Lord Order Bearer
At the same time, the country entered a period of peace: people, tired of the great upheavals, could live, planning their future for years to come. Relations between church and state, which experienced another acute phase during the reign of Nikita Khrushchev . Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev did not question the secular status of the state with a bias towards atheism, but they began to look at those who regularly attended church much more calmly. The Russian Orthodox Church, having found its niche in society, actively collaborated with the authorities, without questioning its supremacy. In return, Soviet leaders encouraged the ROC to expand its international relations.
In 1980, when the Summer Olympics were held in Moscow, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' visited the arena in Luzhniki, the Olympic village, and also attended the closing ceremony of the Games, together with everyone watching a bear cub fly away into the Moscow sky. The authorities were sure that the head of the church would not allow himself anything unnecessary. It was not for nothing that by that time he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and Friendship of Peoples.
Divine service during the enthronement of Patriarch Pimen in the Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow. 06/03/1971. Photo: RIA Novosti/L. Nosov.
Pimen, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'
He was the abbot of the Goritsky Assumption Monastery in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.
In 1379, among three archimandrites, he accompanied the archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky Monastery Mitya († 1379) to Constantinople for installation as metropolitan.
Approaching Constantinople, Archimandrite Mityai suddenly died. Those accompanying Archimandrite Mitya allowed themselves an unauthorized act, choosing from among the three accompanying archimandrites a candidate for the Kyiv Metropolis in the person of Archimandrite Pimen. Taking advantage of the unfilled princely letters that Archimandrite Mitya had, they arbitrarily wrote a letter to the Greek emperor and patriarch, asking to appoint Archimandrite Pimen to the Russian metropolis. Having read the message, the emperor and patriarch did not express any doubts about it, but refused to install a second metropolitan in Rus', since Metropolitan Cyprian had already been appointed. But Pimen and the boyars did not calm down with this, but borrowed huge sums in the name of the Grand Duke (according to his letters) and presented rich gifts to everyone. Thus, they achieved that Pimen was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'. However, the Grand Duke did not want to recognize Pimen as metropolitan. When Pimen and his retinue approached Kolomna, he, by order of the Grand Duke, was captured and sent to Pukhloma, where he remained in captivity for a whole year, and then transferred to Tver.
The Patriarch of Constantinople wrote to the Grand Duke more than once and convinced him to accept Pimen to Moscow and remove Cyprian. These messages, constantly directed against Cyprian in defense of Pimen, could have had a significant effect on the Grand Duke. And then an event happened that finally prompted him to follow the beliefs of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Two days before the devastation of Moscow by Khan Tokhtamysh in August 1382, Metropolitan Cyprian returned from Novgorod. General confusion and disorder reigned in Moscow, and for safety, Bishop Cyprian decided to move with Grand Duchess Evdokia from Moscow to Tver. After the sack of Moscow, Tokhtamysh's troops took Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Yuryev, Zvenigorod, Mozhaisk and other cities near Moscow. On October 7, 1382, the Grand Duke sent to call Metropolitan Cyprian to Moscow and, reproaching him for cowardice for leaving the capital in moments of danger, announced to him that he no longer wanted to have him as his archpastor. The Grand Duke could be upset not so much by the fact that Vladyka Cyprian was leaving Moscow, but by the fact that he was leaving precisely for Tver - to Olgerd’s relative and longtime enemy of the Moscow prince Mikhail Alexandrovich, who was the first to later send gifts to Khan Tokhtamysh and received a label from him.
Having expelled Bishop Cyprian to Kyiv, the Grand Duke sent envoys to ask for the previously dishonored Metropolitan Pimen to the Russian Metropolis and received him with great honor. However, in his heart the prince still did not respect Bishop Pimen for his unauthorized act and a few months later he elected a new candidate for the metropolis - Bishop Dionysius of Suzdal. Sending Bishop Dionysius to Constantinople, the Grand Duke, with his letters, asked the Patriarch to install Bishop Dionysius in the Russian Metropolis, and wrote many accusations against Metropolitan Pimen. The Patriarch fulfilled the request of the Grand Duke, installed Dionysius as Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus', and for the trial of Bishop Pimen he sent two of his metropolitans Matthew and Nikander to Russia, who arrived in Moscow in the winter of 1384. Having examined Pimen's case, they found him guilty and declared him overthrown. But Pimen was dissatisfied with this decision and on May 9, 1385, he went to Constantinople himself, accompanied by one Rostov abbot Abraham, complaining to the patriarch about the injustice and illegality of his trial. The Patriarch decided to convene a Council in Constantinople to try him in the presence of those metropolitans who condemned him in Moscow. However, Pimen did not appear at the trial, but went to Russia. In July 1388 he arrived in Moscow. The Council in Constantinople condemned Metropolitan Pimen in absentia and pronounced excommunication and deposition upon him. But Bishop Pimen continued to officiate in Moscow and ordained several bishops. The Grand Duke entered into an argument with him, and in 1389 Pimen was forced to secretly go to the capital of Greece again. On the way (on the Black Sea) he was captured and imprisoned by his Azov creditors, to whom he owed a lot during his installation as metropolitan. Having paid them a significant sum, he had difficulty freeing himself from them. But, before reaching Constantinople, he died on September 11, 1389 in Chalcedon.
He was buried in the Church of St. John the Baptist.
Literature:
Shemyakin V.I. Moscow, its shrines and monuments. – M., 1896. – P. 32.
Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church: in 12 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1864–1886. – T. 4, book. 1. – pp. 69–70, 75–77.
Tolstoy M.V. Stories from the history of the Russian Church. – M., 1873. – P. 187–188, 201.
Sergius (Spassky), archbishop. Complete months of the East. – 2nd ed. – Vladimir, 1901–1902. – T. 2. – P. 571.
