Anathema to Soviet power. Who was anathematized by Patriarch Tikhon, or should we believe the promises of the communists? Beloved Bishop of Lublin

Already March 2, 1917. the members of the Synod betrayed the Anointed of God and found it necessary to cooperate with the self-proclaimed new government. Many bishops even "expressed sincere joy at the dawn of a new era in the life of the Orthodox Church"; On March 4, the royal chair was taken out of the meeting room. God's vengeance overtook them quickly...

From December 1917, the Bolsheviks increased their seizures of church buildings, churches, monasteries, in January 1918 they confiscated the synodal printing house, and on January 13 they issued the same decree on the confiscation of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

On January 19, a detachment of Red Guards attacked the Lavra, while the elderly Archpriest Pyotr Skipetrov, who called on the Red Army soldiers not to desecrate the shrines, was killed, and Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd and the governor, Bishop Procopius, were arrested.

In response to this, on the same day, January 19, 1918, Patriarch Tikhon issued his famous Message with an anathema to the Bolshevik authorities and a call for popular resistance to the increasing attacks of the Bolsheviks on churches and the murders of the clergy:

“Come to your senses, madmen, stop your massacres. 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 life - the afterlife and the terrible curse of posterity in the present life - earthly.

By the authority given to us from God, we forbid you to approach the Mysteries of Christ, we anathematize you, if only you still bear Christian names and although you belong to the Orthodox Church by birth. We also conjure all of you, faithful children of the Orthodox Church of Christ, not to enter into any communion with such monsters of the human race...

The authorities, which promised to establish law and truth in Russia, to ensure freedom and order, everywhere show only the most unbridled self-will and sheer violence against everyone and, in particular, over the holy Orthodox Church. Where is the limit to these mockeries of the Church of Christ? How and with what can one stop this offensive against her by the enemies of the frantic?

We call on all of you believers and faithful children of the Church: stand up for our now insulted and oppressed holy mother. We call on all of you, believing and faithful children of the Church: Stand up for the defense of our Holy Mother, now offended and oppressed... 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 us.. .

And you, brethren, archpastors and pastors, without delaying a single hour in your spiritual work, call your children with ardent zeal to defend the now violated rights of the Orthodox Church, immediately arrange spiritual unions, call not by need, but by good will to become in the ranks of spiritual fighters, who will oppose the power of their holy inspiration to external power, and we firmly hope that the enemies of the Church will be put to shame and squandered by the power of the Cross of Christ, for the promise of the Divine Crusader Himself is immutable: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her.”

The message of Patriarch Tikhon was approved by the Local Council at the very first meeting of the second session of the Council, which opened the next day on January 20, 1918. The meeting was devoted to the development of measures to counter the actions of the authorities and protect the Church. The news of the patriarchal anathema against the enemies of the Church and the state was sent to the faithful through the emissaries of the Council. They read it in churches, called for unity in order to protect the Church.

The answer of the Bolsheviks to the anathema was the decree of the Council of People's Commissars adopted the next day on the "separation of the Church from the state": more precisely, the Church was deprived of the rights of a legal entity and all property created over the previous millennium by our ancestors. The "legitimate" road was opened for the Jewish Holocaust over the Russian Orthodox people.

This is what was the result of the betrayal of the Anointed of God by the Church hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1917!

The spiritual state of Russia at that time was revealed in the behavior of the highest bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. They did not condemn the February Revolution, did not come out in defense of the Tsar, did not support him spiritually, but only submitted to the Provisional Government, despite the calls of Comrade Chief Prosecutor N.D. Zhevakhov and telegrams from some branches of the Union of the Russian People to the Synod to support the monarchy.

As early as March 2, the members of the Synod "recognized the need to immediately enter into relations with the Executive Committee of the State Duma," that is, with the self-proclaimed new government. Many bishops even “expressed their sincere joy at the dawn of a new era in the life of the Orthodox Church»; March 4 from the boardroom the royal chair was taken out, which was "a symbol of the enslavement of the Church by the state".

With rare exceptions, the hierarchs are surprisingly hasty with the decision of March 7 crossed out the name of the Anointed of God from the liturgical books and ordered instead of him to commemorate the "good Provisional Government", that is, conspirator Masons who were not elected by anyone for this position, who on the same day decided to arrest the Royal Family. The supreme archpastors did not even remember about perjury, de facto freeing the army and the people from the oath to the legitimate Tsar, which every serving citizen of the Empire took on the Gospel.

