In the world, Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin, was born on January 19, 2010, in the Klin churchyard, Toropetsk district, in the family of a rural priest. At baptism he was named Vasily in honor of St. Basil the Great.

On December 15 of the same year, Bishop Hermogenes ordained him to the rank of hierodeacon, and on December 22 - to the rank of hieromonk.

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 kinds of “renovationists” and “autocephalists” (schismatics). 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. With his exceptionally high moral and ecclesiastical authority, the Patriarch was able to gather together the scattered and bloodless church forces. 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.”

On November 24 of the year he was subjected to house arrest, and his apartment was searched. On January 6 (Christmas Day) he was released from custody.

Seeing salvation from Bolshevik atheism not in a bloody war, but in a spiritual struggle, the patriarch early embarked on the path of trying to establish a relationship with the Soviet regime, which he followed until the end of his earthly life. Already on December 6 of the year, when the strength of the position of Soviet power did not seem unconditional at all, the patriarch nevertheless wrote to the Council of People's Commissars that he had not taken any action against the Soviet government and was not going to take it, and although he did not sympathize with many of the government's measures, " it is not our place to judge earthly authorities" Subsequently, at the height of the fratricidal war, on October 8 of the year, the patriarch sent a message in which he called on the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church to abandon all political speeches.

During the year he was subjected to repeated house arrests.

On November 7 of this year, the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council, signed by Patriarch Tikhon, issues the well-known Decree No. 362 on the temporary autonomy of dioceses in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose connection with the Patriarchate has been interrupted. Later, with this decree, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia justified its temporary independent existence. It was also referred to by the so-called. "unremembering" inside the USSR.

In the summer of the year, 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 have no liturgical use. But this was not enough for the new government. Already in February of the year, 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 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.

On April 22 of the year, the well-known decree No. 348 (349) of Patriarch Tikhon and the joint presence of the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council was issued. By this Decree, the political statements of the Karlovac Council of 1921 by foreign Russian clergy and laity were recognized as having no church-canonical significance, the All-Foreign High Church Administration was abolished, and some clergy abroad were warned of church responsibility for “political statements on behalf of the Church.”

On May 6 of the year, the patriarch was arrested on charges of “resisting the seizure of church valuables” and placed under house arrest at the Trinity Compound, then transferred to the Moscow Donskoy Monastery, and then placed in the internal prison of the OGPU on Lubyanka.

On June 27 of this year he was released from custody, and on March 21 of this year the investigation of Patriarch Tikhon was terminated.

On December 9 of the year, in the chambers of St. Tikhon in the Donskoy Monastery, Iakov Polozov, the cell attendant of the patriarch, was shot by unknown assailants. According to the most common version, this was an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the patriarch; according to another version, the killers eliminated a person loyal to the patriarch in order to put in his place a more accommodating one to put pressure on the saint.

The Patriarch's last message to the Church, signed on the day of his death and, when published in newspapers, wrongfully received the name "Testament", read in particular:

"...without allowing any compromises or concessions in the field of faith, in civil terms we must be sincere in relation to Soviet power and the work of the USSR for the common good, complying with the rules of external church life and activities with the new government system".

He died on April 7 at 11:45 in Moscow, at the Bakunin hospital on Ostozhenka.

Reverence

On April 12 of the year, Patriarch Tikhon was solemnly buried in the Moscow Donskoy Monastery. 59 bishops were present at the funeral, and the number of people who came before this to say goodbye to the high priest-confessor amounted to many hundreds of thousands.

At the Council of Bishops on November 14, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia glorified Patriarch Tikhon as a confessor among the Holy New Martyrs of Russia. On October 9 of this year, at the Council of Bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate, he was glorified for church-wide veneration. On February 22 of the year, the relics of the saint were found in the Small Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery. Special veneration for the holy patriarch was expressed in numerous churches dedicated to him, as well as in the rapidly growing rich iconographic tradition. On the icon of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors, painted on the occasion of the glorification of the year, the holy patriarch is depicted at the center of the middle directly to the left (and not to the right, because, according to church teaching on icon veneration, the countdown comes not from the viewer, but from the spiritual center of the icon, in in this case- from the throne) from the central throne crowned with the Cross. His Holiness the Patriarch is also depicted on the seventh hallmark of the icon, which emphasizes two main aspects of his ministry: confession and spiritual care for the salvation of the flock entrusted to him - the saint is depicted imprisoned in the Donskoy Monastery, blessing the people gathered under the walls of the monastery.

Prayers

Troparion, tone 1

Let us praise the apostolic traditions of the zealot/ and the good shepherd of Christ’s Church,/ who laid down his soul for the sheep,/ chosen by God’s lot/ All-Russian Patriarch Tikhon/ and to him with faith and let us cry out in hope:/ by the intercession of the hierarchs to the Lord/ keep the Russian Church in silence,/ squandered Gather her children into one flock, / convert those who have departed from the right faith to repentance, / save our country from internecine warfare, / and ask for the peace of God among the people.

Troparion, tone 3

In a difficult time, you were chosen by God/ in perfect holiness and love of God you glorified,/ in humility you showed greatness, in simplicity and meekness you showed the power of God,/ you laid down your soul for the Church, for people di your own,/ confessor to the Patriarchal Saint Tikhon,/ pray to Christ God,/ You were crucified with Him, / and now save the Russian land and Your flock.

Kontakion, tone 2

Decorated with calmness of disposition,/ showing meekness and mercy to those who repent,/ in confession of the Orthodox faith and love for the Lord,/ you remained firm and unyielding,/ to Saint Tikhon of Christ./ Pray for us, so that we may not be separated from the love of God, / even about Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

Memories

From the memoirs of Olga Ilyinichna Podobedova, who at that time was a member of the sisterhood in the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit at the Lazarevskoye cemetery:

“Patriarch-Confessor Tikhon loved to visit the church at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery. He served there quite often in the 1920s. His Holiness’s residence was located nearby, on Trinity Hill, where the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was located. His Holiness was very fond of children. Sometimes, after the service comes out to the pulpit (and in the summer - to the porch), having already undressed, stands on the bottom step of the pulpit, arms wide open, and calls the children to him.

When there are quite a lot of them, he takes off the panagia and blesses everyone with it, and gives them a kiss, and then calls the plow worker with a large basket, in which there are either apples, or caramels in papers, or blessed bread, and distributes modest gifts to all the children, smiling at his kindest smile. It was a hard time, 1924, the beginning. He strokes someone on the head, seriously places his hand on someone’s head and holds it longer, and tells someone a funny joke. All this is done in a short moment, until the cab driver arrives..."

Awards

• the right to wear a cross on the hood (1916)

Literature

• Acts of His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, later documents and correspondence on the canonical succession of the highest church authority, 1917-1943: Sat. in 2 parts / Comp. M.E. Gubonin. M., 1994.
• Manuil (Lemeshevsky V.V.), Metropolitan. Russian Orthodox hierarchs of the period from 1893 to 1965. (inclusive). Erlangen, 1979-1989. T.6. P.257-291.
• Vostryshev M.I. Patriarch Tikhon. M.: Young Guard, 1995. 302 p. (Life of wonderful people. Issue 726).
• Synodik of persecuted, martyred, innocent victims in bonds of Orthodox clergy and laity of the St. Petersburg diocese: 20th century. St. Petersburg, 1999. P.1.
• Investigative case of Patriarch Tikhon. Collection of documents based on materials from the Central Archive of the FSB of the Russian Federation. M.: Monuments of historical thought, 2000. 1016+32 p. ill.
• Theological collection. On the 75th anniversary of the death of Holy Patriarch Tikhon. Issue VI. M.: PSTBI, 2000.
• Composition of the Holy Governing Synod and the Russian Church Hierarchy for 1917. Pg., 1917. 384 p.
• St. Petersburg martyrology. St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Mir", "Society of St. Basil the Great", 2002. 416 p. S.5.
• Synodik of persecuted, martyred, innocent victims in bonds of Orthodox clergy and laity of the St. Petersburg diocese: 20th century. 2nd edition expanded. St. Petersburg, 2002. 280 p. S.5.

