Anathema to Soviet power. Truth to truth

Already March 2, 1917. the members of the Synod betrayed the Anointed of God and recognized the need 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, temples, 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 aged Archpriest Pyotr Skipetrov, who called on the Red Army soldiers not to desecrate the shrines, was killed, and Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd and the viceroy 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 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...

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 now offended and oppressed Holy Mother... 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 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 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-appointed 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 efforts so that through labor and exploits, prayer and obedience, alleviate him 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 Kyiv 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 doesn't matter whether the bishops did it under pressure from the Masonic authorities or out of 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 ...

His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon anathematized the Bolsheviks for the fact that “open and secret enemies of this truth have raised persecution against the truth of Christ and strive to destroy the cause of Christ, and instead of Christian love, seeds of malice, hatred and fratricidal warfare are sowed everywhere.

Oct 13(26) 1918. Message from Patriarch Tikhon to the Council of People's Commissars "All who take the sword will perish by the sword." (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. Hold 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 spilled 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? Truly, you gave him a stone instead of bread and a snake instead of a fish (Matthew 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 Motherland 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 have taught them, recently still brave and invincible, to leave the defense of the Motherland, to flee from the battlefields. You have quenched in their hearts the consciousness that inspired them that “no one has more sowing love, but who will lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). You have replaced the Fatherland with soulless internationalism, 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. By refusing to defend the Motherland from external enemies, you, however, are constantly recruiting troops. Who are you leading them against? You divided the entire people into hostile camps and plunged them into fratricide unprecedented in cruelty. You openly replaced the love of Christ with hatred and, instead of peace, artificially kindled class enmity. And no end is foreseen for the war you have engendered, because 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. Nobody 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 executed by death, often without any investigation or trial, even without the simplified court you introduced. They execute not only those who have been guilty of something before you, but also those who are not guilty of anything even before you, 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, innocent of nothing, 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 consolation before death - parting words with the Holy Mysteries, and the bodies of the murdered are not given to 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 is not enough for you that you stained the hands of the Russian people with their fraternal blood: hiding behind various names - indemnities, requisitions and nationalizations - 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. At first, wealthy people were robbed under the name of “bourgeois”; 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 itself is ruined. Having tempted the dark and ignorant people with the possibility of easy and unpunished gain, you have befogged their conscience, 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 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 a 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 bring food, rent an apartment without special permission, when the family, 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 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 condemnation and denunciation is muffled; the press, except for the narrowly Bolshevik press, is 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, the collected property, collected by generations of believers, and did not hesitate to violate their posthumous 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. You are destroying the original form of the church community - the parish, destroying brotherhoods and other church-charitable educational institutions, dispersing church-diocesan meetings, interfering in the internal administration of the Orthodox Church. By throwing sacred images out of schools and forbidding children to be taught the faith in schools, you are depriving them of the spiritual food necessary for Orthodox upbringing. “And what else can I say. I won’t have time” (Heb. XI, 32) to depict all the troubles that befell 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, which threaten death in cities, about the absence 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, clouding the image of God in it and imprinting in it the image of the beast. The words of the prophet come true - “Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are unholy thoughts; desolation and destruction in their paths” (Isaiah 59:7). We know that our denunciations will only arouse anger and indignation in you, and that you will only look in them for a reason to accuse Us of resisting the authorities, but the higher your “pillar of malice” rises, the surer it will be evidence of the justice of Our denunciations.

Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

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 on 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 honestly fulfilling 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 any right 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 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 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 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 he 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 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 shall not prevail against her” (Matt. 16:18).

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

Cathedral of the Local Fathers about the Cathedral of 1917-18
The icon was painted in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kadashi

In the current year of 2018, among many extremely important events of a hundred years ago, we recall the famous anathema proclaimed by the holy Patriarch Tikhon at the Local Council of the Russian Church in January 1918 against the persecutors of the Church. This anathema was never forgotten in the church environment, but in the terrible Soviet times it was impossible to talk about it as an event. Over the past 30 years, a large church-historical literature about the Church of the Soviet period has appeared, where there are many references to the anathema and its meaning.