Stroev P. M. Lists of hierarchs and abbots of monasteries of the Russian Church. – St. Petersburg, 1877. – P. 3, 696.
Bulgakov S.V. Handbook for priests and church ministers. – Kyiv, 1913. – P. 1402.
Ratshin A. A complete collection of historical information about all ancient and currently existing monasteries and notable churches in Russia. – M., 1852. – P. 96.
N. D[urnovo]. Nine hundredth anniversary of the Russian hierarchy 988–1888. Dioceses and bishops. – M., 1888. – P. 13.
Chronicle of church and civil events, explaining church events, from the Nativity of Christ to 1898, Bishop Arseny. – St. Petersburg, 1899. – P. 509, 510, 512.
Leonid (Kavelin), archimandrite. Holy Rus'. – St. Petersburg, 1891, No. 516.
Additions to the Works of the Holy Fathers in Russian translation. – M., 1844–1891; 1848. – pp. 299–301, 303–310, 329, 344.
Historical bulletin. – St. Petersburg, 1882, April. – pp. 44–45.
–»– 1884, February. – P. 450.
–»– 1885, February. – P. 421.
–»– 1893, May. – P. 467.
Mother's vow
Patriarch Pimen, in the world Sergei Mikhailovich Izvekov , was a calm and reasonable man. And when Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn wrote him letters calling on him to fight state atheism, Pimen, without any emotion, sent the messages to the trash.
Subsequently, those clergy who in the new Russia will have the opportunity to make money on alcohol and cigarettes imported duty-free will remember Pimen with pursed lips contemptuously. But the man who headed the Russian Orthodox Church for twenty years thought more about the soul and not about the budget.
Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) (center), Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill (Gundyaev) (left in the background), Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod (right in the background) and Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodorus (right) during the divine liturgy in the Epiphany Cathedral Moscow in honor of the millennium of the baptism of Rus'. Photo: RIA Novosti/Oleg Makarov.
His life was full of dizzying turns in which biographers are confused to this day. Moreover, Pimen himself did not like to talk much about the past.
Sergei Mikhailovich Izvekov was born on July 23, 1910 in the village of Kobylino, Babichevsky volost, Maloyaroslavets district, Kaluga province, into the family of mechanic Mikhail Karpovich Izvekov. However, very often Noginsk, where the Izvekov family lived, is indicated as his place of birth. Sergei's mother was a devout woman. Except for the eldest daughter Maria, all the Izvekov children died in infancy. And then Pelageya Afanasyeva made a vow: if a son is born, then his life will be devoted to serving God. So, in a sense, Seryozha’s fate was predetermined in advance.
The last day of the Patriarch, or the Russian Church always keeps its promises
Due to the nature of his activities, Greek translator, journalist and screenwriter Maxim Klimenko repeatedly met with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy. These meetings took place both in official and informal settings. Today he shares his memories with readers of the Orthodoxy portal..
Patriarchal service on the day of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Altar of the Assumption Cathedral. Next to His Holiness are Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogia and Lavraeotiki, Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevsky and Bishop Theophylact of Bronnitsy. December 4, 2008
– My first meeting with His Holiness took place under rather sad circumstances: it was associated with the death of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen in May 1990. At that time I was a student at the Moscow Theological Seminary, and we students were often sent to various obediences to the Patriarchate. Since the farewell to His Holiness Patriarch Pimen and his funeral were very solemn, and the primates and representatives of many Orthodox Churches came to it, we had such an obedience to accompany them. I received His Beatitude Metropolitan Dorotheos of Prague, Primate of the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church. I accompanied him during all these sad ceremonies. And he could simply, as a student, a seminarian, a young man, observe closely - then Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Alexy (Ridiger).
The first thing that struck me, and many who knew His Holiness personally talk about it, was his surprisingly kind and at the same time very deep look. It’s not for nothing that they came up with: “The eyes are the mirror of the soul.” It is impossible to forget the look of His Holiness. This is kindness, but, mind you, not some kind of “kindness”, and at the same time – both severity and depth. It was as if you were standing before this person, you couldn’t say it any other way.
Protopresbyter Alexander Kiselev
Of course, at that time I did not know the nuances of his biography, then I learned that his father, priest Mikhail Ridiger, cared for prisoners and prisoners of war in the camps of Estonia during World War II, and often took his son with him. And a little earlier, after the annexation of the Baltic republics to the USSR, when Soviet troops, and with them NKVD units, entered the Baltic states, and purges and arrests began, the Ridiger family saved the then young priest, future protopresbyter Alexander Kiselev, from death. Father Alexander, the confessor of the Russian Christian student movement, was one of the first on the NKVD arrest and execution lists. I personally knew this wonderful priest, a man of an entire era, and he told me that he was hiding in the Ridiger house, either in a woodpile among the firewood, or in the basement, and little Lesha Ridiger, the future His Holiness Patriarch, brought him food.
“But it was a feat, there’s no other way to say it.”
– Yes, a feat, because people risked the lives of their entire family by hiding the person the NKVD was looking for.
– Do you think that this is what shaped the personality of Patriarch Alexy?
- And this too. After all, it is impossible to forget this. And Father Alexander also remembered this for the rest of his life and was endlessly grateful. They met again many years later, when His Holiness Patriarch Alexy was on a visit to America in 1993 - it was the anniversary of Orthodoxy on the North American continent - this was the same visit that he had to interrupt due to the tragic events in connection with the shooting of the White House... Here then they met for the first time in the States, and then Father Alexander came to Russia.
– When you spoke with Bishop Alexy at the funeral of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, did you imagine that the future Patriarch was next to you?
