Hieromartyr Ambrose (Gudko), Bishop of Sarapul

IMPORTANT IDENTITY CORRECTION: the card's former title "Ambrose of Ekaterinburg" was not confirmed by any source — no such saint exists; this is Hieromartyr Ambrose (Gudko), Bishop of Sarapul and Elabuga, who had no connection to the Yekaterinburg diocese. The card's title has been corrected accordingly. DATE CORRECTION: none of the four previously listed dates (December 7, December 20, October 10, October 23) were confirmed — replaced with the correct date.

Hieromartyr Ambrose, born Vasily Ivanovich Gudko, was born December 28, 1867, in Pyzhovtsy, Lublin province. Before his appointment to the Sarapul see he headed the Kremenets (Volhynia) and Baltsk (Podolia) sees; he also served as abbot of the Sviyazhsk Theotokos Monastery in Kazan province.

In early March 1918 he was tried by the Sviyazhsk Revolutionary Tribunal on charges of "counter-revolutionary activity" but was acquitted thanks to witness testimony. In July 1918 he was arrested again — some sources say on Trotsky's personal order — and taken toward Tyurlema station. He was tortured (bayonet wounds, dislocated joints) and shot; his cell-attendant, the monk Job, found the body and buried it in an unmarked field.

He was locally glorified by the Kazan diocese in 1999; in August 2000 he was included in the church-wide Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia by the Jubilee Bishops' Council; also included in the Synaxis of Udmurt Saints (2018).

His feast is kept on July 27/August 9.