Russian State Historical Archive, f. 796, op. 445, d. 246, l. 4-19, f. 831, op. 1, d. 293, l. 5.

Patriarch Tikhon (in the world Vasily Ivanovich Belavin) - bishop of the Orthodox Russian Church; from November 21 (December 4), 1917, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the first after the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia. Canonized by the Russian Church as a saint by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9, 1989.

Childhood and youth

Vasily Ivanovich Belavin (the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus') was born on January 19, 1865 in the village of Klin, Toropetsk district, Pskov province, into a pious family of a priest with a patriarchal structure. The children helped their parents with housework, looked after the cattle, and knew how to do everything with their own hands.

At the age of 9, Vasily entered the Toropetsk Theological School, and in 1878, upon graduation, he left his parents’ home to continue his education at the Pskov Seminary. Vasily was of a good disposition, modest and friendly, his studies came easily to him, and he happily helped his classmates, who nicknamed him “bishop.” Having graduated from the seminary as one of the best students, Vasily successfully passed the exams at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1884. And the new respectful nickname - “Patriarch”, which he received from academic friends and turned out to be prophetic, speaks of his way of life at that time. In 1888, having graduated from the academy as a 23-year-old candidate of theology, he returned to Pskov and taught at his native seminary for 3 years.

Acceptance of monasticism

At the age of 26, after serious thought, he takes his first step after the Lord on the cross, bending his will to three high monastic vows - virginity, poverty and obedience.

On December 14, 1891 he takes monastic vows With name Tikhon, in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the next day he was ordained a hierodeacon, and soon - hieromonk.

Kholm-Warsaw Diocese

In 1892, Fr. Tikhon is transferred as an inspector to the Kholm Theological Seminary, where he soon becomes a rector in the rank of archimandrite. And on October 19, 1899, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was consecrated Bishop of Lublin with the appointment of vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw diocese. Saint Tikhon spent only a year in his first see, but when the decree came about his transfer, the city was filled with crying - the Orthodox cried, the Uniates and Catholics, of whom there were also many in the Kholm region, cried. The city gathered at the station to see off their beloved archpastor, who had served them so little, but so much. The people tried to hold back the departing ruler by force, removing the train staff, and many simply lay down on the track railway, not giving the opportunity to take away from them a precious pearl - an Orthodox bishop. And only the heartfelt appeal of the Bishop himself calmed the people. And such farewells surrounded the saint all his life.

Ministry in America

In 1898, on September 14, Bishop Tikhon was sent to carry out responsible service overseas, to the distant American diocese in the rank of Bishop of Aleutian and North American.

Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in New York

While in this position, he erected new temples, and among them - Cathedral in the name of Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas in New York, where he transferred the chair of the American Diocese from San Francisco, organized the Minneapolis Theological Seminary for future pastors, parochial schools and orphanages for children. For 7 years, Bishop Tikhon wisely led his flock: traveling thousands of miles, visiting hard-to-reach and remote parishes, helping to organize their spiritual life. His flock in America grew to 400,000 people: Russians and Serbs, Greeks and Arabs, Slovaks and Rusyns converted from Uniateism, indigenous people - Creoles, Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos.

Phillip Moskvitin. Farewell to America by St. Tikhon

On May 19, 1905, Bishop Tikhon was elevated to the rank of archbishop. In America, as in previous places of service, Archbishop Tikhon gained universal love and devotion. He worked a lot in God's field. The flock and shepherds invariably loved and deeply revered their archpastor. The Americans elected Archbishop Tikhon an honorary citizen of the United States.

Yaroslavl diocese

In 1907 he was appointed to Yaroslavl department, which he headed for 7 years. One of the first orders for the archpastor's diocese was a categorical prohibition for the clergy to make the customary prostrations when addressing them personally. In Yaroslavl, the saint quickly gained the love of his flock, who appreciated his bright soul and warm care for all his flock. Everyone fell in love with the approachable, intelligent archpastor, who willingly responded to all invitations to serve in the numerous churches of Yaroslavl, in its ancient monasteries and parish churches of the vast diocese. He often visited churches and walked without any pomp, which was an unusual thing for Russian bishops at that time. Saint Tikhon traveled to remote villages on horseback, on foot or by boat, visited monasteries and county towns, brought church life into a state of spiritual unity. When visiting churches, he delved into all the details of the church situation, sometimes climbing the bell tower, to the surprise of the priests, who were unaccustomed to such simplicity of bishops. But this suppression was soon replaced by sincere love for the archpastor, who spoke to his subordinates simply, without any trace of a bossy tone. Even the comments were usually made good-naturedly, sometimes with a joke, which even more forced the culprit to try to eliminate the problem.

Lithuanian department. World War I.

From 1914 to 1917 he ruled Vilna and Lithuanian departments. During the First World War, when the Germans were already under the walls of Vilna, he took the relics of the Vilna martyrs and other shrines to Moscow and, returning to lands not yet occupied by the enemy, served in overcrowded churches, walked around hospitals, blessed and advised the troops leaving to defend the Fatherland.

Moscow. February Revolution

For His Grace Bishop Tikhon, faithful to his hierarchal duty, the interests of the Church have always been most valuable. He opposed any encroachment by the state on the Church. This, of course, influenced the government's attitude towards him. That is why he was quite rarely called to the capital to attend the Holy Synod. When did it happen February revolution and a new Synod was formed, Archbishop Tikhon was invited to be one of its members. On June 21, 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of Clergy and Laity elected him as a zealous and enlightened archpastor, widely known even outside his country, as its ruling bishop.

Shortly before his death, in 1908 in St. Petersburg, Saint John of Kronstadt, in one of his conversations with Saint Tikhon, said to him: “Now, Vladyka, sit in my place, and I will go and rest.” A few years later, the elder’s prophecy came true when Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected Patriarch by lot.

Local Council of 1917

On August 15, 1917, the Local Council opened in Moscow, and Archbishop Tikhon of Moscow was consecrated metropolitan, and then was elected chairman of the Council.

Patriarchate

In Russia there was Time of Troubles, and at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which opened on August 15, 1917, the question of restoring the patriarchate in Rus' was raised. The opinion of the people was expressed by the peasants: “ We no longer have a King, we no longer have a father whom we loved; It is impossible to love the Synod, and therefore we, peasants, want the Patriarch».

At the Council, everyone was worried about the fate of Moscow shrines, which came under fire during the revolutionary events. And so, the first to rush to the Kremlin, as soon as access there became possible, was Metropolitan Tikhon, at the head of a small group of members of the Council. How worried the members of the Council were out of fear for his fate: some of the Metropolitan’s companions returned from halfway and told about what they saw, but everyone testified that the Metropolitan walked completely calmly and visited everywhere he needed to go. The height of his spirit was then obvious to everyone.

