Restoration of the patriarchate and election of the All-Russian Patriarch

The first big and important question for church life that was resolved by the Church Council is the question of the patriarchate. Soon after the opening of the Council, the activities of the cathedral members were concentrated in numerous departments, each of which had its own more or less close circle of affairs and interests. However, it is safe to say that in the cathedral atmosphere the question of the patriarchate was constantly discussed. Back in September, the Council’s department on higher church government, discussing the question of the conciliarity of church government, involuntarily turned to the question of the patriarchate. The motivation for this was that the Pre-Conciliar Council, which worked in Petrograd in the summer, passed a negative resolution on the patriarchate, finding it incompatible with the idea of ​​church conciliarity. A whole series of meetings of the department on higher administration were taken up by debates on the patriarchate and conciliarity in their relationship. But in parallel there was a whole series of private meetings devoted entirely to the question of the patriarchate. In these private meetings of cathedral members, reports were read almost exclusively against the patriarchate. Only Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov read a report in defense of the patriarchate. But after the reports, debates usually opened, often dragging on past midnight and taking up several meetings. At times the debates were quite passionate. Nothing was talked about so much in the community of cathedral members as about the patriarchate. Finally, the department for higher church administration issued a resolution on the restoration of the patriarchate and proposed this resolution for consideration by the general meeting. On September 12, the Council began discussing the issue of restoring the patriarchate. Up to a hundred people immediately signed up to speak on this issue, but it was already felt that in the general conciliar consciousness and mood this issue was resolved positively. That is why the Council did not listen to even half of the intended speeches; on October 28 it stopped the debate and, by a huge majority of votes, decided to restore the patriarchate destroyed by Peter I in the Russian Church. Meanwhile, events were brewing that indicated a serious illness in the Russian state body. October 28 in Moscow was the first day of bloody civil strife. Shooting thundered through the streets of Moscow, gun shots thundered. The historical Kremlin, along with its shrines, was exposed to an unprecedented danger of destruction. Not without the influence of these terrible events, the Council decided to immediately implement its resolution regarding the patriarchate, and therefore immediately began to elect an All-Russian Patriarch. It was decided to elect three candidates and make the final election by lot. The walls of the cathedral chamber shook from nearby gun shots, and in the cathedral chamber the election of candidates for the All-Russian Patriarchs was underway. Moscow Metropolitan Tikhon, Kharkov Archbishop Anthony and Novgorod Archbishop Arseny were elected candidates. On November 5, as soon as the internecine warfare on the streets of Moscow ended, a solemn liturgy and deliberate prayer singing were served in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. At this time, the lots with the names of the three candidates lay in a special sealed ark in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. After the prayer service, a member of the Council, the reclusive elder of the Zosimova Hermitage, Hieromonk Alexy, drew lots, and the lot indicated that Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow should be the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. A specially selected embassy from the members of the Council immediately went to the Metropolitan Trinity Metochion with the gospel of the election. After this gospel, the named patriarch left for the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he remained until the day of his solemn elevation to the patriarchal throne. A special commission was elected at the Council to develop the rite of “enthronement” of the All-Russian Patriarch. Before this commission, first of all, the fact became clear that ancient Rus' did not have its own rank of “seating” the patriarch. Before Patriarch Nikon, we had the rite of episcopal consecration performed for the second time on newly installed patriarchs. But after Patriarch Nikon, the rite of installing a patriarch was reduced to very few rituals, and the importance of the Moscow Tsar was emphasized too much, from whose hands the patriarch received the staff of Peter the Metropolitan. The commission therefore developed a special order, combining in it the ancient (14th century) Alexandrian order of installing a patriarch, modern Constantinople practice and some ancient Russian details. The day of the solemn “consecration” of the patriarch was set on November 21. Staying at the Trinity Lavra, the named patriarch celebrated the liturgy on November 19 in the church of the Moscow Theological Academy, after which the corporation of professors brought him their greetings and presented him with a diploma prepared at that time for the title of Honorary Member of the Academy. The day came November 21st. The winter day was still gray at dawn when members of the Council began to flock to the Kremlin. Alas! Moscow could not come to its native Kremlin even for the great historical celebration. The new owners of the Kremlin allowed very few people in there even on this exceptional day, and even these lucky few had to endure a whole series of ordeals before getting to the