In 1922, when the local Greek-speaking population was subjected to bloody persecution by the Turks , the family fled to France and settled in Marseille , where she lived in extreme poverty. His father died relatively young, leaving his younger brothers and sisters in his care.

In France, he became a parishioner of the West European exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople , headed by Metropolitan Yevlogiy (Georgievsky) , including visiting the parish of the Protection of the Holy Virgin on Lurmel Street, founded by Maria (Skobtsova) . Communion with priest Valentin de Bachst, an active participant in the French resistance, had a great influence on him ^[1] .

In 1942, at the height of the war, Valentin de Bachst recommended Achilles Fontrier as a candidate for priesthood. In the same year he was tonsured a monk with the name of Ambrose and ordained to the rank of deacon and priest, Metropolitan Yevlogiy (Georgievsky) . He served as a priest in the Russian church, which nurtured the Greek community in Martigues , near Marseilles.

In the post-war period, following Metropolitan Eulogius, came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate . Soon he joined the French Orthodox Church led by Evgraf Kovalevsky , which was originally formed under the omophorion of the Moscow Patriarch, in 1953-1956 was under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and in 1960, Saint John (Maximovich) was accepted into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia .

For many years he was the rector of the parish in Marseille, founded several parishes in France - in Paris, Lyon , Montpellier , and in extremely difficult conditions organized a church service in French. He taught theology at the St. Dionysian Theological Institute in Paris. In 1960-1982 he did a great job of translating the patristic literature into French, explaining divine services, writing icons and Orthodox catechesis . He himself translated the liturgical texts, and one of his faithful friends and godchildren, the Frenchman Jean-Joseph Bercard, a university professor and an experienced musicologist, wrote music for the French text based on Slavic hymns.

In 1960, when he visited Greece, his friends led him to the grave of the then uncanonized Nectarius of Aegina . The nuns of the monastery told him about the saint, gave a piece of his relics for the Paris parish. Upon his return to France, he painted the first icon of St. Nectarios, composed the first life of St. Nectarios, and himself printed it on an old printing press in several copies intended for parishioners of the church.

In 1966, he did not follow Bishop John Nectarios (Kovalevsky), who took a significant part of the parishes of the “French Orthodox Church”, and remained under the jurisdiction of the Russian Church Abroad, becoming the most active clergyman of the French Orthodox Mission under the care of the Geneva and Western European Diocese ROCOR. At that time he was awarded the rank of archimandrite .

According to the memoirs of Archpriest Veniamin Zhukov , under the influence of “two young philosopher priests”, Patricius Ranson and Joseph Tereshchenko , “a certain“ radicalization “took place. O. Ambrose immediately began to shield his parishioners from communicating with the Russians and “switched” to everything Greek; he began to travel to Greece, arrange pilgrimages; at first persistent in the new style and only at the insistence of Vl. Antonia adopted the old style , he became close in Greece with the old calendarists , made friends with Fr. Cyprian (future Metropolitan of Filia), laid with him the first stone of his church. Later, he quarreled with him, reproaching his long-standing friend for the practice of imaginary healings with exorcisms for money ” ^[2] .

In 1982, Archimandrite Ambrose was mentioned as the dean of the French parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the rector of the Trinity Church (French-speaking parish) in Paris ^[3] .

In 1986, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia experienced great embarrassment, caused by loud accusations by the inhabitants of the Boston Transfiguration Monastery , led by Archimandrite Panteleimon (Metropoulos), to the hierarchy, which was allegedly subjected to the "heresy of ecumenism ." At that time, Archimandrite Ambrose declared his disagreement with the internal church policy pursued by the First Hierarch Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) , and the French Orthodox Mission withdrawing from canonical subordination to the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad. At the time of the departure from the jurisdiction of the ROCA, the French Mission, led by Archimandrite Ambrose, united about 30 parishes ^[4] .

One of the motivating reasons for the departure of Archimandrite Ambrose was his dissatisfaction with the ruling bishop of the Western European Diocese, Archbishop Anthony (Bartoshevich). Feeling great sympathy for the Greek schismatics, the old calendars, the head of the French Orthodox Mission accused his ruling bishop of mistrusting the Greek "brothers", as well as indulging the opening of church parishes on the territory of the diocese, performing services in the new calendar style. Archimandrite Ambrose was also embarrassed by the fact that Archbishop Anthony was the only hierarch of the ROCOR who did not sign in 1969 under the synodal decree recognizing the validity of the hierarchy of the old -style “Florinist” Synod of the Church of True Orthodox Christians (IPH) of Greece ^[5] .

At first, the group came under the omophorion of the Archbishop of Athens Chrysostome II, but, shocked by the monastery of this jurisdiction in Lavardack , France, it became subordinate to the "archbishop" of Athens Auxentius. By this they entered into fellowship with the Boston schism nourishing in him ^[6] .

In the second half of the 1980s, the “French Mission” founded the church parish of the Western Rite in Great Britain and the Brotherhood of St. Gregory Palamas.

He died on January 14, 1992 in a Paris hospital.

• Saint Nectarius of Aegina. Biography.