On March 7, all the dioceses were sent the text of the oath of the new government with the words: “In conclusion of the oath given by me, I overshadow myself with the sign of the cross and sign below”; the oath was taken with the participation of the clergy. And, finally, in the famous Address of the Holy Synod of March 9, it was said:

“The will of God has been done. Russia has embarked on the path of a new state life... trust the Provisional Government; all together and each one separately, make an effort so that through labor and exploits, prayer and obedience, alleviate great deal the establishment of new principles of state life and the common mind to lead Russia on the path of true freedom, happiness and glory. The Holy Synod fervently prays to the Almighty Lord, may He bless the labors and undertakings of the Provisional Russian Government...”.

Thus, the Synod, instead of calling for the observance of the Fundamental Laws and swearing an oath to the Anointed of God, made the ecclesiastical justification of the revolution for the sake of earthly blessings of "true freedom, happiness and glory." The synod could at least emphasize the temporary and conditional nature of the new government, but the bishops even before the decision of the future Constituent Assembly(which was supposed to decide the form of government) considered the monarchy irrevocably abolished by the "will of God" and "general reason"; the message was signed by all the members of the Synod, even the Metropolitans of Kiev Vladimir and Moscow Macarius, who had a reputation as Black Hundreds monarchists.

Such a call on behalf of the Church paralyzed the resistance of the monarchist organizations and the Orthodox church people throughout the country. Only in a few parishes did the prayer for the Sovereign continue to be heard, and from a few cities the Synod received requests for an oath and calls for resistance to the revolution. Most of the clergy remained silent in confusion, and many diocesan assemblies (in Vladivostok, Tomsk, Omsk, Kharkov, Tula) also welcomed the "new order". On July 12, the Synod sent a corresponding message to the citizens of Russia, which "threw off the political chains that bound it"...

It does not matter whether the bishops did it under pressure from the Masonic authorities or from a sense of their "enslavement" to the secular authorities in competition with it. In any case, this became possible due to the fact that even the head of the Russian Church succumbed to the general process of apostasy and lost understanding of the holding essence of the Orthodox monarchy. This was the main cause of the revolution: at first it took place in the heads of the leading stratum. And this was the main reason for the internal weakness of Russia in the face of the onslaught of its enemies ...

By the Grace of God, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, beloved in the Lord to the archpastors, pastors and all the faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church.

"May the Lord deliver us from the present age of the evil one" ().

The holy Orthodox of Christ is now going through a difficult time in the Russian land: persecution has been raised against the truth of Christ by open and secret enemies of this truth, and they are striving to destroy the cause of Christ and, instead of Christian love, sow everywhere the seeds of malice, hatred and fratricidal warfare.

Forgotten and trampled upon are the commandments of Christ about love for one's neighbors: every day news reaches us of terrible and brutal beatings of innocent people and even on the sickbed of people lying on the bed, guilty only of honestly fulfilling their duty to their homeland, that all their strength believed in serving the good of the people. And all this is done not only under the cover of night darkness, but also in daylight, with hitherto unheard-of audacity and merciless cruelty, without any trial and with the violation of all rights and legality - is being done today in almost all cities and villages of our homeland. : both in the capitals and on remote outskirts (in Petrograd, Moscow, Irkutsk, Sevastopol, etc.).

All this fills our hearts with deep painful sorrow and compels us to turn to such monsters of the human race with a formidable word of reproof and rebuke according to the covenant of St. apostle: “Reprove those who sin before all, and the rest have fear” ().

Come to your senses, madmen, stop your massacres. 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 life - the afterlife and the terrible curse of posterity in the present life - earthly.

By the authority given to us by God, we forbid you to approach the Mysteries of Christ, we anathematize you, if only you still bear Christian names and although you belong to the Orthodox Church by birth.

We also conjure all of you, faithful children of the Orthodox Church of Christ, not to enter into any communion with such monsters of the human race: "remove the evil from yourselves" ().

