Ambrosi by Levan Urushadze
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His Holiness and Beatitude Ambrosi (St. Ambrosi. Secular name: Bessarion Z. Khelaia. September 7, 1861-March 29,1927) was outstanding Georgian eclessiastic figure, scientist and public benefactor, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia in 1921-1927.
St. Ambrosi was born in 1861, in Martvili (Samegrelo region of Western Georgia). In 1885 he graduated from the Theological Seminary of Tbilisi, in 1900 from the Kazan Theological Academy (Russia). In 1887-1896 he was a teacher of theology in Western Georgia.
He was one of the leaders of the movement for the restoration of Autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church in 1901-1917 (the Autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church was abolished by the Tsarist Russian Empire in 1811). In 1900s St. Ambrosi was jailed by the Russia,s government. In March, 1917 the Autocephaly of the Georgian Church was restored.
In March, 1917 Archimandrite Ambrosi was consecrated Metropolitan of Chkondidi (Western Georgia) and then transfered to Abkhazia. In 1921 he became the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.
In February 25, 1921 the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) was occupied and abolished by the Bolshevik regime of the Soviet Russia. The Soviet regime began a harsh persecution of the faith. It turned against the Georgian Orthodox Church with fire and sword, destroying 1200 temples, arresting and killing of Georgian monks.
On February 7, 1922, His Holiness and Beatitude Ambrosi wrote a Memorandum to the organizers and participants of the Genoa (Geneva) Conference. He was jailed by the Soviet regime. At the end of the process, in his final sprech, His Holiness turned to his tormenters and said: "My soul belongs to God, my heart to Georgia, and with my body you may do whatever you please."
In 1926 he was released, but His Holiness and Beatitude did not live much longer. He died in 1927, in Tbilisi. In 1995 he was sainted by the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Main fields of scientific activity of St. Ambrosi were: history of the Georgian Orthodox Church, source studies of the history of Christianity in Georgia.
