Explanations of church and home prayers. From the letters of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Patriarch Tikhon against Soviet power: You yourself will perish by the sword, who took the sword Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

FROM THE LETTERS OF ST. TIKHON OF ZADONSK

The first and most necessary thing for every Christian is the acquisition of eternal salvation. We need clothes, food, drink, shelter and other similar needs during our earthly wandering; but salvation is most necessary: ​​it is so necessary that everything temporary in comparison with it is nothing. He who has acquired salvation has everything; he who has not acquired salvation has nothing, even though the whole world belongs to him.

What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? The rescue there is only one for the needs! Salvation is that the good part, even will not be taken away from the soul, acquiring it! Everything material that we have, that we acquire during earthly life, we will leave everything on the day of death: we will leave forever relatives, friends, wealth, honors, we will leave our very body. Eternal salvation or eternal death, they alone will remain our property, will go with us into eternity, so they will receive full development, they will bring us either endless bliss or endless disaster.

Assure yourself that you will die, you will surely die. Do you see how your dead brethren are carried out of their dwellings, carried out alike from a humble hut and from a magnificent hall, equally buried in the earth? This will certainly follow with you: Thou art earth, and to earth thou shalt go! All the dead left everything they had; leave you too. When they approached the hour of death: then they realized that everything in this world is vanity of vanities, that is, vanity in the strongest sense of the word. And you will understand this out of necessity when the hour of your death comes. It is better to understand this in time, and in accordance with such a concept, direct your activity! When death comes, no one and nothing can help the one to whom she came - neither family, nor friends, nor a high rank, nor a loud title, nor many subordinates, nor a lot of wealth. Death is both inexorable and irresistible. The neighbors of the dying man do not want to let him go, and he does not want to leave them and everything earthly, to which he is addicted and was born with a long habit, but the will and hand of death is more powerful than his will and efforts, the will and efforts of all people: against his own will and against the will of his neighbors the dying person leaves everyone and everything, is carried away by force into an unknown eternity. Vain tears! Vain sobs! Vain screams! Vain groans and torments! This is how all the dead died: this is how you will die. When the hour of death comes, the whole life that has passed is resurrected in the memory of the dying person, an impartial judgment is ready for him, which should decide his fate for eternity, terrible trepidation and bewilderment embrace him. Such will be your position when, having finished your earthly wandering, you will step on the line that separates the temporal from the eternal, the corruptible from the imperishable.

Blessed is he who dies in the Lord: when he leaves everything at death, then he will unite abundantly with the Lord, the source and treasury of all blessings, because during his earthly life he left everything in order to gain the Lord. Please God from now on, as a servant carefully pleases his master, so that then, after separating your soul from your body, He recognizes you as His servant, stretches out His almighty right hand to you, delivers your soul from your enemies - demons that will rush at you like fierce wild beasts to snatch you away and bring you down to the dungeons and fires of hell.

Beloved! Always remember, always remember the hour of your death. The saints spent their whole lives contemplating death; the eyes of their minds and hearts were either directed during eternity, to the vast space that begins behind these gates, or they turned to their sinfulness, looked there, as if into a dark abyss, from a contrite heart, from a sick heart, they shed warmest and unceasing prayers to God for mercy.

Know and be convinced that luxury, feasts, amusements, games, distracted life, in a word, everything that bears the name of vanity and peace, that worries and absorbs a person’s whole life, all his time, all the forces and abilities of soul and body, is nothing else. , as a deception and scheming of Satan, fictitious and arranged to deceive people. If you do not know this and are not convinced of it arbitrarily from the word of God, then you will know and be convinced involuntarily at the onset of death. Who does not study what, he does not know. Whoever makes little effort or does not try at all about the great considers this great unimportant, unimportant, insignificant. Christians do not know Christianity because they do not study it; they do not pay any attention to the redemption of mankind by God incarnate, trample on this great work of God, because they do not care and do not think about their own salvation. Neglecting the great gifts of God, they completely indulge in vanity, which is delusion (the seduction of a person from demons, the state of the human soul, based on pride, when a person takes a lie for the truth - ed.). The wrath of God will be kindled against such Christians! It will be more gratifying for idolaters and Mohammedans on the day of God's judgment than for such Christians!

Remember: we cannot know God without God, and the more one knows God, the more one humbles himself, fears and loves Him.

People, wanting to commit iniquity, are looking for hidden places: fornicators and thieves are looking for night and darkness; covetous and bribe takers take bribes secretly; cunning, cunning, flatterers, hypocrites and malicious people hide their evil within themselves; and all the works of darkness are done by those who do them in darkness, like sons of darkness. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be reproved, for they are evil. (John 3:20). All such people are looking for shelter, but they are deceived, the poor.