The 100th anniversary makes us return to this topic again.

Let us say at once that the Epistle of the Anathema is one of the most important results of the activity of the council.

By Divine Providence, the convening of the Council and its activity coincided completely with the most fateful events in Russian and world history. And this predetermined “coincidence” had the most important consequences.

After the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in October 1917, the aggravation of relations between the new government and the Church increased every day. Unheard-of terror almost instantly seized the entire gigantic country. By mid-January 1918, the demonic triumph of hatred for everything Orthodox-Russian began to be keenly felt not only at the cathedral, but everywhere where the “iron hand of the proletariat” reached out ...

The ongoing bloody events forced the cathedral to raise its voice in order to give a true assessment of the unheard of upheavals into which the Church and all of Russia were plunged. Exactly two months after the restoration of the Patriarchate (in November), circumstances forced the Patriarch to mark the renewal of the activities of the Russian Church with an unprecedentedly formidable address of truly universal significance.

During the Holy Week of Great Lent, on January 19, 1918, Saint Patriarch Tikhon published an Epistle in which he anathematized the group of persons who had come to power in Russia. On the formal side, this action of Patriarch Tikhon had an ecclesiastical legal basis, since in 1869 an anathema was added to those who dare to revolt and treason against Orthodox tsars.

The possibility of issuing such a document was discussed at preliminary meetings. This is directly indicated in the acts of the council. The message about the anathema was not only the own initiative of one Patriarch Tikhon. Moreover, initially it was assumed that a group of participants in the council would work on this document, but then the Patriarch decided to take over the entire drafting of the message personally. There is no doubt that he was well aware of the consequences of this document and wanted to protect others from persecution.

To determine the meaning of the Epistle, we must look at how it was perceived by contemporaries - primarily by the participants in the Council. The epistle was first read out on January 20, the day after it was composed, at the council, in the presence of more than a hundred members of the council, and included in its 66th act. Before the announcement of the Message, the Patriarch in a short speech drew the attention of all those present to the hostile position of the current government towards the Church: it, says the patriarch, “turned unfavorable attention to the Church of God, it issued a number of decrees that are beginning to be carried out and violate the basic provisions of our Church” . In other words, Patriarch Tikhon personally directly connects the Message with the policy of the new government. The Patriarch proposes to discuss this situation and work out the position of the Church in a conciliar way: “how to treat these decrees, how to oppose them, what measures to take.” The message is directed specifically against the decrees and other measures of the Bolsheviks. Having indicated all this, the Patriarch left the cathedral chamber. Immediately after his departure, the message was read out by Archbishop Kirill of Tambov (the future holy martyr) in the presence of only members of the cathedral. The seriousness of the situation did not allow the presence of outsiders. Thus, the basis of the discussion proposed by the Patriarch of the emerging relations between the Church and the state was his Epistle, which, thanks to this, became an integral part of the conciliar activity. As the Patriarch said: “The upcoming session of the council… in addition to the current tasks, has a special task: the discussion of how to relate to current events concerning the Church of God.”

Therefore, let us briefly dwell on the review of the text of the Epistle. It can be presented as a series of detailed provisions that the meeting participants should discuss and express.

