Date of publication or update 12/15/2017
The Life of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Great, White and Small.
In difficult times, when the normal course of life is disrupted, when life is disturbed by grandiose events that overturn everything and everyone into the abyss, when death and despair sets in all around, God sends into this world His saints, heroes of the spirit, people of special courage and selflessness, devotees of faith and love that the world needs in order to stand in the truth, so as not to lose the distinction between good and evil, so as not to perish spiritually. And the feat of such holy giants, the spiritual leaders of the people, can probably be called the most difficult of all feats.
Holy Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin), when he was Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov (1907-1913), repeatedly served in the churches of the Nativity monastery. Image from the page of the Abbess-Ascetic of the Book of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary convent in Rostov the Great.
Turning to our history, we are unlikely to find even among the famous Moscow saints a person who would be called to the helm church life in such a difficult and tragic period as the one that befell His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The very grandiose scale of historical events made St. Tikhon, one of the greatest participants in them, incomprehensible to his contemporaries. Even today it is difficult to essentially appreciate the greatness and beauty of his feat, his holiness. This is similar to how a great mountain can only be viewed from a sufficiently large distance - its entire grandeur is not visible up close.
Yes and greatest people become clearer and more visible after a sufficiently long period of time. And the more significant a person is, the larger he is, the more time it takes to see and appreciate him. And yet, not a single hierarch of the Russian Church attracted such close, compassionate and respectful attention of the entire Christian world as Patriarch Tikhon attracted during his lifetime. This very fact, indicating his global significance, his worldwide authority, makes us turn to his image with special attention and love.
The future Patriarch Tikhon in the world bore the name Vasily Ivanovich Belavin. He was born according to the old style on January 19, and according to the new style - on February 1, 1865 in the small village of Klin near the city of Toropets, Pskov province, in the family of the parish priest of the Transfiguration Church. His childhood was spent among the common people, he saw peasant labor and lived a simple folk life. From the remarkable episodes of his childhood it is known that once the priest John Belavin, his father, spent the night in the hayloft with his sons. In a dream, his mother, the grandmother of Patriarch Tikhon, appeared to him and predicted the fate of his three sons, her grandchildren. She said about one that he would live an ordinary life, about the other that he would die young, and about Vasily she said that he would be great. Father John, waking up, told this dream to his wife, thus this tradition was preserved in the family. The prophetic dream was subsequently fulfilled exactly.
Upon reaching the appropriate age, the future Patriarch Tikhon, then still a boy, began the usual teaching. As the son of a priest, he first studied at the Toropetsk Theological School. Then he entered the Pskov Seminary, and after graduating brilliantly, he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Love for the Church, meekness, humility, purity of heart, chastity, amazing innate simplicity, so previously inherent in the Russian people, constant goodwill towards everyone, a special gift of prudence, positivity - all this made Vasily Belavin a favorite of his fellow students, who jokingly called him Patriarch. In those days, it could not have occurred to anyone that this comic nickname would turn out to be prophetic, because the patriarchate did not exist in Russia at that time.
Icon of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
From the page of the Shrine of the Alexievsky Monastery of the book Saratov St. Alexievsky Convent
After graduating from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1888, Vasily Belavin was sent to his native Pskov Theological Seminary as a teacher. His students loved him very much, as did everyone he met (this was a feature of his life). In 1891, he was tonsured a monk with the name Tikhon in honor of his beloved Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. Soon he was ordained as a hieromonk and sent to the Kholm Theological Seminary (Warsaw Diocese), where he was appointed first as an inspector and then as a rector. In the 33rd year of his life, in 1897, his consecration as Bishop of Lublin, vicar of the Warsaw diocese, took place.
Church life at the site of Bishop Tikhon's new ministry was greatly complicated by acute national and religious strife. Bishop Tikhon never resorted to arguments “from a position of strength,” which did not prevent him from successfully defending the Orthodox faith. Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) vividly recalls this period of his life: “Archimandrite Tikhon was very popular both in the seminary and among the common people. Local priests invited him to temple festivals. Sweet and charming, he was a welcome guest everywhere, endeared himself to everyone, enlivened any meeting, and in his company everyone felt pleasant and at ease. As rector, he managed to establish live and strong relationships with the people, and he showed me the same path. In the rank of bishop, he further deepened and expanded his connection with the people and truly became “his” bishop for the Kholm region. During my trips around the diocese, I constantly heard the most cordial reviews of him from the clergy and people.”
Very soon, however, the young Bishop Tikhon was sent to America. A huge diocese awaited him there, which included the North American United States, Canada and Alaska. There were Russian people in this diocese, but there were not very many of them. So of course he had to turn to to the local population, study local traditions and language. Bishop Tikhon showed himself here, as elsewhere, to be an amazingly light, joyful, cheerful person. He very actively took up the improvement of his diocese, accepted whole line measures to develop Orthodox life: in particular, he divided this diocese and introduced a vicariate. He opened theological schools and tried to develop missionary work to attract Anglicans to Orthodoxy. The years of his archpastoral labors, amazing in scope and Christian spirit, made St. Tikhon one of the most revered saints of Orthodox America.
Once in my years American life he came to Russia, where his successful works were noted: he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
In 1907, Archbishop Tikhon was transferred to one of the largest and oldest dioceses in Russia - to the Yaroslavl See. Here he also very quickly found contact with his flock. He was loved and respected by all levels of society. He was very simple, accessible, and served a lot, often even in various small churches of his diocese, where bishops usually did not visit. He took to heart everything that concerned the life, welfare and interests of the people, and his activities were not limited only to church affairs. Having been elected an honorary member of the Union of the Russian People, he had a great influence on the work of this Union in Yaroslavl. Archbishop Tikhon was a man of free, broad views, quite democratic and independent. Due to an incident when he did not agree with the governor of Yaroslavl, and, apparently, in connection with the latter’s complaint, Vladyka was transferred in 1914 to the Vilna See. It is remarkable that, as a sign of their love for the transferred ruler, the residents of Yaroslavl elected him an honorary citizen of the city (almost the only case in Russian history).
In the new diocese there were Orthodox churches and even monasteries, but the main part of the population professed the Catholic faith. Archbishop Tikhon, as always, here too quickly gained respect, authority and love. Soon after his appointment the war began, and his ministry was complicated by many new concerns. He had to think about refugees, evacuate the relics of the Vilna martyrs to Moscow, and he also kept the miraculous Zhirovitsky icon Mother of God, which he later returned to the Zhirovitsky Monastery. He was also at the front, even under fire, for which he was awarded one of the highest orders. At this time it is Archbishop Tikhon’s turn to be present at the Holy Synod. His activities are expanding, he spends a lot of time in Moscow, where the February Revolution of 1917 found him.
After the revolution, Chief Prosecutor Holy Synod was appointed V.N. Lviv. He removed two senior metropolitans of the Russian Church from their cathedras: Metropolitan Macarius (Nevsky) of Moscow and Metropolitan Pitirim (Oknov) of St. Petersburg, then soon dissolved the Synod so that new line-up make it more convenient for yourself. Among those disgraced was Archbishop Tikhon of Vilna, who was at that time a member of the Holy Synod. Wanting to attract new people to church administration, V.N. Lvov organized elections for the vacated Sees of Moscow, St. Petersburg and several other dioceses, which were headed by bishops unacceptable from the point of view of the reformers. The freedom that came at this time, unprecedented in Russia, made it possible for free elections to the Moscow and St. Petersburg departments. Indeed, in ancient times, bishops in the Church were elected by the people, but over many centuries this tradition was lost, and bishops began to receive appointments from the authorities. The suddenly possible elections to the main cathedras of the Russian Church were, of course, an unprecedented event and attracted general attention.
And so, in Moscow, the diocesan congress of Moscow clergy and laity is faced with the task of electing a new Moscow archbishop or metropolitan. These elections were preceded, of course, by a prayer performed in front of the main Moscow shrine - Vladimir icon Mother of God. One of the contenders for this place was the beloved, wonderful church leader Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin, a descendant of the famous Slavophile. It is interesting that his candidacy was proposed among the Moscow church intelligentsia by the future priest, and then philosopher, Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov and the famous church figure Mikhail Aleksandrovich Novoselov.
The elections did not live up to V.N.’s hopes. Lvov, whose candidates were rejected by the church people. On July 4, 1917, Archbishop Tikhon of Vilna, who had been dismissed as chief prosecutor from the Synod, was elected to the Moscow See on July 4, 1917, and was immediately entrusted with the burden of preparing the Local Council and organizing the elections of its future participants. A local council in the Russian Church has not met for more than two hundred years.
We can say with confidence that in Russian history there was no cathedral so representative, responsible and courageous, so inspired by a living faith and ready to undertake feats, as the Local Council of 1917-1918. This cathedral opened on the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, according to the new style 28 August 1917. The oldest Metropolitan of Kiev, Vladimir, became the honorary chairman of the cathedral, and Saint Tikhon, who had been elevated to the rank of metropolitan a few days earlier, was elected acting chairman. From the very beginning of the work of the cathedral, there was an alarming time, alarming signs of future changes. And at the council the question of reform of church government was raised: it was proposed to revive the patriarchate in the Russian Church. There were many objections to this.
Many leaders of the Russian Church, accustomed to synodal governance, believed that patriarchal governance is similar to monarchical governance, it destroys collegiality and gives free rein to the arbitrariness of one person - the patriarch; they believed that this was dangerous and harmful. At this time, the monarchy was overthrown, so in Russia a return to such personal leadership seemed unpopular. But after many meetings and heated discussions, where remarkable figures of the Russian Church, wonderful thinkers, people of holy life spoke, it was decided to elect a patriarch. Three candidates were selected by voting, from whom the patriarch was to be elected by lot. The first candidate was the famous theologian Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky). The second candidate was one of the oldest bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Arseny (Stadnitsky) of Novgorod. And only the third candidate was elected Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow.
