Tikhon, Metropolitan of Vladimir and Suzdal (Emelyanov Leonid Grigorievich)

Tikhon (Emelyanov)
(born 1948), Metropolitan of Vladimir and Suzdal, head of the Vladimir Metropolis, rector of the Vladimir Theological Seminary, holy archimandrite of the Vladimir Nativity Monastery in the World Leonid Grigorievich Emelyanov, born June 2, 1948 in the city of Voronezh.

After the 8th grade of high school, he worked as a factory worker and studied at night school. Having completed secondary education, he entered the correspondence department of the Moscow College of Trade, which he successfully completed, and then served in the army. After demobilization, he served as an altar boy in the Church of the Intercession in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky.

In 1974 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary.

On October 10, 1976, he was enrolled in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On December 4, 1978, he was ordained a deacon. In the same year, he was appointed head of the “Church Life” department of the editorial office of the “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate”.

In 1980 he was accepted into the brethren of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

On March 19, 1981, he was tonsured a monk and given his name in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk [1].

On May 1 of the same year he was ordained hieromonk.

In the same year, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy with a candidate's degree in theology, having defended his dissertation on the topic “The Byzantine writer Nikita Acominatus (Choniates) and his works,” after which he remained at the academy as a graduate student, completing graduate school in 1984.

In 1983, he was appointed first deputy editor-in-chief of the Publishing Department.

On July 4, 1984, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

In 1986, he lived for six months in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, after which he joined the brethren of the Moscow Danilov Monastery, where he served as an assistant steward, then as a steward of the monastery.

On May 12, 1987, he was appointed abbot of the Moscow Danilov Monastery.

On January 25, 1990, by a resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was determined to be the Bishop of Novosibirsk and Barnaul.

On August 19, 1990, he was consecrated Bishop of Novosibirsk and Barnaul.

Since February 26, 1994 it has been called “Novosibirsk and Tomsk” [2].

On July 16, 1995, he was recalled from the department and appointed chairman of the Publishing Department and editor-in-chief of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate with the title of Bishop of Bronnitsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese. Served as chairman of the editorial board of the collection “ Theological Works”

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Since August 28, 1995 - rector of the Church of All Saints on Sokol in Moscow.

On February 25, 2000, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
On December 28, 2000, he was returned to the Novosibirsk department with dismissal from the post of editor-in-chief of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate and chairman of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

From July 8, 2001 [3] to January 20, 2002, he temporarily ruled the Barnaul diocese.

On May 27, 2009, he was appointed rector of the newly opened Novosibirsk Theological Seminary [4].

On July 27 of the same year he became a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church. From January 29, 2010 to December 16, 2010 - member of the Commission on issues of parish life and parish practice and the Commission on countering church schisms and overcoming them, from January 29, 2010 to October 23, 2014 - member of the Commission on the organization of the life of monasteries and monasticism of the Inter-Council presence [5].

On July 5, 2010, at a joint meeting of the Academic Council of the Novosibirsk Theological Seminary and the Novosibirsk St. Macarius Orthodox Theological Institute, a decision was made on the structural and organizational unity of theological educational institutions of the Novosibirsk diocese under the leadership of the common rector - Archbishop Tikhon.

On July 27, 2011, he was confirmed as rector (hieroarchimandrite) of the Kozikhinsky St. Michael-Arkhangelsk Monastery.

On December 28, 2011, he was appointed head of the newly formed Novosibirsk Metropolis [6].

On January 8, 2012, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' [7].

On December 28, 2021, he was moved to the Vladimir See and appointed head of the Vladimir Metropolis [8]. On May 30, 2021, he was confirmed as the Holy Archimandrite of the Mother of God of the Nativity Monastery in the city of Vladimir [9].

On July 9, 2021, he was appointed rector of the Vladimir Theological Seminary [10].