The accession of His Holiness Tikhon to the patriarchal throne took place at the very height of the revolution. The state not only separated from the Church - it rebelled against God and His Church.

There was a time when everyone and everyone was gripped by anxiety for the future, when anger revived and grew, and mortal hunger stared into the faces of the working people, fear of robbery and violence penetrated into homes and churches. A premonition of general impending chaos and the kingdom of the Antichrist gripped Rus'. And under the thunder of guns, under the chatter of machine guns, he is delivered by the hand of God to the Patriarchal Throne High Hierarch Tikhon to ascend to his Golgotha ​​and become the holy Patriarch-martyr. He burned in the fire of spiritual torment every hour and was tormented by questions: “ How long can you yield to godless power?“Where is the line when he is obliged to put the good of the Church above the well-being of his people, above human life, and not his own, but the life of his faithful Orthodox children. He no longer thought at all about his life, about his future. He himself was ready to die every day. " Let my name perish in history, if only the Church would benefit“- he said, following his Divine Teacher to the end.

The Patriarch did not shy away from direct denunciations directed against the persecution of the Church, against terror and cruelty, against individual madmen, to whom he even proclaimed anathema in the hope of awakening their conscience with this terrible word. Each message of Patriarch Tikhon, one might say, breathes with the hope that repentance is still possible among the atheists - and he addresses words of reproof and exhortation to them. Describing in a message dated January 19, 1918, the persecution raised against the truth of Christ, and the brutal beatings of innocent people without any trial, with the trampling of all rights and legality, the patriarch said: “ All this fills our hearts with deep, painful sorrow and forces us to turn to such monsters of the human race with a formidable word of reproof. Come to your senses, madmen, stop your bloody reprisals. After all, what you are doing is not only a cruel deed, it is truly a satanic deed, for which you are subject to the fire of Gehenna in the future, afterlife, and the terrible curse of posterity in this present, earthly life».

To raise religious feelings among the people, with his blessing, grand religious processions were organized, in which His Holiness invariably took part. He fearlessly served in the churches of Moscow, Petrograd, Yaroslavl and other cities, strengthening the spiritual flock. When, under the pretext of helping the hungry, an attempt was made to destroy the Church, Patriarch Tikhon, having blessed the donation of church values, spoke out against the encroachment on shrines and national property.

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.” " Our Church is going through a difficult time", wrote His Holiness in July 1923.

His Holiness Tikhon himself was so modest and alien to external splendor that many, when he was elected patriarch, doubted whether he would cope with his great tasks.

But his impeccable life was an example for everyone. One cannot read without emotion the patriarch’s call to repentance, which he addressed to the people before the Dormition Fast: “ This terrible and painful night still continues in Rus', and the joyful dawn is not visible in it... Where is the reason?.. Ask your Orthodox conscience... Sin is the root of the disease... Sin has corrupted our land... Sin, grave, unrepentant sin, called Satan out of the abyss ... Oh, who will give our eyes sources of tears! like a barren fig tree? Oh, let this not happen! Weep, dear brothers and children who have remained faithful to the Church and Motherland, weep for the great sins of your fatherland, until it perishes completely. Weep for yourself and for those who, due to hardness of heart, do not have the grace of tears».

Interrogations and arrest

Bolsheviks in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. 1918

Based on the circular of the Commissariat of Justice dated August 25, 1920, local authorities “carried out the complete liquidation of the relics.” Over the course of six months, about 38 tombs were opened. The relics were desecrated. Patriarch Tikhon addresses V. Lenin: “ The opening of the relics obliges us to stand in defense of the desecrated shrine and preach to the people: we must obey God more than men».

The case against Patriarch Tikhon

First, they begin to summon him for numerous interrogations in the case of the confiscation of church valuables as the main witness. Patriarch Tikhon was accused of crimes for which capital punishment was provided. Here is a description of an eyewitness to the interrogation of the patriarch and the behavior of the accused and listeners: “ When a stately figure in black robes appeared at the door of the hall, accompanied by two guards, everyone involuntarily stood up... all their heads bowed low in a deep respectful bow. His Holiness the Patriarch calmly and majestically crossed the defendants and, turning to the judges, straight, majestically stern, leaning on his staff, began to wait for the interrogation».

Arrest of Patriarch Tikhon

As a result he was arrested and from May 16, 1922 to June 1923, he was imprisoned 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.

In April 1923, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), a secret resolution was adopted, according to which the Tribunal was to pronounce a death sentence on St. Tikhon.

At this time, Patriarch Tikhon already had worldwide authority. The whole world watched with particular concern the progress trial, the world press was full of indignation over 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. Lacking reliable information about the situation of the Church, the Patriarch had to receive from the newspapers the idea that the Church was dying... Patriarch Tikhon was offered release from arrest on the condition of public “repentance”, and he decided to sacrifice his authority for the sake of easing the situation of the Church.

Red Village magazine, 1923, publication about Patriarch Tikhon

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.” Thus, the execution of the Patriarch did not take place, but in the dungeons of the Lubyanka a “repentant” statement from Patriarch Tikhon was received.

But the people’s love for Patriarch Tikhon not only did not waver in connection with his “repentant” statement, but became even greater. The authorities did not break the saint and were forced to release him, but they began to monitor his every move.

Updaters

It fell to Patriarch Tikhon to lead the Russian Orthodox Church during its transition to a new, independent life, under the conditions of a new political system. This transition, accompanied by an open clash of two opposing worldviews (religious and atheistic), was extremely difficult and painful.

During the Civil War, a stratification occurred among the clergy: renovationist groups appeared that called for a revolution in the Church. The Patriarch emphasized the inadmissibility of liturgical innovations. But as a result of the intensive work of the GPU, a renovationist split was 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 St. Tikhon leave the patriarchal throne.

The Renovationist schism developed according to a plan agreed upon with the Cheka, and quickly drew in all the unstable elements that were in the Church. IN a short time throughout Russia, all bishops and even all priests received demands from local authorities, from the Cheka, that they submit to 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.”

Updaters

All the newspapers of that time published large pogrom articles every day, denouncing Patriarch Tikhon of “counter-revolutionary activities” and the “Tikhonites” of all sorts of crimes.

In May 1923, renovationists held a “false council” called “ Second Local Council of the Russian Church", at which Patriarch Tikhon was deprived of monastic dignity and the rank of Primate. The leaders of the “Council” Krasnitsky and Vvedensky gathered bishops for a meeting, and when numerous objections began to the proposed resolution on the deposition of the patriarch, Krasnitsky quite openly declared: “ Whoever does not sign this resolution now will not leave this room anywhere except straight to prison" Half of the bishops accept renovationism.

The head of the Renovationists, Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky

In full confidence that the patriarch was now both politically and churchly dead for the people, the authorities announced to him that he was free to undertake whatever he saw fit in the area of ​​church life. However, the Soviet government, being godless, did not take into account one decisive factor in church life - the fact that the Spirit of God rules the Church. What happened was not at all what was expected based on purely human calculations.

