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Bishop Roman

(in the world
Gennady Mikhailovich Gavrilov
; February 3, 1957, the city of Kolchugino, Vladimir region) - bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, bishop of Serpukhov, vicar of the Moscow diocese, dean of the monasteries of the Moscow diocese, rector of the Vysotsky monastery of the city of Serpukhov, Moscow region. Name day - July 29 (August 11).

Bishop Roman

since August 10, 2006
Election:	July 19, 2006
Church:	Russian Orthodox Church
Predecessor:	Ilian (Vostryakov)

Birth name:	Gennady Mikhailovich Gavrilov
Birth:	February 3, 1957 (1957-02-03) (64 years old) Kolchugino, Vladimir region, RSFSR, USSR
Taking Holy Orders:	December 19, 1981
Acceptance of monasticism:	December 17, 1981
Episcopal consecration:	August 10, 2006

Awards:

Biography

Born into an Orthodox family from workers in the city of Kolchugino, Vladimir region.

In 1974, he graduated from 10 classes at the Davydov Secondary School and in the same year he became a worker at the Sergo Ordzhonikidze plant.

From 1975 to 1977 he served in the ranks of the Soviet Army. Upon demobilization from the army, he was sent to work as an inspector in the security department of administrative buildings in Moscow.

From 1978 to 1980 he studied at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys.

On August 19, 1980, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Nizkoye, Moscow Region, Hieromonk Joseph (Balabanov) was tonsured into the ryassophore.

From August 14 to December 17, 1981, he served as a psalm-reader in the St. Paraskevinsky Church in the village of Velikodvorye, Gus-Khrustalny district, Vladimir region.

On December 17, 1981, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara and the Venerable John of Damascus, in the house church of the Bishop's Chambers at the Vladimir Diocesan Administration, the secretary of the Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Archimandrite Alexy (Kutepov), was tonsured into monasticism with the name Roman

, in honor of Roman Kirzhachsky, a student of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

On December 19, 1981, on the day of memory of Nicholas the Wonderworker, in the Holy Dormition Cathedral of the city of Vladimir, Archbishop Serapion of Vladimir and Suzdal ordained him to the rank of hierodeacon, and the next day, December 20, 1981, to the rank of hieromonk at the Assumption Cathedral.

From January 1 to January 20, 1982 he was a cleric of the Prince Vladimir Church in the city of Vladimir.

From January 20, 1982 to April 15, 1986 - clerk of the Vladimir diocesan administration.

In 1983 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary as a correspondence student.

On October 18, 1983, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen awarded the right to wear a pectoral cross.

On April 7, 1985, on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Archbishop Serapion of Vladimir and Suzdal elevated him to the rank of abbot.

On January 20, 1986, Patriarch Pimen awarded the right to carry a club for the holiday of Holy Easter.

From April 15, 1986 to December 2, 1987, he served as rector of the Holy Dormition Church in the city of Petushki.

On April 20, 1987, Patriarch Pimen awarded the right to wear a cross with decorations.

On December 2, 1987, he was transferred to the clergy of the Chisinau-Moldavian diocese.

From December 22, 1987 to November 2, 1990 - rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Bendery.

On January 6, 1988, Metropolitan Serapion of Chisinau and Moldova elevated him to the rank of archimandrite.

In connection with the anniversary of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988, His Holiness Patriarch Pimen awarded the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, III degree.

On October 14, 1988, he was appointed a member of the Diocesan Council of the Chisinau diocese.

In the same year he was awarded the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, III degree.

In 1989, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Patriarchate in Rus', His Holiness Patriarch Pimen was awarded the right to serve the Divine Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until “Our Father...”

In 1990, he was elected a member of the presidium of the Relief Society of the city of Bendery, Moldavian SSR.

On February 18, 1991, he was accepted into the clergy of the Moscow diocese and, by decree of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, was appointed rector of the Transfiguration Church in the city of Zheleznodorozhny.

On April 20, 1991, by decree of Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomna, Juvenaly was appointed dean of the churches of the Shchelkovo district.