November 5/18, 1917 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was committed Divine Liturgy. A sealed ark with lots was placed in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, specially brought from the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. After the Liturgy, Elder Zosimova of the Smolensk Hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Alexy drew lots. The future martyr, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, announced the name of the chosen one: “Metropolitan Tikhon.” On the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, Patriarch Tikhon was enthroned in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
It is impossible to imagine today the full weight of responsibility that fell on the shoulders of the new Patriarch. The Bolsheviks dispersed constituent Assembly, and he turned out to be the only legally elected leader of the people, since the majority of the country’s population participated in the election of members of the council. The people unusually loved and honored their archpastor. Patriarch Tikhon was often invited to serve in various churches in Moscow and the Moscow region. When he arrived in some city near Moscow, all the people met him, so that the city usually stopped working for the entire duration of his stay.
Almost immediately after October revolution relationship state power and the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church acquired the character of an acute conflict, since already the first decrees of the Soviet government radically broke both the church and folk life. In 1917, very soon after the revolution, Fr. was killed by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. Ioann Kochurov, Patriarch Tikhon’s associate in American ministry. The Patriarch experienced this first martyrdom very hard. Then, at the end of January 1918, Metropolitan Vladimir, the honorary chairman of the Council, was shot in Kyiv. Direct attacks on the Alexander Nevsky Lavra began in Petrograd.
An interesting story is about how at the beginning of 1918, during the second session of the council, Patriarch Tikhon lived in the house of the Trinity Metochion. One day he was informed that a large group of sailors had gathered in Petrograd and was traveling to Moscow with the goal of arresting the Patriarch at the cathedral and taking him to Petrograd. The Patriarch did not pay any attention to this. A few days later it became known that a train had left Petrograd with an entire carriage occupied by sailors planning to arrest him at the cathedral. To the cell attendant, who came in the evening to warn the Patriarch that the sailors would be in Moscow in the morning, the Patriarch replied: “Don’t disturb me from sleeping.” He then went to his bedroom and fell fast asleep. The next morning, information was received that the sailors had arrived in Moscow, were standing at the Nikolaevsky station and could appear during the day and arrest the Patriarch. They suggested that the Patriarch go to the seminary building where the participants of the cathedral lived, but Patriarch Tikhon, with his usual equanimity, replied that he would not hide anywhere and was not afraid of anything. The sailors didn't come. They spent half a day at the station and then went back to Petrograd.
After this, Patriarch Tikhon was invited to Petrograd - and he accepted the invitation. This historic trip took place in 1918. By the time Patriarch Tikhon arrived in Petrograd, the whole city had gathered near the station square. Not only the entire square, but also all the adjacent streets were filled with crowds of people. It is characteristic that the authorities refused to provide the Patriarch with a compartment at his request and gave him a seat in a reserved seat carriage. But the railway workers, contrary to this order, attached an entire carriage to the train and placed Patriarch Tikhon and his entourage in it.
And so, a surprisingly solemn meeting in Petrograd. The Patriarch is met by Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) of Petrograd and Gdov, vicars of the Petrograd diocese, and many clergy; there is no limit to the celebration. The Patriarch goes to the metropolitan chambers in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The patriarchal service is performed in the Trinity Church in the co-service of Metropolitan Veniamin and other bishops. The entire Lavra is filled with people. After the service, the Patriarch blesses the people from the balcony of the metropolitan house.
Shortly after the shelling of the Kremlin and the armed seizure of the Alexander Nevsky and Pochaev Lavra, Patriarch Tikhon issued a message dated January 19, 1918, known as the “anathematization of Soviet power.” The Patriarch courageously fulfilled his pastoral duty, explaining to the people the meaning of what was happening from a church point of view and warning against participation in the sins and crimes into which the Bolsheviks were dragging the common people. In the message, the Patriarch spoke out against the destruction of churches, the seizure of church property, persecution and violence against the Church. Pointing to the “brutal beatings of innocent people,” which were carried out “with hitherto unheard of insolence and merciless cruelty,” Saint Tikhon called on those who were committing lawlessness to come to their senses, to stop the bloody reprisals, and with the authority given to him by God forbade those of the lawless people who also bore the name Christian, proceed to the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Having excommunicated all “those who commit lawlessness” from the Church, the Patriarch called on Christians not to enter into communication or alliances with any of them. And although the message spoke only of individual “madmen” and did not directly name the Soviet government, the message was perceived as an anathema to the Soviet government.
Having condemned the policy of bloodshed and calling for an end to internecine warfare, Patriarch Tikhon in a series of messages in 1918-1919. rejected the participation of the Church in the struggle against Soviet power and called for reconciliation, trying to maintain neutrality in the civil war and finally determine the position of the apolitical Church.
On the first anniversary of the October revolution, Patriarch Tikhon addressed the Council of People's Commissars with the words “reproofs and admonitions.” Pointing to the violation of all promises made to the people before coming to power, the Patriarch again condemned the bloody repressions, especially highlighting the killings of innocent hostages. To achieve their goals, the new authorities seduced “the dark and ignorant people with the possibility of easy and unpunished profit, clouded their conscience and drowned out the consciousness of sin in them.” Saint Tikhon rejected the accusation of opposing authority and added: “It is not our business to judge earthly authority; “every power permitted by God would attract our blessing,” if its activities were aimed at the benefit of its subordinates. The appeal ended with a truly prophetic warning not to use power to persecute your neighbors: “Otherwise, all righteous blood that you have shed will be required from you, and you yourself, who have taken the sword, will perish by the sword.”
The Patriarch called on the “faithful children of the Church” not to armed struggle, but to repentance and spiritual, prayerful feat: “Resist them with the power of your faith, your powerful nationwide cry, which will stop the madmen and show them that they have no right to call themselves champions of the people’s good " His Holiness Tikhon begged the Orthodox people “not to stray from the path of the cross, sent by God, to the path of admiration of worldly power,” and especially warned not to allow themselves to be carried away by the passion of vengeance. The Patriarch reminded the servants of the Church that “in their rank they must stand above and beyond all political interests"and not participate in political parties and performances.
The Patriarch's demand not to connect the Church with any political movement, with no way of ruling in conditions of a fierce war could avert threats against him. The authorities accused him of collaborating with the white movement and of being counter-revolutionary.
In the fall of 1918, during the rampant Red Terror, the authorities attempted to organize a campaign against Patriarch Tikhon in connection with the case of the head of the English mission, Lockhart, and conducted the first search of his apartment. On November 24, 1918, Patriarch Tikhon was placed under house arrest. The main point of the charges brought against the Patriarch boiled down to the alleged calls of the High Hierarch to overthrow the Soviet regime.
In a response letter to the Council of People's Commissars, the Patriarch stated that he had not signed any appeals “on the overthrow of Soviet power” and had not taken any action for this and was not going to take any action. “That I do not and cannot sympathize with many of the measures of the people’s rulers as a servant of Christ’s principles, I do not hide this and I wrote about this openly in my address to To the People's Commissars before the celebration of the anniversary of the October Revolution, but then and just as openly, I declared that it is not our business to judge the earthly power allowed by God, much less take actions aimed at its overthrow. Our duty is only to point out people’s deviations from Christ’s great covenants, love, freedom and brotherhood, to expose actions based on violence and hatred, and to call everyone to Christ.” The Council of United Parishes of Moscow, realizing that the life of the Patriarch was in danger, organized unarmed security from volunteers at the chambers of His Holiness at the Trinity Compound. On August 14, 1919, the People's Commissariat issued a decree on organizing the opening of the relics, and on August 25, 1920, on the liquidation of the relics on an all-Russian scale. 65 shrines containing the relics of Russian saints were opened, including the most revered ones, such as St. Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov. Patriarch Tikhon could not leave this mockery unanswered and wrote an appeal demanding an end to the blasphemy.
The opening of the relics was accompanied by the closure of the monasteries. In 1919, the authorities encroached on the national shrine - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the holy relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, causing a storm of indignation. Despite the fact that the opening of the relics was extremely offensive to the Church and meant direct persecution of the faith, the people did not leave the Church. On September 13 and October 10, 1919, Patriarch Tikhon was interrogated. On December 24, 1919, the Cheka decided to again subject the Patriarch to house arrest, the main objective which consisted in his isolation. During this period, Saint Tikhon constantly served in the house Sergievsky Church Trinity Compound. He was released from house arrest no earlier than September 1921, although gradually the regime of arrest was weakened and the saint was allowed to travel for services. Subsequent events were even more sinister.
In 1921, a terrible famine began in the Volga region. In the summer of 1921, Patriarch Tikhon published a message called “Appeal of Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia for help to the hungry.” This message was read publicly in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was followed by appeals from Patriarch Tikhon to the Pope, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the American bishop with a request for emergency assistance to the starving Volga region. And this help came. An association was organized called ARA (American Relief Association), which, along with others international organizations saved a lot of people. And there is no doubt that the voice of Patriarch Tikhon played a huge role in this matter, because it was he who was trusted most abroad.
After Patriarch Tikhon’s address to the Russian flock, the peoples of the world, the heads of Christian churches abroad, donations began to be collected in Russian churches to help the starving people of the Volga region. At the same time, the Patriarch, in a letter dated August 22, 1921, proposed to the authorities broad program famine relief, including the creation of a Church Committee consisting of clergy and laity to organize relief. On February 19, 1922, Patriarch Tikhon issued an appeal in which he proposed collecting the funds necessary for the starving “in the amount of things that do not have liturgical use,” and the Central Committee of Pomgol approved this proposal. However, already on February 23, 1922, a decree on the confiscation of church valuables was published, adopted by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the initiative of L.D. Trotsky and marked the beginning of the robbery Orthodox churches and monasteries of Russia. The decree dealt with the surrender to the state of all precious objects made of gold, silver and stones, including those intended for worship, and prohibited the replacement of precious objects that had “liturgical use” with an equivalent amount of gold and silver.