The most severe persecution has also been raised against the holy Church of Christ: the sacraments of grace that sanctify the birth of a person into the world, or bless the marital union of a Christian family, are openly declared unnecessary, superfluous; holy temples are either destroyed by shooting from deadly weapons (the holy cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin), or robbed and blasphemously insulted (the chapel of the Savior in Petrograd); the holy cloisters revered by the believing people (like the Alexander Nevsky and Pochaev Lavra) are seized by the godless rulers of the darkness of this age and declared to be some kind of supposedly national property; schools maintained at the expense of the Orthodox Church and preparing pastors of the Church and teachers of the faith are recognized as superfluous and are converted either into schools of unbelief, or even directly into hotbeds of immorality. The property of Orthodox monasteries and churches is taken away under the pretext that it is the property of the people, but without any right and even without the desire to reckon with the legitimate will of the people themselves ... And, finally, the government, which promised to establish law and truth in Russia, to ensure freedom and order , shows everywhere only the most unbridled self-will and sheer violence against everyone, and in particular - over the Orthodox saint.

Where are the limits to these mockeries of Christ? How and with what can one stop this offensive against her by the enemies of the frantic?

We call on all of you, believers and faithful children of the Church: Stand up for the defense of your holy Mother, now offended and oppressed.

The enemies of the Church seize power over her and her property by the power of deadly weapons, and you resist them with the power of your faith, your powerful popular cry, which will stop the madmen and show them that they have no right to call themselves champions of the people's welfare, builders of a new life at the behest of the people. reason, for they even act directly contrary to the conscience of the people.

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 us with the words of the holy apostle: “Who will separate us from the love of God? Is it sorrow, or oppression, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or a sword? ().

And you, brethren, archpastors and pastors, without delaying a single hour in your spiritual work, call your children with ardent zeal to defend the now trampled rights of the Orthodox Church, immediately arrange spiritual unions, call not by need, but by good will to become in the ranks of spiritual fighters, who will oppose the power of their holy inspiration to external power, and we firmly hope that the enemies of the Church will be put to shame and squandered by the power of the cross of Christ, for the promise of the Divine Crusader Himself is immutable: "I will build mine, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" ().

Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. January 19th 1918

Nika Kravchuk

8 interesting facts from the life of Patriarch Tikhon

On February 22, 1992, the relics of St. Tikhon, known as Patriarch Tikhon, were uncovered. The one who anathematized the persecutors of the Church (read - the godless Soviet government) and openly condemned the execution of Nicholas II. You will find interesting facts from the life of the saint, about service and an attempt on life in the article.

1. Hereditary priest, "Bishop" and "Patriarch"

Vasily Bellavin, the future head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was born in the Pskov region, in the village of Klin. His father, John, was a hereditary priest. It is not surprising that at the age of nine, Vasily entered the Toropetsk Theological School, then - at the Pskov Theological Seminary. During his studies, his fellow seminarians nicknamed him "The Bishop". After graduating from the seminary, he studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In this educational institution, friends jokingly called him "Patriarch". 29 years after graduation, Vasily Bellavin will become ... Patriarch Tikhon.

2. Beloved Bishop of Lublin

On December 26, 1891, Vasily Bellavin took the tonsure with the name Tikhon (in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk), soon he was ordained a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk.

The future head of the Russian Orthodox Church served in Poland for several years. At first he was an inspector, and then the rector of the Kholm Theological Seminary. Five (according to some sources, seven) years later he was ordained Bishop of Lublin.

The young bishop was loved not only by the Orthodox, but also by Greek and Roman Catholics. According to eyewitnesses, when the bishop was transferred to another pulpit, the flock did not want to let him go. Not only the Orthodox, but also Christians of other denominations wept and lamented. They took off the train attendants, and some even went on flights so as not to take away their beloved bishop. And only when the future Patriarch Tikhon asked the believers not to interfere with what was to happen, they calmed down.

3. North American Bishop

In September 1898 the saint became Bishop of Aleutian and Alaska , therefore, over the next nine years, he strengthened Orthodoxy in America. During this time, he managed to build many churches, open theological seminaries, support the translation of liturgical books and the conversion of non-Orthodox to Orthodoxy.

In 1905 Bishop Tikhon was elevated to the rank of archbishop. In the same year, he transferred the pulpit from San Francisco to New York, where St. Nicholas Cathedral had already been erected by that time. Also in 1905, Vladyka consecrated the Holy Trinity Church in Winnipeg, Canada, and opened the first theological seminary in America.