– How can I tell you... There was such a story a little earlier. At that time, I was in very close contact with one of my friends, almost the same age - he had just been ordained - Father Mikhail Gogolev. Now he is the secretary of the Synod of the Central Asian Metropolis, Bishop Gennady (Gogolev) of Kaskelen. I was then an employee of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate and a subdeacon of Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuriev, and from the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate I sometimes went to Leningrad, where Bishop Alexy was the ruling bishop, on business trips. Father Mikhail served in an almost deserted village in the Leningrad region. The conditions there were completely spartan: there was no one to sing or read, and the parishioners were only one and a half old women. It was 1988. At that time, the poor health of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen was no secret to anyone; it was known that he had a progressive, severe form of diabetes. And of course, inside the Church people speculated and discussed who would be the next Patriarch. Most of all, of course, they leaned in favor of two candidates who were then in the news, they were very active: Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) and Metropolitan Filaret (Denisenko), Patriarchal Exarch of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kiev. And when I came to visit Father Mikhail at the parish, we naturally discussed this issue. And suddenly Father Mikhail, the current Bishop Gennady, to my greatest surprise, said: “You know, blessed Lyubushka said that our Bishop will be the next Patriarch!”
Lyubushka Susaninskaya
Blessed Lyubushka Susaninskaya was a wonderful old woman and seer, many people went to see her... So, two years before the death of His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, she predicted the election of Metropolitan Alexy as Patriarch.
– And when you saw him at the funeral of Patriarch Pimen, did you remember this?
- Yes, sure. Moreover, shortly after the burial of Patriarch Pimen, a Local Council took place, and then the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, which took place in the Epiphany Cathedral, and at which I was present as a subdeacon of Bishop Pitirim.
– How did your relationship with His Holiness develop later?
– With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and the hierarchy of the Russian Church, I had to accompany delegations from Holy Mount Athos, Greece, and Cyprus as a translator. Therefore, I had the opportunity to often observe His Holiness, communicate with him to the extent of my obedience, both in official and informal, friendly, almost family settings.
– Please tell us how you remember His Holiness?
– In my perception, His Holiness was, first of all, a man of enormous fatherly care. I guess you can say that I saw him as a kind, understanding grandfather.
“You mean there was no arrogance in him?”
- Absolutely! He, sitting at the table, always asked himself: “Vladyka, should I add this to you, should I add this to you?” Not that there was any swagger - there wasn’t even a sense of distance. That is, she, of course, was there: at official meetings, at negotiations. I can confirm this as a translator who has attended many meetings of this kind. His Holiness never hid behind rounded, meaningless phrases. He always expressed his opinions directly and honestly. But when the high hierarchs of the two Churches sat down at the table, this distance disappeared. I saw it, felt it, translated some of his witticisms, some innocent jokes with which he wanted to smooth out the situation.
His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II
- What do you mean?
– Let’s put it this way: sometimes the negotiations did not go smoothly, this happened. There were situations related to different understandings of the role of Local Churches and world Orthodoxy in general. Both the Greeks and we did not have exactly the same approaches to many issues, both of current life and of a fundamental nature. And I won’t say that everything was always smooth. But when the negotiators, visiting His Holiness in Moscow, sat down at the table, he wanted them to be absolutely relaxed, so that they felt at home, felt like welcome guests. It must be said that His Holiness knew several phrases in Greek, and he used them every time, and, of course, the Greeks immediately broke into a smile. And this immediately set a certain tone in the table conversation. His Holiness did not mix these genres: official negotiations, voicing, defending official positions are one thing, and friendly communication is another thing. For me, a wonderful, good-natured Russian grandfather, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, was sitting at the table, and a Greek grandfather, Metropolitan So-and-so, could be sitting opposite.
– And they smiled sincerely at each other?
- Sincerely! As people who have lived life, they have a lot of life experience, spiritual experience. When they are not on duty, they have nothing to share, they enjoy...
- Because they are Orthodox...
- Yes, sure! They have the same faith. They may have known each other for many years. His Holiness has been to Greece many times - as a pilgrim, as the head of official delegations at various conferences, celebrations, maybe they have known each other for 30 years, and now they have the opportunity to sit together at a good table, without running anywhere - and so, they relax, one might say, like fighters who “remembered days gone by.” It was truly brotherly communication, and for us, for the youth, it was a great moral lesson. A moral lesson that says that, despite the difference in languages, some traditions, some political position, and so on, we are all members of one Church, we are members of one Body. Can the right hand hit the left? Or vice versa? Maybe sometimes. But he will never say that the left hand should be cut off, because they disagree on some private opinion.
– So, for His Holiness, the feeling of the unity of the Orthodox Churches was a really important, significant moment?
– Not just important, but extremely important. In the mid-90s, a reception was organized at the Greek Embassy on the occasion of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which always falls on the first Sunday of Lent. Please note that this is not a secular or public holiday, only a church holiday, but very important for the entire Church. And Patriarch Alexy was invited to this reception. Representatives of other Local Orthodox Churches who were in Moscow, government officials, and secular persons were also invited, but - first of all - His Holiness. And he arrived. I came to show that on this day we should all be together. The success of this event was such that the following year it was decided to organize the same reception again. Now in Moscow this has already become a tradition, and Russian embassies in countries professing Orthodoxy also hold receptions on this day with the participation of representatives of Local Churches. And this visibly shows the world the unity of the Orthodox faith. And this was started by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy.
Patriarchal service on the day of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Photo: patriarchia.ru.
– Maxim, I know that you spent almost the entire last day of His Holiness’s life next to him...
- Yes. So the Lord judged that I happened to be next to His Holiness on the last day of his earthly life.
During these days, a delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogeia and Laureotica was in Moscow. Metropolitan Nikolai is a unique person. Firstly, after all, among the bishops in the current Orthodox Churches there are not many astrophysicists and neurosurgeons who graduated from Harvard University with a gold medal. He was involved in experiments with the human brain in conditions of weightlessness and outer space, was a leading NASA expert on the behavior of the human brain in outer space, in outer space, and, accordingly, the prospects for long-term human life in space, based on his physiology, including from his neurosurgery. And then the future bishop met Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets. It was a fateful meeting. He quit NASA, gave up his career as a research scientist, and became a monk on Mount Athos.