The Epistle begins with the well-known, often quoted words: “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.” The meaning of this phrase is that it is an announcement to the entire Orthodox people on behalf of the Head of the Church about the persecution of the faith that began in Russia for the first time. The goal of the persecutors is immediately determined: "to destroy the cause of Christ." Those who do this are, by definition, the servants of the Antichrist. The persecution is quite accurately called "the most severe", although everything was just beginning. The Epistle indicates that the persecution was initiated by "open and secret enemies of the Church." Who were the obvious enemies, it is clear from the public words of the Patriarch about the actions of the government, given above, but secret enemies are also mentioned. Who they are is not disclosed, but for some reason the Patriarch decided to point out that they exist… The Patriarch points out how this persecution has already been expressed and addresses the persecutors with the necessary, according to the Apostle’s testament, “a formidable word of denunciation and rebuke.” He menacingly calls them "monsters of the human race." They are "the godless rulers of the darkness of this world." These are the most extreme expressions that can be used in an ecclesiastical document, and we are talking specifically about the current government. What these monsters are doing, whose affairs have just begun, is not just a cruel deed, but a "satanic deed." Here everything is said in the most direct and uncompromising sense: they are direct servants of Satan. They are punished, says the Patriarch, by the fire of Gehenna in eternal life, and also, he points out, they are subject to "a terrible curse of posterity in the present life - on earth." These words are not rhetoric, since they are part of an official document proposed to the council and then approved by the council. These are thoughtful, precise and definitive definitions. The authority of the spiritual Head of the Orthodox people of Russia has already pronounced a curse, and a "terrible" one at that, on behalf of future generations. Thus, Patriarch Tikhon, in his Epistle, also addresses posterity with undoubted confidence that they will join the bans he has announced. He warns posterity that no reconciliation can take place with these persecutors, since they will not repent.

During the period of persecution, which turned out to be longer than contemporaries obviously expected, any free expressions within the boundaries of historical Russia were impossible. However, Patriarch Tikhon in it obliged the descendants to take a certain position in relation to these destructive forces.

Anathematization is combined with the prohibition to approach the Mysteries of Christ, which is also indicated in the message, that is, it applies only to persons of Christian origin, since those deprived of the grace of baptism are already subject to a curse due to their bloody deeds. The definition of the new "lords of darkness" as the servants of Satan is also essentially a curse.

The word "anathema" means the taking away of grace, which in its meaning is a curse. In this case, it refers to evidence of punishment in eternal life, but the curse as such, this is what, in accordance with the words of Christ: “Depart from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25, 41). It is mentioned, although left in a more direct sense only to posterity, as a future confirmation of the eternity of this extreme excommunication. But the excommunication will be mentioned again a little later, in the Epistle about the starving and about the seizure of church valuables in 1922.

Here, in anathematizing, obviously, not only the rulers are meant, but also numerous pogromists of Russian origin, who anarchically throughout the country have already seized and plundered the Church, and in general everything, but not only them.

“The godless rulers of the darkness of this world”, according to the Message, are quite specific carriers of the real power at that time, which they seized. The word "lords" directly implies the power of those who issued anti-church and generally anti-people decrees, as pointed out by the patriarch in his opening speech. The Epistle directly states: “The authorities, which promised to establish law and truth in Russia, to ensure freedom and order, are showing the most unbridled self-will and sheer violence against everyone and, in particular, over the holy Orthodox Church.” This is the power that has reigned in Russia since October 1917. At that moment it consisted of people of different nationalities, not all of them belonged to the Orthodox Church by origin, however, nevertheless, they were mostly baptized people and therefore they fell under anathema as a whole. The list of people who were part of the first Soviet government - the so-called Council of People's Commissars, mainly includes people of Russian origin, and almost all of them belong to the Bolshevik Party, partly Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Another, most influential group of people was of Jewish origin, in the new power structures there were also Georgians, Armenians, Latvians and others; but among them were many who had been baptized in childhood. The general situation of persecution of the Church was purposefully developed by the Bolshevik Party.

Thus, the epistle announces to everyone about the coming period of persecution, denounces the Soviet government for numerous crimes, warns its bearers about eternal torment, anathematizes and warns of the coming damnation from posterity, excommunicates baptized persons from Holy Communion and Church communion, calls on the Orthodox people and the hierarchy to protection of shrines.