The “repentant” statement of the patriarch, published in Soviet newspapers, did not make the slightest impression on the believing people. The “Council” of 1923 had no authority for him; Poorly understanding the canonical subtleties, the common people, however, intuitively sensed the falsity of his decrees. The overwhelming mass of Orthodox people openly accepted the liberated patriarch as their only legitimate head, and the patriarch appeared before the eyes of the authorities in the full aura of the de facto spiritual leader of the believing masses.

The release of His Holiness brought great benefit to the Church, restoring and establishing legitimate church governance in it.

After his release from captivity, the patriarch lived not in the Trinity Metochion, but in the Donskoy Monastery, various people came to him from all over Russia, and in his reception room one could see bishops, priests and laity: some came on church business, others to receive the patriarchal blessing and for consolation in grief. Access to him was free, and his cell attendant only asked visitors about the purpose of the parish. The Patriarch was housed in three rooms, the first of which served as a reception room at the indicated hours. The furnishings of the patriarch's chambers were striking in their simplicity, and the conversation with him, according to those who saw him, made a strong impression. His Holiness always found a few words for everyone, even those who came only for a blessing.

Attempted murder

The enemies of the Orthodox Church hated its head, His Holiness Tikhon. He was the true chosen one of God and the words of Christ were justified in him: “ They revile you and despise you, and they say all sorts of evil things about you lying to me for my sake."(Matt. 5:11).

Moreover, the enemies of the Church made attempts on the life of His Holiness the Patriarch.
The first attempt was on June 12, 1919, the second on December 9, 1923. During the second attempt, several criminals broke into the patriarch’s rooms and killed his cell attendant Yakov Polozov, who was the first to come out in response to the noise.

Yakov Sergeevich Polozov, cell attendant of Patriarch Tikhon. Killed on December 9, 1923.

Despite persecution, Saint Tikhon continued to receive people in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived in solitude, and people walked in an endless stream, often coming from afar or covering thousands of miles on foot.

Illness and death

External and internal church upheavals, the Renovationist schism, the incessant high priestly labors and concerns for the organization and pacification of church life, sleepless nights and difficult thoughts, more than a year of imprisonment, malicious vile persecution from enemies, dull misunderstanding and stupid criticism from sometimes the Orthodox community undermined his once strong body. Beginning in 1924, the Patriarch became so unwell that on the day of the Nativity of Christ he wrote his will, in which he indicated a successor for the management of the Russian Church. ( By virtue of this order of His Holiness Tikhon, after his death, patriarchal rights and responsibilities passed to Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsky.)

Testament of Patriarch Tikhon

An intensified illness - cardiac asthma - forced His Holiness to go to Dr. Bakunin's hospital (Ostozhenka, building 19). However, while there, Patriarch Tikhon regularly traveled on holidays and Sundays to serve in churches.

On Sunday, April 5, two days before his death, His Holiness the Patriarch, despite a throat illness, went to serve the liturgy at the Church of the Great Ascension on Nikitskaya. This was his last service, his last liturgy.

Death of Patriarch Tikhon

Patriarch Tikhon died on the day of the Annunciation, Tuesday, March 25/April 7, 1925.

It is noteworthy that in the hospital where Patriarch Tikhon was located before his death, there was no icon. He asked to bring an icon, without indicating which one, his request was fulfilled - the icon of the Annunciation was brought from the Conception Monastery Holy Mother of God.

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 farewell to the Patriarch was open. Unprecedented crowds of people came to say goodbye to him day and night. It was impossible to stop at the coffin; according to estimates, about a million people passed by the coffin. Not only the entire Donskoy Monastery, but also all the surrounding streets were completely crowded with people.

Transfer of the relics of Patriarch Tikhon or the Annunciation in the Donskoy Monastery

Praise

The glorification of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', took place at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9 1989, on the day of the repose of the Apostle John the Theologian, and many see God’s Providence in this. " Children, love each other!- says the Apostle John in his last sermon. - This is the commandment of the Lord, if you keep it, then it is enough».

They sound in unison last words Patriarch Tikhon: " My children! All Orthodox Russian people! All Christians! Only on the stone of healing evil with good will the indestructible glory and greatness of our Holy Orthodox Church be built, and it will be elusive even to enemies holy name her, the purity of the feat of her children and servants. Follow Christ! Don't change Him. Do not give in to temptation, do not destroy your soul in the blood of vengeance. Don't be overcome by evil. Conquer evil with good!»

67 years have passed since the death of Saint Tikhon, and the Lord gave Russia his holy relics to strengthen her for the difficult times ahead. They rest in the large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery.

At the age of nine, Vasily entered the Toropets Theological School, and in 1878, upon graduation, he left his parents’ home to continue his education at the Pskov Seminary. Vasily was of a good disposition, modest and friendly, his studies came easily to him, and he happily helped his classmates, who nicknamed him “bishop.” Having graduated from the seminary as one of the best students, Vasily successfully passed the exams at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1884. And the new respectful nickname - Patriarch, which he received from academic friends and turned out to be prophetic, speaks of his way of life at that time. In 1888, having graduated from the academy as a 23-year-old candidate of theology, he returned to Pskov and taught at his native seminary for three years. At the age of 26, after serious thought, he takes his first step after the Lord on the cross, bending his will to three high monastic vows - virginity, poverty and obedience. On December 14, 1891, he took monastic vows with the name Tikhon, in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the next day he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and soon as a hieromonk.

In 1892, Fr. Tikhon is transferred as an inspector to the Kholm Theological Seminary, where he soon becomes rector with the rank of archimandrite. And on October 19, 1899, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was consecrated Bishop of Lublin with the appointment of vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw diocese. Saint Tikhon spent only a year in his first see, but when the decree came about his transfer, the city was filled with crying - the Orthodox cried, the Uniates and Catholics, of whom there were also many in the Kholm region, cried. The city gathered at the station to see off their beloved archpastor, who had served them so little, but so much. The people forcibly tried to hold back the departing bishop by removing the train attendants, and many simply lay down on the railway track, not allowing the precious pearl - the Orthodox bishop - to be taken away from them. And only the heartfelt appeal of the Bishop himself calmed the people. And such farewells surrounded the saint all his life. Orthodox America cried, where to this day he is called the Apostle of Orthodoxy, where for seven years he wisely led his flock: traveling thousands of miles, visiting hard-to-reach and remote parishes, helping to organize their spiritual life, erecting new churches, among which is the majestic St. Nicholas Cathedral in NYC. His flock in America grew to four hundred thousand: Russians and Serbs, Greeks and Arabs, Slovaks and Rusyns converted from Uniateism, indigenous people - Creoles, Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos.

Heading the ancient Yaroslavl see for seven years, upon his return from America, Saint Tikhon traveled on horseback, on foot or by boat to remote villages, visited monasteries and district towns, and brought church life to a state of spiritual unity. From 1914 to 1917 he ruled the Vilna and Lithuanian departments. During the First World War, when the Germans were already under the walls of Vilna, he took the relics of the Vilna martyrs and other shrines to Moscow and, returning to lands not yet occupied by the enemy, served in overcrowded churches, walked around hospitals, blessed and advised the troops leaving to defend the Fatherland.

Shortly before his death, Saint John of Kronstadt, in one of his conversations with Saint Tikhon, said to him: “Now, Vladyka, sit in my place, and I will go and rest.” A few years later, the elder’s prophecy came true when Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected Patriarch by lot. There was a time of troubles in Russia, and at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church that opened on August 15, 1917, the question of restoring the patriarchate in Rus' was raised. The opinion of the people was expressed by the peasants: “We no longer have a Tsar, no father whom we loved; It is impossible to love the Synod, and therefore we, peasants, want the Patriarch.”