About prayer

May everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from iniquity(2 Tim. 2:19). Let us depart from unrighteousness, sin and lawlessness, if we want to approach God without condemnation and for our benefit. For the prophet says: For You are a God who does not love iniquity; evil will not dwell with you; the wicked will not stand before your eyes: you hate all those who do iniquity(Ps. 5:5-6). Every lawless person is abominable in the eyes of God, and he who offers his prayer, which is a Christian sacrifice, is strangling the dog(Isaiah 66:3). But He will only look mercifully on the humble and contrite in spirit, and on the one who trembles at His word(Isaiah 66:2). Think about it, Christian, if you don't want to leave your sin, and you want to pray to God.

Before prayer, it is required, firstly, not to be angry with anyone, not to be angry, but to leave all offense, so that God himself would forgive sins. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ... And if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins(Mt. 6, 12, 15). Secondly, one must reconcile with those who have been offended either by word or deed. If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.(Matthew 5:23-24).

Prayer is useless without humility, for God resists the proud(James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). On the contrary, God graciously looks down on the humble: Looks at the prayer of the helpless and does not despise their prayer, - says David (Ps. 101, 18). Thus He looked down on the prayer of the humble publican, although he was burdened with sins, and thus rejected the proud Pharisees' boasting. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted(Luke 18:14). So the centurion in Capernaum, who considered himself unworthy for Christ to enter his house, received what he wanted, and even with praise: And in Israel I did not find such a faith,- says Christ (Mt. 8, 10). For where there is true faith, there is also humility, humility is inseparable from faith. With such faith and humility, we should also approach the majesty of God when we want to ask for something and receive what we ask - remember who we are and to whom we approach with a petition.

Instead of another anniversary of the October Revolution, today we are celebrating National Unity Day. But the revolution is not erased from memory, not so much from the habit of celebrating its date, but from the need to take all the lessons from its incredibly dramatic and tragic experience. A year after the revolution, Patriarch Tikhon sent a message to the Bolsheviks, in which he outlined its first results with surprising accuracy.

From His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon to the Council of People's Commissars

"All who take the sword by the sword will perish" (Matthew 26:52)

We turn this prophecy of the Savior to you, the current arbiters of the fate of our fatherland, who call themselves "people's commissars." You have been holding state power in your hands for a whole year and are already preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution, but the rivers of blood shed by our brothers, mercilessly killed at your call, cries out to heaven and forces Us to tell you a bitter word of truth.

When seizing power and calling on the people to trust you, what promises did you make to them and how did you fulfill these promises?

In truth, you gave him a stone instead of bread and a snake instead of a fish (Matt. 7:9,10). To the people, exhausted by the bloody war, you promised to give peace "without annexations and indemnities."

What conquests could you refuse, having led Russia to a shameful peace, the humiliating conditions of which even you yourself did not dare to make public in full? Instead of annexations and indemnities, our great homeland has been conquered, belittled, dismembered, and in payment of the tribute imposed on it, you are secretly exporting to Germany the accumulated gold not by you.

You have taken from the warriors everything for which they fought valiantly before. You taught them, recently still brave and invincible, leaving the defense of their homeland, to flee from the battlefields. You have quenched in their hearts the consciousness that inspired them, that "no one has more love than this, but who will lay down his life for his friends" (John 13:15). You have replaced the fatherland with a soulless international, although you yourself know very well that when it comes to defending the fatherland, the proletarians of all countries are its faithful sons, and not traitors.

Refusing to defend your homeland from external enemies, however, you are constantly recruiting troops. Who are you leading them against?

You divided the entire people into warring camps and plunged them into fratricide unprecedented in cruelty. You openly replaced the love of Christ with hatred and, instead of peace, you artificially kindled class enmity. And no end is foreseen for the war you have engendered, since you are striving through the hands of the Russian workers and peasants to bring triumph to the specter of the world revolution.

It was not Russia who needed the shameful peace you concluded with an external enemy, but you, who planned to finally destroy the inner world. No one feels safe, everyone lives under constant fear of being searched, robbed, evicted, arrested, shot. Hundreds of the defenseless are seized, they rot for whole months in prisons, they are often executed by death without any investigation or trial, even without the simplified court you introduced. They are executing not only those who have been guilty of something before you, but also those who, even before you, are obviously not guilty of anything, but are taken only as "hostages", these unfortunate people are killed in retaliation for crimes committed by persons not only they are not like-minded, but often your own supporters or those close to you in conviction. Bishops, priests, monks and nuns are executed, who are not guilty of anything, but simply on a sweeping charge of some kind of vague and indefinite "counter-revolutionary". The inhuman execution is aggravated for the Orthodox by the deprivation of the last final consolation-parting words of the Holy Mysteries, and the bodies of the murdered are not handed over to their relatives for Christian burial.
Isn't all this the height of aimless cruelty on the part of those who pretend to be the benefactors of mankind and who supposedly themselves once suffered a lot from cruel authorities?