After his obedience on Athos, the monastery sent him to Athens as rector of the Athos courtyard. We all remember the words of the Gospel that a city standing on a mountain top cannot hide. So this amazing, talented, educated man soon became the bishop of the Greek Church.
It so happened that at this time he ruled two dioceses. One - as a locum tenens, in the period between the elections of the ruling bishop. This is a huge Attic metropolitanate, which he ruled for 10 years. It must be said that now it was divided into 3 or 4 dioceses - it was so huge. And it was in this metropolis that the only Russian-speaking parish in Athens and its environs was located, which was formed in an area of compact residence of repatriates from the former Soviet Union. These are the so-called “Pontic Greeks”. This place is called Acharnon, we can say that it is a rather remote suburb of Athens. And there is a population of about 90 thousand people, most of whom are people who remained in our linguistic environment and in our church tradition, that is, they did not accept the new style that is accepted in Greece.
Patriarchal service on the day of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Photo: patriarchia.ru.
And, being the ruling bishop of this region, Metropolitan Nicholas, like a loving father, an archpastor, took to heart the concerns, anxieties and excitement of this parish, where services were performed in Church Slavonic, where they adhered to the old style, and there was a Russian-speaking priest.
Archpriest Grigory Pigalov, rector of this temple, the temple of the Mother of God of Sumeli (this is a revered icon, a shrine of the Pontic Greeks, located in the monastery of Sumela in Asia Minor, from where they once came to the Russian Empire, fleeing the Turkish genocide) addressed His Holiness Patriarch Alexy with with a request to transfer a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov as a blessing of the Russian Church to the only Russian-speaking parish in Greece. At this point, negotiations on this issue had been going on for more than a year. And just within the framework of these negotiations, Vladyka Nikolai, together with Father Gregory, arrived at the invitation of His Holiness the Patriarch to concelebrate with him in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin on the day of the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple and continue negotiations.
On December 4, a patriarchal service took place in the Assumption Cathedral. Several archpastors concelebrated with His Holiness, including members of the Greek delegation led by Metropolitan Nicholas.
– As a translator for the Greek delegation, were you in the altar of the cathedral during the service?
- Yes. This was my workplace. I and several other lay people who were invited to this service prayed in the altar.
– Tell us, how did His Holiness seem to you, what did he look like?
– You know, he didn’t look tired. On the contrary, he was cheerful, some kind of spiritual uplift was felt in him, because the service passed in one breath. He was in a very good mood, smiled a lot and joked. There was no sign that he would be gone within a few hours.
Moreover, for me this day was especially memorable, because December 4th is my birthday, and although I did not receive Communion (there was no human way to prepare for Communion, the day before I translated the whole day and we finished late, and in the Kremlin I had to be very early, this is due to a certain travel regime to the Kremlin), I was really looking forward to this day. It was such a gift from God to be present on my birthday at the Liturgy served by His Holiness.
The service was quite long and very solemn. As usual, after Communion, during the sermon, the communion verse, the Holy One sat in a chair in the altar, and those who served him or prayed at the altar with him, distributed by rank, came up to congratulate the Patriarch on the holiday, on the Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Some brief fraternal communication took place.
Patriarchal service on the day of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Photo: patriarchia.ru.
– Was this an opportunity for personal communication with His Holiness?
- Yes. This was the most valuable thing - the opportunity to approach His Holiness, not just take his blessing and congratulate him, but also exchange a few words. And when the turn came, and the Greek delegation approached, Metropolitan Nicholas said to His Holiness: “You know, today is our translator’s birthday. Your Holiness, could you somehow separately say a kind word to him, congratulate him..."
- Were you standing nearby?
– Not just nearby - I translated it all! No, of course, I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t know that Vladyka would say so. But I translate because that’s how it’s supposed to be: to translate what the Greek metropolitan says. His Holiness called his assistant, the subdeacon, and said: “Bring the prosphora.” They brought him a prosphora, and handing it to me, he said (I really liked his expression): “I congratulate you on your personal triumph.” That is, today is a church celebration for all of us - the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos - and I also have a personal celebration, my birthday. And this phrase, of course, speaks of his deep tact, his wisdom and delicacy. Not everyone is given this - to formulate this correctly, to feel a person, his joy. He could have simply said, “Congratulations,” but he thought differently.
Patriarch Alexy II at the relics of St. Tikhon in the Donskoy Monastery
– What happened then, after the end of the service? How was the day of the Patriarch built?
– The fact is that December 4 is also a day associated with the memory of Patriarch Tikhon. On December 4, 1917, his enthronement took place. His Holiness had the custom of performing a prayer service on this day at the shrine with the relics of St. Tikhon in the Donskoy Monastery. But Patriarch Alexy had some other obligations in relation to other guests. He was supposed to hold a reception in the Patriarchal chambers in the Kremlin. And during this time, the Greek delegation was offered a wonderful tour of the Grand Kremlin Palace, so that there would be no pause or any awkwardness.
– Did His Holiness take care of this in advance?
- Yes. He thought through all this, and, knowing that he had other obligations, he agreed that the Greek delegation would spend this time both interestingly and usefully.
After this, there was a memorable photograph with His Holiness the Patriarch on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin, and we in the patriarchal cortege moved towards the Donskoy Monastery, where His Holiness performed a prayer service in front of the relics of St. Tikhon. At the end of the prayer service, we were invited to a meal organized by the then governor of the Donskoy Monastery, Archimandrite Agathodor (Markevich). Especially in order to please His Holiness, the Kuban Cossack Choir was invited to perform in the refectory chambers of the monastery...
