Guardian of the House of the Lord: in memory of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon

Word from Professor Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov It is difficult to be a contemporary of great historical events and people. It is necessary to stand at some distance to see the greatness of what is truly great; you need to be able to look back to see the top of the mountain; and what we can easily see from a distance is not covered by vision if it is directly in front of our eyes. In addition, in order to cognize the great, a certain community of spirit with it is also necessary - it is necessary that the spiritual forces be of the same order as it and be at the proper height. The work and suffering of Patriarch Tikhon are so enormous, so unique of their kind, that they elude a cold and indifferent gaze. “Take off the sandals from your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” Words become exhausted and refuse to serve, being present at this Gethsemane struggle and seeing this Calvary path, and only love and gratitude strive to pour themselves out in words. Only a few people in the Church are so tragic in their earthly fate and at the same time so clearly marked by the special anointing of divine chosenness. An age weak in faith seeks signs, but signs will not be given to those who do not want to see or hear. But for those who have eyes and ears, our time is full of great miracles, and of these signs and wonders, one of the most amazing, like the great mercy of God to the Russian Church in the days of persecution and grief, was Patriarch Tikhon. The Lord raises up His people when their time comes. Isn't this amazing? Even on the eve of his election, he was unknown to Russia, he was hidden in the shadows, waiting for the appointed time. And when the patriarchal throne was restored, the hearts of many were troubled by the question: who is worthy to take it? The last years of the monarchy were a difficult time for the episcopate. Many, looking around, asked themselves: if we have a patriarch, who will it be? But when, of the three candidates identified by the Moscow Council, the lot cast in front of the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God indicated one, everyone with joyful relief saw before them the clear and meek, gracious and humble Tikhon. And everyone, regardless of whether they wanted the restoration of the patriarchate or fought against it, accepted and fell in love with His Holiness Tikhon. And this title “Holiness,” which had not been in use for so long, became familiar and dear, as if it were the proper name of the new Patriarch. The personality of Patriarch Tikhon seemed to contain all those features that are especially characteristic of Orthodoxy and the Russian elders in particular: humility of spirit with a complete absence of personal pretensions or pride, meekness, dovelike purity along with childlike clarity and joy in the Lord. His Holiness immediately became the beloved “elder” for the entire Council, a wonderful personification of the Russian eldership on the throne of the patriarchs. Humility and meekness are the greatest strength in the world, for they are the strength of Christ. This is the reason why Tikhon was almost unnoticed by people, just as he did not notice himself - until he was called and elevated to the priesthood. As the day showed more and more that his simple modesty was that genuine humility of heart, which is supported by an unashamed faith in God and complete confidence in His ways, and that this meekness was not only a gift of nature, but the spiritual fruit of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, as well as his amazing ability to defend himself with a cheerful joke or good-natured laughter, at a time when most people would be full of resentment and indignation, there is that childlike simplicity, the possession of which is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Here we have the highest wisdom of love, which does not seek its own and does not rejoice in untruth, but rejoices in the Truth, which endures everything, believes everything, hopes for everything. And this gift was given by the Mother of God to Her chosen one, sent to great trials. That is why the mere existence of the patriarch already filled people with joy and consolation; hearts softened and a smile appeared on lips at a time when it was generally not easy for people to be joyful. From the very beginning the Council and the people loved their father. Here the relationship between the shepherd and his flock, which is characteristic of the Orthodox Church, was realized, an attitude not of fear or strict discipline, but an attitude of love - love in obedience and obedience in love. The Lord Himself sends the cross to His chosen one. And a heavy cross was placed on the shoulders of Patriarch Tikhon, an almost unbearable cross of patriarchal dignity in a dark time in the history of the Russian Church and the Russian people. To become a victim of sinful time, to see the collapse of everything without taking part in it, and at the same time bear full responsibility for the inevitable evil that must come - such is the fate of anyone who would be called to the patriarchate in these circumstances. The helmsman of the Russian Church took the helm at the very moment when the hurricane broke out, tearing the sails and breaking the masts. The black clouds of Antichrist persecution for the faith were already clouding the sky when the patriarch, carrying in his hand the staff of St. Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow, ascended to the ancient throne. There was no place for ignorance or frivolity at this time. Only by looking straight into the face of a fierce and merciless enemy, only with complete self-control and complete readiness to sacrifice oneself was it possible to ascend to the throne of the patriarchs. The burden of power is always associated with the burden of responsibility and with the sacrifice of personal freedom. But at such a time, only in order to maintain clarity and presence of mind, only in order to stand steadfastly and safely withstand the storm, it was necessary to sacrifice oneself, to die before death, to carry out the Gethsemane self-denial: “Thy will be done!” The victim must humbly submit to the sacrifice of himself, as the prophet said, foreseeing the Sacrifice of sacrifices - the Son of God, crucified for the sins of the world: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before His shearers is silent.” The image of this Lamb was imprinted on His Holiness Tikhon from the first days of his ministry. Should I talk about my personal experience? Nevertheless, I assure you that I witnessed with trepidation this sacrificial self-denial during his prayer for help to the Heavenly Father in the Assumption Cathedral on the morning of November 21 (December 4), 1917, when in the Kremlin, mutilated by shells, he ascended the throne to the sounds of jubilant chants: “Upon Mount Zion go forth and preach the good news.” What happened in him - death even before death, passing through the fire of sacrificial purification - left indelible marks on his spirit; he was tempered and grew spiritually like no other. It was a special royal freedom with a complete absence of fear for one’s fate. Everyone felt joy in the presence of the patriarch, since he knew no fear, although he was surrounded by constant threatening danger. Even courageous hearts sometimes experienced secret fear, but it remained clear and bright, even when he was on the verge of death, because from the first days the executioners of the Russian people thirsted for his blood. I will even say more: it was clear that the patriarch even sought to be sacrificed for his people; it seemed that he was driven by the secret thought that his death could be a ransom for the freedom of the people. But he was not allowed to become a martyr in these first stormy months. His lot was not the short and blissful moment of martyrdom, but the long and severe cross of confession, together with the overwhelming and inexpressible burden of responsibility, clearly exceeding the strength of the weak nature of man. The terrible burden of power lies in the impossibility for its bearer to remain inactive, since inaction itself is already action. He cannot be inactive, even if all freedom is absent, and even moreover, all possibility of action. Thus, from the very beginning, the patriarch was the helmsman, who, tied hand and foot, still remained at his post. The first period of his patriarchate was a period when all relations between church and state were rapidly changing. The state was animated by the spirit of militant atheism and persecution of the Christian faith. The Antichrist's offensive against the church was initially carried out in the form of depriving the church of its legal and civil rights, prohibiting all religious teaching and closing numerous church institutions. In the first months after the restoration of the patriarchate, many sad funeral services took place, resounding with the tears and cries of sufferers who could not be helped. At the same time, the extermination of the clergy began in both its higher and lower ranks, and a stream of atheism and debauchery poured out, forcing one to remember antediluvian humanity. Then began the robbery of churches under the pretext of helping the hungry and the trials of churchmen. The blood of the martyrs poured out, and the patriarch was thrown into prison. Under these intolerable conditions, he was accused of taking the wrong position in relation to Soviet power; the accusation came from certain circles of the church, clearly encouraged by the political police (Cheka). Thieves and robbers appeared in the church courtyard and made an attempt to remove the patriarch. To the hardships of his imprisonment they added anxiety for the future of the church, which was being raped by the invaders, obedient instruments of the Soviet government. More terrible than death is to be betrayed, abandoned and handed over to enemies. Instead of tormentors of the body, tormentors of the spirit, obedient to their masters, came with a sentence of spiritual death and a threat to declare terror on everyone who did not betray him. In his imprisonment, the patriarch had to learn about the new torment of believers and about new atrocities of violators of church order. During these days, the patriarch shone out from the darkness of his prison for all of Christianity. He became the hope of the Russian people. And prayers for him were offered by Christians all over