But it’s not enough for you that you stained the hands of the Russian people with their fraternal blood, hiding behind various names of indemnities, requisitions and nationalization, you pushed them to the most open and shameless robbery. At your instigation, lands, estates, factories, factories, houses, livestock are plundered or taken away; money, things, furniture, clothes are robbed. First, under the name of "bourgeois" they robbed wealthy people, then, under the name of "kulaks", they began to rob the more prosperous and industrious peasants, thus multiplying the beggars, although you cannot help but realize that with the ruin of a great many individual citizens, the wealth of the people is destroyed. and the country is ruined.

By tempting the ignorant and ignorant people with the possibility of easy and unpunished gain, you have clouded their conscience and drowned out the consciousness of sin in them, but no matter what names the atrocities are covered with, murder, violence, robbery will always remain serious and crying out to heaven about vengeance by sins and crimes.

You promised freedom.

A great good is freedom, if it is correctly understood as freedom from evil, not constraining others, not turning into arbitrariness and self-will. But you did not give such and such freedom: in all sorts of indulgence to the base passions of the crowd, in the impunity of murders and robberies lies the freedom you have granted. All manifestations of both the true civil and the highest spiritual freedom of mankind are mercilessly suppressed by you. Is it freedom when no one can carry food, rent an apartment, move from city to city without special permission? Is it freedom when families, and sometimes the population of whole houses, are evicted and property is thrown into the street, and when citizens are artificially divided into categories, some of which are handed over to starvation and plunder? Is it freedom when no one can express his opinion openly without fear of being accused of counter-revolution? Where is the freedom of speech and press, where is the freedom of church preaching? Many courageous church preachers have already paid with their blood of martyrdom, the voice of public and state discussion and denunciation has been muffled, the press, except for the narrow Bolshevik one, has been completely stifled.

The violation of freedom in matters of faith is especially painful and cruel. Not a day passes without the most monstrous slander against the Church of Christ and its ministers, vicious blasphemy and blasphemy being placed in your press organs. You mock at the servants of the altar, force the bishops to dig trenches (Bishop Hermogen of Tobolsk) and send the priests to dirty work. You laid your hand on the church property, collected by generations of believers, and did not hesitate to violate their last will. You have closed a number of monasteries and house churches without any reason or reason. You blocked access to the Moscow Kremlin - this is the sacred property of all believing people.

"And what else can I say. I won't have enough time" (Heb. 11:32) to depict all the misfortunes that befell our homeland. I will not talk about the collapse of the once great and mighty Russia, about the complete breakdown of communications, about unprecedented food devastation, about hunger and cold that threaten death in the cities, about the lack of the necessary for the economy in the villages. All this is in front of everyone. Yes, we are living through a terrible time of your dominion and for a long time it will not be blotted out from the soul of the people, darkening in it the image of God and imprinting in it the image of the Beast ...
It is not our business to judge earthly authority, any authority permitted by God would attract Our blessing upon itself, if it truly appeared as God's servant, for the benefit of those who were subordinate, and was "terrible not for good deeds, but for evil ones" (Rom. 13 , 34). Now to you, who use power to persecute your neighbors and exterminate the innocent, We extend Our word of exhortation: celebrate the anniversary of your stay in power by freeing prisoners, ending bloodshed, violence, ruin, oppression of faith, turn not to destruction, but to the establishment of order and legality , give the people the desired and well-deserved rest from internecine strife. Otherwise, "every righteous blood that you shed will be exacted from you" (Luke 11:51) "and you yourselves who take up the sword will perish by the sword" (Matt. 25:52).

Tikhon

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

"Letter to the members of the Politburo
To Comrade Molotov for members of the Politburo.

Strictly secret. Please do not make copies in any case, and each member of the Politburo (comrade Kalinin too) make their own notes on the document itself.

Regarding the incident in Shuya, which has already been discussed by the Politburo, it seems to me that a firm decision must be taken immediately in connection with the general tone of the struggle in this direction. Since I doubt that I will be able to personally attend the meeting of the Politburo on March 20, I will therefore put my considerations in writing.

The incident in Shuya must be connected with the report that ROSTA recently sent to the newspapers not for publication, namely, the report about the resistance being prepared by the Black Hundreds in St. Petersburg to the decree on the seizure of church valuables.

If we compare with this fact what the newspapers report about the attitude of the clergy to the decree on the seizure of church valuables, and then what we know about the illegal appeal of Patriarch Tikhon, it becomes completely clear that the Black Hundred clergy, led by their leader, are completely deliberately carrying out a plan give us a decisive battle in this moment.