On November 26, 1992, he was appointed rector of the Borisoglebsky Church in the city of Dmitrov, Moscow Region, retaining the post of dean of the churches of the Shchelkovo district and rector of the Transfiguration Church in the city of Zheleznodorozhny.

From February 9, 1993 to December 29, 1994 - member of the Diocesan Council of the Moscow Diocese.

On February 23, 1993, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed him as rector of the Borisoglebsky Monastery in the city of Dmitrov, Moscow Region.

From March 26, 1993 to November 9, 1995 - dean of the churches of the Balashikha district.

From November 9, 1995 to October 7, 2005 - dean of the churches of the Dmitrov district.

From September 19, 1997 to October 7, 2005 - rector of the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Dmitrov, Moscow region and chairman of the Parish Council.

Since December 10, 2004 - dean of the monasteries of the Moscow diocese.

From May 13 to October 18, 2005 - rector of the Elizabethan Church assigned to the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Dmitrov.

On August 8, 2005, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna entrusted the temporary fulfillment of the duties of part-time rector of the Ascension David’s Hermitage in the village of Novy Byt, Chekhov district, Moscow region, and the duties of dean of the churches of the Chekhov district[1][2].

On October 6, 2005, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church appointed him rector of the Ascension David Hermitage in the village of Novy Byt, Chekhov district, Moscow region, and on October 7, by decree of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, dean of the churches of the Chekhov district[3][4].

In 2006 he graduated from MDS in absentia. In the same year, he enrolled in the first year of external studies at the Moscow Theological Academy (Theological Department).

Bishop

On July 19, 2006, by determination of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was elected Bishop of Serpukhov, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese[5].

On August 8, 2006, in the house church of the Patriarchal residence of the St. Daniel Monastery, the Primate of the Russian Church named Archimandrite Roman (Gavrilov) Bishop of Serpukhov, vicar of the Moscow diocese[6].

On August 10, 2006, on the day of the feast of the Smolensk Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the Smolensk Cathedral Church of the capital's Novodevichy Monastery, led the consecration of Archimandrite Roman (Gavrilov) as Bishop of Serpukhov, vicar of the Moscow diocese[7] . The following took part in the consecration: Metropolitans of Krutitsky and Kolomna Juvenaly; Kaluga and Borovsky Clement, Administrator of the Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archbishops of Mozhaisk Gregory, vicar of the Moscow diocese; Tula and Belevsky Alexy; Vladimir and Suzdal Evlogy; Kursky and Rylsky Herman; Yaroslavsky and Rostov Kirill; Bishops of Birobidzhan and Kuldur Joseph; Vidnovsky Tikhon; Sergiev Posad Feognost.

From December 20, 2006 to December 22, 2009, he was a member of the Diocesan Council of the Moscow Diocese[8][9].

On February 19, 2007, he was relieved of his post as dean of churches in the Chekhov district[10].

In 2008 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy.

On October 5, 2011, by determination of the Holy Synod, he was relieved of his duties as rector of the Ascension David’s Hermitage and appointed rector of the Vysotsky Monastery in the city of Serpukhov[11].

Awards[edit | edit code]

Church[edit | edit code]

Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow, II degree (2007)[13]
Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II (August 31, 2003)[14] and III degree (1988)
Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, III degree (1988)
Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov, III degree (2014) - in recognition of assistance in the restoration of the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery
[15]
memorial panagia (2012)[16]

