Вестник Екатеринбургской духовной семинарии (Feb 2022)
What Compromise with the Renovationists Agreed Patriarch Tikhon to in 1923–1924? Part 1: Negotiations with the “Holy Synod” of Evdokim (Meshchersky), 1923
Abstract
The proposed article, based on the sources of various types (official, clerical, journalistic, and personal ones) and origins (ecclesiastical, schismatic, and state), examines attempts — under the guise of church reconciliation — to impose on Patriarch Tikhon and his supporters the de facto subordination to the schismatic renovationists and the Soviet authorities that stood behind them. These attempts began shortly after the reorganization of the renovationist governing bodies in August 1923 and the establishment of a schismatic “Holy Synod” (later recognized by the Constantinople Patriarchate). Patriarch Tikhon was subjected to the strongest pressure, including threats of repression, partially implemented against his closest associates. An active disinformation campaign was launched by the Soviet and schismatic press. Its echoes for a long time formed a stereotypical idea that St. Tikhon and his associates, such as Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky), were at some point ready to make extreme concessions to the renovationists, up to agreeing with the dismissal of the Patriarch and uniting with the schismatics in a single structure. The story received a particularly tempting turn for Orthodox believers in spring and summer of 1924, when Soviet newspapers began to circulate reports about the allegedly reached agreement between the Patriarch and the “protopresbyter” Vladimir Krasnitsky (the most odious representative of the schism) and the unification of “Tikhonites” with “zhivotserkovniki” for the purpose of subsequent joint struggle against “church counter-revolution”. In fact, although Patriarch Tikhon was forced to enter into negotiations with the Renovationists personally or through his authorized representatives, a mandatory condition for the restoration of church communion with the schismatics was their public repentance, which they did not intend to do. The most important task for the Patriarch was not so much to normalize relations with the state (although he tried to do this), but to preserve internal peace within the Church. As a result, St. Tikhon was able — under the most difficult conditions — to preserve the canonical purity, spiritual and moral authority, and unity of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch did not make compromises with the schismatics, which would degrade the dignity of the Church.
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