It is obvious that at the secret meetings of the most influential group of the Black Hundred clergy this plan was thought over and adopted quite firmly. The event in Shuya is just one of the manifestations of this plan. I think that here our enemy is making a huge mistake, trying to draw us into a decisive struggle when it is especially hopeless and especially unprofitable for him. On the contrary, for us, this particular moment is not only exceptionally favorable, but in general the only moment when we can utterly defeat the enemy with 99 out of 100 chances of complete success and secure the positions we need for many decades to come. It is now and only now, when people are being eaten in hungry places and hundreds, if not thousands of corpses are lying on the roads, that we can (and therefore must) carry out the seizure of church valuables with the most frenzied and merciless energy, not stopping at suppressing any kind of resistance. Precisely now, and only now, the vast majority of the peasant masses will either be for us, or, in any case, will not be able to give any decisive support to that handful of Black-Hundred clergy and reactionary urban philistinism who can and want to test the policy of forcible resistance to the Soviet decree.

We must by all means carry out the confiscation of church valuables in the most decisive and quickest way that we can secure for ourselves a fund of several hundred million gold rubles (we must recall the gigantic riches of some monasteries and laurels). Without this, no state work in general, no economic development in particular, and no defense of one's position in Genoa in particular, are completely unthinkable. We must take over this fund of several hundred million gold rubles (and perhaps even several billion) at all costs. And it is possible to do it with success only now. All considerations point to the fact that later we will not be able to do this, because no other moment, except for a desperate famine, will give us such a mood among the broad masses of the peasants, which would either ensure us the sympathy of these masses, or, at least, would ensure us the neutralization of these masses in the sense that victory in the struggle against the confiscation of church valuables will remain unconditionally and completely on our side.

One wise writer on state affairs rightly said that if it is necessary to resort to a series of cruelties in order to achieve a certain political goal, then they must be carried out in the most energetic way and in the shortest possible time, because the masses of the people will not endure prolonged use of cruelties. This consideration is particularly reinforced by the fact that, in view of Russia's international position, it will in all probability turn out or may turn out for us after Genoa that cruel measures against the reactionary clergy will be politically irrational, perhaps even too dangerous. Now the victory over the reactionary clergy is fully guaranteed. In addition, the main part of our foreign opponents among the Russian emigrants, that is, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Milyukovites, will be difficult to fight against us if, precisely at this moment, precisely in connection with the famine, we carry out the suppression of the reactionary clergy with maximum speed and ruthlessness.

Therefore, I come to the unconditional conclusion that right now we must give the most decisive and merciless battle to the Black Hundred clergy and crush their resistance with such cruelty that they will not forget this for several decades. I imagine the campaign itself to carry out this plan as follows:
Officially speaking with any kind of events should only comrade. Kalinin. Never and under no circumstances should Comrade. Trotsky.

A telegram already sent on behalf of the Politburo on the temporary suspension of seizures should not be cancelled. It is beneficial to us, because it will sow in the enemy the idea that we are hesitating, that he has succeeded in intimidating us (of course, the enemy will soon find out about this secret telegram, precisely because it is secret).

Send one of the most energetic, intelligent and efficient members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee or other representatives of the central government (better than one than several) to Shuya, and give him a verbal instruction through one of the members of the Politburo. This instruction should boil down to ensuring that he arrests as many as possible in Shuya, no less than a few dozen, representatives of the local bourgeoisie on suspicion of direct or indirect participation in the case of violent resistance to the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the seizure of church property. Immediately after the completion of this work, he must come to Moscow and personally make a report at the full meeting of the Politburo or before two authorized members of the Politburo. On the basis of this report, the Politburo will give a detailed directive to the judicial authorities, also verbally, that the trial against the Shuya rebels, who are resisting assistance to the starving, be carried out with maximum speed and end only with the execution of a very large number of the most influential and dangerous Black Hundreds of the city of Shuya, but opportunities not only of this city, but also of Moscow and several other spiritual centers.
Patriarch Tikhon himself, I think, is expedient for us not to touch, although he is undoubtedly at the head of this entire rebellion of slave owners. With regard to him, a secret directive must be given to the State Political Administration, so that all the connections of this figure should be observed and revealed as accurately and in detail as possible, precisely at this moment. To oblige Dzerzhinsky, Unshlikht to personally report on this to the Politburo weekly.

Arrange a secret meeting at the Party Congress of all or almost all of the delegates on this issue together with the chief officials of the GPU, NPOs and the Revolutionary Tribunal. At this meeting, to pass a secret decision of the congress that the seizure of valuables, especially the richest laurels, monasteries and churches, should be carried out with ruthless determination, unconditionally stopping at nothing and at the very the shortest time. The more representatives of the reactionary bourgeoisie and reactionary clergy we manage to shoot on this occasion, the better. It is precisely now that this public must be taught a lesson so that for several decades they will not even dare to think about any resistance.