The future Patriarch Tikhon blessed the construction of the first Orthodox monastery in the United States with an orphanage school. Vladyka also supported Christians in America in every possible way. His activities and pious example inspired 32 Greek Catholic communities to convert to Orthodoxy.

4. Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov, Vilna and Lithuania

In 1907 Vladyka returned to Russia and became Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov. Five years later, he was transferred to the Vilna department, but before that, the city authorities of Yaroslavl honored him with the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City of Yaroslavl." Tellingly, this was actually an isolated case when a bishop was elected an honorary citizen.

The service at the Vilna cathedra was interrupted by the First World War - Vladyka was evacuated to Moscow. But wherever he was, he was surrounded by people everywhere. They say that not only Orthodox, but also Catholics and Old Believers turned to him for blessing.

5. Saint of Moscow

The fall of the monarchy changed the history of Russian Orthodoxy. In May 1917, it became possible to choose the ruling bishops. So Bishop Tikhon became Bishop of Moscow and Kolomna , and three months later - Metropolitan.

6. Patriarch of Moscow

It is difficult to find pluses for the Orthodox Church after the establishment of Soviet power. But still, there was one advantage - the meeting of the Local Council, at which they decided to restore the patriarchate.

Among the three favorites according to the providence of God, one was chosen. And it happened like this. On November 18, 1917, a Liturgy and a prayer service were served in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, then, in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, Elder Alexy from Zosima Hermitage took out a lot - "Metropolitan Tikhon". So the Metropolitan of Moscow became Patriarch.

7. Coming for the truth

In January 1918, Saint Tikhon announced an anathema to the madmen who started the persecution of the Church. Although there was no specific reference to the Bolsheviks in the Appeal, it is believed that it was them that the Patriarch spoke out against.

He also openly condemned the execution of the imperial family and the fact that the Executive Committee recognized it as legal.

In matters of principle, he defended his position, in less important ones he sometimes compromised with the authorities.

True, the Soviets saw him as their enemy, so they tried their best to get rid of him. Patriach spent more than a year in prison. Twice they attempted to assassinate him (during the second attempt, the cell-attendant of the saint died). But even after all that he had experienced, Patriarch Tikhon continued to serve and receive people.

On the Annunciation, April 7, 1925, he went to God. According to the official version, the 60-year-old Patriarch died of heart failure. But many believe that the saint was poisoned. The patriarch foresaw his death, so a few hours before his death he said:

Now I will fall asleep ... soundly and for a long time. The night will be long, dark, dark.

8. Patriarch of the People

According to eyewitnesses, crowds of people came to say goodbye to the Patriarch - about a million believers - and this was in Soviet times!

At the funeral, a crowd of thousands in the Donskoy Monastery and near the monastery sang in unison. It was actually a nationwide glorification. Officially, the saint was first canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church abroad - this happened in 1981. Eight years later, the Russian Orthodox Church also canonized Patriarch Tikhon as a saint. Then no one knew exactly where the relics of the saint were located.

But in 1992, unknown people set fire to the Small Cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery. During the restoration of the temple, the relics of St. Tikhon were found. In our time, they are exhibited for general worship in the Great Cathedral of the same monastery.

Take it, tell your friends!

Read also on our website:

show more

In 2015, the Russian Church celebrated two anniversaries at once: on February 1, the 150th anniversary of his birth, and on April 7, the 90th anniversary of his death. Patriarch Tikhon led the church ship through a bloody storm of anti-church persecution inspired by the godless leaders of the communist regime that seized power in long-suffering Russia.

Patriarch Tikhon is one of the most revered saints of modern times - he has three days of remembrance a year: September 26 / October 9 - glorification, March 25 / April 7 - repose, November 5/18 - election as Patriarch of All Russia . But, despite many years of studying the life and ministry of Patriarch Tikhon, there are still many blank spots in his biography.

On the eve of the celebration of the PSTGU Acting Day On November 18, we asked the head of the largest center for studying the history of the New Martyrs and Confessors in the Russian Church, the Rector of St. Tikhon Orthodox University, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov, to talk about the problems of studying the life and ministry of Patriarch Tikhon, about his veneration, image of holiness and place in the history of Russia.