There was a time when everyone and everyone was gripped by anxiety for the future, when anger revived and grew, and mortal hunger stared into the faces of the working people, fear of robbery and violence penetrated into homes and churches. A premonition of general impending chaos and the kingdom of the Antichrist gripped Rus'. And under the thunder of guns, under the chatter of machine guns, High Hierarch Tikhon was brought by God’s hand to the Patriarchal Throne to ascend his Golgotha ​​and become the holy Patriarch-martyr. He burned in the fire of spiritual torment every hour and was tormented by the questions: “How long can you yield to godless power?” Where is the line when he must put the good of the Church above the well-being of his people, above human life, and not his own, but the life of his faithful Orthodox children. He no longer thought at all about his life, about his future. He himself was ready to die every day. “Let my name perish in history, if only the Church would benefit,” he said, following his Divine Teacher to the end.

How tearfully the new Patriarch cries before the Lord for his people, the Church of God: “Lord, the sons of Russia forsook Thy Testament, destroyed Thy altars, shot at temple and Kremlin shrines, beat Thy priests...” He calls on the Russian people to cleanse their hearts with repentance and prayer, to resurrect “in the time of the Great Visitation of God in the current feat of the Orthodox Russian people, the bright, unforgettable deeds of the pious ancestors.” To raise religious feelings among the people, with his blessing, grand religious processions were organized, in which His Holiness invariably took part. He fearlessly served in the churches of Moscow, Petrograd, Yaroslavl and other cities, strengthening the spiritual flock. When, under the pretext of helping the hungry, an attempt was made to destroy the Church, Patriarch Tikhon, having blessed the donation of church values, spoke out against the encroachment on shrines and national property. As a result, he was arrested and was imprisoned from May 16, 1922 to June 1923. The authorities did not break the saint and were forced to release him, but they began to monitor his every move. On June 12, 1919 and December 9, 1923, assassination attempts were made; during the second attempt, the cell attendant of His Holiness, Yakov Polozov, died as a martyr. Despite persecution, Saint Tikhon continued to receive people in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived in solitude, and people walked in an endless stream, often coming from afar or covering thousands of miles on foot. The last painful year of his life, persecuted and sick, he invariably served on Sundays and holidays. On March 23, 1925, he celebrated the last Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Great Ascension, and on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos he rested in the Lord with prayer on his lips.

The glorification of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', took place at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9, 1989, on the day of the repose of the Apostle John the Theologian, and many see God’s Providence in this. “Children, love each other! - says the Apostle John in his last sermon. “This is the commandment of the Lord, if you keep it, then it is enough.”

The last words of Patriarch Tikhon sound in unison: “My children! All Orthodox Russian people! All Christians! Only on the stone of healing evil with good will the indestructible glory and greatness of our Holy Orthodox Church be built, and her Holy Name and the purity of the deeds of her children and servants will be elusive even to enemies. Follow Christ! Don't change Him. Do not give in to temptation, do not destroy your soul in the blood of vengeance. Don't be overcome by evil. Conquer evil with good!”

67 years have passed since the death of Saint Tikhon, and the Lord gave Russia his holy relics to strengthen her for the difficult times ahead. They rest in the large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery.

Saint TIKHON, Patriarch of Moscow (†1925)

Patriarch Tikhon(in the world Vasily Ivanovich Belavin) - bishop of the Orthodox Russian Church; from November 21 (December 4), 1917, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the first after the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia. Canonized by the Russian Church as a saint by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9, 1989.

Childhood and youth

Vasily Ivanovich Belavin (the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus') was born on January 19, 1865 in the village of Klin, Toropetsk district, Pskov province, into a pious family of a priest with a patriarchal structure. The children helped their parents with housework, looked after the cattle, and knew how to do everything with their own hands.

At the age of 9, Vasily entered the Toropetsk Theological School, and in 1878, upon graduation, he left his parents’ home to continue his education at the Pskov Seminary. Vasily was of a good disposition, modest and friendly, his studies came easily to him, and he happily helped his classmates, who nicknamed him “bishop.” Having graduated from the seminary as one of the best students, Vasily successfully passed the exams at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1884. And a new respectful nickname - " Patriarch", which he received from academic friends and turned out to be prophetic, speaks of his lifestyle at that time. In 1888, having graduated from the academy as a 23-year-old candidate of theology, he returned to Pskov and taught at his native seminary for 3 years.

Acceptance of monasticism

At the age of 26, after serious thought, he takes his first step after the Lord on the cross, bending his will to three high monastic vows - virginity, poverty and obedience.

On December 14, 1891 he takes monastic vows With name Tikhon, in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the next day he was ordained a hierodeacon, and soon - hieromonk.

Kholm-Warsaw Diocese

In 1892, Fr. Tikhon is transferred as an inspector to the Kholm Theological Seminary, where he soon becomes a rector in the rank of archimandrite. And on October 19, 1899, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was consecrated Bishop of Lublin with the appointment of vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw diocese. Saint Tikhon spent only a year in his first see, but when the decree came about his transfer, the city was filled with crying - the Orthodox cried, the Uniates and Catholics, of whom there were also many in the Kholm region, cried. The city gathered at the station to see off their beloved archpastor, who had served them so little, but so much. The people forcibly tried to hold back the departing bishop by removing the train attendants, and many simply lay down on the railway track, not allowing the precious pearl - the Orthodox bishop - to be taken away from them. And only the heartfelt appeal of the Bishop himself calmed the people. And such farewells surrounded the saint all his life.

Ministry in America

In 1898, on September 14, Bishop Tikhon was sent to carry out responsible service overseas, to the distant American diocese in rank Bishop of Aleutian and North American.

Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in New York

While in this position, he erected new churches, and among them - the Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in New York, where he transferred the department of the American Diocese from San Francisco, organized the Minneapolis Theological Seminary for future pastors, parish schools and orphanages for children. For 7 years, Bishop Tikhon wisely led his flock: traveling thousands of miles, visiting hard-to-reach and remote parishes, helping to organize their spiritual life. His flock in America grew to 400,000 people: Russians and Serbs, Greeks and Arabs, Slovaks and Rusyns converted from Uniateism, indigenous people - Creoles, Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos.

Phillip Moskvitin. Farewell to America by St. Tikhon

On May 19, 1905, Bishop Tikhon was elevated to the rank of archbishop. In America, as in previous places of service, Archbishop Tikhon gained universal love and devotion. He worked a lot in God's field. The flock and shepherds invariably loved and deeply revered their archpastor. The Americans elected Archbishop Tikhon an honorary citizen of the United States.

Yaroslavl diocese

In 1907 he was appointed to Yaroslavl department, which he headed for 7 years. One of the first orders for the archpastor's diocese was a categorical prohibition for the clergy to make the customary prostrations when addressing them personally. In Yaroslavl, the saint quickly gained the love of his flock, who appreciated his bright soul and warm care for all his flock. Everyone fell in love with the approachable, intelligent archpastor, who willingly responded to all invitations to serve in the numerous churches of Yaroslavl, in its ancient monasteries and parish churches of the vast diocese. He often visited churches and walked without any pomp, which was an unusual thing for Russian bishops at that time. Saint Tikhon traveled on horseback, on foot or by boat to remote villages, visited monasteries and district towns, and brought church life into a state of spiritual unity. When visiting churches, he delved into all the details of the church situation, sometimes climbing the bell tower, to the surprise of the priests, who were unaccustomed to such simplicity of bishops. But this suppression was soon replaced by sincere love for the archpastor, who spoke to his subordinates simply, without any trace of a bossy tone. Even the comments were usually made good-naturedly, sometimes with a joke, which even more forced the culprit to try to fix the problem.