In each province, a commission was created under the chairmanship of one of the members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee; the participation of the clergy in its work was excluded; the Church was removed from organizing the delivery of valuables. Thus, the voluntary donation of church property was replaced by a decree with forced confiscation. Control by the clergy was completely unacceptable for the Bolsheviks, since at that time different countries who responded to the calls of the Patriarch and other Russians public figures, food aid had already arrived in sufficient quantities and there was no need to attract church funds for these purposes. In a letter to M.I. Kalinin on February 25, 1922. The Patriarch called on the authorities to abandon such an unexpected decision, fraught with unpredictable consequences. But Saint Tikhon’s attempts to prevent the inevitable conflict were interpreted as the desire of the “Black Hundred clergy” to protect church property. Then Patriarch Tikhon made public his message of February 28, 1922, condemning the decreed seizure as an “act of sacrilege.”
In a statement published on March 15, 1922 in Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Patriarch Tikhon called on the Confiscation Commission under Pomgol to “treat with due caution the liquidation of valuable property” and convinced that the Church did not have the amount of gold that V.I. hoped to confiscate. Lenin and L.D. Trotsky.
The resolutions of the Politburo of the Central Committee, regulating the anti-church policy of the Bolsheviks in the period described, were actually adopted under the dictation of Trotsky: both ideological development and personnel appointments, as well as the initiative itself and the “mad” energy in its implementation, along with strategy and tactics - everything came from from Lev Davidovich, truly obsessed with the desire to take away gold, shoot priests, and rob even the poorest churches. One after another, he writes guiding letters, notes, theses, directing all the activities of the Politburo, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Revolutionary Tribunal, the People's Commissariat of Justice, various commissions, etc.
But along with his letters dated March 11, 13, 22, 30, no less, but rather an even more sinister masterpiece is Lenin’s now famous, and then “highly secret” letter to members of the Politburo dated March 19, 1922 on resistance to the seizure in Shuya and politics in relation to the Church. In general, echoing Trotsky, Lenin, also obsessed with the dream of plundering several billion gold rubles, insists that “it is now, and only now, when people are being eaten in hungry areas and hundreds, if not thousands of corpses are lying on the roads, that we can (and Therefore, we must) carry out the confiscation of church valuables with the most furious and merciless energy and without stopping [before] suppressing any resistance... The more representatives of the reactionary clergy and the reactionary bourgeoisie we manage to shoot on this occasion, the better.”
This letter defined the overall program goals of the party in relations with the Church for the coming decades: to eliminate the institution of the Church, eliminate the class of clergy, find gold for the world revolution and strengthening the proletarian state. At a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee on March 20, 1922, a practical plan for the campaign was approved (“17 theses” by L.D. Trotsky), which meant a transition from legal imitations, personified by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, to openly military methods of conducting a seizure campaign.
On March 24, 1922, Izvestia published an editorial in which it was stated in a harsh tone that the peaceful period of the campaign to confiscate valuables was over. Massive popular resistance was mercilessly suppressed everywhere. Trials, open trials of “church members,” and executions spread throughout Russia. The Supreme Tribunal ordered the revolutionary tribunals to incriminate Patriarch Tikhon, Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazansky) and other church hierarchs for ideological leadership of popular resistance actions. By the beginning of May 1922, no matter how hard the Bolsheviks tried, the campaign to confiscate church valuables was not completed. On the contrary, the methods of conducting it became more stringent. The “mad” campaign did not achieve the goals set by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(6). The authorities received approximately one thousandth of the planned amount of gold. The collected jewelry amounted to only a small part of the amount that was expected - just over 4.5 million gold rubles, which were mainly spent on the seizure campaign itself. But the damage did not fit into any figures. The shrines of Orthodoxy and the national treasures of Russia were lost.
The hard line against the clergy, sanctioned by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), was zealously implemented by the GPU, in which the VI department of the secret department, headed by E.A., dealt with church issues. Tuchkov. The security officers, falsifying reality, held the church leadership responsible for the unrest of believers and bloody clashes. On March 28, 1922, Patriarch Tikhon was summoned to the Lubyanka and interrogated. After that, he was summoned to the GPU on March 31, April 8 and May 5. All these interrogations did not give the expected result: Patriarch Tikhon’s condemnation of the anti-government actions of the clergy did not take place. On May 6, 1922, the Patriarch was placed under house arrest (the official decree on house arrest was signed on May 31, 1922). During the interrogation on May 9, 1922, the Patriarch was familiarized with the verdict in the Moscow trial to bring him to trial and was given a written undertaking not to leave.
By this time, as a result of the intensive work of the GPU, the renovationist split had been prepared. On May 12, 1922, three priests, leaders of the so-called “Initiative Group of Progressive Clergy,” appeared to Patriarch Tikhon, who was under house arrest at the Trinity Compound. They accused the Patriarch of the fact that his line of government of the Church became the reason for the imposition of death sentences, and demanded that Saint Tikhon leave the Patriarchal throne. Understanding very well who initiated this visit, not without painful hesitation, the Patriarch decided to temporarily appoint the oldest hierarch of Yaroslavl, Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky), at the head of the church administration, of which he officially notified the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin, but did not abdicate the throne. On May 18, members of the “Initiative Group” obtained consent from Patriarch Tikhon to transfer the office through them to Metropolitan Agafangel, after which they announced the creation in their person of a new Supreme Church Administration (HCU) of the Russian Church.
On May 19, 1922, Patriarch Tikhon was placed in the Donskoy Monastery in one of the apartments of a small two-story house next to the northern gate. Now he was under the strictest guard, he was forbidden to perform divine services. Only once a day was he allowed to go for a walk in the fenced area above the gate, which resembled a large balcony. Visits were not allowed. The Patriarchal mail was intercepted and confiscated.
The case of Patriarch Tikhon was transferred to the GPU, the direction of the trial was carried out by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Together with Patriarch Tikhon, Archbishop Nikandr (Fenomenov), Metropolitan Arseny (Stadnitsky) of Novgorod and the manager of the office of the Synod and the Supreme Church Administration Pyotr Viktorovich Guryev were brought into the investigation. Along with the Patriarch’s case, the GPU held the cases of all members of the Holy Synod, and about 10 people were kept under arrest.
A striking page of this period was the Petrograd case of Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) and his closest collaborators. In the campaign; regarding the confiscation of valuables, Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd took an even softer position than Patriarch Tikhon, and called for everything to be given up without resisting. However, after refusing to cooperate with the renovationists, he was arrested and convicted in an “open” trial. On the night of August 13, 1922, Metropolitan Veniamin was shot. The Renovationist schism developed according to a plan agreed upon with the Cheka, and quickly attracted to its side all the unstable elements that were in the Church. IN a short time throughout Russia, all bishops and even priests received demands from local authorities and from the Cheka to obey the VCU. Resistance to these recommendations was regarded as collaboration with the counter-revolution. Patriarch Tikhon was declared a counter-revolutionary, a White Guard, and the Church, which remained faithful to him, was called “Tikhonism.” All the newspapers of that time published large pogrom articles every day, which accused Patriarch Tikhon of “counter-revolutionary activities” and the “Tikhonites” of all sorts of crimes. In 1923, a renovation “council” was held, which was attended by several dozen mostly illegally installed bishops, many of whom were married. At this “council” a false announcement was made that “a decision was unanimously made to remove the rank and even monasticism from Patriarch Tikhon. From now on he is simply a layman Vasily Ivanovich Belavin.” This robber “council” received wide coverage and support in the press, where from now on Patriarch Tikhon, until his death, was referred to only as “former patriarch.”
From August 1922 to the spring of 1923, regular interrogations of the Patriarch and those involved with him were conducted. Patriarch Tikhon was accused of crimes for which capital punishment was provided. In April 1923 at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (6) it was adopted secret decree, according to which the Tribunal had to pronounce a death sentence on Saint Tikhon. At this time, Patriarch Tikhon already had worldwide authority. The whole world followed the progress of the trial with particular concern; the world press was full of indignation at the bringing of Patriarch Tikhon to trial. And the position of the authorities changed: instead of passing a death sentence, the Patriarch was “defrocked” by the renovationists, after which the authorities began to intensively seek repentance from him.
Since the Patriarch did not have reliable information about the situation of the Church, according to newspaper reports, he had the idea that the Church was dying... Meanwhile, the leaders of the VCU quarreled among themselves, split into different groups and they increasingly began to inspire disgust among the believing people. Patriarch Tikhon was offered release from arrest on the condition of public “repentance,” and he decided to sacrifice his authority to ease the situation of the Church. On June 16, 1923, Patriarch Tikhon signed the famous “repentant” statement to the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, remembered with the words: “... from now on I am not an enemy of the Soviet regime.”
The execution of the Patriarch did not take place, but at Lubyanka they received a “repentant” statement from Patriarch Tikhon, which cast doubt on the steadfastness of the saint in the eyes of the zealots of the purity of the church position. Since then, the bishops will constantly be faced with the question of what is better: to preserve their testimony of the truth intact in the face of torture and death, or, through a compromise, try to gain freedom and still serve the Church in freedom.
On June 27, 1923, Patriarch Tikhon’s more than year-long stay under arrest, his imprisonment in the internal prison of the GPU, ended, and he was transferred again to the Donskoy Monastery. Even earlier, on March 13, 1923, the investigation into the accusation of Patriarch Tikhon was terminated by a resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). One of the most high-profile court cases of that terrible time ended before it began.
On June 28, 1923, the day after his release from the internal prison at Lubyanka, Saint Tikhon went to the Lazarevskoye cemetery, where the burial of the famous elder Father Alexei Mechev took place. “...You, of course, heard that I was defrocked, but the Lord brought me here to pray with you...” Patriarch Tikhon said to the crowd of people gathered (Father Alexei Mechev was known throughout Moscow). He was greeted with delight, people showered his carriage with flowers. The prediction of Father Alexei came true: “When I die, you will have great joy.”
The people's love for Patriarch Tikhon not only did not waver in connection with his “repentant” statement, but became even greater. He was always invited to serve. He often served in the great summer cathedral Donskoy Monastery. It was in the last two years of his life that His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon performed especially many episcopal consecrations. Renovation parishes immediately began to return to the jurisdiction of Patriarch Tikhon. The bishops and priests who came over to the Renovationists brought repentance in large numbers to His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, who graciously accepted them back into communion, invited them to serve with him, and often even gave gifts to these former traitors.