Patriarch Tikhon as the greatest ecumenical saint

- This year marks the 90th anniversary of the death of the holy Patriarch Tikhon, which happened on the day of the Annunciation of the Mother of God - April 7, 1925. He died in the Bakunin hospital, not far from the Zachatievsky Monastery on Ostozhenka. When he died, everyone suspected that he had been poisoned. Although later they wrote many times that “there was no poisoning”, he died “just from a heart attack”, but, nevertheless, the version of poisoning is not removed, it is very likely. This version has not yet been tested. I don't know if this can be verified, but there have been no attempts to investigate. If this is poisoning, then Patriarch Tikhon should be called a holy martyr. If this is death from a heart attack, then it is still the death of a confessor.

Saint Tikhon lived in an atmosphere of severe persecution of the Church and went through seven years of Patriarchal service as a true way of the cross, the way to Golgotha. It was these years that led him to an untimely death. He died 60 years of age, that is, he did not live such a long life.

Today, looking back at the history of the 20th century, we can say that Patriarch Tikhon is one of the greatest Russian saints and certainly ranks among the greatest ecumenical saints. He was elected by the most amazing Council in the history of the Russian Church.

- Remind me, please, how this election took place.

– The Cathedral of 1917 was being prepared for 11 years. Delegates were elected democratically, without political pressure. It was very representative - more than 500 delegates.

The patriarch was also elected in an amazing way. First, 28 candidates were elected. The three with the most votes were then chosen. Then the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was brought from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The Kremlin had already been occupied by the Communists, so it was impossible to serve there, and the icon was brought from the Kremlin to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Holy Martyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky), the first Hieromartyr among the New Martyr Bishops, served the Liturgy in the church. After the Liturgy and a special prayer service in front of the Vladimir Icon, Elder Alexy from the Zosima Hermitage drew lots with the name of Patriarch Tikhon. Here the active participation of the people and the will of God were united.

He led the Church during the most terrible persecution of Christians in world history. We can say with good reason that Patriarch Tikhon has become the head of an army of new martyrs.

He himself suffered persecution from the first days of his patriarchate.

– Could you cite some little-known episodes of persecution?

- Once the Patriarch was informed that a whole carriage of sailors was coming from Petrograd to arrest him, and they asked him to leave the Trinity Compound, where he lived until 1922. It was in the evening when Patriarch Tikhon went to bed. He listened and replied: "I'm not going anywhere." The sailors arrived in the morning, went out to the platform, conferred, got into the car and drove back. God Himself guarded His saint.

Everyone knows the confessional messages of Patriarch Tikhon to the Bolsheviks, they know his message with an anathema to the Bolsheviks who create lawlessness. With his messages, he tried to protect the Church from persecutors, from robbery. In 1922 he was arrested. He was interrogated in court. A pamphlet of this interrogation with his own notes has been preserved. Then there was a year of strict imprisonment in the Donskoy Monastery. From there he was taken for interrogation to the Lubyanka. He spent some time in the Lubyanka prison. Little is known about this.

The Politburo issued a death sentence to Patriarch Tikhon. Not the court, but the Politburo made such a secret decision

The Politburo sentenced him to death. Not the court, but the Politburo made such a secret decision. The sentence was not carried out because the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs G. Chicherin convinced the Politburo that the murder of Patriarch Tikhon would not be beneficial to the Soviet government. The entire Christian world - in Europe and America - came to the defense of the Russian Patriarch. "Abroad" threatened, as they say now, with economic sanctions. It was decided not to shoot the Patriarch, but instead demand a letter of repentance from him. Having received what he wanted, he was released.

– Was such an act a manifestation of, shall we say, weakness?

- Patriarch Tikhon, of course, could not find out by any means what was happening in the upper echelons of the Bolshevik government, because he was imprisoned. How do Christians deal with such situations? They ask the will of God. The guards who guarded him wrote in their diaries: "The old man is good for everything, only he prays all night long." He prayed, and the Lord taught him how to act. Patriarch Tikhon agreed to sign a “letter of repentance” compromising him.

When he was released, the provocative activities of the Living Church collapsed instantly. A huge number of people understood what was happening, stopped going to the churches of the Church and returned to Patriarch Tikhon. The clergy, who went over to the side of the Living Church, began to come to Patriarch Tikhon with repentance. The authority of the Patriarch among the people was not damaged by his "repentant letter". The people knew that Patriarch Tikhon was a holy man.