Awards

Church:

• Patriarchal Cross (for the restoration of the Danilov Monastery)
• Order of St. equal to book Vladimir II Art.
• Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II Art.
• Order of St. blgv. book Daniel of Moscow II Art.
• Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov II Art. (2008)
• Order of St. Innocent of Moscow II Art. (2013, in connection with the 65th anniversary of his birth [11])

Secular:

• State Medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” II class.
• Certificate of honor from the Novosibirsk City Hall;
• memorial sign in honor of the 110th anniversary of the founding of Novosibirsk (for fruitful work for the benefit of the city)
• insignia “For services to the Novosibirsk region”;
• medal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
• commemorative medal "Patriot of Russia" (2007)

“The main thing here is not to rush”

Former Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Berdsk Tikhon (in the world Leonid Emelyanov) headed the Vladimir Metropolis on December 28, 2021. His predecessor, Metropolitan Evlogii of Vladimir and Suzdal, retired. Eulogy's farewell service was held on January 3, 2021 in the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Vladimir. In the same church, on January 6, Christmas, the new Metropolitan Tikhon held his first service.

On January 20, the ruling bishop held his first press conference. Metropolitan Tikhon shared details of his biography with journalists, spoke about his first steps in Vladimir, and answered a number of questions. They primarily concerned how the new head of the metropolis will build relationships with representatives of other faiths, with the leadership of the Alexander and Murom dioceses, with the director of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, what innovations he plans to introduce in the diocesan administration, and how the Bishop plans to solve the problem with restitution of former church property. We also talked about revolutionary sentiments in modern Russia, about the split in Ukraine, about the scandal with the opera “Tannhäuser” in Novosibirsk.

THE FIRST CASES OF METROPOLITAN TIKHON

“I arrived on Christmas Eve, served, held meetings with employees of the Diocesan Administration, and met with the Diocesan Council. Tomorrow we have a Bishops' Council - since there is a metropolitanate here, there are two more bishops, tomorrow we will meet with them, look at each other, and we will solve the problems that exist between the dioceses of the Vladimir Metropolis.

Of course, there is ancient land here, many temples, many clergy, many shrines. There is a lot of work here with museums and with the protection of Russia’s cultural heritage. It is very important to preserve this heritage of our ancestors. A big task is to establish relationships with clergy. We have already met with people who work on child rights and human rights and talked about interaction. Many organizations contact me so that I can meet with them to talk and outline some joint plans.”

ABOUT THE RESTING METROPOLITAN EULOGIA

“I also met with Metropolitan Evlogii on one of the first days of my stay here. He also promised that he would advise and talk about his experience so that I would not repeat any mistakes and move forward. He and I were ordained on the same day in 1990. We often crossed paths with him in life; he taught at our seminary, at the Theological Academy in Moscow. Then he was the abbot of the Danilov Monastery, and I replaced him in this position. Then Optina Pustyn was assigned to the Danilov Monastery - and he replaced me at Optina Pustyn. Now I have to change it at the Vladimir department.

At the Diocesan meeting a decision was made. Evlogy sent a whole list of wishes - how he would like to see himself in retirement. We left behind him a residence in the private sector of Vladimir. We decided that he would have attendants, his own driver, and we would help him with food and medicine. The sisters of the monastery will help and serve him. They gave him a pension. He reviewed our decision and approved it. And God bless him, may he live and pass on his experience to the younger generation.”

RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CONFESSIONS

“In the morning I received a letter from the Armenian priest. He writes that he asked for Novosibirsk, asked how my relationship was there - in Novosibirsk - with the Armenian church. They sent him information that the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II recently came to Novosibirsk, I studied with him at the Theological Academy in Moscow, we have been friends for many years. We consecrated the temple in Novosibirsk. We had a very good relationship with the priest who cares for the Armenians in Novosibirsk.

Today I met with Father Sergius, a priest of the Catholic Church. It was a very friendly meeting, we outlined a number of activities that we will implement...

I think that here, based on my experience in Novosibirsk, we will meet with the heads of all faiths and clergy, and outline the fruits of cooperation.”