the world. It was the will of God to free him from the hands of his tormentors. The Confessor again took up his staff to strike down those calling for rebellion within the church. But a new test awaited him on the threshold of prison. He had to make a new self-sacrifice for the welfare of the church, since he had to limit his task and reduce it to protecting his flock from the so-called “Living Church”. When a shipwreck threatens, even valuable cargo is thrown into the sea in order to save what is most valuable. It is not easy to accept full responsibility for such a decision. When His Holiness the Patriarch saw that his lot of martyrdom had again changed to the lot of confession, he understood the need to concentrate all efforts for the one goal of overthrowing and conquering the false church - and to subordinate everything else to this main and for this moment only task of the church, to save it from heresy and schism. Only the patriarch had the power to accomplish this. But this new task also required a new attitude towards the state, an attitude that is a source of temptation for many. Undoubtedly, the patriarch could not change his attitude towards the spirit of godlessness and anti-Christianity in the Soviet government. At the beginning of his reign he condemned this spirit in the face of the whole world, and he never renounced this condemnation, and he could not renounce it. In the early years, when no one believed that this monstrous and unnatural form of government would last, the patriarch was ready to sacrifice his life for the liberation of the country. But when the long and chronic nature of this disease of the Russian state (which is also a disease of the Russian spirit) became obvious, he realized the need to take this circumstance into account and submit to the facts, just as the early Christians submitted to the fact of Nero’s rule. And this is especially true since his attention was now focused on the fight against the Living Church. This necessary narrowing of the front found expression in the well-known conciliatory statement towards Soviet power. And since we are not able to distinguish truth from lies in this kingdom of lies and forgeries, it is more prudent to judge not by the very text of the document published in the name of the patriarch, but by the general direction of events. We must consider these concessions of the patriarch as his last pastoral self-sacrifice for the well-being of his spiritual flock: instead of the crown of martyrdom, dishonor and humiliation of peace with those who were allowed to torment our country for a time. Let us be frank: in another person such behavior would have been reprehensible, but coming from the patriarch, it was a new self-sacrifice, a voluntary self-abasement in Christ. This is exactly how it was perceived by the people in their unchanging love: “Love endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7). The last days of the patriarch were darkened by many sorrows: priests devoted to the church were constantly imprisoned and exiled, and the patriarch remained among his enemies without reliable helpers. The sun of his life has set in the clouds. Even if he died a natural death (which is not entirely certain), his life was shortened by imprisonment and moral torment, and his name will go down in history as the name of a priestly confessor. Our father and head of our priesthood tells us in the words of the apostle: “For I am already becoming a sacrifice, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. But now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day...” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). This is the feat that Patriarch Tikhon struggled with. But what are its results? The Patriarch was the angel of the Russian Church in the days of trials. He was the guardian and guardian of the dignity of the sovereignty and freedom of the church. He taught us to see in it the highest and absolute value, which cannot be subordinated to any practical considerations, no matter how high they may be, just as one cannot exchange birthright for lentil stew. He was inspired by the idea of ​​the Church, pure and immaculate. The Patriarch was the guardian of the purity of faith and the invincibility of the church building, protecting the church simultaneously from nationalist passions and from socialist demagoguery. The Patriarch assumed his ministry in a time of transition, when the Moscow Council restored the highest ecclesiastical authority, the principles of which had been clouded in theory and suppressed in practice under the administration of the Synod. Church society should have been raised to the idea of ​​councils and conciliar self-government, to freedom in obedience and obedience in freedom, without which there is no true conciliarity in the church. The Patriarch looked not back, but forward, and placed his hope in the living forces of society. I remember how, at the beginning of the new highest church government in 1918, at a time when the patriarch and all members of the Council were in great danger for their lives, he opened the first meeting with the words: “We live in a joyful time, we see the implementation of the ideas of conciliarity.” This is how he saw the milestones of church history. But the new arrangement did not have