The Bolsheviks arrested the closest ascetics of the holy Patriarch, imprisoned them, sent them into exile, and shot some of them. Temples, monasteries, theological schools were closed before his eyes, relics were taken away, relics were opened. Many archpastors did not find the courage in themselves and tried to "negotiate" with the Soviet authorities, thus going against the head of the Church. Patriarch Tikhon sometimes had to stand alone against Soviet persecution and look for the right path for the Church.

Even during his lifetime, Soviet newspapers endlessly slandered Patriarch Tikhon, humiliated him and mocked him. When he died, a falsified "testament" was issued on his behalf. But no one believed this fake. Those who knew Patriarch Tikhon believed that he was a holy man. The people believed him boundlessly, believed in him as in their saint. Patriarch Tikhon possessed moral authority, which turned out to be an unusually powerful force, uniting the Church, the clergy, and the entire Russian people.

When Patriarch Tikhon died, even more difficult times began for the Church. The absence of a spiritual leader produced grave consequences. After his death, the Soviet authorities began to select people they liked who would take the patriarchal post. While the Patriarch was alive, it was possible to arrest him, but it was impossible to compromise him: the people believed in him.

One can justifiably speak of the global significance of the feat of Patriarch Tikhon. The 20th century is the most difficult era in the history of mankind, when materialism, atheism, communism began to spread throughout the globe like a plague, when revolutions and anti-Christian persecutions began to take place everywhere. Science claimed that Christ is a legend, a myth, that He did not exist at all. And at this time is the giant of the Christian faith! A real Christian who shows the image of Christian holiness on the highest Patriarchal throne! On the candlestick, which the whole world sees, shone the fire of confessional faith, glorifying our Heavenly Father.

Patriarch Tikhon is the image of an Orthodox saint who alone resists a hurricane of bloody evil: revolution, civil war, mass violence, executions, murders. They threatened to kill him himself and sent assassins several times. He did not run from death.

The only thing that was dear to him was the service of the Church. He understood that the Lord set him up as a beacon that should shine in the darkness and show the path of Christ.

His epistles are patristic teachings to all Christians for all the remaining ages.

– What else is the significance of the activities of Patriarch Tikhon?

– Patriarch Tikhon, like all holy people, was internally very free. He blessed and thereby legitimized, as a Patriarch and as a saint, the frequent Communion of the holy Mysteries of Christ. He called the people to it. This blessing has a special meaning for us.

He blessed for the feat of confession and martyrdom. He showed by his example how the Church can defeat the most terrible, incredible force of evil.

He showed that the Church could be governed by holy bishops, even when deprived of administrative forms. And her life, being miserable on the outside, is an extraordinary example of faith. The Church called these saints. Communist persecution in this sense is the brightest page in the history of the Christian Church. When else were such hosts of saints revealed? And they were headed by the Patriarch. The soldiers of Christ walked under his omophorion. This is a unique phenomenon in history.

If we look at our history on the scale of the history of the Universal Church, then we will see a terrifying picture of spiritual warfare, when persecution is not taking place in some separate area where the emperor came and staged a local pogrom. No, an immense country was subjected to persecution - the largest country in the world. In Russia, the entire Church was outlawed. And not for a while, but for the purpose of the complete destruction of the Church. The entire episcopate was subjected to repression. Almost all the priests were killed or imprisoned. Before the war in Russia, only a few bishops and about 100 priests remained free.

But the Church has proved that it is not an earthly organization that can be closed or destroyed, it is the living Body of Christ. It turned out that she was not connected with any earthly forms. It is possible to destroy all the earthly forms of her life, but this does not make her weaker. She responds to mortal persecution with a confessional feat, holiness, and wins.

If you imagine the canvas, you would get a battle of good and evil, the righteous and sinners, in this picture, at the head of the army among the leaders, following Christ and the angelic forces, Patriarch Tikhon goes and leads the army. The spirit of victorious confrontation on the way of the cross is revealed to us by the Gospel. These are Christians who took up the cross and followed Christ. There were hundreds of thousands of them. Patriarch Tikhon is a symbol of the era, representing the image of the feat of the Church.

Our Patriarch

– And what personality traits of Patriarch Tikhon are especially important for us?