And you know, something completely unexpected happened here, and I felt how it pleased the Patriarch. The bishops, including the Greek Metropolitan, sat next to His Holiness, on the right hand, at the head of this fraternal meal. And I had to constantly be between them and translate their communication at meals. And during the choir’s performance, Bishop Nicholas said to His Holiness: “You know, the first time I heard a Cossack choir was when I was studying at Harvard University, these were recordings of a performance in America by the choir of Sergei Zharov. And from then on I began collecting records - a collection of Cossack choirs.” On the one hand, His Holiness was, of course, pleasantly surprised. Imagine, a person comes from another country and says: I know this, I learned and fell in love with this 25 years ago. On the other hand, he was sincerely happy: he realized that this was another clue, another thread that connected them.
Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogeia and Laureotica (Hadjinikolaou). Photo: A. Pospelov / Pravoslavie.Ru
At the end of this wonderful friendly conversation, His Holiness confirmed that he would transfer a particle of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov - as a shrine, as a gift from the mother - the Russian Church - to the Russian-speaking parish in Greece. It was very touching to see the reaction of Metropolitan Nicholas and the entire Greek delegation to these words. After all, they, in fact, arrived to hear them. The reception was still in full swing when His Holiness needed to leave. He had some other meetings and business planned for that day.
– How did he say goodbye to everyone, to Metropolitan Nicholas?
- Very warm. It was felt that he was pleased. He said to Vladyka Nikolai: “I am not saying goodbye to you, I am waiting for you tomorrow for dinner at my residence in Peredelkino, and we will continue to communicate,” and then he left.
Vladyka Theophylact remained, then the vicar of His Holiness in Moscow, Vladyka Arseny of Istrinsky, Metropolitan Nikolai, employees from the inner circle of His Holiness, and communication and some kind of conversation continued.
... And somewhere at 6, early 7 in the morning, one of the employees of the Department of External Church Relations, who was responsible for the Greek delegation, called me and said that His Holiness had passed away. It was December 5th.
– How did Bishop Nicholas react to what happened?
“He was shocked. Everyone was in a state of shock then. But for the Bishop, all this was aggravated by the fact that negotiations on the transfer of the shrine went on for more than a year, in several stages, and when, it would seem, His Holiness confirmed his decision, he clearly confirmed that he was preparing a special message to the Greek Church that a particle of the relics would be transferred , such a tragedy happened. In addition, in connection with some secular procedures: an autopsy, drawing up a death certificate, and so on, the body of His Holiness remained in Peredelkino and there was no access to it until all these sorrowful but necessary procedures were completed. And on the morning of the 6th, Vladyka had to fly back to Greece, he had his own obligations, his own program, he could not stay in Russia any longer. And, of course, for him - it was felt - it was very difficult, he experienced the impossibility of bowing to the ashes of Patriarch Alexy and praying over his body. Of course, he prayed, but not in the way he would have liked to honor the memory of his fellow archpastor.
Visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to Greece. Visit to the temple of Panagia Soumela. Photo: patriarchia.ru
– Is there any continuation of the story about the transfer of the shrine? Was it given to a parish in Greece?
– This question was postponed for some time and, as a result, found a logical, wonderful conclusion: in June 2013, the visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' to Greece took place at the invitation of His Beatitude Archbishop Jerome of Athens and All Greece. During this visit, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the temple of Panagia Soumel in Acharnon and, with a huge crowd of people, in memory of his visit and in memory of the fact that this was the will and desire of the late His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, he handed over to this temple an ark with a particle of the relics of the venerable Seraphim of Sarov. The Russian Church always keeps its promises.
“I am not involved in anti-Soviet propaganda”
From an early age, his mother took the boy to holy places, and soon this became a matter of course for him. As he grew older, he began making pilgrimages alone.
As a schoolboy, Sergei sang in the choir in the Bogorodsky Epiphany Cathedral. In 1925, after graduating from school, he moved to Moscow and soon took monastic vows as a ryassophore with the name Plato in the Sretensky Monastery. Two years later, a 17-year-old young man took monastic vows with the name Pimen in honor of the Venerable Pimen the Great in the Hermitage of the Holy Paraclete, a skete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
This was a very serious choice, taking into account the fact that the authorities during this period were actively fighting the influence of the church. And the newly minted hieromonk experienced everything himself.
In the spring of 1932 he was arrested for the first time. Pimen denied involvement in any anti-state activities, saying: “I have never been and am not involved in anti-Soviet agitation... I have not been involved in educating young people in an anti-Soviet spirit.”
School graduate Seryozha Izvekov. 1925 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
On May 4, 1932, he was released, but six months later he was taken again, this time to... the Red Army. He served in Belarus for two years, mastering the specialties of a paramedic and veterinarian. After demobilization at the end of 1934, the hieromonk returned to serving in the Church of the Epiphany in Dorogomilov.