Notes

[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2005/08/08/848/ Decree No. 2246 of August 8, 2005]
[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2005/08/08/849/ Decree No. 2247 of August 8, 2005]
[www.mospat.ru/archive/27853.htm Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church dated October 6, 2005], Journal No. 75
[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2005/10/07/931/ Decree No. 2781 of October 7, 2005]
[www.mospat.ru/archive/32304.htm Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church dated July 19, 2006], Journal No. 84
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/131281.html His Holiness the Patriarch named Archimandrite Roman (Gavrilov) Bishop of Serpukhov, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese]
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/131902.html His Holiness Patriarch Alexy led the consecration of Archimandrite Roman (Gavrilov) as Bishop of Serpukhov]
[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2006/12/20/1575/ Decree No. 3103 of December 20, 2006]
[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2009/12/23/3574/ Decree No. 4480 of December 23, 2009]
[www.mepar.ru/documents/decrees/2007/02/19/1690/ Decree No. 368 of February 19, 2007]
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1639858.html Journals of the meeting of the Holy Synod of October 5-6, 2011], Journal No. 129
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/194910.html Patriarchal congratulations to Bishop Roman of Serpukhov on his 50th birthday]
[www.jmp.ru/jmp/03/09-03/03.htm Pastoral trip of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' to Dmitrov] Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, September 2003
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3708920.html The Primate of the Russian Church celebrated the Liturgy in the Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery near Moscow]
[www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1991842.html His Holiness Patriarch Kirill awarded a number of archpastors of the Russian Orthodox Church / News / Patriarchia.ru]

Excerpt characterizing the novel (Gavrilov)