QUESTION ABOUT RESTITUTION OF FORMER CHURCH PROPERTY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE VLADIMIRO-SUZDAL MUSEUM-RESERVE

“It’s a sore point. I always express my gratitude to the museum staff for preserving many of our shrines. Many of them were ascetics. I know how the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow was preserved, how the icons were preserved. And although the question is painful: who will be the owner, how the temple will be used, time tells a lot. Of course, more than one option needs to be explored. But what I have managed to get acquainted with is that there is a problem, and the problem is serious. The problem of transferring churches. The museum cannot move into any room; it needs conditions in terms of temperature and humidity. The state has problems, and the church has its problems. Therefore, we will find some compromises. The main thing here is not to rush, so that even bigger problems do not arise.

We will involve officials in this issue, so that they get involved, so that not only the diocese and the museum are involved, so that officials also help solve problems.

Difficult question. In the Novosibirsk diocese there are no monuments of federal significance, there are only regional ones. The administration there paid great attention to such issues. The objects were simply given into the ownership of the church, we signed a safe-conduct, and the state simply controlled it. There are monuments of federal significance here, and I realized that there is a huge problem here. It’s difficult to say now how we will work with [Svetlana] Melnikova, [general director of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve]. We met with her, very warmly, and drank tea on Christmas Day. It’s hard for me to say how we will continue to work. She, I think, is a specialist and is trying to preserve this cultural heritage. But where the church will be used, I don’t think it will harm the heritage in any way. We will also try to preserve. Sharing? I think there will be sharing. Life will tell what will happen next. Whether they will transfer ownership to us or not - not everything depends on the Church. Here the will of political power is still there. I think that we will follow the path of expanding cooperation and the path of transferring these heritage sites to the Church. Because it is, in fact, the property of the church. And nothing bad will happen if this is transmitted.

Another thing is whether the church will be able to serve all this in such volumes? But that's another question. The diocese is not very rich, and if there are some patrons of the arts, some subsidies, then we can talk about increasing the volume of this cultural heritage and taking ownership of these objects.”

ABOUT THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW TEMPLES

“The Patriarchate is always counting. The following wishes were sent to Novosibirsk: there should be a temple for 10 thousand. But in Siberia it is more difficult there - there are villages there that are entirely Muslim. That is, life itself should prompt. In the 90s, grandmothers came from the outskirts and said: we need a church, this is really a need. And there are such places: they made a bookmark, the entire population was against it - “there was only one public garden and you took it.” Of course this is not necessary. You must always approach things wisely and build where there is a need. The diocese does not have that kind of money for construction - either it is entrusted to rich parishes, or they are looking for benefactors. Construction is not a matter of one day. In Greece it takes 70 years to build. You can plan, but who thought there would be a crisis? There are few helpers. But if the people need it, everything will be built. I think this is not even the task of the diocese, this is the task of the people.”

ABOUT ABANDONED OLD RURAL TEMPLES

“It’s the same as with agriculture. Government programs are needed. We need to achieve this. There is now a program for the improvement of small towns. Beautiful parks and embankments appeared. And it's the same here. Local leadership must push for national funding. If it doesn’t exist, the local population will do nothing. This is a national treasure. It is necessary for the political leadership to pay attention to this problem. We need a government program"

PROBLEMS IN RELATIONS WITH THE ALEXANDROV AND MUROM DIOCESERS

“The biggest problem is property. What was previously owned by the Vladimir diocese now belongs to three dioceses. Since there must be an owner, it all needs to be divided. Well, in fact, everything has already been divided. But in order to become owners, they need to register the land plots under the temples and register the temples themselves as property. All this requires financial costs and having received several dozen temples, they cannot formalize this, including due to finances.

There are problems, for example, that the temple is located on the territory of the Murom diocese, and it is a metropolitan metochion. And here, too, it is necessary to regulate relations, because people need to be sent there, but legally they (the people) belong to Vladimir. There must be an agreement between us: either to formalize everything gradually, or at once.