On January 25, 1931, the same bishop in the Epiphany Cathedral ordained him a hieromonk, and on September 9 of the same year he was awarded a breech cloth[16]. Archbishop Philip was arrested shortly after this consecration, on February 8, 1931. In 1932, on the feast of St. Pimen the Great, the new administrator of the Moscow diocese, Archbishop of Dmitrov Pitirim (Krylov), entrusted Fr. Pimen's pectoral cross. In April 1932, the 21-year-old hieromonk was arrested for the first time. He fell under the mass arrests of clergy, carried out with the aim of eliminating illegal monastic communities. In the same month, Bishop Afanasy (Sakharov) and other leaders and members of illegal monastic communities were arrested. In November 1933, in response to the question of the American correspondent of the Chicago Daily News: “Are there still monks?”, the head of the Commission for Cult Affairs under the Central Executive Committee of the USSR P.G. Smidovich said: “According to the information available to the Commission, the institution of monks, as such, no longer exists in the RSFSR. With the liquidation of the monasteries, the institution of “monks” also abolished itself. The latter have been preserved only in the form of individual clergymen in existing churches”[17]. In his testimony during interrogation on April 20, 1932, he was not afraid to confess Christ before the persecutors of the Church: “I am a deeply religious person, from a very young age I was raised in the spiritual spirit. I have a written connection with the exiled hieromonk Barnabas, whom I sometimes help financially. I have never been and am not involved in anti-Soviet propaganda. I am not a member of any a/c group, I have never spread provocative rumors that there is persecution of religion and the clergy in the USSR. I was not involved in educating young people in an anti-Soviet spirit. Being the regent of the church choir, after the end of the services and before the choir singers came to my apartment, but I did not have any conversations with them.”[18] The case against the “church-monarchist organization” involved 71 people who were charged with standard charges. Thus, Hieromonk Pimen was accused of “talking about the restoration of the monarchy,” conducting “anti-Soviet agitation” together with Deacon Sergius Turikov, and performing religious services at home[19]. Nineteen people involved in the case were released, among them was Hieromonk Pimen. The meeting of the OGPU board, which approved the decision to release him, took place on May 4, 1932. The clergy arrested during this period were mainly in opposition to Metropolitan Sergius; perhaps the decision to release Hieromonk Pimen was made when investigators realized that he did not belong to those who did not remember. Fr.’s youth also played a role. Pimena. As a young parishioner, Valentina Yasnopolskaya, who was arrested during the same period, recalled, the investigator told her that the OGPU had a “sensitive attitude” towards young people; their representatives were not treated as harshly as the older generation[20].
However, the authorities also did not allow him to quietly perform his service. In October 1932, he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the 55th separate horse transport in the city of Lepel, Vitebsk region of Belarus, where he served until December 1934[21]. During his service in the army, he received the education of a paramedic and veterinarian, which was so useful to him in subsequent years, allowing him to survive during camp imprisonments and during the war. At the end of 1934, the young hieromonk returned to serve in the Church of the Epiphany in Dorogomilovo.
The authorities, after the murder of S.M. Kirov on December 1, 1934, domestic policy was increasingly tightened, and mass deportations of “former people” began, including clergy from large cities, primarily Moscow and Leningrad. The “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” was closed, and the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate were reduced to a minimum[22]. In 1935 Fr. Pimen was removed from the staff[23]. The Moscow Patriarchate made such a decision in those years in relation to the arrested clergy; in addition, staff numbers were reduced in response to the demands of the authorities.
The work of Hieromonk Pimen with P.D. dates back to this period. Korin. In the early thirties, the great idea of the artist Pavel Korin was born: a picture of a religious procession emerging from the royal doors of the Assumption Cathedral and absorbing all the best people of church Russia - the passing Rus'. In the center of the composition are three patriarchs: Tikhon, Sergius, Alexy. And on the right, in the first row, is the full-length figure of the 25-year-old hieromonk Pimen. The future patriarch indeed often visited, according to recollections, in 1935 the workshop of Pavel Korin on Pirogovka. No one has ever been able to explain how, by what mysterious intuition, the artist makes the young hieromonk practically the center of his picture, prophetically sees in him the true face of ecclesiastical Russia - Ascending Rus'[24].
At the beginning of 1937, a new arrest of Hieromonk Pimen followed. There were still several months left before the “execution” resolution of the Central Committee, adopted in July. By resolution of a special meeting of the OGPU board, he was sentenced to forced labor on the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal[25]. He was sent to Dmitlag, located in the area of Dmitrov near Moscow. The Dmitrovsky forced labor camp of the NKVD of the USSR is a huge camp association intended for the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal (besides the canal itself with its numerous locks, dams, reservoirs, Dmitlag prisoners built the Dynamo stadium in Moscow, the Southern and Northern (Khimki) ports and etc.). The qualification of a veterinarian acquired in the army came in handy - he monitored the health of the numerous horses working on the construction site. Obviously, the death of the horse was the reason for the conviction of Fr. Pimen, the article under which he was convicted for the second time read: “loss, intentional damage... of cartridges and a horse, entails the application of a measure of social protection in the form of... imprisonment for at least three years or the highest measure of social protection"[26]. People working backbreaking jobs with extremely poor food and lack of medical care died in the thousands. They were buried simply by covering them with soil at the bottom of the canal itself. The work on the construction of the canal was completed in 1937, and therefore in January 1938 Dmitlag was liquidated. 55 thousand prisoners out of 177 thousand were released “for hard work.” Directly during the construction of the canal. Pimen did not work, and had an article received in the camp, so he was not subject to release. Some of the Dmitlag prisoners were deported to Uzbekistan. Among them was s/k Izvekov. The Patriarch did not like to talk about this time or spoke briefly: “It was hard. Thank God it all went away.” Once he said: “Yes, yes... we had to dig canals.” When asked how he knew the Uzbek language, he replied: “Yes... I had to... I worked there, dug canals.”[27]
As of February 1939, he was a sanitary inspector who was supposed to check the quality of food in public catering establishments in Andijan. At the beginning of August 1939, Hieromonk Sergei Mikhailovich Izvekov, as he was according to his documents, was transferred to work as the head of the regional House of Health Education (DSE) of the health department of the Fergana region in the city of Andijan, where he worked until July 1940.[28] In August 1939, he went on a business trip to Moscow at a conference of health educators. At this time, only four bishops remained at large, expecting arrest every day.
In the summer of 1940, he left his job and entered college. I still have my student ID. In 1940-1941 Sergey Mikhailovich Izvekov is a student of the literary department of the Andijan Evening Pedagogical Institute. He began to combine his studies with teaching. On October 25, 1940, he was appointed teacher and head teacher of Andijan School No. 1. Other clergy who served exile in Central Asia and were banned from living in large cities also lived here in Andijan. There was no church in the city; later, during the war, there was a prayer house.