Sitting silently and motionless against the wall on the straw, Pierre first opened and then closed his eyes. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw before him the same terrible, especially terrible in its simplicity, face of the factory worker and even more terrible in its anxiety faces of unwitting killers. And he again opened his eyes and looked senselessly in the darkness around him. Next to him sat, bent over, some small man, whose presence Pierre noticed at first by the strong smell of sweat that separated from him with every movement. This man was doing something in the dark with his legs, and, despite the fact that Pierre could not see his face, he felt that this man was constantly looking at him. Looking closely in the darkness, Pierre realized that this man had taken off his shoes. And the way he did it interested Pierre. Unwinding the twine with which one leg was tied, he carefully rolled up the twine and immediately began working on the other leg, looking at Pierre. While one hand was hanging the twine, the other was already beginning to unwind the other leg. Thus, carefully, with round, spore-like movements, without slowing down one after another, taking off his shoes, the man hung his shoes on pegs driven over his heads, took out a knife, cut something, folded the knife, put it under the head of the head and, sitting down better, hugged raised his knees with both hands and stared straight at Pierre. Pierre felt something pleasant, soothing and round in these controversial movements, in this comfortable household in his corner, in the smell even of this man, and he looked at him without taking his eyes off. “Did you see a lot of need, master?” A? - the little man suddenly said. And there was such an expression of affection and simplicity in the man’s melodious voice that Pierre wanted to answer, but his jaw trembled and he felt tears. The little man at that very second, not giving Pierre time to show his embarrassment, spoke in the same pleasant voice. “Eh, falcon, don’t bother,” he said with that tenderly melodious caress with which old Russian women speak. - Don’t worry, my friend: endure for an hour, but live for a century! That's it, my dear. And we live here, thank God, there is no resentment. There are also good and bad people,” he said, and while still speaking, with a flexible movement he bent over to his knees, stood up and, clearing his throat, went somewhere. - Look, you rascal, she’s come! - Pierre heard the same gentle voice at the end of the booth. - The rogue has come, she remembers! Well, well, it will be. - And the soldier, pushing away the little dog that was jumping towards him, returned to his place and sat down. In his hands he had something wrapped in a rag. “Here, eat, master,” he said, again returning to his former respectful tone and unwrapping and handing Pierre several baked potatoes. - There was stew at lunch. And the potatoes are important! Pierre had not eaten all day, and the smell of potatoes seemed unusually pleasant to him. He thanked the soldier and began to eat. - Well, is that so? – the soldier said smiling and took one of the potatoes. - And that’s how you are. - He took out a folding knife again, cut the potatoes into equal two halves in his palm, sprinkled salt from a rag and brought it to Pierre. “The potatoes are important,” he repeated. - You eat it like this. It seemed to Pierre that he had never eaten a dish tastier than this. “No, I don’t care,” said Pierre, “but why did they shoot these unfortunates!.. The last twenty years.” “Tch, tsk...” said the little man. “This is a sin, this is a sin...” he quickly added, and, as if his words were always ready in his mouth and accidentally flew out of him, he continued: “What is it, master, that you stayed in Moscow like that?” “I didn’t think they would come so soon.” “I accidentally stayed,” said Pierre. - How did they take you, falcon, from your house? - No, I went to the fire, and then they grabbed me and tried me for an arsonist. “Where there is court, there is no truth,” the little man interjected. - How long have you been here? – asked Pierre, chewing the last potato. - Is that me? That Sunday they took me from the hospital in Moscow. -Who are you, soldier? - Soldiers of the Absheron Regiment. He was dying of fever. They didn't tell us anything. About twenty of us were lying there. And they didn’t think, they didn’t guess. - Well, are you bored here? asked Pierre. - It’s not boring, falcon. Call me Plato; Karataev’s nickname,” he added, apparently in order to make it easier for Pierre to address him. - They called him Falcon in the service. How not to be bored, falcon! Moscow, she is the mother of cities. How not to get bored looking at this. Yes, the worm gnaws at the cabbage, but before that you disappear: that’s what the old men used to say,” he added quickly. - How, how did you say that? asked Pierre. - Is that me? – asked Karataev. “I say: not by our mind, but by God’s judgment,” he said, thinking that he was repeating what had been said. And he immediately continued: “How come you, master, have estates?” And there is a house? Therefore, the cup is full! And is there a hostess? Are your old parents still alive? - he asked, and although Pierre could not see in the darkness, he felt that the soldier’s lips were wrinkled with a restrained smile of affection while he was asking this. He was apparently upset that Pierre did not have parents, especially a mother. “A wife is for advice, a mother-in-law is for greetings, and nothing is dearer than your own mother!” - he said. - Well, do you have any children? – he continued to ask. Pierre's negative answer again apparently upset him, and he hastened to add: “Well, there will be young people, God willing.” If only I could live in the council... “It doesn’t matter now,” Pierre said involuntarily. “Eh, you’re a dear man,” Plato objected. - Never give up money or prison. “He sat down better and cleared his throat, apparently preparing for a long story. “So, my dear friend, I was still living at home,” he began. “Our patrimony is rich, there is a lot of land, the men live well, and our home, thank God.” The priest himself went out to mow. We lived well. They were real Christians. It happened... - And Platon Karataev told a long story about how he went to someone else’s grove behind the forest and was caught by a guard, how he was whipped, tried and handed over to the soldiers. “Well, the falcon,” he said, his voice changing with a smile, “they thought grief, but