The last period of the life of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was truly an ascent to Golgotha. Constant provocations of the Cheka, malice and slander of the renovationists, continuous arrests and exiles of bishops and clergy... Deprived of any administrative apparatus, Patriarch Tikhon often had no connection with the diocesan bishops, did not have the necessary information, and had to constantly, as it were, unravel the secret meaning of annoying demands security officers and resist them with minimal losses. In fact, every time the Patriarch rejected another demand of the Soviet government, one of his closest assistants was arrested and sent to death. The position of Patriarch Tikhon at this time is clearly depicted by the episode associated with the demand of E.A. Tuchkov to introduce Archpriest Krasnitsky into the Church Administration - the head of the “living Church,” a traitor who allegedly repented.
At this time, Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov), one of his closest comrades, arrived to Patriarch Tikhon, having been freed for a short time from exile. A wonderful conversation took place between them. Metropolitan Kirill said: “There is no need, Your Holiness, to introduce Church Administration these commissars in robes." Patriarch Tikhon answered him: “If we do not compromise, then all of you will be shot or arrested.” To this, Metropolitan Kirill replied to the Patriarch: “Your Holiness, now we are only fit for that, to sit in prisons.” After this, having received an address from the Elisavetgrad clergy with a request not to include Krasnitsky in the Higher Church Administration, the Patriarch wrote a resolution on it, which very well characterizes his spiritual character: “Please believe that I will not make agreements and concessions that will lead to a loss of purity and fortresses of Orthodoxy."
This resolution shows that the Patriarch relied on the trust of the people, and the people really believed him. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon drew his strength precisely from faith and by faith he called for resistance to every crime, every evil. The idea of introducing Krasnitsky into the Church Administration failed, and in response to this, Tuchkov banned and abolished the diocesan administration and diocesan meetings.
Patriarch Tikhon, left without Bishop Hilarion (Troitsky), exiled to Solovki, now works together with Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) of Krutitsky. He serves in many churches, receives people, his door is always open to everyone. He is surprisingly accessible and simple and tries to strengthen the Church, strengthen everyone who comes to him, with his love, his service, his prayer. It is characteristic that during the seven years of his patriarchate he performed 777 liturgies and about 400 evening services. It turns out that he served approximately every two to three days... In the first period before his arrest, the Patriarch most often served in the Cross Church in honor of St. Sergius of the Trinity Metochion, after the arrest - in the Donskoy Monastery. And he always traveled a lot to Moscow churches.
But the life of the saint was always under threat. There have been attempts on his life more than once. Here is one of these tragic episodes. On December 9, 1924, suddenly the door of the apartment where the Patriarch lived was opened with a key, and two people entered the house. The favorite cell attendant of His Holiness the Patriarch, Yakov Anisimovich Polozov, came out to meet them, and was killed at point-blank range by three shots from the “bandits.” Obviously, the shots were intended for the Patriarch, because at this time he was usually left alone.
Patriarch Tikhon, who loved Yakov Anisimovich extremely, experienced this death very hard. He understood that the bullet was intended for him, so he ordered his cell attendant to be buried near the wall of the church in the Donskoy Monastery. Tuchkov forbade this, but Patriarch Tikhon said: “He will lie here” and bequeathed to be buried next to him, on the other side of the church wall, which was later fulfilled.
Terrible tension and constant struggle undermined the Patriarch’s health. Apparently, sensing danger, the Patriarch took advantage of the right (granted to him by the Council of 1917) to leave behind a will, indicating three Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne in the event of his death. He wrote this will on December 25, 1925 (January 7, new style), on the Nativity of Christ, and soon after that he was admitted to the hospital.
In the hospital, Patriarch Tikhon soon began to feel better. Great Lent began, and he began to often go to services. The Patriarch tried to conduct all the main services of Great Lent in the Church. After services, he returned to the hospital (it was Bakunin’s private hospital on Ostozhenka, opposite Conception Monastery). He celebrated his last Liturgy on Sunday of the fifth week of Great Lent, April 5, in the church Great Ascension at the Nikitsky Gate.
On March 21, 1925, another interrogation of the sick Patriarch, who was in the hospital, took place. Immediately after the interrogation, a resolution was drawn up to select a preventive measure, but the column was left blank and no date was entered, apparently to resolve the issue at a higher level.
On the day of the Annunciation, April 7, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was going to serve the liturgy in Elokhovo in the Epiphany Cathedral, but he could not, feeling unwell. However, at Tuchkov’s request, he was taken from the hospital to some meeting. When he returned, Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) visited him several times; the last visit ended only at 9 pm. The saint had to painfully edit the text of the appeal, which E.A. persistently, urgently and, as always, demanded with an ultimatum. Tuchkov. The text was prepared by the GPU and had content unacceptable to the Patriarch. The Patriarch corrected, but Tuchkov did not agree. To Tuchkov’s demands, transmitted through Metropolitan Peter, Saint Tikhon replied: “I cannot do this.” What option would His Holiness the Patriarch have chosen if his life had lasted, and whether he signed the text that appeared in Izvestia on April 14, 1925 as a dying will, it is now impossible to say. After Metropolitan Peter left, the Patriarch asked to give him an injection of sleeping pills and said: “Well, now I’ll fall asleep. The night will be long, long, dark, dark.” The injection was given, but soon His Holiness felt very ill.
At 23:45 the Patriarch asked: “What time is it?” Having received an answer, he said: “Well, thank God.” Then repeating three times: “Glory to Thee, Lord!” and, having crossed himself twice, quietly went to the Lord. Metropolitan Peter was immediately summoned and for some reason Tuchkov arrived immediately. He rubbed his hands with joy, smiled and immediately appropriated four thousand rubles, collected by parishioners to build a separate house in the Donskoy Monastery for Patriarch Tikhon.
Before the funeral, Patriarch Tikhon was transported to the Donskoy Monastery. Almost all the bishops of the Russian Church came to his funeral; there were about sixty of them. The will of the Patriarch was opened, in which three Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne were named. The first Locum Tenens was named Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov) of Kazan, who at that time was in exile and therefore did not have the opportunity to accept locum tenens. The oldest hierarch of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Agafangel (Preobrazhensky) of Yaroslavl, was again named the second Locum Tenens. He was also in exile at that time. Metropolitan Peter (Polyansky) of Krutitsky was named the third Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne. By the decision of the entire meeting of bishops, which essentially represented the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he assumed the title of Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne. The farewell to the Patriarch was open. People went to say goodbye to him day and night: according to estimates, about a million people passed by the coffin. A host of bishops and clergy performed the most solemn burial of Patriarch Tikhon in the presence of colossal crowds of people. Not only the entire Donskoy Monastery, but also all the nearby streets were completely crowded with people. Of course, no police could cope with such a crowd, but everyone maintained reverent order, there were no scandals, no noise. Thus ended the life of the great saint.
Patriarch Tikhon was characterized by amazing humility, meekness, and quietness. He was a great man of prayer and always surrendered himself to the will of God. His services were distinguished by solemnity and deep prayerfulness. There are several remarkable testimonies about his spiritual life. The testimony of the guards who guarded him during his house arrest is very characteristic. “An old man is good for everyone,” they said, “only he prays for a long time at night. You won’t fall asleep with him.” Patriarch Tikhon himself said: “I am ready for any suffering, even death, in the name of the faith of Christ.” His other words explain the “compromise” messages: “Let my name perish in history, as long as the Church benefits.”
In conclusion, we can cite the words of several church leaders about Patriarch Tikhon. “The Patriarch in chains at the head of Russia became the light of the world. Never since the beginning of history has the Russian Church been so exalted in its head as it was exalted in these sad days of trials, and in the entire Christian world there is no name that is repeated with such respect as the name of the head of the Russian Church" (Arch. Sergius Bulgakov ). “He, Patriarch Tikhon, has exhausted everything possible for the Church and church man measures of reconciliation with civil power and was a victim in the most internal, broad and deep sense of the word. Sacrificing himself, his name, his glory as a confessor and denouncer of untruth, he was humiliated when he changed his tone with power, but never fell. He humiliated himself, but no one else, and was not preserved or elevated by the humiliation of others. He did not spare himself in order to gain mercy for the shepherds, the people and the church property. His compromises are the making of love and humility. And the people understood this and pitied him sincerely and deeply, having received complete conviction of his holiness. This is a courageous and meek creature, this is an exceptionally impeccable holy person” (Archarch Michael Polsky).
There is another evidence of the holiness of Patriarch Tikhon, which is little known. In Paris, a recent convert to the faith Orthodox doctor M. came to Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky), Patriarchal Exarch Western Europe and told him that he had a dream. In a dream he was told that “behold, the Mother of God is coming for the soul of Patriarch Tikhon, with Saint Basil the Great, who helped him a lot during his life in governing the Church.” After that, he heard some noise and realized that the Mother of God was passing. This is where the dream ended. The doctor began to ask Metropolitan Eulogius why Basil the Great was walking with the Mother of God? To this, Metropolitan Evlogy replied that Patriarch Tikhon in the world bore the name in honor of St. Basil the Great. The next day, newspaper reports arrived about the death of Patriarch Tikhon. It was at that moment when Patriarch Tikhon was dying that the Mother of God appeared to this doctor.
Patriarch Tikhon had the gift of foresight; he predicted the future for many. Often foreseeing events, he learned to surrender himself, the fate of the Church, his flock, and all his neighbors to the will of God, to which he was always faithful and always sought it. And he believed that the will of God alone can govern the Church, it alone is salvific.
He became one of the most prominent Orthodox religious figures and theologians who lived in the 18th century and were canonized as saints and wonderworkers of the Russian Church. Bishop of Voronezh and Yelets, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, lived a complex and at the same time wonderful life, full of spiritual fruits, for which he never tired of thanking the Lord. The saint lived very modestly, ate meager food and was not afraid of heavy things. physical labor, however, this is not at all what he became famous for. His love for the Lord was so great that he devoted almost his entire life to serving God’s Church on earth.