Hieromonk Pimen managed to complete only the first year of the institute. On August 10, 1941, he was called up for military service in the Red Army. The Nazis were rushing to Moscow... The military specialty acquired before the war, as well as the death of career officers in the first months of the war, contributed to the rapid assignment of officer ranks.
Several months of training at the infantry school ended in early 1942 with the awarding of the rank of junior platoon commander. On January 18, 1942, by order No. 0105, he was appointed commander of a machine-gun platoon belonging to the 462nd Infantry Division, but he was not sent to the front, like most of the junior officers who studied with him. The education received at the institute and work as a teacher had an impact; competent army staff workers were also needed. On March 20, 1942, he was appointed assistant chief of staff for logistics of the 519 Infantry Regiment, which was in the reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters.
In May 1942, his regiment began fighting as part of the Southern Front against the Nazis. At this time, the Kharkov operation developed at Headquarters began. It was carried out mainly by the forces of the Southwestern Front under the command of General R.Ya. Malinovsky, under the overall command of Marshal S.K. Tymoshenko.[29] On May 12, a counteroffensive began and by May 15, the troops advanced an average of 25 kilometers. However, the command of Army Group South, having deployed significant reinforcements, began to surround the Soviet units that had broken through. The front command was afraid to stop the operation so as not to provoke anger at Headquarters. The right wing of the Southern Front[30], where Hieromonk Pimen fought, also took part in the battles. As a result, the troops were surrounded by the Germans and destroyed or captured; only 22 thousand soldiers were able to escape from the encirclement [31], and other small groups of fighters also escaped. May 29, 1942 The Kharkov battle ended, the encirclement ring was finally closed.
Canal Army soldier, sanitary inspector, head teacher
In 1937, during the “Great Terror”, Pimen was arrested again and sent to forced labor on the construction of the Moscow-Volga canal. For many, the end of construction became the day of liberation, but Pimen was among those who were assigned a new place to serve his sentence: Uzbekistan. In Andijan they appreciated the good education that the disgraced monk had, and soon Comrade Izvekov became a sanitary inspector for the quality of public catering. A little later, he was appointed head of the regional House of Health Education, thanks to which he was again able to visit Moscow, where he went to a conference of health education workers.
In 1940, Sergei Izvekov entered the literary department of the Andijan Evening Pedagogical Institute. From health education he moved to regular education, becoming the head teacher of school No. 1 in Andijan. Perhaps Izvekov would gradually become an honored teacher, but the beginning of the Great Patriotic War again changed his fate. In August 1941 he was called up for service.
Hero and Deserter
One can get confused in hypotheses about the military fate of the future patriarch: here you have both heroic epics and stories about desertion for reasons of principle. But the most plausible and confirmed by facts is the one according to which Izvekov, who had an education, was sent to accelerated officer courses, after which he received the rank of junior lieutenant and the position of platoon commander. In March 1942, he was appointed assistant chief of staff for logistics of the 519th Infantry Regiment, which was in the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. In May, part of Izvekov was transferred to the front. He took part in heavy battles, was surrounded, was shell-shocked, but returned to duty.
Senior Lieutenant of the Red Army S. M. Izvekov. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
In August 1943, already a senior lieutenant and company commander, Izvekov went missing near Kharkov. And he was found in November 1944 in Moscow, on Sushchevsky Val. People close to Pimen explain it this way: near Kharkov, he was wounded, sent to the hospital, after which, having learned about the change in the attitude of the authorities towards the church, he decided not to return to the front. For such self-will, Izvekov was sent to a tribunal, which sentenced him to 10 years in the camps.
“The patriarch should speak when necessary”
True, in the fall of 1945 he was amnestied as a participant in the war. In the spring of 1946, Pimen was appointed full-time priest of the Annunciation Cathedral of the former Annunciation Monastery in Murom. Soon he was transferred to Odessa, where the summer residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy I . It is unlikely that Pimen could have imagined then that he would become the successor to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Pimen's organizational skills were evident. In 1954, he became the abbot of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. Such posts are not trusted to random people, so there was no doubt that Pimen would soon become one of the chosen ones. During his tenure, Pimen significantly transformed the Lavra, which was especially noted by Alexy I.
In 1957, Pimen was elevated to the rank of Bishop of Balta, vicar of the Kherson diocese. And what is important here is not what dioceses he subsequently headed, but what exactly he did. First, he was entrusted with economic management, and then Pimen became the manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate. Essentially, all the current activities of the church fell on his shoulders.
It was impossible to solve economic problems without establishing connections with the state, and Pimen learned to do this to perfection. And this, perhaps, became the key factor that forced Alexy I, who thought about a successor and discussed this issue with the authorities, to point to Pimen: “He can to be, as it were, on the sidelines, and the patriarch should speak out when necessary.”