joy!” My brother should go, if it were not for my sin. And the younger brother has five boys himself - and look, I have only one soldier left. There was a girl, and God took care of her even before she became a soldier. I came on leave, I’ll tell you. I see they live better than before. The yard is full of bellies, women are at home, two brothers are at work. Only Mikhailo, the youngest, is at home. Father says: “All children are equal to me: no matter what finger you bite, everything hurts. If only Plato hadn’t been shaved then, Mikhail would have gone.” He called us all - believe me - he put us in front of the image. Mikhailo, he says, come here, bow at his feet, and you, woman, bow, and your grandchildren bow. Got it? speaks. So, my dear friend. Rock is looking for his head. And we judge everything: sometimes it’s not good, sometimes it’s not okay. Our happiness, my friend, is like water in delirium: if you pull it, it swells, but if you pull it out, there’s nothing. So that. - And Plato sat down on his straw. After being silent for some time, Plato stood up. - Well, I have tea, do you want to sleep? - he said and quickly began to cross himself, saying: “Lord, Jesus Christ, St. Nicholas, Frol and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ, St. Nicholas!” Frol and Lavra, Lord Jesus Christ - have mercy and save us! - he concluded, bowed to the ground, stood up and, sighing, sat down on his straw. - That's it. “Put it down, God, like a pebble, lift it up like a ball,” he said and lay down, pulling on his greatcoat. -What prayer were you reading? asked Pierre. - Ass? - said Plato (he was already falling asleep). - Read what? I prayed to God. Don’t you ever pray? “No, and I pray,” said Pierre. - But what did you say: Frol and Lavra? “But what about,” Plato quickly answered, “a horse festival.” And we must feel sorry for the livestock,” Karataev said. - Look, the rogue has curled up. She got warm, the son of a bitch,” he said, feeling the dog at his feet, and, turning around again, immediately fell asleep. Outside, crying and screams could be heard somewhere in the distance, and fire could be seen through the cracks of the booth; but in the booth it was quiet and dark. Pierre did not sleep for a long time and, with open eyes, lay in his place in the darkness, listening to the measured snoring of Plato, who lay next to him, and felt that the previously destroyed world was now being erected in his soul with new beauty, on some new and unshakable foundations. In the booth into which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials. All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre’s soul as the strongest and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, his back, chest, shoulders, even the hands that he carried, as if always about to hug something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round. Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a long-time soldier. He himself did not know and could not determine in any way how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which kept rolling out in their two semicircles when he laughed (which he often did), were all good and intact; There was not a single gray hair in his beard or hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and, especially, hardness and endurance. His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But the main feature of his speech was its spontaneity and argument. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and because of this, the speed and fidelity of his intonations had a special irresistible persuasiveness. His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that it seemed that he did not understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day, in the morning and in the evening, when he lay down, he said: “Lord, lay it down like a pebble, lift it up into a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he said: “I lay down and curled up, got up and shook myself.” And indeed, as soon as he lay down, he immediately fell asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, he immediately, without a second of delay, took up some task, like children, getting up, taking up their toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, and made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself conversations, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not as songwriters sing, who know that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because he needed to make these sounds just as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, gentle, almost feminine, mournful, and at the same time his face was very serious. Having been captured and grown a beard, he apparently threw away everything alien and soldierly that had been imposed on him and involuntarily returned to his former, peasant, folk mindset. “A soldier on leave is a shirt made from trousers,” he used to say. He was reluctant to talk about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that throughout his service he was never beaten. When he spoke, he mainly spoke from his old and, apparently, dear memories of “Christian”, as he pronounced it, peasant life. The sayings that filled his speech were not those, mostly indecent and glib sayings that soldiers say, but they were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken in isolation, and which suddenly take on the meaning of deep wisdom when they are spoken opportunely. Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, decorating his speech with endearments and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he was inventing himself; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that Pierre saw without noticing them, took on the character of solemn beauty. He loved to listen to fairy tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same ones), but most of all he loved to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and making questions that tended to clarify for himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Karataev had no attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him to, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mongrel, he loved his comrades, the French, he loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, despite all his affectionate tenderness towards him (with which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre’s spiritual life), would not for a minute be upset by separation from him. And Pierre began to feel the same feeling towards Karataev.

