Patriarch Tikhon

Description

St. Patriarch Tikhon since his repose on the Feast of Annunciation in 1925, has centered on the short years of his patriarchate. Although this coincided with the most complex and difficult time in all of Russian Church history, all who take up the pen in his regard agree that he was the “right” man, chosen by God, for that critical hour.
The Saint’s English language biographer Jane Swan, has written: “It is difficult to assess the greatness of Tikhon….His spiritual growth was far beyond that of the ordinary mortal.” This finds agreement with the opinion of the Saint’s contemporary, Prof. Pavel Zaichenko: “in speaking about Bishop Tikhon, I am seized with reverent trepidation This was a giant among Russian Orthodox hierarchs; he was truly worthy of the honor and respect of the entire Christian world.

The key to St. Tikhon’s greatness lies in his personality, his character. Prof. Zaichenko recalls: “By nature Bishop Tikhon was kind, responsive and unusually sensitive. In his character he was quiet, merciful, good-natured and always tried to preserve in himself serenity, a serenity which he transmitted to the souls of all those around him.” Elsewhere it has been said that “he had a strong sense of duty and responsibility…moreover, he was possessed of an iron like self-possession and circumspection.

These were the qualities on which he built his fruitful activity as a missionary hierarch in North America. It was during these seven years, in the crucible of a pluralistic spiritual wilderness, that he refined and honed his insights into human nature and arch-pastorship. This period of Patriarch Tikhon’s life and personal development has received little attention. Yet, his “years in America were not only extremely productive, as far as successful administration of his diocese was concerned, but for Tikhon personally, they were years of useful experience which served him well later on. Later in life, he mentioned the fact that his American sojourn not only widened his ecclesiastical horizon but also his political outlook…[since he] was thrust into a completely new environment including freedom of religion, no censorship, [and] the hurrying business-like American bustle.

Indeed, his experience on this continent contributed no small measure towards the rational and balanced way he had of thinking, and of dealing with events that would have overwhelmed a lesser man. At the same time, it was precisely during his American sojourn–an elementary stage in American Orthodoxy – that a whole “tone” was set, and a direction given, to the Faith on this continent.