Immediately after the announcement of the Message was followed by its discussion by the participants of the meeting. This discussion is the most interesting material, testifying to the perception of what was happening by contemporaries. At the meeting, eight people made rather lengthy speeches, mostly of a serious analytical nature. All speakers unconditionally supported the Message. The discussion continued at subsequent meetings. Many thoughts were expressed in substantiation and development of the provisions of the Message.

So, according to Archpriest I.V. Tsvetkov, “the strongest point in the message of the Patriarch is the anathematization of the enemies of the homeland and the Church and the prohibition to enter into communion with them ... but still it requires explanation ... I would say that the authorities that currently exist are subject to anathematization ...” (p. 44). Prof. THEM. Gromoglasov (the future holy martyr) spoke of the need for conciliar support for the deeds of the Patriarch. Bishop Ephraim of Selenginsky (hieromartyr), among other things, pointed to the guilt of the clergy, he also directly pointed to the "bouquet of Bolshevism", "against which in essence the message of His Holiness the Patriarch is directed." (item 52). Nobody argued with this obvious fact.

As a result of the discussion, the Council adopted its resolution endorsing the Epistle of the Patriarch. This decree, or, according to the text, the Definition, was drawn up by a commission specially created under the Council of the Council. At a meeting on January 22, the text of the Definition was reported to the Council by Archpriest A.P. Rozhdestvensky and adopted at the suggestion of the presiding Metropolitan Arseniy of Novgorod. It was immediately published on February 7 (20), 1918 in the "Church Gazette" No. 5, on p. 24: and, thus, immediately became public domain. It is a document entitled: "Resolution of the Holy Council of January 22, 1918." The text was also published in the acts of the council (act 67, paragraph 35-37).

The Epistle was also sent to the parishes and read by the priests. It evoked many responses, some of which were included in the conciliar acts.

As I have already noted, the Council calls the Epistle of the Patriarch "a spiritual sword" "against those who commit continuous abuse of the shrines of the faith and conscience of the people." It is necessary to note the following phrase of the Definition: “The Holy Council testifies that it is in complete unity with the father and the prayer book of the Russian Church, heeds his call and is ready to sacrificially confess the faith of Christ against her detractors.” And so, the council fully accepts the message - in complete unity with the Patriarch - that is, in terms of anathematization, denunciation, formidable warnings and the rest. The participants in the Council actually confirmed their readiness to confess their faith expressed here: almost all of them were later martyred and are now canonized as saints.

This is important, because the recognition by the Local Council of the anathema of the Patriarch means that no one can cancel the anathema imposed on the "godless rulers of the darkness of this age" - the party of the Bolsheviks, their followers and the like. It is imposed forever and all followers, successors of the Bolshevik ideology, as well as all persecutors, robbers and pogromists of the Church, even without any ideology, like church thieves, are subject to it. "Church tatba" has always been considered one of the gravest sins, and the guilty person has always been subjected to church excommunication, but this sin has never reached such a universal scale.

Many members of the council felt that these documents were not enough. And they were right, as the aggression escalated. Already on January 25, the Council adopted a new Decree in response to the Soviet decree on the separation of the Church from the state. This response was called “historical” in the act of the Council. The document was drawn up in the spirit of the Patriarchal Epistle on the athematization of the "lords of darkness", being its real continuation. The resolution analyzes the decree, reveals its anti-religious meaning, calls it "satanic". The council declares that the decree "has the appearance of a law, but in fact it is ... a malicious attempt on the entire order of life of the Orthodox Church and an act of open persecution against her." In stating this, the council recalls that “God cannot be mocked”, calls on the Orthodox people to unite and expresses confidence that “God’s righteous judgment will be carried out on the bold blasphemers and persecutors of the Church” (act 69, paragraphs 21-23).