– Those who knew Patriarch Tikhon testified that he was a man of incredible humility, meekness and love. He was completely simple. He had no pathos. He was simple in life, in dealing with others. I say this because my grandfather knew him. He was a Moscow dean and was a member of the Diocesan Council under Patriarch Tikhon.

There was in Sergiev Posad (then called Zagorsk) a wonderful old man, Father Tikhon Pelikh, rector of the Elias Church behind the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He was born into a peasant family and was sent to the army. Here is his own story. In a soldier's overcoat, he reached Moscow and came to the temple to serve Patriarch Tikhon. He was a young boy, hungry and cold. He said: “I myself do not know how I ended up in the altar. Some force led me, pushed me to Patriarch Tikhon. I didn't know what to say. Went in for a blessing. The Patriarch affectionately asked, “What is your name?” I answer: "Tikhon". He says: "And me - Tikhon." I don’t remember anything further, only the subdeacons pulled me out of the altar by the skirts of my greatcoat.” All who came into contact with Patriarch Tikhon were sanctified with grace and love.

It is indescribable how people loved Patriarch Tikhon. When he came to serve in some town near Moscow, factories and factories stopped there, all the workers went out to meet Patriarch Tikhon and did not work until he left. His holiness, love, devotion to the will of God rallied Christians, helped to withstand the terrible aggression of the dark world.

We are often asked: why did we choose Patriarch Tikhon as the patron of our university? The Academic Council made this choice because Patriarch Tikhon showed us the feat that the Russian Church must go through in recent times, because by his feat he renewed Orthodox life in Russia.

At that moment, revolutions were being made, there were renovationists who carried out reforms to renew the Church in order to create a "Living Church". But Patriarch Tikhon "renewed" church life, again revealing the holiness of the Church, an archpastoral feat. This is the main way to upgrade. He could not carry out the reforms outlined by the Council, but revived the spirit of the first Christians, ready to give their lives to God, to defend the Christian faith to death. We need this spirit too. Our time is very difficult, the aggression of darkness does not weaken. We can resist this aggression by being inspired by the feat of the saints. We have chosen Patriarch Tikhon as our patron, so that through his prayers we can faithfully serve the Church and educate new servants of the Church.

To have a true understanding of history

—Members of the Church understand that the center of Russian history is the history of the Church. But in the secular history of Russia, Patriarch Tikhon is almost unknown. This greatly distorts the ideas about their history among the Russian people. I studied at school after the fall of the Soviet Union, but even then there was not a word about Patriarch Tikhon in the textbooks. How can we overcome this veil and draw the attention of our compatriots to the life and ministry of Patriarch Tikhon and the history of the Church?

We need to pray more to Patriarch Tikhon. Maybe serve prayers at the shrine with his relics

– This is not easy to do, because many try to hush up the history of the Church in every possible way. But, I think, it will not be possible to make people forget about Patriarch Tikhon. We need to pray more to Patriarch Tikhon. Maybe serve prayers, as they serve in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra at the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The people will go to the Donskoy Monastery.

Holy anti-communist?

- Not so long ago, we witnessed the grimace of history: the head of the Communist Party, G. Zyuganov, sent an open letter to Patriarch Kirill that, in his opinion, it is necessary to "end anti-Sovietism." Patriarch Tikhon once issued an anathema to Soviet power. What does this anathema mean?

In the anathema to the Soviet government of Patriarch Tikhon, there are no formal indications that it is precisely members of the Communist Party that are being anathematized.

– In the anathema of the Soviet power of Patriarch Tikhon, there are no formal indications that it is the members of the Communist Party that are being anathematized. It says that lawless people who commit atrocities, oppose the Church, pogromists of temples, murderers, and so on are anathematized. I do not think that it can be specified against the members of today's Communist Party. Today's Communist Party does not seem to have such militant atheism in its charter as before. I would not understand this anathema so broadly.

– What does Patriarch Tikhon mean to you personally?

– I knew about Patriarch Tikhon from early childhood, because he was very revered in our family. My grandfather spoke to him personally. We have preserved as a shrine the Easter egg presented by Patriarch Tikhon to my grandfather. A number of documents signed by Patriarch Tikhon have been preserved.

