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Aleksandr was born in the family of [[sexton]] Mikhail Fyodorovich Grenkov and Marfa Nikolayevna Grenkova. At the age of 12 Aleksandr entered the Tambov clerical school and later the Tambov theological [[seminary]]. Then he became a teacher in the Lipetsk clerical school and in 1839 entered the [[Vvedensk Monastery]] of the [[Optina Monastery]] in Kaluga guberniya. A few years later, he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[hierodeacon]], taking the name ''Ambrose'' in honor of [[Saint]] [[Ambrose of Milan]]. Two years later Ambrose became a celibate [[monk]]. When Reverend Fr. [[Macarius of Optina|Macarius]] died in September of 1860, Ambrose became a superior of the [[monastery]].