Lithuanian department. World War I.

From 1914 to 1917 he ruled Vilna and Lithuanian departments. During the First World War, when the Germans were already under the walls of Vilna, he took the relics of the Vilna martyrs and other shrines to Moscow and, returning to lands not yet occupied by the enemy, served in overcrowded churches, walked around hospitals, blessed and advised the troops leaving to defend the Fatherland.

Moscow. February Revolution

For His Grace Bishop Tikhon, faithful to his hierarchal duty, the interests of the Church have always been most valuable. He opposed any encroachment of the state on the Church. This, of course, influenced the government's attitude towards him. That is why he was quite rarely called to the capital to be present at the Holy Synod. When the February Revolution occurred and a new Synod was formed, Archbishop Tikhon was invited to be one of its members. On June 21, 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of Clergy and Laity elected him as a zealous and enlightened archpastor, widely known even outside his country, as its ruling bishop.

Shortly before his death, in 1908 in St. Petersburg, Saint John of Kronstadt, in one of his conversations with Saint Tikhon, told him: “Now, Vladyka, sit in my place, and I’ll go and rest.”. A few years later, the elder’s prophecy came true when Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected Patriarch by lot.

On August 15, 1917, the Local Council opened in Moscow, and Archbishop Tikhon of Moscow was consecrated metropolitan, and then was elected chairman of the Council.

Patriarchate

There was a time of troubles in Russia, and at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church that opened on August 15, 1917, the question of restoring the patriarchate in Rus' was raised. The opinion of the people was expressed by the peasants: “We no longer have a King, we no longer have a father whom we loved; It is impossible to love the Synod, and therefore we, peasants, want the Patriarch.”

At the Council, everyone was worried about the fate of Moscow shrines, which came under fire during the revolutionary events. And so, the first to rush to the Kremlin, as soon as access there became possible, was Metropolitan Tikhon, at the head of a small group of members of the Council. How worried the members of the Council were out of fear for his fate: some of the Metropolitan’s companions returned from halfway and told about what they saw, but everyone testified that the Metropolitan walked completely calmly and visited everywhere he needed to go. The height of his spirit was then obvious to everyone.

The accession of His Holiness Tikhon to the patriarchal throne took place at the very height of the revolution. The state not only separated from the Church, it rebelled against God and His Church.

There was a time when everyone and everyone was gripped by anxiety for the future, when anger revived and grew, and mortal hunger stared into the faces of the working people, fear of robbery and violence penetrated into homes and churches. A premonition of general impending chaos and the kingdom of the Antichrist gripped Rus'. And under the thunder of guns, under the chatter of machine guns, he is delivered by the hand of God to the Patriarchal Throne High Hierarch Tikhon to ascend to his Golgotha ​​and become the holy Patriarch-martyr. He burned in the fire of spiritual torment every hour and was tormented by questions: “How long can you yield to godless power?” Where is the line when he must put the good of the Church above the well-being of his people, above human life, and not his own, but the life of his faithful Orthodox children. He no longer thought at all about his life, about his future. He himself was ready to die every day. “Let my name perish in history, as long as it is of benefit to the Church,”- he said, following his Divine Teacher to the end.

The Patriarch did not shy away from direct denunciations directed against persecution of the Church, against terror and cruelty, against individual madmen, to whom he even proclaimed anathema in the hope of awakening their conscience with this terrible word. Each message of Patriarch Tikhon, one might say, breathes with the hope that repentance is still possible among the atheists - and he addresses words of reproof and exhortation to them. Describing in his message dated January 19, 1918, the persecution raised against the truth of Christ, and the brutal beatings of innocent people without any trial, with the trampling of all rights and legality, the patriarch said: “All this fills our hearts with deep, painful sorrow and forces us to turn to such monsters of the human race with a terrible word of reproof. Come to your senses, madmen, stop your bloody reprisals. After all, what you are doing is not only a cruel deed, it is truly a satanic deed, for which you are subject to the fire of Gehenna in the future, afterlife, and the terrible curse of posterity in this present, earthly life.”

To raise religious feelings among the people, with his blessing, grand religious processions were organized, in which His Holiness invariably took part. He fearlessly served in the churches of Moscow, Petrograd, Yaroslavl and other cities, strengthening the spiritual flock. When, under the pretext of helping the hungry, an attempt was made to destroy the Church, Patriarch Tikhon, having blessed the donation of church values, spoke out against the encroachment on shrines and national property.

His cross was immeasurably heavy. He had to lead the Church in the midst of general church ruin, without auxiliary governing bodies, in an environment of internal schisms and upheavals caused by all kinds of “living churchmen,” “renovationists,” and “autocephalists.” “Our Church is going through a difficult time”, wrote His Holiness in July 1923.

His Holiness Tikhon himself was so modest and alien to external splendor that many, when he was elected patriarch, doubted whether he would cope with his great tasks.

But his impeccable life was an example for everyone. One cannot read without emotion the patriarch’s call to repentance, which he addressed to the people before the Dormition Fast: “This terrible and painful night still continues in Rus', and no joyful dawn is visible in it... Where is the reason?.. Ask your Orthodox conscience... Sin is the root of the disease... Sin has corrupted our land.. .. Sin, grave, unrepentant sin called Satan from the abyss... Oh, who will give our eyes sources of tears!.. Where are you, the once mighty and sovereign Russian people?.. Will you not be reborn spiritually? the sources of life for you, extinguished your creative powers in order to cut you down like a barren fig tree? Oh, let this not happen! Weep, dear brothers and children who have remained faithful to the Church and Motherland, weep for the great sins of your fatherland, before it perishes completely. Weep for yourself and for those who, due to hardening of their hearts, do not have the grace of tears.”

Interrogations and arrest

Based on the circular of the Commissariat of Justice dated August 25, 1920, local authorities “carried out the complete liquidation of the relics.” Over the course of six months, about 38 tombs were opened. The relics were desecrated. Patriarch
Tikhon addresses V. Lenin: “The opening of the relics obliges us to stand in defense of the desecrated shrine and paternally tell the people: we must obey God more than men.”

First, they begin to summon him for numerous interrogations in the case of the confiscation of church valuables as the main witness. Patriarch Tikhon was accused of crimes for which capital punishment was provided. Here is a description of an eyewitness to the interrogation of the patriarch and the behavior of the accused and listeners: “When a stately figure in black robes appeared at the door of the hall, accompanied by two guards, everyone involuntarily stood up... all their heads bowed low in a deep respectful bow. His Holiness the Patriarch calmly and majestically made the sign of the cross over the defendants and, turning to the judges, straight, majesticly stern, leaning on his staff, began to wait for the interrogation.”.

As a result he was arrested and from May 16, 1922 to June 1923, he was imprisoned 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.

In April 1923, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), a secret resolution was adopted, according to which the Tribunal was to pronounce a death sentence on St. 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. Lacking reliable information about the situation of the Church, the Patriarch had to receive from the newspapers the idea that the Church was dying... Patriarch Tikhon was offered release from arrest on the condition of public “repentance”, and he decided to sacrifice his authority for the sake of easing the situation of the Church.