I knew an old woman who in her youth suffered from terrible epilepsy: 18 seizures a day. Then she was a girl who did not believe in God. On the night of his death, Patriarch Tikhon appeared to her and blessed her. She was healed and became a deeply religious person. There are many such testimonies about the holiness of Patriarch Tikhon. For me, he was a saint even before his canonization. I went to his tomb in the Donskoy Monastery. I especially learned a lot about him from Mikhail Efimovich Gubonin, who himself served in the altar at the services of Patriarch Tikhon, deeply revered him and collected many documents about his life.

Epistle of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon on the anathematization of the Bolsheviks

Humble Tikhon, by the grace of God, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia,
beloved in the Lord to the archpastors, pastors and all the faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“May the Lord deliver us from this present evil age” (Gal. 1:4).
The holy Orthodox Church of Christ in the Russian land is now going through a difficult time: open and secret enemies of this truth have raised persecution against the truth of Christ and are striving to destroy the cause of Christ and, instead of Christian love, sow everywhere the seeds of malice, hatred and fratricidal warfare.
Forgotten and trampled upon are the commandments of Christ about love for one's neighbors: daily news reaches us of terrible and brutal beatings of innocent people and even on the sickbed of people lying on the bed, guilty only of having honestly fulfilled their duty to their homeland, that all their strength believed in serving the good of the people.
And all this is being done not only under the cover of night darkness, but also in reality, in daylight, with hitherto unheard of audacity and merciless cruelty, without any trial and with the violation of all rights and legality, is being done today in almost all cities and villages of our homeland: and in the capitals and on remote outskirts (in Petrograd, Moscow, Irkutsk, Sevastopol, etc.).
All this fills our heart with deeply painful sorrow and compels us to turn to such monsters of the human race with a formidable word of denunciation according to the covenant of St. Apostle: "Reprove those who sin before all, that others may also fear" (And Tim. 5:20)

Come to your senses madmen, stop your massacres. 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 life - the afterlife and the terrible curse of posterity in the present life - earthly.

By the authority given to us by God, we forbid you to approach the mysteries of Christ, we anathematize you, if only you still bear Christian names and although you belong to the Orthodox Church by birth
.
We also conjure all of you, faithful children of the Orthodox Church of Christ, not to enter into any communion with such monsters of the human race: “remove the evil from you yourself” (1 Cor. 5, 13).

The most severe persecution has also been raised against the holy Church of Christ: the sacraments of grace that sanctify the birth of a person into the world or bless the marital union of a Christian family are declared unnecessary, superfluous; holy temples are either destroyed by shooting from deadly weapons (the holy cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin) or robbed and blasphemously insulted (the chapel of the Savior in Petrograd); saints revered by the believing people (like the Alexander Nevsky and Pochaev Lavra) are seized by the godless rulers of the darkness of this age and declared to be some kind of supposedly national property; schools maintained at the expense of the Orthodox Church and preparing the pastors of the Church and teachers of the faith are recognized as superfluous and turn either into schools of unbelief, or even directly into hotbeds of immorality.

The property of Orthodox monasteries and churches is confiscated under the pretext that it is the property of the people, but without any right and even without the desire to reckon with the legitimate will of the people themselves ... And, finally, the government, which promised to establish law and truth in Russia, to ensure freedom and order, everywhere it manifests only the most unbridled willfulness and sheer violence against everyone, and in particular over the Holy Orthodox Church.

Where are the limits to these mockeries of the Church of Christ? How and with what can one stop this offensive against her by the enemies of the frantic? We call on all of you believers and faithful children of the Church: stand up for the defense of our now insulted and oppressed holy mother.

The enemies of the Church seize power over her and her property by the power of a deadly weapon, and you resist them with the power of yours, your powerful popular cry, which will stop the madmen and show them that they have no right to call themselves champions of the people's good, builders of a new life at the behest of the people's mind because they even act directly against the conscience of the people. 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 us with the words of the holy Apostle: Who can separate us from the love of God. Whether it be sorrow, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or a sword" (Rom. 8:35).
And you brethren, archpastors and pastors, without delaying a single hour in your spiritual work, call your children with ardent zeal to defend the trampled rights of the Orthodox Church, immediately arrange spiritual unions, call not by need, but by good will to become in the ranks of spiritual fighters who they will oppose the power of their holy inspiration to the external force, and we firmly hope that the enemies of the Church will be put to shame and squandered by the power of the cross of Christ, for the promise of the Divine Crusader himself is immutable: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her” (Matt. 16, 18).

Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
January 19th day. 1918.