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk: life
The future bishop, while in the world Timofey Savelyevich Sokolov, was born in 1724 in the village of Korotsko, Novgorod province. The family was very poor; father Savely Kirillov was a sexton. New surname Timothy was given it at the Novgorod Seminary. He did not remember his father, since he died very early. The mother left six children in her arms - four sons and two daughters. The elder brother, like his father, became a sexton, and the middle brother was taken into the army. There were no funds, and therefore the whole family lived practically from hand to mouth. It happened, when there was absolutely nothing to eat in the house, Timka spent the whole day harrowing a rich man’s arable land for a piece of bread.
Coachman
However, a childless but wealthy coachman began to visit them often. He fell in love with Timka as if he were his own and begged his mother to give him up in order to raise him as a son and at the end of his life to sign over his property to him. Mother was very sorry for Timofey, but extreme poverty and hunger forced her to agree. One day she took her son by the hand and went to the coachman. At that time, the elder brother was not at home, but when he returned, having learned from his sister that mother and Timka had gone to the coachman, he rushed as hard as he could to catch up with them. And then, having overtaken them, he knelt before his mother and began to beg her not to give Timka to the coachman. He said that it would be better for him to go around the world on his own, but he would try to teach him to read and write, and then he could be employed as a sexton or sexton. Mother agreed, and they all returned home.
Education
In 1738, Timka’s mother brought her to enter the Novgorod Theological School. That same year, his mother died, and Timofey was left an orphan. At the request of his brother, the clerk in Novgorod, he was enrolled in the Novgorod theological school operating at the bishop's house, which in 1740 was renamed the theological seminary. The boy Sokolov, as one of the best students, was immediately enrolled and transferred to government custody. And then he began to receive free bread and boiling water. He ate half the bread, sold the other half and bought candles to read spiritual books. The children of rich merchants often laughed at him, for example, they would find the fireplaces of his bast shoes and wave them over him instead of a censer with the words: “We magnify you, holy saint!”
He studied at the seminary for 14 years and graduated in 1754. The whole point is that there were not enough teachers at the seminary. Having studied rhetoric, theology and philosophy for four years and grammar for two years, the future Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk became a teacher Greek language and theology.
tonsure and new appointments
In the spring of April 10, 1758, Timothy was tonsured a monk with the name Tikhon by Archimandrite of the Anthony Monastery Parthenius (Sopkovsky). Inok was then 34 years old. And then he becomes a philosophy teacher at the Novgorod Seminary.
On January 18, 1759, he was appointed archimandrite of the Tver Zheltikov Assumption Monastery, and in the same year he received the post of rector of the Tver Theological Seminary and taught theology. And in addition to all this, he is determined to be present in the spiritual consistory.
Saint Tikhon of Voronezh of Zadonsk: bishopric
Enough interesting event occurred before he was consecrated on May 13, 1761 as Bishop of Kexholm and Ladoga. When a vicar was needed for the Novgorod diocese, seven candidates were selected for this position, including Archimandrite Tikhon.
The day of Great Easter arrived, on which a candidate for the position was to be determined. Around the same time, Archimandrite Tikhon, together with His Eminence Bishop Athanasius, served the Easter Liturgy in the Tver Cathedral. During the Cherubic Song, the bishop was at the altar and removed the particles; Archimandrite Tikhon, like other clergy, approached him with the usual petition: “Remember me, holy master.” And suddenly he heard the answer of Bishop Afanasy: “May the Lord God remember your bishopric in His Kingdom,” and then he immediately stopped short, adding with a smile: “God grant you to be a bishop.”
In St. Petersburg at this time, lots were cast three times, and each time it came up with the name of Tikhon. However, he did not remain in this position for long, until 1762, and then he was transferred to preside over the Synodal Office. Then Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk headed the Voronezh department. Bishop Ionniky (Pavlutsky) of Voronezh and Yelets had already died by this time.
Voronezh department
Bishop Tikhon was entrusted with the management of the Voronezh diocese, which also included Kursk, Oryol, Tambov, and at that time all of this was in need of serious transformation. And since the free steppes of the Don are late XVII centuries became a place of refuge from government persecution of sectarians and Old Believers, it was very difficult for the saint to fight the mood of the church life of that time. Obstacles to his good intentions were arranged by individuals from both the secular authorities and the clergy themselves.
But it was important for Bishop Tikhon to prepare a worthy legacy of smart and educated shepherds, so he introduced strict statutory worship and fulfillment of requirements. Under his leadership, schools were established for poor children of clergy and for the clergy themselves. He looked for worthy people for spiritual positions; he cared not only about his flock, but also about the improvement and splendor of churches.
Manuals and instructions
In the first year of service in the Voronezh diocese, he writes a short teaching for priests entitled “On the Seven Holy Mysteries,” where he describes the true concepts of the sacraments performed. Another year later, he created a manual on how spiritual fathers should act in confession and how to awaken in them feelings of sincere repentance, and taught others who lament their sins in this confession to be comforted by God’s mercy. In his diocese, Saint Tikhon was the first to prohibit Physical punishment for clergymen, which was then common practice, he also defended his own before the authorities.
Like a real priest, he took care of the education of pastors, so two theological schools were opened in Yelets and Ostrogozhsk, and in 1765 he converted the Voronezh Slavic theological school into a theological seminary and invited teachers from Kyiv and Kharkov. For the moral education of seminary students, he again created special instructions.
Piety and Care
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk was depressed by his unfit condition Voronezh monasteries and therefore wrote 15 articles of exhortation to the monks. He also wrote special messages for the people to be read by the priests before their flock. Thus, the saint fought against the pagan echoes of the celebration of Yarila and extravagant drunkenness on the day of Maslenitsa.
Bishop Tikhon always strived for a solitary monastic life, but endless diocesan affairs made it impossible to achieve this. He constantly took up arms against immoral amusements, stinginess, love of money, luxury, theft and lack of love for his neighbor and almost never rested. Frequent troubles and difficulties undermined his health; he developed nervous and heart disorders and frequent colds with complications.
Life and hardships
Vladyka lived in a very simple and poor environment, slept on straw and covered himself with a sheepskin coat. Because of such humility, church ministers often laughed at him. But he had a saying: “Forgiveness is always better than revenge.” Once the holy fool Kamenev slapped him in the face with the words: “Don’t be arrogant!”, and he took such an unexpected attack with gratitude to God and even began to feed him daily. In general, he endured all insults and sorrows with joy and thanked God for everything that he sends it to him.
Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh, Zadonsk miracle worker was always lenient towards others, but very strict with himself. Once during Great Lent, he went into the cell of his friend Schemamonk Mitrofan, who was sitting at the table with a resident of Yeletsk, Kozma Ignatievich, and they had fish on the table. They were immediately embarrassed, but the saint said that love for one’s neighbor is higher than fasting, and therefore, so that they would not worry, he himself tasted fish soup with them. He loved the common people, consoled them and gave all his money and offerings to the poor.
Achieving Sainthood
Such his love and feats of self-denial elevated the saint to the contemplation of Heaven and a vision of the future. In 1778, he saw in a subtle dream how the Mother of God stood on the clouds, surrounded by the apostles Peter and Paul, and Saint Tikhon himself knelt before her and began to ask for mercy to the world. But the Apostle Paul made such speeches that it was immediately clear that the world was waiting for severe trials. The saint then woke up in tears.
The next year, Saint Tikhon again saw the Mother of God with the holy fathers in a white robe. And again he fell on his knees before Her, began to ask for one of his loved ones, and the Holy Mother of God said that she would do it to him at his request.
Many fateful events for Russia were revealed to Saint Tikhon of Voronezh, Zadonsk Wonderworker. In particular, he predicted Russia's victory in the war with Napoleon in 1812.
Prediction
Towards the end of his life, he began to pray that the Lord would tell him the time of his death. And a voice came to him at dawn: “On the day of the week.” In the same year, he saw a luminous beam, and there were magnificent chambers on it, he wanted to enter the door, but he was told that he could only do this in three years, but he had to work hard. After such a vision, Saint Tikhon retired to his cell and rarely received his friends. Clothes and a coffin were prepared for him, which stood in the closet; Father Tikhon often came to him to cry.
Before his death, in a subtle dream, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk saw how a familiar priest through the Royal doors of the altar carried out a baby, whom the saint kissed on the right cheek, and then he hit him on the left. In the morning, Saint Tikhon felt very bad, his cheek and left leg were numb, his hand began to shake. But he accepted his illness with joy. And then, just before his death, he had a dream in which a staircase to heaven appeared in front of him, along which he was trying to climb, and he was unable to do anything due to weakness, then the people began to help, support and put him closer to the clouds. He told his dream to his friend, the monk Kozma, and together they realized that the death of the saint was near.
Peaceful demise
Saint Tikhon retired on December 17, 1767. He was allowed to live where he wished, and therefore he first settled in the Tolshevsky Transfiguration Monastery (40 km from Voronezh). However, there was a swampy area, this climate was not good for the health of the saint, then he moved to and lived there until the end of his life.
During his infirmities, he constantly received Holy Communion; he was soon told from above that he would present himself before the Lord on Sunday, August 13, 1783. At this time he was 59 years old.
In the Zadonsk Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk found his eternal rest; his holy relics are still in the Vladimir Cathedral today.
His canonization took place on August 13, 1861 during the reign of Alexander II. Miracles began to happen almost immediately at the saint’s grave.
It is worth noting right away that the Church of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and Ignatius the God-Bearer are part of the entire church town of the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in the city of Zadonsk, Voronezh region.
According to the stories of old-timers, the hierodeacon of the Mother of God Monastery, Father Victor, in 1943 rented an apartment from a local resident, E. V. Semenova, who had stored it in her attic for more than ten years. ancient icon Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, and she became the only saved icon from Vladimir Cathedral during the reign of the atheistic Soviet regime. It is also called the “coffin” image of St. Tikhon; it depicts him in full height and since the glorification of his name has stood behind the shrine of the saint’s relics. There she still remains.