Red Village magazine, 1923, publication about Patriarch Tikhon

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.” Thus, the execution of the Patriarch did not take place, but in the dungeons of the Lubyanka a “repentant” statement from Patriarch Tikhon was received.

But the people’s love for Patriarch Tikhon not only did not waver in connection with his “repentant” statement, but became even greater.The authorities did not break the saint and were forced to release him, but they began to monitor his every move.

Patriarch Tikhon fell to the lot of heading the Russian Orthodox Church during its transition to a new, independent life, under the conditions of a new state system. This transition, accompanied by an open clash of two opposing worldviews (religious and atheistic), was extremely difficult and painful.

During the Civil War, a stratification occurred among the clergy: renovationist groups appeared that called for a revolution in the Church. The Patriarch emphasized the inadmissibility of liturgical innovations. But as a result of the intensive work of the GPU, a renovationist split was 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 St. Tikhon leave the patriarchal throne.

The Renovationist schism developed according to a plan agreed upon with the Cheka, and quickly drew in all the unstable elements that were in the Church. In a short time, throughout Russia, all bishops and even all priests received demands from local authorities, from the Cheka, that they submit to 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, denouncing Patriarch Tikhon of “counter-revolutionary activities” and the “Tikhonites” of all sorts of crimes.

In May 1923, renovationists held a “false council” called "Second Local Council of the Russian Church", at which Patriarch Tikhon was deprived of monastic dignity and the rank of Primate. The leaders of the “Council” Krasnitsky and Vvedensky gathered bishops for a conference, and when numerous objections began to the proposed resolution on the deposition of the patriarch, Krasnitsky quite openly declared: “Whoever does not sign this resolution right now will not leave this room anywhere except straight to prison.” Half of the bishops accept renovationism.

The head of the Renovationists, Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky

In full confidence that the patriarch was now both politically and churchly dead for the people, the authorities announced to him that he was free to undertake whatever he saw fit in the area of ​​church life. However, the Soviet government, being godless, did not take into account one decisive factor in church life - the fact that the Spirit of God rules the Church. What happened was not at all what was expected according to purely human calculations.

The “repentant” statement of the patriarch, published in Soviet newspapers, did not make the slightest impression on the believing people. The “Council” of 1923 had no authority for him; Poorly understanding the canonical subtleties, the common people, however, intuitively sensed the falsity of his decrees. The overwhelming mass of Orthodox people openly accepted the liberated patriarch as their only legitimate head, and the patriarch appeared before the eyes of the authorities in the full aura of the de facto spiritual leader of the believing masses.

The release of His Holiness brought great benefit to the Church, restoring and establishing legitimate church governance in it.

After his release from captivity, the patriarch lived not in the Trinity Metochion, but in the Donskoy Monastery, various people came to him from all over Russia, and in his reception one could see bishops, priests and laity: some came on church business, others - for receiving the patriarchal blessing and for consolation in grief. Access to him was free, and his cell attendant only asked visitors about the purpose of the parish. The Patriarch was housed in three rooms, the first of which served as a reception room at the indicated hours. The furnishings of the patriarch's chambers were striking in their simplicity, and the conversation with him, according to those who saw him, made a strong impression. His Holiness always found a few words for everyone, even those who came only for a blessing.

Attempted murder

The enemies of the Orthodox Church hated its head, His Holiness Tikhon. He was the true chosen one of God and the words of Christ were justified in him: “They revile you and despise you, and say all sorts of evil things about you lying to me for my sake.”(Matt. 5:11).

Moreover, the enemies of the Church made attempts on the life of His Holiness the Patriarch.
The first attempt was on June 12, 1919, the second on December 9, 1923. During the second attempt, several criminals broke into the patriarch’s rooms and killed him, who was the first to respond to the noise. cell attendant Yakov Polozov.

Yakov Sergeevich Polozov, cell attendant of Patriarch Tikhon. Killed on December 9, 1923.

Despite persecution, Saint Tikhon continued to receive people in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived in solitude, and people walked in an endless stream, often coming from afar or covering thousands of miles on foot.

Illness and death

External and internal church upheavals, the Renovationist schism, incessant high priestly labors and concerns for the organization and pacification of church life, sleepless nights and heavy thoughts, more than a year of imprisonment, malicious vile persecution from enemies, dull misunderstanding and stupid criticism from outside sometimes the Orthodox environment undermined his once strong organism. Beginning in 1924, the Patriarch became so unwell that on the day of the Nativity of Christ he wrote his will, in which he indicated a successor for himself in the management of the Russian Church. (By virtue of this order of His Holiness Tikhon, after his death, the Patriarch e rights and responsibilities were transferred to Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsa.)

An intensified illness - cardiac asthma - forced His Holiness to go to the hospital of Dr. Bakunin (Ostozhenka, building 19). However, while there, Patriarch Tikhon regularly traveled on holidays and Sundays to serve in churches.

On Sunday, April 5, two days before his death, His Holiness the Patriarch, despite a throat illness, went to serve the liturgy at the Church of the Great Ascension on Nikitskaya. This was his last service, his last liturgy.

Patriarch Tikhon died on the day of the Annunciation, on Tuesday, March 25/April 7, 1925.

It is noteworthy that in the hospital where Patriarch Tikhon was located before his death, there was no icon. He asked to bring an icon, without specifying which one, but his request was fulfilled - an icon of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was brought from the Conception Monastery.

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 farewell to the Patriarch was open. Unprecedented crowds of people came to say goodbye to him day and night. It was impossible to stop at the coffin; according to estimates, about a million people passed by the coffin. Not only the entire Donskoy Monastery, but also all the surrounding streets were completely crowded with people.

Praise

The glorification of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', took place at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9 1989, on the day of the repose of the Apostle John the Theologian, and many see God’s Providence in this. “Children, love each other!- says the Apostle John in his last sermon. “This is the commandment of the Lord, if you keep it, then it is enough.”

The last words of Patriarch Tikhon sound in unison: “My children! All Orthodox Russian people! All Christians! Only on the stone of healing evil with good will the indestructible glory and greatness of our Holy Orthodox Church be built, and her Holy Name and the purity of the deeds of her children and servants will be elusive even to enemies. Follow Christ! Don't change Him. Do not give in to temptation, do not destroy your soul in the blood of vengeance. Don't be overcome by evil. Conquer evil with good!”

67 years have passed since the death of Saint Tikhon, and the Lord gave Russia his holy relics to strengthen her for the difficult times ahead. They rest in the large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery.

Reliquary with the relics of Patriarch Tikhon in the Donskoy Monastery

Date of Birth: January 19, 1865 A country: Russia Biography:

In 1917, the All-Russian Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church restored the Patriarchate. The most important event in the history of the Russian Church took place: after two centuries of forced headlessness, it again found its Primate and High Hierarch.

Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow and Kolomna was elected to the Patriarchal Throne, who became the herald of the path that the Russian Church was called to follow in new difficult conditions.

Patriarch Tikhon (in the world Vasily Ivanovich Belavin) was born on January 19, 1865 in the city of Toropets, Pskov province, into the family of a priest. After graduating from the Toropets Theological School, he entered the Pskov Theological Seminary, and upon graduation, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, which he graduated in 1888. It is noteworthy that his fellow seminarians jokingly called the modest, good-natured and always ready to help friends Vasily Belavin “Bishop” , and at the academy, as if foreseeing his future service, the students nicknamed him “Patriarch” for his seriousness and sedate disposition.