In the next document - the decision of the council on the decree "on freedom of conscience" - the council speaks in the same spirit and directly recalls the Patriarch's Message of January 19, where he calls on the people to a feat. At the same time, the council assumes the continuation of persecution and indicates that if there is no popular resistance, “then holy Orthodox Russia would have turned into the land of Antichrist, into a spiritual desert ...”. Subsequent history fully confirmed the correctness of these documents, and most of the participants in the council became martyrs for their faith. The mention of the "land of Antichrist" is also of considerable interest. The Council, firstly, in principle admits such a possibility in the future; secondly, he clearly understands by it the territory of a global, all-round persecution of Christianity; and thirdly, the Council calls on the people to prevent the domination of the Antichrist in Russia. The Council, of course, was not going to claim that the Antichrist had come in the literal sense. But all the activities of the "lords of darkness" are fully consistent with the Orthodox teaching about the Antichrist: he will have his own "forerunners", to which the collection refers the Bolsheviks. Indeed, the new rulers were already dreaming of world power: revolutions were already being prepared in other countries, a “world (!) republic of soviets” was being designed, and so on. But for this, the beast did not yet possess sufficient strength ...

Thus, the Epistle of Patriarch Tikhon on anathematization was the most important primary document that determined the spirit and nature of the chain of conciliar actions necessary in the current conditions against the forces that for the first time in history unleashed a merciless anti-church war of this magnitude. This Epistle is central in a group of documents that consistently and comprehensively analyze the anti-Christian actions of the new government, give it a completely accurate and final assessment. It was in these documents that the cathedral fulfilled one of its main missions: to warn the Russian people and all of humanity about the hitherto unprecedented threat of direct antichrist power, about the new era of unprecedented confrontation between the Church and the forces of evil. The epistle of the anathema and the documents adjoining it are filled with prophetic wrath and pathos, and this is their significance.

In 1923, Patriarch Tikhon declared that "from now on he is not an enemy of the Soviet regime." Of course, he, like the whole Church, was not the enemy of any authority, only the earthly authority itself can be an enemy of the Church.

Bequeathed to posterity by Patriarch Tikhon and the Council of 1917-1918, the curse of the enemies of the Church actually received its real embodiment in the new anathema proclaimed by the Council of the Church Abroad in 1970. In this definition, Vladimir Lenin is personally named, as well as other persecutors. New is also an indication of the murder of the Anointed of God - Sovereign Nicholas 2nd.

Here is an extract from the text:

Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

The Russian Church Abroad, expressing the cherished aspirations of its archpastors, clergy and flock, with special maternal care, always calls on everyone to unite in prayer for the salvation of our suffering people from the bloody yoke of godless communism implanted by Lenin, as a result of which the Synod of Bishops determines:

1. On Sunday, March 16/29, 1970, on the Week of the Cross, after the Divine Liturgy in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, prayer singing is to be served with the preliminary announcement of the Message of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of 1918 on the excommunication of the Bolsheviks and with the corresponding sermon - On the salvation of the state Russian and the appeasement of human passions (Following this is attached on separate sheets).

2. After the dismissal of the prayer service, proclaim an anathema to Lenin and all the persecutors of the Church of Christ, who were anathematized by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of All Russia in 1918, in the following form:

Vladimir Lenin and other persecutors of Christ's Church, impious apostates who raised their hands against the Anointed of God, who killed clergy, trampled on shrines, destroyed the temples of God, tortured our brethren and defiled our Fatherland, anathema.

The choir sings three times: anathema.

The Russian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate did not speak out in any way about this anathematization, being then in captivity of the godless authorities. But both parts of the Church were reunited in 2008, mutually recognizing the legitimacy

all church activities on both sides.

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 - death, 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, 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, we asked the head of the largest center for studying the history of the New Martyrs and Confessors in the Russian Church, the NIO NIOC PSTGU, the rector of St. Tikhon Orthodox University, Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov.

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 "simply 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 it's death from a heart attack, it's 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 Alexis 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 Ilyinsky 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 is not weakening. 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.