Conclusion
Prayers and Akathist to Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk are especially read so that he can heal from mental illnesses - insanity, depression, demonic possession and alcoholism.
An interesting fact is that St. Tikhon in the work “Demons” by F. M. Dostoevsky became the prototype of the literary hero - Elder Tikhon - which the writer himself pointed out, and the monastery was the real basis of the artistic scope of the novel.
Solemn holiday services in memory of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk are held on July 19 and August 13.
1. THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF PATRIARCH TIKHON: THE BEGINNING OF THE PATH
His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (in the world Vasily Ivanovich Belavin) was born on January 19 (February 1), 1865 in the family of a priest of the Church of the Resurrection in the Klin churchyard, Toropetsky district, Pskov diocese (the churchyard is a village with a temple). When Vasily was four years old, his father, priest John Bellavin, was transferred to Toropets.
- Currently, there is a museum in the house where priest John Bellavin lived with his family.
- 1874-1878 – years of study at the Toropetsk Theological School.
- 1878-1874 – Vasily completes the full course and graduates with honors from the Pskov Theological Seminary.
- 1884-1888 – student Vasily Bellavin successfully completes the full course of science at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.
Family tree of St. Tikhon Patriarch of All-Russia (from the book Life and Ministry of St. Tikhon Patriarch of Moscow)
In 1888, at the age of 23, Vasily was appointed a teacher of theology and French to the Pskov Theological Seminary. During the period of rectorship of Arch. Anthony (Vadkovsky), the tradition of monastic tonsure is being renewed among students of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary and Academy. Many of the fellow students of the future St. Tikhon were inspired by the idea of wholehearted service to the church. In 1891, Vasily Bellavin was tonsured a monk with the name Tikhon - in honor of the famous Russian ascetic St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.
It is known that so many people gathered for Vasily’s tonsure that the lower floor of the seminary had to be strengthened so that the floor would not collapse under the weight of those gathered (the temple was on the 2nd floor). Soon Monk Tikhon was ordained a hierodeacon, then a hieromonk.
All significant events in the life of the future patriarch are associated with the holidays of the Mother of God. This indicates that the life path of the Saint was under the special protection of the Most Holy Theotokos.
2. BISHOP'S MINISTRY OF TIKHON BELLAVIN
(from 1997 to 1917)
1892-1897 – period of inspection of the directorship of Hieromonk Tikhon (later archimandrite) at the Kholm Theological Seminary (Kholm, Poland). During his five years as rector at Kholm Seminary, Archimandrite Tikhon’s organizational and teaching talent was revealed.
He paid special attention to preparing students for pastoral service: he taught students to take education seriously, to be obedient to the rules of the Church and to love worship.
In 1897, at the age of 33, Archimandrite Tikhon was ordained bishop. He was entrusted with the See of Lublin of the Warsaw Diocese. This was one of the youngest bishops. Bishop Tikhon zealously devoted himself to the work of establishing the diocese. The charm of his moral character gained the universal love of not only the Russian population, but also Jews and Poles.
In 1898, Bishop Tikhon was sent to serve in North America. Heading the Orthodox Church in America, he did a lot to spread Orthodoxy and improve the diocese. The founding of the first Orthodox monastery in America (in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk) is associated with the name of St. Tikhon. He consecrated many new temples and contributed to the spiritual enlightenment of the Aleuts and other local peoples.
Saint Tikhon's gift of love won universal respect. The Americans elected him an honorary citizen of the United States.
1907-1913 - the saint returns to Russia and goes to the ancient Yaroslavl see. Saint Tikhon in Yaroslavl, as in previous years, was engaged in extensive charity work. Once, he allocated more than 45 thousand rubles from his personal funds for charitable expenses. He constantly donated to educational institutions, brotherhoods, monasteries, missionary societies, as well as to individuals. Another characteristic feature of St. Tikhon’s ministry was his love for worship - he loved to serve and served very often.
When the Yaroslavl flock learned about his transfer to another department, he was elected an honorary citizen of the city of Yaroslavl.
In 1913, Archbishop Tikhon was transferred to Lithuania - to the Vilna and Lithuanian See.
On the day of his accession to the Vilna See, Bishop Tikhon addressed his flock with words filled with humility and wisdom.
“You look upon your archbishop,” he said, “not only as the chief of the clergy or the supreme celebrant of worship, but also as the director of your inner life, your conscience. In the same way, shepherds look at their flock - not only as visitors to a divine service, but as a collection of believers, united by one idea, one thought, one love. This is precisely what makes them one body, one organism with their archpastor. Accept me into your love and know that you will not be cramped in my heart.” But the saint did not stay long in Vilna. In 1914 the First World War and the front passed through the Vilna diocese, cutting it off from Russia. The saint repeatedly visited the theater of front-line operations.
Epilogue
During the period of revolutionary ferment in 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of Clergy and Laity elected St. Tikhon as Moscow Metropolitan. The magazine “Theological Bulletin” wrote about it this way: “European enlightened, Archbishop Tikhon, in all places of his ministry, showed himself to be an independent figure of high integrity, strong energy and an extremely simple and accessible person, warm-hearted, responsive and extremely simple and accessible both in business and in private relationships with people. It is remarkable, finally, that with all the passion that the discussion of candidates at the election congress sometimes took on, no one could cast even the shadow of anything compromising on the personality of Archbishop Tikhon.”
Map of Bishop Tikhon's ministry
3. PATRIARCHAL MINISTRY OF ST. TIKHON (1918-1925)
After the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in March 1917, a short period of the Provisional Government began. The only positive event of this time for the Russian Church was the convening of the LOCAL COUNCIL, preparations for which went on throughout the reign of Emperor Nicholas II. More than 300 people took part in the cathedral - clergy and laity, representatives of all dioceses of the Russian Church. Main question, which was supposed to resolve the issue - the restoration of the patriarchate.
The Local Council elected three candidates - Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Archbishop Arseny (Stadnitsky) and Metropolitan Tikhon (Belavin). Contemporaries said about them: “The smartest of the Russian bishops is Archbishop Anthony, the strictest is Archbishop Arseny and the kindest is Metropolitan Tikhon.” One of the three candidates was to be chosen by lot. In the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, the blind recluse of the Zosimova Hermitage, Hieroschemamonk Alexy, took the lot from the ark installed near the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. On the lot he drew was the name of Moscow Metropolitan Tikhon.
To the questions: “Well, what is he like, Tikhon, our patriarch?” Prince Evgeny Trubetskoy, a participant in the Local Council, who had known the Metropolitan for a long time, said that the saint always combined the qualities of a genuine prayer book with natural gaiety and good-natured humor and a complete absence of ostentatious, “lamp-shaped” piety, which leads to despondency. But before Tikhon’s election as patriarch, Trubetskoy added, “no one suspected of the extraordinary spiritual power that lay hidden in this modest and humble appearance... It turned out that with gentle kindness loving soul it combines indestructible hardness..."
The Local Council of 1917-1918, held in Moscow, began its activities in conditions of obvious oppression of the faith by the Provisional Government (ban on teaching the Law of God in educational institutions, transfer of premises of parish schools to the Ministry of Education, etc.) . The Council ended in conditions civil war and war against the Orthodox Church, openly declared by the Bolshevik authorities (separation of the Church from the state, nationalization of all church property, deprivation of civil rights of the clergy, mass repression against the clergy, closing of churches). The misfortune that befell the Church contributed to a special unanimity among the participants of the Local Council.
When Saint Tikhon learned of his election as patriarch, he said: “Your news about my election as patriarch is for me the scroll on which it was written: “Weeping, and groaning, and grief,” and which scroll the prophet Ezekiel was supposed to eat ( Ezek.2:10; 3:1). How many tears and groans will I have to swallow in the patriarchal service ahead of me and especially in this difficult time... But God’s will be done.”
Saint Tikhon performed his patriarchal service in conditions of widespread people's departure from the faith and the fierce struggle of Soviet power against the Church.
In one of his first messages, he stated that the Orthodox Church is not a participant in the political struggle; the saint ordered the clergy to abstain from any political actions. Protecting this position, His Holiness the Patriarch refused to convey a blessing to one of the leaders of the White movement. But the Bolsheviks viewed the Church as one of the main opponents and declared the entire clergy counter-revolutionary.
The first victims of the ongoing struggle against the Church were those who were brutally murdered in Tsarskoe Selo in October 1917. Archpriest John Kochurov(who previously served with Patriarch Tikhon in America) and was shot in Kyiv in January 1918. Metropolitan of Kyiv Vladimir (Epiphany). In February 1918, Patriarch Tikhon issued a message with a sharp tone, in which he excommunicated all those who shed innocent blood from church communion and called on all the faithful children of the Church to stand up for its defense.
During the Civil War, many clergy, monks and nuns were brutally tortured: they were crucified on the Royal Doors, boiled in cauldrons with boiling resin, scalped, strangled with stoles, “communed” with straightened lead, drowned in ice holes, impaled. In the summer of 1918 she was killed in Yekaterinburg Royal family: last Russian Emperor NikolayII, his wife Alexandra Fedorovna and their five children - Tatyana, Olga, Maria, Anastasia, Alexey. At the same time, the Empress's sister died at the hands of assassins Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was not afraid to publicly condemn the execution of the Tsar and his family and blessed the clergy to pray for their repose.
During the years of severe famine in the Volga region in 1921-1922. the authorities tried to crush the Church: while the Orthodox Church actively participated in the transfer of aid to the famine-stricken, by order of Ulyanov V.I. (Lenin) it was announced that all church valuables would be confiscated in view of the fact that the Church was allegedly hiding its wealth from the suffering people. Lenin’s secret instructions said: “It is now and only now, when people are being eaten in starved areas and hundreds, if not thousands of corpses are lying on the roads, that we can (and therefore must) carry out the confiscation of church valuables with the most furious and merciless energy and without stopping before suppressing any resistance... The more representatives of the reactionary bourgeoisie and the reactionary clergy we manage to shoot on this occasion, the better. It is now necessary to teach this public a lesson so that for several decades they will not dare to think about any resistance.” The new rulers of the country were not concerned about the suffering of the inhabitants of the starving areas. They needed to destroy the Church and take possession of its values in order to use the proceeds to organize a world revolution.