In order to oversee the most rapid and successful implementation of these measures, immediately appoint at the congress, that is, at its secret meeting, a special commission with the obligatory participation of Comrade Trotsky and Comrade Kalinin, without any publication about this commission, so that the subordination of this entire operation would be ensured and carried out in the all-Soviet and nationwide order. Appoint especially responsible best workers to carry out this measure in the richest laurels, monasteries and churches.

I ask Comrade Molotov to try to send this letter around to the members of the Politburo this evening (without making copies) and ask them to return it to the Secretary immediately after reading it with a brief note as to whether each member of the Politburo agrees with the basis, or whether the letter raises any discrepancies.

Lenin.

The relics of saints were publicly opened in churches. On Lenin's instructions, Patriarch Tikhon was brought to justice. Many metropolitans and bishops were brutally murdered. The Church was separated from the state, but the state was not separated from the Church. The Bolsheviks received astronomical sums, and the population was dying of hunger.

About the details and lessons of history, our conversation with the head of the press service of the Patriarch, Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky.

Russian newspaper: Two letters with such a true and such a terrible content - how do they read from our time?

Archpriest Vladimir (Vigilyansky): Unfortunately, today's reader does not fully understand the historical context of these letters, the degree of civic courage and responsibility of Patriarch Tikhon for the country and people, as well as the true goals and monstrous means to achieve them by the then authorities.

"Shameful world with an external enemy", mentioned by St. Tikhon, is the so-called. Brest peace, according to which a territory of 780 thousand square meters was torn away from Russia. km with a population of 56 million people (a third of the population of the Russian Empire) and on which there were 27% of agricultural land and 5 thousand factories and plants. As a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the area of ​​Germany bled dry and squeezed in a vise by the Entente tripled. In addition, under a secret agreement, Russia pledged to pay Germany a huge indemnity - 6 billion marks - in the form of "pure gold" and credit obligations.

In September 1918, two echelons were sent to Germany, which contained 93.5 tons of "pure gold" worth 120 million gold rubles. This is at a time when the citizens of Russia were swollen from hunger and dying from epidemics and poverty. The first decrees of the Soviet government on peace, land, justice, the press, freedom of conscience turned out to be a treacherous deception of the people. Neither peace, nor land, nor a righteous judgment, nor freedom of the press and conscience have people ever received. On the other hand, systematic work was underway to remove the spiritual core of the Russian nation, to destroy the centuries-old traditions and value orientations of the people.

This was the main goal of the Bolshevik coup. For her sake, they did not feel sorry for putting millions of human victims on the altar, not to mention some square kilometers, tons of gold, factories and mines. But on the way to this cherished goal stood the main enemy - the Church. And the second published letter is an eloquent confirmation of this. I recall on this occasion the prophecy of F.M. Dostoevsky: "Godless anarchism is near - our children will see it. The revolt will begin with atheism and the robbery of all wealth, they will begin to overthrow religion, destroy temples and turn them into barracks and stalls, flood the world with blood and then they themselves will be frightened."

RG: What is the context of Lenin's letter?

Archpriest Vladimir: I will immediately dispel the myth that supposedly the Russian people dutifully accepted the new government and the terror unleashed by the Bolsheviks against the Church. As a result of the events of 1917, a tragedy occurred that has no equal in history - the Civil War, which claimed 10.5 million lives (for comparison: 0.5 million died in the US Civil War and died from wounds and diseases). Only from the red terror (execution of civilians) killed 1.2 million people. Plus 2 million who fled from the Soviet regime abroad.

As for the story of the seizure of church valuables in favor of the starving, Patriarch Tikhon on February 19, 1922 called on the clergy to raise funds on their own. In 5 days, 9 million rubles were collected. But this was not enough for the Soviet authorities, for six months they seized church valuables worth 2.5 billion gold rubles. During these six months, the campaign recorded 1,400 bloody clashes. By the way, about 1 million rubles were spent on the purchase of food from these billions.

RG: Today, according to the charter, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation can be a believer, but at the same time they talk about loyalty to the precepts of Lenin.

Archpriest Vladimir: Today's communists, despite assurances of "fidelity to Lenin's precepts," have revised many of the doctrines of the Bolsheviks, including those on religion. Well, let's just say thank you. It is much more terrible that in the anti-communist camp there are many who, on the question of the Church, take the positions of this Leninist letter.

RG: The Day of National Unity, which we now celebrate instead of the Day of the October Revolution, has not yet been "lived in" as a holiday. Its symbolism is only being built and filled. What do you think should be the basis for peace and harmony in society today? What principles should be followed?

Father Vladimir: Peace and harmony, as well as unity, are very necessary for our society. But they should not be interpreted too broadly. On this occasion, the Apostle Paul writes in one of his Epistles: "What is the communion of righteousness with lawlessness? What has light to do with darkness? What is the agreement between Christ and Belial? What is the communion of the temple of God with idols?"

