Saint Ambrosе (Gudko)

Bishop Ambrose (secular name Vasiliy Ivanovich Gudko, Russian: Василий Иванович Гудко; December 28, 1867 – August 9, 1918) was bishop of Sarapul and Yelabuga. He was canonized as a Russian Saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. He graduated the Kholm Ecclesiastical Seminary and the St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy in 1893 with a Master's Degree in Theology. At the end of 1916 there began a conflict between some of Sarapul's social democrats and Bishop Ambrosius, as a result of which the bishop excluded Sarapul's liberal figures Mikhel (trustee of the Nikolaevsky Church Parish school) and Polyakov from Holy Communion. He was considered a supporter of the active preaching of Christianity among the Tatar population. He came out with sermons against alcohol; with his blessing, district brotherhoods for the fight against drunkenness were established in Sarapul and Elabug.