The forced confiscation of church valuables met with active resistance from believers. Many laymen and clergy died during the seizure campaign. Show trials were organized in different cities. In Moscow and Petrograd alone, 14 death sentences were imposed. Among those executed in this case was Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) of Petrograd. When asked by the tribunal about himself, he said: “What can I say about myself? I don’t know what you will tell me in your verdict: life or death. But no matter what you say, I will cross myself and say: glory to God for everything.” At this time, Patriarch Tikhon was also arrested, and a trial was being prepared against him with an inevitable death sentence. But under the influence of foreign policy requirements, the Bolsheviks were forced to release the patriarch.
Attempts were made repeatedly to assassinate St. Tikhon. In 1924, during an assassination attempt on the patriarch, he died Yakov Polozov, the cell attendant of the saint, is an orphan who was raised by the saint from childhood and spent more than 25 years with him. When armed bandits burst in, Yakov Sergeevich covered the patriarch with himself and was killed with five bullets.
After arrests, numerous exhausting interrogations, constant worries about his flock, and incredibly difficult efforts made to establish relations acceptable to the Church with the Soviet government, the patriarch’s heart could not stand it. At the age of 60, on the Annunciation of 1925, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon died. Last words Patriarch Tikhon: “ Now I will fall asleep... soundly and for a long time. The night will be long, dark, dark" These words were prophetic - the period of persecution of the Church lasted more than 70 years.
4. Glorification of ST. TIKHON and the New Martyrs: Understanding the Feat
The eve of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988 became a turning point in the relations between the Russian Church and Soviet state. The Orthodox Church in Russia began to be reborn on the blood of the new martyrs. Persecution was stopped, parishes began to open, monasteries were revived, church periodicals appeared, theological schools (seminaries, academies, institutes, universities) were opened, and theological science began to be revived. One of the most important church tasks in our days has been to comprehend the feat of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia. At the head of the host of new martyrs is His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon.
The first attempt at such comprehension was made by His Holiness’s contemporaries. Yes, Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky), in a word over the tomb of the deceased Patriarch TIKHON (April 7, 1925), described his ministry as follows:
“Even before his election as patriarch, his holy activity was not accompanied by external splendor. His personality was not noticeable. It seemed that he did not have any special talents with which he could shine. It was like he didn't even do anything. He didn’t, but under him some small parish turned into the American Orthodox Church. The same thing happened in Lithuania and in Yaroslavl... The same thing happened here too. It seemed that he did nothing, but the fact that you have gathered here... is the work of the Holy One. He alone bore the entire burden of the Church in recent years... By his character, the saint was distinguished by the greatest gentleness and kindness. He was always equally true to himself: both at school and in the pastoral and archpastoral fields, right up to his occupation of the patriarchal throne. He had a special breadth of vision, was able to understand everyone and forgive everyone. And we very often did not understand him, often upset him with our misunderstanding, disobedience, and apostasy. He alone fearlessly walked the straight path of serving Christ and His Church. Why did the Orthodox Russian people love him? The Orthodox people loved their patriarch because he increased these rich virtues on the basis of the Church with the gracious help of God. “The light of Christ enlightens everyone,” says the word of God, and this light of Christ was the torch that guided the deceased during his earthly life. Let us hope that for the high qualities of mercy, condescension and affection towards people, the Lord will be merciful to him, standing before the throne of God.”
Over the course of several years of his ministry, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was able to create the basis for the development of church life in new conditions - in the conditions of an atheistic state, which erected the most terrible persecution against it in the history of the Church. The Patriarch was able to preserve the unity of the Russian Church, which the Bolsheviks tried to split with the help of some liberal modernist clergy who made a deal with conscience and power (the so-called renovationists). By participating in divine services, publishing patriarchal messages, and denouncing the persecutors of the Church, Saint Tikhon strengthened the believers and with his fearlessness left an example of the faithful confession of Christ.
In 1989, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was canonized. In the anniversary year of 2000, the Russian Church glorified the feat of all those who suffered for their faith from the Soviet regime. But since it is impossible to restore the names of all the victims and find out the details of their feat, they were canonized as Cathedral Russian new martyrs and confessors.
Compiled by Yu. V. Serebryakova
Key dates in the life of St. Tikhon Patriarch of All-Russia
1865 — Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin was born in the family of a priest of the Church of the Resurrection in the Klin churchyard, Toropetsk district, Pskov province.
1869 — Moving of the Patriarch’s parents from Klin to Toropets.
1874 — Vasily Bellavin enters the Toropetsk Theological School.
1878 — Admission to the Pskov Theological Seminary.
1884 — Vasily Bellavin enters the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.
1888 — Vasily Bellavin graduates from the Academy and is assigned to teach theology and French at the Pskov Theological Seminary.
1891 - Takes monastic vows with the name Tikhon in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.
1892 — Hieromonk Tikhon was appointed inspector of the Kholm Theological Seminary. Soon he becomes its rector and is elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
1897 — Consecration of Archimandrite Tikhon as Bishop of Lublin, Vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw Diocese.
1898 - Appointed Bishop of Aleutian and Alaska (two years later - Bishop of Aleutian and North American)
1905 - Elevated to archbishop's dignity.
1907 — Archbishop Tikhon is transferred to the Yaroslavl See.
1913 — Vladyka was appointed Archbishop of Vilnius and Lithuania.
1916 — Awarded a diamond cross to wear on his hood.
1917 — Archbishop Tikhon was elected by the Moscow Diocesan Congress of Clergy and Laity to the Moscow and Kolomna Metropolitan See (June 23). Elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna (August 13). Opening of the Local Orthodox Council Russian Church(August 15). Election of Metropolitan Tikhon as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (November 5/18). Solemn enthronement of Patriarch Tikhon in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin (November 21).
1918 — Primate trips of the Patriarch: to Petrograd (June 10-17), to Yaroslavl and Rostov the Great (September 27 - October 5). Patriarch Tikhon’s appeal to the Council of People’s Commissars, November 24 – arrest.
1922 — Interrogation of Patriarch Tikhon at the Moscow Revolutionary Tribunal during the trial of the Moscow clergy on the confiscation of church valuables (May 5). On May 19, he was taken into custody in the Donskoy Monastery.
Persecution of the Church, arrests and attempts on the life of the Patriarch by the Bolsheviks.
1925 — The death of Patriarch Tikhon on April 7 at the Bakunin hospital on Ostozhenka. April 12 – burial.
1989 — The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church canonizes Patriarch Tikhon as a saint. Canonization of the Patriarch.
1992 — Finding the relics of Patriarch Tikhon (February 22).
Saint Tikhon was born on the island of Cyprus in the city of Amafunta (now the city of Limisso on the island of Cyprus) from pious Christian parents. From a very young age, raised by his parents in Christian piety, he was taught by them to read sacred books, for which he was accepted into the church clergy and awarded the position of church reader. For the purity of his life, he was then made a deacon by Saint Memnon, Bishop of Amathunta. When Bishop Memnon died, then, according to the common desire of the Amathuntian Christians, Saint Tikhon was elected in his place and ordained by Saint Epiphanius, Archbishop of Cyprus.
At that time, there were still many pagans on the island of Cyprus who adhered to ancient idolatry.
Saint Tikhon of Christ took on great work, turning the inhabitants of Amathuntus away from pagan errors and leading them to the knowledge of Christ God; in this great work the Lord assisted him, for, having plucked the great verbal flock from the power of the devil, the saint brought him into the fence of the Orthodox Catholic Church, turning the goats into the sheep of Christ. Saint Tikhon also destroyed the idols around Amafunt, and the temples of these idols, like demonic dwellings, he uprooted and destroyed.
Having piously ruled the flock entrusted to him by the Lord, Saint Tikhon died in old age. For his many miracles, which he performed not only during his life, but also after his death, Saint Tikhon was called the “Wonder Worker.”
Of the many miracles of Saint Tikhon, only two cases of his miraculous power have survived to this day. The first miracle performed by Saint Tikhon in his adolescence was the following. Saint Tikhon's father, who supported his family by baking and selling bread, sent his son to sell the bread. Saint Tikhon distributed bread to the poor for free. His father, having learned about this, was saddened and, angry with his son, began to scold him for this. The pious youth said to his father:
Why are you sad, father, as if you have lost something? I lent the loaves to God, and the holy books say: “he who gives to God will receive a hundredfold.”
If you don’t believe what is said there, then let’s go to the granary and there you will see for yourself how God repays the debt to His creditors.
Having said this, he went with his father to the granary, and when they wanted to open the door, they saw that the room, which was empty, was all filled with clean wheat. Seeing such a miracle, the father of Saint Tikhon was greatly amazed and, falling to his knees, worshiped God, giving Him thanks; from that time on, he stopped being angry with his son and did not prevent him from distributing bread to the poor as much as he wanted.
Another miracle performed by Saint Tikhon was the following:
In one vineyard, gardeners, cutting off the dry branches of the grapes, threw them away as unfit. Saint Tikhon, having collected these branches, planted them in his garden. While planting, he prayed to the Lord that He would give the grape branches the following four properties: first, that the dry branches would take root in the ground, take root and grow; secondly, so that the vine branches abound in berries; thirdly, so that the berries are sweet and healthy; fourthly, so that its grapes ripen and ripen faster than others. When Saint Tikhon went out into the garden in the morning, he saw that his prayer had been heard: the dry branches took root in the ground and sprouted buds; and when they began to grow that same summer, they turned out to be quite unusually and unnaturally very fertile, and even at a time when the fruits were ripening in other vineyards, the berries in the vineyards of St. Tikhon were quite ripe, pleasant to the taste and very beneficial for health.