I would like the Day of National Unity to be based on such a concept, almost lost in our time, as sacrifice. What can be the power of love without sacrifice, what kind of consent without respect for the other, what kind of world without sympathy and understanding of other people's problems? All the troubles in the history of our state were based on the loss of the moral dimension in human communication, politics, and economics. And if so, then this moral dimension must be revived. So that all these lofty words do not remain empty, I suggest that on this holiday every citizen of the country do something good and important for another: visit the lonely, support the suffering, give money for the treatment of the sick, make peace with the warring, ask for forgiveness from those whom he offended, to give alms to the hungry, but simply - never lie on this day, do not condemn, do not say a rude word, do not boast, do not envy another. If we are united in these principles, the holiday will succeed and take root in our minds.

From the "RG" dossier

Patriarch Tikhon (in the world Vasily Ivanovich Belavin) was born on January 19, 1865 in the city of Toropets, Pskov province, in the family of a priest. He graduated from the Toropetsk Theological School, the Pskov Theological Seminary, and the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Comrades at the seminary jokingly called the modest, complacent and always ready to help friends Vasily Belavin "Bishop", and at the academy students called him "Patriarch". After the academy he taught at the Pskov Theological Seminary.

In 1891 he was tonsured with the name Tikhon in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Ordained to the rank of hieromonk, a year later he was appointed inspector, and later rector of the Kholmsk Seminary, with the elevation to the rank of archimandrite. Since 1894 - the rector of the Kazan Theological Academy, and three years later - a bishop, first of Lublin, and then of the Aleutian and North American. Organized the life of Orthodox parishes in the United States and Alaska. In the United States, the glory of a true apostle of Orthodoxy has stuck to him. In 1907, Archbishop Tikhon was appointed to the ancient Yaroslavl cathedra.

During the years of his bishopric, he brought the diocese into a state of spiritual unity. His leadership was patient and humane, everyone loved the accessible, reasonable, affectionate archpastor. In 1914 he was appointed Vilna and Lithuanian, and in 1917 he was elected to the Moscow cathedra with the elevation to the rank of metropolitan. In 1917 the All-Russian Local Council restored the Patriarchate. After four rounds of voting, the Council elected 3 candidates for the Patriarchal Throne. The lot fell on Metropolitan Tikhon.

He was the first to have to resolve the issue of relations with the new state system, hostile to the Church, and also to do everything possible to preserve Orthodoxy in a difficult period of hard times in the conditions of revolution, civil war and general devastation that swept Russia. In the summer of 1921, Patriarch Tikhon organized the Committee for Assistance to the Starving , called on parish councils to donate precious church decorations, unless they have liturgical use. The committee, headed by the Patriarch, raised large sums of money and greatly alleviated the plight of the starving.

Despite all his gentleness and benevolence, he was unshakably firm and adamant in church affairs, in defending the Church from her enemies. When the civil war ended and the Soviet government remained in the country, the Patriarch issued a document known as his testament. During the years of civil devastation, by the will of God, without which nothing happens in the world, Soviet power became the head of the Russian state.

Without sinning against our faith and the Church, without allowing any compromises and concessions in the field of faith, in civil relations we must be sincere towards the Soviet government and work for the common good, conforming the order of external church life and activity with the new state system ... At the same time, we express confidence that the establishment of pure, sincere relations will induce our authorities to treat us with full confidence."

The change in the political position of Patriarch Tikhon and most of the Orthodox episcopate was due to fundamental considerations: the civil war ended, state power ceased to be the subject of bloody internecine warfare, there was one legitimate government in the country. Personal preaching and firm confession of Christian Truth, tireless struggle against the enemies of the Church Patriarch Tikhon aroused the hatred of the representatives of the new government, which constantly persecuted him. He was imprisoned and kept under "house arrest" in Moscow's Donskoy Monastery.

His life was in danger: he was assassinated three times. But when the authorities made him an offer to go abroad for permanent residence, the Patriarch 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." Patriarch Tikhon died on March 25, 1925 and was buried in Moscow Donskoy Monastery.

In 1981, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia glorified in the cathedral the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, Patriarch Tikhon. And in 1989, on the anniversary of the establishment of the Patriarchate in Russia, Patriarch Tikhon was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The dramas and tragedies of our history resonate in a strange way today. Gennady Zyuganov unveiled a monument to Lenin in Ufa on Tuesday, replacing the one that had stood there since 1924. In the late 80s, it was dismantled and sent for restoration to Leningrad. However, after the collapse of the USSR, there was no time for Lenin. The topic of its restoration was raised only last year. They decided to make a copy in Ufa, with sponsors' money.

At the same time, Tatyana Mayorova, correspondent of RG in Ufa, reports that an "ordinary" (built in one day) temple was also erected in the city. "It is dedicated to the Holy Blessed Matrona of Moscow," said the representative of the Ufa diocese, Vadim Rosenfeld. "During the action, an Orthodox concert sounded right on the construction site. The construction of the church became a truly common holiday."