There are days of joint celebrations, all three of us are obliged to serve, they must come. But I can’t force them, they are independent bishops, but we need to agree on this.”

ABOUT PUBLISHING IN THE VLADIMIR METROPOLIA

“What I got to know is that I am not satisfied with the way things are handled here in the diocese. It all depends on money, of course. In Novosibirsk we staged very widely. The “Bulletin of the Novosibirsk Metropolitanate” was published - 24 pages, a lot of information. There was a diocesan media center with a video studio. They published magazines. They encouraged each parish to have its own website. Some parishes published their own magazines. It was well done. The most important thing is that the metropolitan website works well. Here, Novosibirsk residents have already sent me a complaint that the website of the Vladimir Metropolis works poorly and is not updated enough. The same material has been hanging here for weeks. We will fix this."

ABOUT THE SCANDAL WITH THE PRODUCTION OF RICHARD WAGNER’S OPERA “TANGHAUSER” AT THE NOVOSIBIRSK OPERA AND BALLET THEATER

“It was a little exaggerated what was in the media. They tried to fan the fire. In fact, everything was simpler. I didn’t even know that this opera had been staged... One theater-goer grandmother comes and tells me: “I’m not a believer myself, but I love going to performances. I went to see “Eugene Onegin”, the curtain opened - and there it was! I went to another theater to see “Little Red Riding Hood” - the curtain rose, and there was a drunken grandmother crawling around the stage, swearing. I really love Wagner's music. I went and looked, and I was horrified. Who would even pay attention to what is placed there and whether it is necessary.”

I wrote to the governor, the Legislative Assembly and the prosecutor's office, asking a question: if parishioners complain about the performance, if there is a violation of the feelings of believers, then I ask you to take action. All! The governor did not respond, the Legislative Assembly sent a reply, and the prosecutor himself filed a lawsuit. We participated only as an expert. The prosecutor lost the trial, they admitted that there were no violations of the feelings of believers.

But there are a lot of Orthodox public organizations in Novosibirsk. I don't know how it is here. They started organizing rallies. And so it went. The Church did not engage in any provocations. A work came out that was not understood correctly by everyone. Believers saw their feelings insulted. Well, the Minister of Culture made the decision to remove Mezdrich, to remove the performance. The church did not take part in this.

The Church does not have any repressive institutions, and we do not engage in censorship. But the Church has the right to express its moral attitude to any event. She also lives in a free state. The Church also has freedom of speech.

It is impossible to stop the creative processes. New time brings new things. But, the attitude: do we need this, or should we not always express it? We are talking about fascism, that this is unacceptable. But we cannot say that we are censoring fascism. He is simply unacceptable to society and that is a fact, and everyone supports it. It's the same in culture. We can accept some things, we cannot accept others. But it’s impossible to stop the creative process.”

ATTITUDE TO REVOLUTIONARY MOODS AND TO VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN

“I didn’t do research on Lenin, but I remember what we were taught at school. The specter of communism stalked Europe, and therefore an ordinary boy, Lenin, was born in the remote city of Simbirsk. Everyone chooses life for themselves. Revolutionaries are special people. Dostoevsky revealed their psychology very well in “The Possessed.”

In 2021, there was a council of bishops, they talked about youth protests, and decided to define protest sentiments in the modern world. This formulation was defined there: the people’s request for social well-being is used for political provocations. Hence all the orange revolutions. Everyone wants to live comfortably. But we must know that politicians are using this for their own revolutionary purposes.

Dostoevsky said that a sense of justice is a revolutionary feeling. Young people have grown up, they have nothing, they look at the older generation, but they have a lot of things, they take an ax, like Raskolnikov, and go to solve this social problem.

Our president says that there must be changes, but evolutionary ones. But if we make a revolutionary decision every time, then it will be wrong. Lenin made the same mistake. He wanted to solve social issues, but they are very difficult to solve.”

ATTITUDE TO CHURCH EVENTS IN UKRAINE

“Complex problems, painful for the entire world Orthodoxy, not only for the Russian Orthodox Church. We did not have such experience that the Orthodox world would split. Now we are gaining such experience, both in relations with Constantinople, and with those people who are in power in the Church in Ukraine.