to take shape amid persecution. In his relations with the state, which, under the guise of separation of church and state, was openly hostile to the church, the patriarch worked to preserve church independence. Under existing conditions, when all possibilities for normal relations between church and state were excluded, this independence could only be achieved through the separation of church and state - in other words, a church standing outside politics and thereby, undoubtedly, separated from the state. Although this condition in itself is not at all desirable, under the given conditions it best suited the dignity of the church. The Patriarch protected the church from identification with the white movement, since this movement did not express the desires of the majority of the people, who had not been healed from the disease of Bolshevism. He protected the church from becoming too closely associated with any political group, as became clear after the Karlovac Council of Emigrant Churches. He protected the church from being absorbed by the sinister elements of the Living Church, who sought to make it an obedient tool of the Soviet government. The fight against the “Living Church” was a fight for the church, for Her dignity and freedom, for the purity of the immaculate Bride of Christ. The “Living Church” was born in the depths of the political police, where it found constant support. It has no spiritual significance in any way; on the contrary, it is rather a product of decomposition. Nevertheless, she represented a danger and a source of harm for the church, because Orthodoxy was in chains, and the arrogance and shamelessness of the agents of the “Living Church” was very great. The danger still continues to exist, since it has passed from an acute phase into a chronic one, and the socialist falsification of Christianity will continue. But the main wave broke. In an open struggle with the church, the “Living Church” was defeated, and the patriarch emerged victorious, strong in faith and trust in the people, although imprisoned. It is difficult to imagine how hopeless the position of the Russian Church would have been if the malice of the Living Church movement had not been smashed against this rock. In the patriarch, the Russian Church has lost a living symbol of church unity, and the Russian people have lost an image of national unity. If in the past Russia was an empire, now it has become a patriarchy: the All-Russian Tsar was replaced by the All-Russian Patriarch. Only in this title does the holy name of our country continue to be preserved until better days. Now Moses is recalled without seeing the promised land, and his people are left leaderless in the wilderness. Will the Lord raise up someone to take his place? This depends on the will of God, but we must remember that we have the patriarch’s will to his people, the authenticity of which there is no reason to doubt. We must not succumb to cowardice and fortune-telling, but must firmly follow the paths of the Lord. Let everyone ask his conscience whether he is a son worthy of his Holy Father, who sacrificed himself for his people. We tend to admire his martyrdom from afar, as spectators, but each of us must take part in it to the best of our ability. There is hidden symbolism in the names and dates of the patriarch’s life. He ascended the throne to the sounds of the church hymn of Palm Sunday (“Come up to Mount Zion and preach the good news...”), and on Palm Sunday his body was buried in the reigning city of Moscow. Our Lord entered Jerusalem as the King of meekness. He revealed Himself as a King, as the Son of David, but only when he came to Jerusalem to be crucified. His procession, when He rode on a donkey, was a procession to Calvary, and the spreading of clothes before Him prepared His way to the Cross. The Lord calls His chosen one, whom He glorified, to this path. The accession to the patriarchal throne was for the patriarch an ascension to the cross. He was elevated to this highest dignity so that he could bear the cross of service. Now he prays for the suffering and blinded people, so that they will become faithful, so that they can preserve the holy treasure of Orthodoxy in purity, so that they can love God more than their own life. The Patriarch in chains at the head of Russia, in chains became the light of the world. Never since the beginning of history has the Russian Church been so exalted in its leadership as it was exalted in these sad days of trials. And in the entire Christian world there is no name that is repeated with such respect as the name of the head of the Russian Church. It carries out the apostolic ministry of universal Orthodoxy. This quiet and soft light attracts and conquers. And the patriarch carries out the worldwide work of preaching Orthodoxy, he calls everyone to unity under his shade. And this work of his brings and will bear spiritual fruits, although unknown to the world. Isn’t it a miracle of God’s grace to the Russian Church that it was granted such spiritual power in all its earthly humiliations! And the holy name that crowns her in the days of trials is the name of the martyr in the church suffering torment, the father of his unworthy children, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. 14/27 April 1925, Prague