The return of Lenin to the center of Ufa is a symbolic event. But the construction of the temple does not lose its significance. History continues to double in our eyes.

Letters of Elder Tikhon the Russian (Part 2)

Extensive material about can be gleaned from the book of Hierom. Agafangel, his disciple. We have translated this book on the information portal

Basically, we present letters to a very famous and generally recognized ascetic, Father Athanasius Ivirit. They can be attributed to the period 1955-1968. Letters about. We present Tikhon for the first time.

(Translation from Greek Hier. Seraphim)

I am a little sad that for Holy Easter I do not have a white vestment.

In other words, if you help me with this, I will be immensely happy. Then my heart will be especially warmed, and I will remember you and pray for you with special ardor.

Requires a vestment of simple cheap fabric, but white ...

Then I'll be all joy!

I ask you to.

And bless me!

Sinful Tikhon.

Athanasius, bless!

Christ and the Most Holy Theotokos bless us!

I thank you immensely, my father. The dressing is great! I took a new one. And now I remember you. You warmed my heart with your grace. I am unworthy of such magnificent garb. But I believe that it was sent to me by the Most Holy Theotokos and Christ Himself. And the heart itself screams: “Remember Fr. Athanasius and the Brothers of the Iviron Monastery. All the vestments came up to me, only they forgot to put the belt!

I ask you to send a belt from Fr. Agafangel!

Bless!

Sinful Tikhon.

My beloved father, bless!

I wrote to you about your big Crucifix, where and how did it disappear?

The fact is that I was very upset and thought: “With the help of God, I will make a big Cross.”

Therefore, I would like you to put my Cross in the place where there was a large Cross-Crucifixion.

Free up some space. Remove 3-4 stasidia to clear the desired area. Take out the stasidia and place Golgotha ​​there.

If you obey, I will be filled with joy.

If you do not like this proposal, then I will take the Cross for myself and send it to Esfigmen. Their abbot Fr. Athanasius will take my Cross with great joy.

Bless!

Sinful Tikhon.

Athanasius, bless!

I will die quickly. Remember me for the love of God as long as you live. And then, if God takes you to Paradise, I ask you not to forget me. I will then be in Hell in torment. Get me out of there. Look at what is written in the Russian Psalter, Ps 140:20: “The will of the Lord is on all those who fear him,” that is, on those who love Him.

And then I will thank you endlessly.

Sinful Tikhon.

Dear Fr. Athanasius, bless!

We are not the only ones who are afraid of suffering...

All Holy Fathers had fear. That is why they moved on. Some did 1000 bows, others ate only grass, others were pillars, some did not eat anything for 40 days. All, all, all of them - did it out of the fear of God.

And nowadays we do what we can. Day and night we pray to Christ and Panagia. But unceasing prayer also requires tears. Merciful Christ grant them.

We are now like brothers, let's always remember each other.

I am quite weak at the moment. But glory to you, God!

Bless.

Sinful Tikhon.

Father Tikhon!

Bless!

With your prayer, save me from torment!

Athanasius

Dear Father Athanasius!

Don't be afraid of pain. Christ is Grace itself.

Of course I remember you.

Dear Father Athanasius!

The Lord only knows. But perhaps I will die before you.

Please then, come and put my body in the coffin. Take with you and about. Maxima, and Fr. Methodius.

I beg you with tears.

If you do all this, then I will be convinced that you love me.

Show love, oh my!

From His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon to the Council of People's Commissars.

“All who take the sword by the sword will perish” (Matthew 26:52).