Achilles

We repeat the text of 2021.

Many Orthodox readers are well aware of the novel “The Bishop,” written at the beginning of the twentieth century, and which was published in large editions by modern church book publishers under the authorship of the mysterious “Hieromonk Tikhon” (sometimes the surname “Barsukov” is also added), sounded on Orthodox radio, posted in networks as an audiobook on Orthodox sites. Of course, it’s difficult to call this work a novel; rather, it’s a story. It is also difficult to understand why it is being published and broadcast - after all, despite all the edifying and didactic style, the book preaches ideas that are alien to today’s Orthodox mainstream. The plot is also not very typical for Orthodox literature - a drinking priest, banned for marrying a couple without documents; his friend is also a priest, despairing and actually giving up ministry for the sake of actively helping the homeless and the poor; a strange bishop who trolls the priests, unaccustomed to uncovetous and easy-to-handle rulers, giving away the residence of his predecessor to a Christian commune formed from a declassed element.

Here is a typical passage, the reasoning of the main character, the bishop (nameless, by the way):

“The great living work of God in the world, the work of rebirth, transformation, re-creation of humanity, people understood only as “religion.” From the creative acts of God's power operating in the world - from the holy sacraments - they created a religious cult, forgetting that God needs only one thing - worship “in spirit and truth.” “By the Spirit,” that is, reverently recognizing the existence of God. “With the truth,” that is, in even the last little things of your life, speak the truth, act in the truth, and expose lies in every possible way. But only. God does not need our churches, bows, or prayer services. We need all this to make us Christians. But we are accustomed to prostrate ourselves before idols and from Christianity we have adopted only worship. Slaves of passions, having divided everyone into strong and weak, rich and poor, bosses and subordinates, masters and servants, learned and ignorant, judges and defendants, and so on, and having defined their relations to each other by rights and responsibilities, people also defined their relationship with God as rights and responsibilities. By pleasing ourselves to powerful people, we replaced our living faith in God with “pleasing” God. Always slaves at heart, we have understood the word “servant of God” in the literal sense and turned the Christian virtue of humility into spiritual servility, forgetting the words of Christ: “I no longer call you slaves... but friends” (John 15:15). And even when we keep God’s commandments and do good deeds, we look at it as a bribe that we give to God in order to get a place in the next world. Can one be surprised after this that not only people, but also the priests themselves, even when receiving the Sacraments, do not change at all and remain the same as they were?

While publishing and reading this book, few people wondered: who is the real author of “The Bishop”? At most, it was mentioned in passing that “hieromonk Tikhon” is a pseudonym, but that’s all.

But there was a researcher who is sure that the author of this book was not a monk at all, but a priest - Archpriest Tikhon Andrievsky, who after the revolution renounced his faith and was engaged in anti-religious propaganda. Ural local historian Yuri Sukharev piece by piece collected information about the fate of this unusual priest (see Sukharev Yu.M. On the biography of church dissident Tikhon Andrievsky ).

Tikhon Petrovich Andrievsky was born in 1873 in the village. Alagir (Terek region), North Caucasus region. He studied at the Tiflis Seminary at the same time as the future “father of nations” Joseph Dzhugashvili, but four years older.

Then he studied at the Kazan Theological Academy at the expense of the Caucasian Missionary Society, as the son of a poor mountain priest. He graduated from the academy in 1900 as a candidate of theology.

For several years he served as an observer of parochial schools and literacy schools in North Ossetia.

In 1903 he was ordained and soon appointed dean of the city of Kars and the district. Due to differences in views on the national policy of the government pursued by Archpriest Vostorgov, he refused to serve in the ecclesiastical department, retired and lived on his literary earnings in Kazan.

During this period, he wrote a work that is today published as the novel “Bishop” under the authorship of “Hieromonk Tikhon.”

As proof that the novel was written by Andrievsky, local historian Yuri Sukharev cites a publication in the Siberian Trade Newspaper, published in Tyumen, in the issue dated January 13 (26), 1917, in the “Literature” section:

“Legal teacher of the Kamyshlovskaya gymnasium, Fr. Tikhon Andrievsky is preparing a new literary work, which will be a continuation of his novel “The Bishop,” which is popular among the entire Russian clergy.”

On October 17, 1905, socialists staged riots in the center of Kazan. As a result, police were injured and several members of the public were killed. Students of the Kazan Seminary took part in the riots. The seminarians stocked up on homemade bombs, stones, and bricks, and fired revolvers at the police from the seminary building.

By October 21, the rebels had already created their own militia and were largely in control of the situation. On this day, a spontaneous, crowded “Black Hundred” demonstration arose, directed against the socialists. As a result, the rioters found themselves blocked in the building of the Kazan city government. The besieged were asked to surrender. They soon accepted all the conditions and stopped firing from the windows.

Researcher Igor Alekseev explains: “According to the data contained in the “Case of the Opening of Shooting,” the shelling of the building stopped after the priest who was in it, Archpriest Tikhon Andrievsky, and “other persons” telephoned the governor with a request to stop the shooting.” All those who surrendered under heavy military escort, protected from the onslaught of the indignant crowd, were taken to the Kazan transit prison.