Previously, if some group went into schism, then world Orthodoxy accepted only one group. The second group was categorically not accepted and was considered schismatic. Now we have gained experience that the schismatic group is also recognized as canonical. And now the split is, as it were, legalized in Ukraine. Metropolitan Anufriy is an intelligent man and can do a lot for Orthodoxy in Ukraine. And our Patriarch is also working on these issues. The question is very serious. If Constantinople had not interfered, it would have been resolved more easily. But since this is so, international forces have already intervened. It will be very difficult to solve it.”

ABOUT MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES

“Missionary work is necessary. As they say, a holy place is never empty. There are a lot of sects, and these sects trap people and send them to an unknown destination. In Ukraine, before all these events, sectarianism was very strong. There were centers with influence on Russia.

Educational activities together with education workers are now needed. We are not just talking about religious education. Here we are talking about spiritual culture. The basis of Orthodox culture, which is taught in school, is a return to one’s history, to one’s tradition. If children do not know this, then Russia will have no prospects. This will either be a return to an atheistic state, or the path to moral disaster. Where we fail to keep up, as in Altai, for example, entire villages fall into schism. We don’t want our children to be spiritual monsters... A spiritual desert will not lead to anything good.

If a person does not have a conscience or self-restraint, what will this lead to? A person grows up, but he does not know the rules of spiritual culture. He will be a big official, billions will pass by him. What will hold him back? Conscience? And who will tell him about it? Man is free. But he must choose every hour, but chooses between good and evil. And if you don’t give the child a hint, it will be bad.

We must carry this mission to the people. This is not what some people think, that we will force everyone to pray, put everyone on their knees, and light lamps. We are, first of all, about spiritual culture, about history, tradition, the priority of the spiritual over the material.”

Publications

• Tikhon (Emelyanov), hierodeacon
  [www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=news&id=113170 Prayer for Christian unity]. // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1981. No. 5. pp. 48-51.
• Tikhon, abbot, Nikitin V.
  The ecumenical movement and the Russian Orthodox Church before its entry into the World Council of Churches] // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1983. No. 10. pp. 72-73.
• Tikhon, abbot, Nikitin V.
  [www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=lib&id=2227 Ecumenical movement and the Russian Orthodox Church before its entry into the WCC]. // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1983. No. 11. pp. 59-68.
• Tikhon, abbot, Nikitin V.
  The ecumenical movement and the Russian Orthodox Church before its entry into the World Council of Churches. // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1983. No. 12. pp. 60-66.
• Tikhon, Archimandrite
  The 40th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism and the tasks of church journalism in preserving peace and strengthening friendship between peoples. // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1985. No. 7. pp. 56-59.
• Tikhon, archim., Nikitin V.
  World Council of Churches and the problem of preserving peace (on the 25th anniversary of the entry of the Russian Orthodox Church into the World Council of Churches). // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1986. No. 4. pp. 58-62.
• Tikhon, archim., Nikitin V.
  World Council of Churches and the problem of preserving peace (on the 25th anniversary of the entry of the Russian Orthodox Church into the World Council of Churches). // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1986. No. 5. pp. 57-60.
• Tikhon, archim., Nikitin V.
  World Council of Churches and the problem of preserving peace (on the 25th anniversary of the entry of the Russian Orthodox Church into the World Council of Churches). // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1986. No. 6. pp. 55-57.
• Tikhon, archim., Nikitin V. A.
  World Council of Churches and the problem of preserving peace (on the 25th anniversary of the entry of the Russian Orthodox Church into the World Council of Churches). // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. M., 1986. No. 7. pp. 56-62.
• About the “crazy vision of Russia” and the “Judeo-Masonic conspiracy”: Interview with Bishop Tikhon of Bronnitsky, Chairman of the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate // “Radonezh”. 1998. No. 11 (76) (July).