We address this prophecy of the Savior to you, the current arbiters of the destinies of our Fatherland, who call themselves "people's commissars". You have been holding state power in your hands for a whole year and are already preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution, but the rivers of blood shed by our brothers, mercilessly killed at your call, cries out to Heaven and forces Us to tell you a bitter word of truth.
When seizing power and calling on the people to trust you, what promises did you make to them and how did you fulfill these promises?
In truth you they gave him a stone instead of bread, and a snake instead of a fish (Mt. 7:9,10). To the people, exhausted by the bloody war, you promised to give peace "without annexations and indemnities."
What conquests could you refuse, Russia to a shameful world, the humiliating conditions of which even you yourself did not dare to make public in full? Instead of annexations and indemnities, you are great and in payment of the tribute imposed on it.
You have taken from the warriors everything for which they fought valiantly before. You taught them, recently still brave and invincible, leaving the defense of the Motherland, to flee from the battlefields. You have extinguished in their hearts the consciousness that inspired them, that “There is no one else to have this love, but whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 13:15). You have replaced the Fatherland with a soulless international, although you yourself know very well that when it comes to defending the Fatherland, the proletarians of all countries are its faithful sons, and not traitors.
Refusing to defend the homeland from external enemies, however, you are constantly troops. Who are you leading them against?
You divided the entire people into warring camps and plunged them into fratricide unprecedented in cruelty. You openly replaced the love of Christ with hatred and, instead of peace, you artificially kindled class enmity. And no end is foreseen for the war you have engendered, since you are striving through the hands of the Russian workers and peasants to bring triumph to the specter of the world revolution.
It was not Russia who needed the shameful peace you concluded with an external enemy, but you, who planned to finally destroy the inner world. No one feels safe, everyone lives under constant fear of being searched, robbed, evicted, arrested, shot. Hundreds of defenseless people are seized, they rot for months in prisons, even without the simplified court you introduced. They will execute not only those who have been guilty of something before you, but also those who, even before you, are obviously not guilty of anything, but are taken only as "hostages", these unfortunate people are killed in retaliation for crimes committed by persons who are not only not like-minded to them, but often by your own supporters or those close to you by conviction. Bishops, priests, monks and nuns are executed, innocent of anything, but simply on a sweeping charge of some kind of vague and indefinite “counter-revolutionary”. The inhuman execution is aggravated for the Orthodox by the deprivation of the last final consolation-parting words of the Holy Mysteries, and the bodies of the murdered are not handed over to their relatives for Christian burial.
Isn't all this the height of aimless cruelty on the part of those who give themselves away and allegedly themselves once suffered a lot from cruel authorities?
But it’s not enough for you that you stained the hands of the Russian people with their fraternal blood, hiding behind various names of indemnities, requisitions and nationalization, you pushed them to the most open and shameless robbery. At your instigation, lands, estates, factories, factories, houses, livestock are plundered or taken away; money, things, furniture, clothes are robbed. First, under the name of "bourgeois" they robbed wealthy people, then, under the name of "kulaks", they began to rob even the more prosperous and industrious, thus multiplying the beggars, although you cannot help but realize that with the ruin of a great many individual citizens, the wealth of the people is destroyed and the country is ruined.
Having seduced the dark and ignorant people with the possibility of easy and unpunished gain, you have clouded their conscience and, no matter what names the atrocities are covered with, murder, violence, will always remain serious and crying out to Heaven for vengeance by sins and crimes.
You promised freedom.
A great good is freedom, if it is correctly understood as freedom from evil, not constraining others, not turning into arbitrariness and self-will. But you did not give such and such freedom: in all sorts of indulgence to the base passions of the crowd, in the impunity of murders and robberies lies the freedom you have granted. All manifestations of both the true civil and the highest spiritual freedom of mankind are mercilessly suppressed by you. Is it freedom when no one can carry food, rent an apartment, move from city to city without special permission? Is it freedom when, and sometimes the population of entire houses are evicted and property is thrown into the street, and when citizens are artificially divided into categories, some of which are given over to starvation and plunder? Is it freedom when no one can express his opinion openly without fear of being accused of counter-revolution? Where is the freedom of speech and press, where is the freedom of church preaching? Many bold church preachers have already paid with their blood of martyrdom, the voice of public and state discussion and denunciation is muffled, the press, except for the narrowly Bolshevik one, is completely.
The violation of freedom in matters of faith is especially painful and cruel. Not a day goes by without the most monstrous slander against the Church of Christ and its ministers, vicious blasphemy and blasphemy being placed in your press organs. You mock at the servants of the altar, force the bishops to dig trenches (Bishop Hermogen of Tobolsk) and send the priests to dirty work. You laid your hand on the church property, collected by generations of believers, and did not hesitate to violate their last will. You have closed a number of monasteries and house churches without any reason or reason. You blocked access to the Moscow Kremlin - this is the sacred property of all believing people.
“And what else can I say. I won't have time" (Heb. 11:32) to depict all the troubles that have befallen our Motherland. I will not talk about the collapse of the once great and mighty Russia, about the complete breakdown of communications, about unprecedented food devastation, about hunger and cold that threaten death in the cities, about the lack of the necessary for the economy in the villages. All this is in front of everyone. Yes, we are experiencing a terrible thing and for a long time it will not be blotted out from the soul of the people, darkening in it the image of God and imprinting in it the image of God. beast...
It is not our business to judge earthly authority; any authority permitted by God would attract Our blessing upon itself, if it were truly God's servant, for the benefit of those who were subordinate, and “fearful not for good deeds, but for evil ones” (Rom. 13:34). Now to you, who use power to persecute your neighbors and the innocent, We extend Our word of exhortation: celebrate the anniversary of your stay in power by freeing prisoners, ending bloodshed, violence, ruin, oppression of faith, turn not to destruction, but to the establishment of order and legality, give the people the rest they want and deserve from internecine strife. Otherwise “All righteous blood that you shed will be exacted from you” (Luke 11:51) “and you yourselves who take up the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 25:52).

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.