In 1906, friends secured a teaching position for Father Tikhon at the Perm Theological Seminary, where he served until 1912. He taught Greek, psychology, logic, a brief history and the initial foundations of philosophy, general church history and the history of the Russian church, as well as basic, dogmatic and moral theology.

Father Tikhon fearlessly shared his far from orthodox views with the seminarians. A few years later, after the February revolution, the response of one of them - his nephew - was captured in his autobiographical novel “Vinegrowers” by Archpriest Nikolai Butkin , who was shot in 1937; he brought out Father Tikhon Andrievsky there under the name Tikhanovsky.

“— He also gave bad marks, but he taught interestingly and talked a lot with us.

- Which department was he in?

“He taught church history, he knew the subject perfectly, but his views diverged from the generally accepted ones.

- For example?

- For example, he said that the real Church exists only in the Elect and is invisible. Visible Christianity represents a falling away from the purity of faith and contains much that is human.”

From 1912 to 1917, Father Tikhon was a teacher of law in the gymnasiums of the Ural town of Kamyshlov.

In 1969, one of Father Tikhon’s daughters, Vera, wrote memoirs about him at the request of Marshal Golikov, whose teacher Andrievsky was at the Kamyshlovsky gymnasium. The marshal warmly remembered the priest who organized a literary and philosophical circle for the children.

“His comrades, adults, young people, often gathered in my dad’s office, read forbidden literature, and talked. At home we had small debates and presentations,” she wrote.

Father Tikhon tried to get closer to the people. “How a kind and sympathetic man helped poor soldiers. He went to them, taking us, the older children, with him. Being among the peasants, he helped them harvest bread and hay. One lonely peasant woman lay seriously ill in our outbuilding. They looked after her and fed her until her death.”

During the February revolution, Fr. Tikhon abandoned teaching law and joined the Dolovka agricultural commune of Kamyshlovsky district.

This is what Andrievsky himself later wrote in his autobiography:

“When the slogan “All power to the Soviets” spread, he took the side of the Soviet government and in the Kamyshlov Cathedral spoke out against the anathema of the Bolsheviks by Patriarch Tikhon, for which he was deprived of the rights to serve by Ekaterinburg Bishop Gregory, but did not submit to the bishop’s court and declared himself independent, which he declared to Kamyshlovsky to the executive committee

The Kamyshlovsky PEC provided me with one of the city churches, where I waged an actual struggle with the spiritual authorities, who, by the way, prohibited priests from marrying those divorced by the Soviet authorities. During June (1918) I performed about 150 marriages, which disarmed the clergy in their local struggle against the Soviet regime.”

He writes that he left the priesthood while still under the Whites, upon leaving prison, where he was imprisoned in July 1919, when the city was occupied by the Czechs.

“The motives for which I removed my rank were the struggle with the church and clergy for Soviet power. The proof is the fact that I began this struggle at a moment when it was still unknown who would win.”

This is how he sees the reasons for his break with the church:

“...Little by little, I began to see my beautiful church for what it is: a capitalist enterprise, an inseparable and essential part of a predatory system. I saw that despite the aesthetic, cultural and artistic qualities, and no matter how sincere the individual priests, all of it is just a bait, a means to lure the poor into the trap of submission to the exploiters... After that, the venerable institution, which I once seemed worthy and noble, became for me a coffin full of all filth.”

Under the Reds, Tikhon Petrovich was first a caretaker of public gardens, then he was in charge of the district department of public education, and then he was an instructor and organizer there.

From my daughter's memories:

“The year 1921 was very difficult for us, hunger, cold, disease, devastation. The youngest son Alexander died of typhus at the age of 7 years. Mom was killed with grief, turning to the “Almighty” with the words: “Help, have mercy, why are you taking an innocent baby!” But, alas, he did not spare. Mom's faith in him wavered. And dad took this loss upon himself, saying that he didn’t see it through. The rations then were issued very small, supplies from the garden were depleted. We ate quinoa, grass, nettles, and often became seriously ill. Then dad found a life-giving source. At the slaughterhouse, when slaughtering cattle, the blood was released through grooves. In severe frost, we cut it down, thawed it, cooked it, and this saved ourselves. Dad told many people about this power source. People bowed at his feet and thanked him for saving him.”