Kremlin. All these restrictions and difficulties of access to the Kremlin did not make any sense: they were not a hostile action of the new “government” in relation to the Church. It was just that stupid nonsense in the kingdom of which we now had to live. It was hard to walk through the empty Kremlin and see all its wounds unhealed. Three weeks have passed since the bombing of the Kremlin, but the Kremlin is still in chaos. It is painful to see traces of artillery shells on such historical sacred buildings as the Miracle Monastery, the Church of the Twelve Apostles, and it is absolutely terrible to see the gaping large hole in the middle dome of the Assumption Cathedral. Nothing is fixed; there are fragments of bricks and rubble everywhere. The St. Petersburg period of Russian history ends with such a national disgrace. This period began with the devastation of the Moscow Kremlin. After all, over the past 200 years, the Moscow Kremlin has so often resembled an archaeological museum, where only monuments of a former and now extinct life are kept. But now the spirit of national and church life must once again enter the empty, broken and desecrated Kremlin, together with the patriarch. The picture of the destruction of the Kremlin was hidden and forgotten as soon as they entered the wondrous and sacred Assumption Cathedral. Here, ancient icons and ancient wall paintings look as if they were alive. Representatives of the spirit of ancient Rus' rest here, and they also rest in incorruptible tombs. Russian bishops in robes and clergy in vestments gather at the Peace Chamber. There is semi-darkness under the arches of the ancient patriarchal chamber. The bishops sing a prayer service, which always happens during the naming of a bishop. Metropolitan Tikhon precedes all the bishops to the Assumption Cathedral. The Divine Liturgy begins as usual. After the Trisagion, those appointed to the patriarchate are sent to a high place. A prayer is read. The usual episcopal vestments are removed from the supplied one. Patriarchal clothes that had not been used for two hundred years were brought from the patriarchal sacristy. Immediately he is transformed into a patriarch. We saw these clothes, this miter of Patriarch Nikon only when we examined the patriarchal sacristy. Now we see all this on a living person. Three times they seat the new patriarch on the ancient patriarchal mountain seat and proclaim: Axios! The protodeacon has been named after the eastern patriarchs for many years and after them “Our Holiness Father Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.” Our Russian patriarch was introduced into the host of ecumenical patriarchs. The Divine Liturgy has ended. The patriarch is dressed in a 17th-century cassock, an ancient patriarchal robe and the hood of Patriarch Nikon. The Metropolitan of Kyiv hands him the staff of Metropolitan Peter on the salt. Led by two metropolitans, His Holiness the Patriarch goes to the patriarchal place at the front right pillar of the Assumption Cathedral, which has stood empty for two hundred years. Published according to the publication: Archimandrite Hilarion. Restoration of the patriarchate and election of the All-Russian Patriarch. – Theological Bulletin. 1917.X–XII. Report on the election and enthronement of Metropolitan Tikhon by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. The future All-Russian Patriarch, in the world Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin, was born on January 19, 1865 in the city of Toropets in the family of a priest. He graduated from the Pskov Seminary and in 1888 from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Upon graduation, he was appointed teacher of basic, dogmatic and moral theology at the Pskov Theological Seminary. In December 1891 he took monastic vows, and on December 22 he was ordained a hieromonk. In March 1892, he was appointed inspector of the Kholm Theological Seminary, and in July of the same year, he was appointed first as the rector of the Kazan and then the Kholm Theological Seminary. On October 19, 1897, he was consecrated Bishop of Lublin, vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw diocese. On September 14, 1898, he was appointed Bishop of the Aleutians to North America. During the 19 years of his stay in America, St. Tikhon worked hard to strengthen and nurture Orthodoxy on this continent. On January 25, 1907, he was appointed Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov, and on December 22, 1913, Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna. Two days before the Local Council on August 13, 1917. Saint Tikhon was elected Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. During the Local Council of St. Tikhon presided over its meetings. On the day of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, November 21, 1917, by the election of the Local Council and the lot drawn in front of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, Moscow Metropolitan Tikhon was solemnly elevated to the All-Russian Patriarchal Throne. And the crown of the patriarch becomes for St. Tikhon a real “crown of a martyr and confessor,” courageously and wisely defending the faith of Christ and the interests of the Church. On May 25, 1920, Patriarch Tikhon leads the episcopal consecration of Archimandrite Hilarion, and the newly installed bishop becomes the Patriarch’s closest associate and assistant in his service to the Church. Saint Tikhon rested on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday 1925, on the day of the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy relics were found in February 1992. He was canonized as a saint by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9, 1989. Commemorated on March 25/April 7 and September 26/October 9.