These grapes not only possessed such miraculous power during the life of Saint Tikhon, but also after his death they were fertile and every year their fruits ripened earlier than in other vineyards, so that on June 16th - the day of memory of Saint Tikhon - the squeezed wine from this grapes was celebrated at the liturgy, the sacrament of the Eucharist. Already from these two miracles one can see that Saint Tikhon was a miracle worker and a great saint of God.
The service of Saint Tikhon also tells that he prophetically foresaw and announced to others about the time of his death.
For such holiness of this wonderworker Tikhon, may glory be to our God, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The name of Saint Tikhon of Amafunt was deeply revered in Russia. Temples were built in honor of the saint in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and other cities. But the saint was especially venerated in the Voronezh diocese, where there were successively three archpastors named after Saint Amafuntsky: Saint Tikhon I (Sokolov) (d. 1783, commemorated on August 13), Tikhon II (Yakubovsky; until 1785) and Tikhon III (Malinin, before 1788).
Saint Tikhon was born on January 19, 1865 in the family of a rural priest of the Toropetsk district of the Pskov diocese, John Bellavin. In the world he bore the name Vasily. Children's and teenage years it took place in the village, in direct contact with the peasantry and proximity to rural labor. From a young age, he was distinguished by a special religious disposition, love for the Church and rare meekness and humility.
When Vasily was still a child, his father had a revelation about each of his children. One day he and his three sons were sleeping in the hayloft. At night he suddenly woke up and woke them up. “You know,” he said, “I just saw my late mother, who predicted my imminent death, and then, pointing to you, added: this one will be a mourner all his life, this one will die in his youth, and this one, Vasily, will be great.” The prophecy of the father's deceased mother who appeared was fulfilled with all accuracy on all three brothers.
Vasily studied at the Pskov Theological Seminary in 1878-1883. The modest seminarian was distinguished by his affectionate and attractive character. He was quite tall and blond. His comrades loved him. This love was always accompanied by a feeling of respect, explained by his religiosity, brilliant successes in the sciences and his constant readiness to help his comrades, who invariably turned to him for clarification of lessons, especially for help in compiling and correcting numerous essays in the Seminary.
In 1888, Vasily Bellavin, 23 years old, graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and, with a secular rank, was appointed to his native Pskov Theological Seminary as a teacher. And here he was a favorite not only of the entire Seminary, but also of the city of Pskov.
Striving with his pure soul for God, he led a strict, chaste life and in the 26th year of his life, in 1891, he became a monk. Almost the entire city gathered for his tonsure. The person being tonsured consciously and deliberately entered into new life, wanting to devote himself exclusively to serving the Church. He, who was distinguished by meekness and humility from his youth, was given the name Tikhon in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk.
From the Pskov Seminary, Hieromonk Tikhon was transferred as an inspector to the Kholm Theological Seminary, where he soon became its rector with the rank of archimandrite. In the 34th year of his life, in 1898, Archimandrite Tikhon was elevated to the rank of Bishop of Lublin with his appointment as vicar of the Kholm diocese.
Bishop Tikhon zealously devoted himself to the work of establishing a new vicariate, and with the charm of his moral character he gained the universal love of not only the Russian population, but also Lithuanians and Poles.
On September 14, 1898, Bishop Tikhon was sent to carry out responsible service overseas, to a distant American diocese in the rank of Bishop of Aleutian, since 1905 - archbishop. Heading the Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Tikhon did a lot in the great work of spreading Orthodoxy, in the improvement of his huge diocese, in which he established two vicariates, and in the construction of churches for Orthodox Russian people. And with his loving attitude towards everyone, in particular, in setting up a house for free shelter and food for poor migrants from Russia, he won everyone’s respect. The Americans elected him an honorary citizen of the United States.
In 1907 he returned to Russia and was appointed to the Yaroslavl department. One of the first orders for the diocese of the modest and simple archpastor was a categorical prohibition for the clergy to make the customary prostrations when addressing them personally. And in Yaroslavl, he quickly gained the love of his flock, who appreciated his bright soul, which was expressed, for example, in his election as an honorary citizen of the city.
In 1914 he was Archbishop of Vilnius and Lithuania. After his transfer to Vilna, he made especially many donations to various charitable institutions. Here, too, his nature was revealed, rich in the spirit of love for people. He strained all his strength to help the unfortunate inhabitants of the Vilna region, who, thanks to the war with the Germans, had lost their shelter and means of subsistence and were going in crowds to their archpastor.
After February Revolution and the formation of the new Synod, Bishop Tikhon became its member. On June 21, 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of Clergy and Laity elected him as its ruling bishop, as a zealous and enlightened archpastor, widely known even outside his country.
On August 15, 1917, the Local Council opened in Moscow, and Tikhon, Archbishop of Moscow, having become a participant in it, was awarded the rank of Metropolitan, and then was elected chairman of the Council.
The Council set as its goal to restore the life of the Russian Orthodox Church on strictly canonical principles, and the first big and important task that urgently faced the Council was the restoration of the Patriarchate. When electing the Patriarch, it was decided by voting of all members of the Council to elect three candidates, and then leave it to the will of God to choose the chosen one by drawing lots. By free vote of the Council members, three candidates were elected to the Patriarchal throne: Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov, Archbishop Arseny of Novgorod and Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow.
Before the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, brought from the Assumption Cathedral to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, after the solemn Liturgy and prayer service on November 5, Schieromonk Zosimova Hermitage Alexy, a member of the Council, reverently took out from the reliquary one of the three lots with the name of the candidate, and Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev proclaimed the name of the chosen one - Metropolitan Tikhon.
Having become the head of the Russian hierarchs, Patriarch Tikhon did not change; he remained the same accessible, simple, affectionate person. Everyone who came into contact with His Holiness Tikhon was amazed at his amazing accessibility, simplicity and modesty. The wide availability of His Holiness was not at all limited by his high rank. The doors of his house were always open to everyone, just as his heart was open to everyone - affectionate, sympathetic, loving. Being unusually simple and modest both in his personal life and in his high priestly ministry, His Holiness the Patriarch did not tolerate or do anything external or ostentatious. But the gentleness in the address of His Holiness Tikhon did not prevent him from being adamantly firm in church affairs, where necessary, especially in protecting the Church from her enemies.
His cross was immeasurably heavy. He had to lead the Church in the midst of general church ruin, without auxiliary governing bodies, in an atmosphere of internal schisms and upheavals caused by all sorts of “Living Churchists,” “Renovationists,” and “autocephalists.” The situation was complicated by external circumstances: a change in the political system and the coming to power of godless forces, famine, and civil war. This was a time when church property was taken away, when the clergy was subjected to persecution and persecution, and mass repressions overwhelmed the Church of Christ. News of this came to the Patriarch from all over Russia.
With his exceptionally high moral and ecclesiastical authority, the Patriarch was able to gather together the scattered and bloodless church forces. During the period of church timelessness, his unblemished name was a bright beacon showing the path to the truth of Orthodoxy. With his messages he called the people to fulfill the commandments Christ's faith, To spiritual rebirth through repentance. And his impeccable life was an example for everyone.
To save thousands of lives and improve the general position of the Church, the Patriarch took measures to protect clergy from purely political speeches. On September 25, 1919, already in the midst of the civil war, he issued an Message demanding that the clergy not engage in political struggle. In the summer of 1921, famine broke out in the Volga region. In August, Patriarch Tikhon addressed a Message of help to the hungry, addressed to all Russian people and the peoples of the Universe, and blessed the voluntary donation of church valuables that do not have liturgical use. But this was not enough for the new government. Already in February 1922, a decree was issued, according to which all precious objects were subject to confiscation. According to the 73rd Apostolic Canon, such actions were sacrilege, and the Patriarch could not approve of such a seizure, expressing his negative attitude towards the ongoing arbitrariness in the message, especially since many had doubts that all the valuables would be used to fight hunger. Locally, the forced seizure caused widespread popular outrage. Up to two thousand trials took place across Russia and more than ten thousand believers were shot. The Patriarch's message was regarded as sabotage, and therefore he was imprisoned from April 1922 to June 1923.
His Holiness Tikhon especially served the Russian Orthodox Church during the painful time for the Church of the so-called “renovationist schism.” His Holiness proved himself to be a faithful servant and confessor of the intact and undistorted covenants of the true Orthodox Church. He was a living personification of Orthodoxy, which was unconsciously emphasized even by the enemies of the Church, calling its members “Tikhonovites.”
“Please believe that I will not make agreements and concessions that will lead to the loss of the purity and strength of Orthodoxy,” the Patriarch said firmly and authoritatively. Being a good shepherd who devoted himself entirely to the work of the Church, he also called on the clergy: “Dedicate all your strength to preaching the word of God, the truth of Christ, especially in our days, when unbelief and atheism have boldly taken up arms against the Church of Christ. And the God of peace and love will be with you all!”
It was extremely painful for the loving, responsive heart of the Patriarch to experience all the church troubles. External and internal church upheavals, the “renovationist schism,” the incessant high priestly labors and concerns to organize and pacify church life, sleepless nights and heavy thoughts, more than a year’s imprisonment, malicious, vile persecution from enemies, dull misunderstanding and irrepressible criticism from sometimes and the Orthodox environment undermined his once strong body. Beginning in 1924, His Holiness the Patriarch began to feel very unwell.
On Sunday, April 5, 1925, he served the last Liturgy. Two days later, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon died. In the last moments of his life, he turned to God and with a quiet prayer of gratitude and glorification, crossing himself, he said: “Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee...” - he did not have time to cross himself a third time.
About a million people came to say goodbye to the Patriarch, although the Great Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow could not accommodate all those who said goodbye for a hundred hours.
His Holiness Tikhon held the responsible post of Primate of the Russian Church for seven and a half years. It is difficult to imagine the Russian Orthodox Church without Patriarch Tikhon in these years. He did so much immeasurably both for the Church and for strengthening the faith itself during the difficult years of trials that befell the believers.
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