Tikhon Petrovich helped not only with advice. “I remember picking up a six-year-old boy, swollen from hunger, and feeding him blood cakes.”

“When dad returned from work, he walked straight to him, and then came to us. All measures were taken to save him. One day a gypsy woman (they had a camp across the Pyshma River) turned to dad with a request to help her infant child. And this medicine saved his life in time.”

“In 1924 there was grief again. After a serious operation, my mother died. I will never forget my dad’s bitter tears when he buried her grave.”

The following year, Andrievsky and his children left Kamyshlov.

“In 1925, he worked in Sverdlovsk as an anti-religionist. In 1926, he held a full-time position as an anti-religionist in the Kungur Okrug ONO.”

In the late 20s (or early 30s) Archpriest of the Vladikavkaz Cathedral Ioann Petrovich Andrievsky, brother of Tikhon Petrovich, resigned. He did this publicly. The local newspaper “Power of Labor” published his statement: “I am resigning from the priesthood, leaving the ranks of believers.” (Letter from former priest I. Andrievsky) The text contains not so much disappointment in the doctrine as in the fruits of church activity: “I want to shout out to my soul in a tearing voice: “Yes, show your faith!” Show us the people raised under the grace of your faith! Show me the way a carpenter lovingly shows his work a chest of drawers, a chair, a table - and a blacksmith - a wheel, a horseshoe, a nail! Won't you show me?! You can not?! Don’t you have this?!!!””

His defrocking and work in Soviet institutions did not bring the former priest any prosperity—the children recall that they lived all the time on the brink of poverty—or peace of mind for the fate of the children. In 1933, troubles began for one of Andrievsky’s daughters, who worked at a school - in order to protect her from dismissal, Andrievsky had to write an autobiography, collect documents, emphasizing his revolutionary views and active anti-religious work.

Life in the Urals was difficult, and in 1934 the Andrievskys (by that time the former priest had married a second time, a son was born from this marriage) decided to leave for the Caucasus. Tikhon Petrovich managed to get a job as a teacher at a school for eliminating illiteracy among Ossetians at the Chermen collective farm in the village of Kermen near Vladikavkaz. He died on September 9, 1935, at the age of 63.

There is some irony in the fact that the novel by a priest who became a defrocked priest and, moreover, an active ideologist of atheism, is now published by Orthodox publishing houses as a classic of spiritual prose (although, it should be noted, it is perceived by some readers almost as heretical).

The recently published unfinished novel by Father Nikolai Butkin, which has already been mentioned, is further evidence that the author of “The Bishop” was Andrievsky. Butkin recalls from memory Andrievsky’s (in the novel, Tikhanovsky) speech at one of the clergy meetings after the February revolution. The spirit and mood of this speech clearly echoes the thoughts expressed in “The Bishop.”

“Brothers! Throw away the old worthless songs of complaining about people, he said. “It’s true that people don’t believe the way they used to believe.” But do not see this as evil will, a consequence of licentiousness. Remember, the children of the clergy, seminarians, and academicians are increasingly leaving the faith of their fathers. Would you say that here, too, the whole point is that they were raised poorly and that they were mired in passions? No, I don't want to denigrate the children of the clergy. But if they, nevertheless, do not see anything attractive or worthy of imitation in the service of their fathers, then indeed, before the Court of Conscience, the position of the clergy, their work, does not deserve approval. We are being judged, and rightfully so. We are condemned, and deservedly so. Only our drama is not guilt or sins for which we alone are responsible. In the humiliation or disgrace of the clergy, I see the drama of religion, of the church itself.”

In the photo: priest Tikhon Andrievsky among the teachers of the Kamyshlovsky men's gymnasium. Source: sukharev-y.ru

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