After the academy, he taught dogmatics, moral theology and French at the Pskov Theological Seminary for three and a half years. In 1891, the young teacher took monastic vows with the name of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Ordained to the rank of hieromonk, a year later he was appointed inspector, and subsequently rector of the Kholm Seminary with elevation to the rank of archimandrite. Three years later (8 and a half years after graduating from the St. Petersburg Academy) he was already a bishop, first of Lublin, and then of the Aleutian and North American. During this period of his life, spanning almost a decade, he streamlined the life of Orthodox parishes in the United States and Alaska, erected new churches, and among them - the Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in New York, where he moved it from San Francisco department of the American Diocese, organized the Minneapolis Theological Seminary for future pastors, parochial schools and orphanages for children. In the United States, His Grace Tikhon gained the glory of a true apostle of Orthodoxy.

His role in the establishment of the Orthodox Church in America is truly enormous. And it is not limited to calm paternal leadership and even reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church a large new flock made up of immigrants from areas of Eastern Europe. Under him, for the first time in America, Christians of other faiths began to become acquainted and closer to Orthodoxy. Before the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Tikhon defended the need to meet non-Orthodox brothers halfway. Many pastors turned to him on a number of problems: from the question of the possibility of Eucharistic communion to the reunification of divided Churches. Bishop Tikhon took an active part in translating liturgical books into English language. In Canada, at his request, a vicar see was opened. In 1905, Bishop Tikhon was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

After successful but difficult work in America, Archbishop Tikhon in 1907 was appointed to the ancient Yaroslavl see. During the years of his bishopric in Yaroslavl, he brought the diocese into a state of spiritual unity. His leadership was patient and humane, and everyone fell in love with the approachable, reasonable, affectionate archpastor, who willingly responded to all invitations to serve in the numerous churches of the Yaroslavl diocese. It seemed to the people of Yaroslavl that they had received an ideal archpastor, with whom they would never want to part. But in 1914, the highest church authorities appointed him Archbishop of Vilna and Lithuania, and on June 23, 1917, Archbishop Tikhon was elected to the Moscow See and elevated to the rank of Metropolitan.

On August 15, 1917, on the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the All-Russian Local Council opened, restoring the Patriarchate. After four rounds of voting, the Council elected as candidates for the First Hierarchal Throne Archbishop Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of Kharkov, Archbishop Arseny (Stadnitsky) of Novgorod and Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow - as the people said, “the smartest, the strictest and the kindest.” The Patriarch was to be chosen by lot. By Divine Providence the lot fell on Metropolitan Tikhon. The enthronement of the new Patriarch took place in the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral on November 21, the day of the celebration of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Difficulties immediately arose on the church path of the new Patriarch. First of all, he was the first to resolve the issue of relations with the new state system, which was hostile to the Church, and also had to do everything possible to preserve Orthodoxy during the difficult period of hard times in the conditions of the revolution, civil war and general devastation that swept Russia.

In his first address to the all-Russian flock, Patriarch Tikhon characterized the era the country was experiencing as “the time of God’s wrath”; in a message dated January 19 (February 1), 1918, he expressed archpastoral concern for the position of the Church and condemnation of bloody riots. The Patriarch fearlessly denounced the godless authorities who persecuted the Church, and even pronounced an anathema on those who committed bloody reprisals on behalf of the authorities. He called on all believers to defend the insulted Church: “... and you resist them with the power of your faith, your powerful nationwide cry... And if it becomes necessary to suffer for the cause of Christ, we call you, beloved children of the Church, we call you to these sufferings together with myself..."

When famine set in in the summer of 1921 after the horrors of the civil war, Patriarch Tikhon organized the Committee to Relief the Famineous and issued an exceptional appeal for help to the starving in its strength of thought and feeling, addressed to Orthodox Russia and to all the peoples of the universe. He called on parish councils to donate precious church decorations, unless they had liturgical use. The committee headed by the Patriarch raised large funds and greatly alleviated the situation of the hungry.

Patriarch Tikhon was a true defender of Orthodoxy. Despite all his gentleness, goodwill and good nature, he became unshakably firm and unyielding in church affairs, where necessary, and above all in protecting the Church from her enemies. The true Orthodoxy and strength of character of Patriarch Tikhon came to light especially clearly during the time of the “renovationism” schism. He stood as an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the Bolsheviks before their plans to decompose the Church from within.

His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon undertook critical steps to normalize relations with the state. The messages of Patriarch Tikhon proclaim: “The Russian Orthodox Church... must and will be the One Catholic Apostolic Church, and any attempts, no matter from whose side they come, to plunge the Church into a political struggle must be rejected and condemned” (from the Appeal of 1 July 1923)

A new important step towards establishing a positive dialogue between the Church and the victorious social system was the document known as the will of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon dated January 7, 1925: “In the years of civil devastation, by the will of God, without which nothing happens in the world,” wrote His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, - Soviet power became the head of the Russian state. Without sinning against our faith and the Church, without allowing any compromises or concessions in the area of ​​faith, in civil terms we must be sincere towards Soviet power and work for the common good, conforming the order of external church life and activities with the new state system... At the same time, we express confidence that establishing pure, sincere relationships will encourage our authorities to treat us with complete confidence.”

So firmly and clearly, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon defined the purely canonical position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the Soviet state, thereby helping the Orthodox Russian people understand the meaning of revolutionary changes. Change in political position Patriarch Tikhon and most of the Orthodox episcopate was determined not only by tactical calculations, but also by considerations of a fundamental nature: Civil War ended government ceased to be the subject of bloody internecine warfare, there was one legal government in the country - the Soviet one, which created the opportunity to build rule of law, in which the Orthodox Church could take its rightful place.

With his personal preaching and firm confession of Christian Truth, and tireless struggle against the enemies of the Church, Patriarch Tikhon aroused the hatred of representatives of the new government, which constantly persecuted him. He was either imprisoned or kept under “house arrest” in the Moscow Donskoy Monastery. The life of His Holiness was always under threat: an attempt was made on his life three times, but he fearlessly went to perform divine services in various churches in Moscow and beyond. The entire Patriarchate of His Holiness Tikhon was a continuous feat of martyrdom. When the authorities made him an offer to go abroad for permanent residence, Patriarch Tikhon said: “I will not go anywhere, I will suffer here along with all the people and fulfill my duty to the limit set by God.” All these years he actually lived in prison and died in struggle and sorrow. At this time, vested with the highest powers, he, by the election of the Church and the lot of God, was a victim doomed to suffer for the entire Russian Church.

His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon died on March 25, 1925, on the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, and was buried in the Moscow Donskoy Monastery.

Patriarch Tikhon's services to the Russian Church are innumerable. Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), later Patriarch, said remarkable words about him: “He alone fearlessly walked the straight path of serving Christ and His Church. He alone bore the entire weight of the Church in last years. We live by it, move and exist as Orthodox people.”

In 1981, the Council of Bishops glorified the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, Patriarch Tikhon, in the cathedral. And in 1989, in the year of the anniversary of the establishment of the Patriarchate in Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. His memory is celebrated on March 25/April 7 and September 26/October 9.