Metropolitan Tikhon elected the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

On November 4 (17), 1917, in full swing of revolution, the Local Council of Russian Orthodox Church approved the decree on reestablishing of patriarchate, abolished in 1721 due to the adoption of the synodal control system in Russian Orthodox Church.

The next day, on November 5 (18) 1917, in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow the elections of the patriarch were held. The blind old man Alexei Zosimovsky drew lots from three candidates determined by the Council voting (metropolitan of Kharkov - Antony (Khrapovitsky), of Novgorod - Arseny (Stadnitsky) and of Moscow – Tikhon (Belavin)). The new head of the church became the president of the Council metropolitan of Moscow Tikhon. The enthronement took place on November 21 (December 4) on the day of Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the Temple in Assumption cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

The reestablishment of the patriarchate occurred in the moment when the country’s rule was in the hands of the political party that was negatively set against the religious institutions. From its side the church was expressing its rejection of the forcible change of political system in the country. That is why the relationship between the new state power and the primate of Russian Orthodox Church were from the very beginning of conflict character.

On January 19 (February 1) 1918 the patriarch addressed his flock pronouncing the anathema to the godless rule. It meant that the orthodox population of the country could not acknowledge the Soviet rule legally sound.

As soon as the next day the Soviet of the Peoples’ Commissars approved and published on January 23 (February 5) the decree “On separation of the church from the state, and the school from the church”. The decree deprived the church of all its properties and limited its influence on all the fields of social life.

As the civil war was progressing, the conflict between the church and the Soviet developed. More than once the patriarch was put under house arrest and in May of 1922 an action was brought against him in order to institute criminal proceedings. After the patriarch had written a statement on his repentance for “anti-Soviet deeds”, on March 21, 1924 the Supreme Court of the RSFSR closed his case.

On April 7 1925, on Annunciation Day, the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Tikhon died at the age of 60. The permission to elect the next patriarch was given only during the Great Patriotic War, on September 8, 1943.

On October 9, 1989 Tikhon (Belavin) was canonized during the Bishops Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. The relics of the prelate are kept in the great cathedral of Donskoy Monastery.

Lit.: Воробьёв В. Святитель Тихон, Патриарх Московский и всея Руси [Электронный ресурс] // Храм Христа Спасителя. Б. д. URL: http://www.xxc.ru/orthodox/pastor/tichon/; Патриаршество в Русской церкви [Электронный ресурс] // Православие и мир. Б. д. URL:http://www.pravmir.ru/article_2451.html; Тихон (Белавин). Благословляющее письмо адмиралу А. В. Колчаку // Окрест Колчака: документы и материал. М., 2007; Тихон (Белавин). Послание патриарха Тихона 19 января 1918 г. // Церковные ведомости. 1918. № 2.