«Aksenov, firm in the truth…»
Abstract
The article deals with an influential church figure of the XX century. Leonid Dmitrievich Aksenov, a friend of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, and in the 1930s a consultant to the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens (later Patriarchal Locum Tenens) of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky). The work traces Aksenov's life path, starting from his studies at the Pskov Theo-logical Seminary to his martyrdom in 1937. A lawyer, a full state councilor, and a philanthropist, he was always at the center of church life: he participated in the congress of learned monasticism held in July 1917, and was a member of the Local Council of 1917-1918. The documents pre-sented in the article show that L. D. Aksenov was closely connected with His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. After the October Revolution of 1917, Aksenov actively worked in the Orthodox frater-nities of Petrograd, provided legal support to the clergy, and financially helped the exiled. For helping the repressed and active church activities, he was arrested several times by the OGPU authorities. Twice he served his sentence in correctional labor camps. Until his last arrest, he helped Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), advised him, and dealt with problems of the liturgi-cal language. In 1937, along with other church leaders close to Metropolitan Sergius, he was ar-rested and shot after an investigation.
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