Old songs about the main thing. The anthem of the USSR was written by the former chief regent of the Russian Orthodox Church Read more
The life of Patriarch Pimen in the Soviet years is covered in secrets and riddles
Photos from open sources An ambiguous opinion among historians has long been formed around Patriarch Pimen. Some consider him an accomplice of Soviet power and an ardent corrupt official, while others say that he, on the contrary, was “the sighted among the blind,” while others say that the patriarch was the best of the best, and today’s churchmen are far from him. Accurate information about the once powerful leader of the church in the USSR sometimes varies, and it is impossible to determine in detail what exactly is true and what is falsification. The life of a patriarch sometimes resembles some kind of movie. It had absolutely everything: church activities, military service, war, love, desertion, a difficult choice “between two fires” and, of course, the omnipresent Soviet secret services. Officially, Pimen is the third Patriarch of All Rus' of the Soviet era. His real name is Sergei Mikhailovich Izvekov. He was born in July 1910 and at the end of his seventh year he was tonsured into the ryassophore under the name Plato. In 1927 he received a mantle with the name Pimen. In the 30s he already became a hieromonk. But then the young priest was arrested by the OGPU. He was facing further insane accusations from the Soviets. Pro-government agents believed that he was working for the Manchus, and even called for the restoration of the monarchy. Naturally, he did none of this at all. Very soon Pimen was released from prison, and already in 1932 he was drafted into the Red Army. In the army he received training as a veterinary assistant. At the end of 1934, the future patriarch was possibly demobilized and received regency at the Epiphany Dorogomilov Cathedral. However, there is information according to which Pimen illegally left the army, and for this reason he was counted among the deserters. Accurate data about Pimen’s life in the 30s are constantly inconsistent and subject to doubt. It is incredibly difficult to say exactly what exactly happened to him. In 1936, he found himself at the construction site of the Moscow-Volga canal, and two years later he was exiled to Uzbekistan. For a certain time, Pimen did not devote time to the church, but built his secular career. In 1940, he entered the Andijan Teachers' Institute and subsequently became the head teacher at one of the schools. In the chronicle of the patriarch there are photographs of those times in which he is depicted in fashionable clothes and with a well-cut haircut. Pimen's biographer, Archimandrite Dionysius, claims that in 1941 the future head of the church was again drafted into the army and sent to the Frunze School, where he received an officer rank. In 1942, he already fought at the front with the Germans and even rose through the ranks. A year later, Pimen already held the rank of senior lieutenant. However, on September 30, 1943, the regimental clerk reported that “senior lieutenant Izvekov went missing in the Kharkov region.” Here historians again observe discrepancies in the chronicle and encounter difficulties. According to the official version, Pimen was shell-shocked, then lived with unknown nuns in Moscow. According to the unofficial story, he could live on false documents and hide from the authorities. For this he was possibly arrested in January 1945 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He lost all his military ranks overnight. It is believed that Pimen served his sentence in Vorkutlag, but not 10 years, but only 8 months. But why exactly he received the amnesty is again unknown. Moreover, according to the information of Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Bychkov, “shortly before the end of the Great Patriotic War, Pimen was released on leave. He came to Moscow, plunged into the life of the church, overstayed his return time, and then was stopped by a patrol and put on trial. But still, thanks to the platoon commander who took care of him, Pimen was released early.” Already in 1946, the Patriarchate appointed the future head of the church to minister at the Annunciation Cathedral in Murom. In the fall, Pimen moved to Odessa to live with the very influential Bishop Sergius, who became famous for his renovationist policies back in the 30s. At the end of the 40s, the future patriarch received an abbot, and later became the governor of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery with the rank of archimandrite. People still talk about his abbot's policies. The local authorities could not stand the clergy and always wanted to spoil them. They loved to turn off the electricity in the monastery, and they did it right during the night Easter service. Pimen, thanks to cunning, managed to secretly acquire a diesel power plant. Later, the priest’s career soared even higher. In 1954, he became the vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and in 1957 he received the vicarship of the Odessa diocese. He stayed in Odessa for only a few days, and after that he was transferred to Moscow to work under the then patriarch. With Khrushchev coming to power, the attitude of the Soviet authorities towards the church became harsher, but this did not stop Pimen from advancing on his path to greatness. In the summer of 1960 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. He received the position of manager of the patriarchate's affairs. Pimen later earned a "double reputation" among his followers and friends. According to many sources, he actively collaborated with the CPSU Central Committee. At the same time, he considered himself an irreconcilable enemy of Soviet power and even made friends with dissidents. The highest authorities have more than once noticed Pimen's secret sympathy for freethinkers and opponents of the USSR. But still, the future ruler of the church was under strict control, and his slightest miscalculation could lead to a new imprisonment in the camps. In 1968, Pimen was entrusted with extremely menial work related to the trial of Archbishop Ermogen. Ermogen was considered in Soviet circles to be an opponent of communism and a person unworthy of the dignity. Pimen chose to remain silent, unlike the other priests. But when they handed him the necessary papers, he immediately signed them, fearing that he could seriously suffer from rash actions. On June 3, 1971, Pimen was officially proclaimed Patriarch of All Rus'. This event became the crowning achievement of his church career. Information about the love interests of Patriarch Pimen was also revealed. As it turned out later, his life was full of interesting novels. The main love and muse of the great “father of the church” was Lydia Strelnikova, who was 20 years younger than him. During the years of Pimen's patriarchate, she became his personal assistant. It is not known for sure whether the patriarch had children. If they existed, no one officially announced their existence. It is known that Pimen especially patronized Fathers Serapion and Alexy. Both of these men became monks in their youth and later became bishops. Eyewitnesses recall that in the presence of the patriarch, they behaved extremely informally. At Vladyka’s funeral, Alexy generally handled everything like a son who had lost his own father. But who exactly was considered the mother of these people is not known for certain. Perhaps this will remain a mystery in Pimen’s life story for a long time. Having ascended the throne of the patriarch, Pimen already had a number of serious illnesses. Metabolic disorders, diabetes and obesity became his constant companions. In the 80s, he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, which he actively fought. The patriarch died literally a year before the fall of Soviet power, on May 3, 1990. On May 6, he was buried in the crypt of the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra right next to his predecessor, Alexy I. The life of Patriarch Pimen is still being studied. Much remains to this day under a thick veil of secrecy.
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The quiet creator of big things
Alexy died in the spring of 1970, and on June 2, 1971, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Pimen was unanimously elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
From the point of view of the authorities, he was the correct head of the church: he denounced the imperialists, supported the peaceful construction of socialism, and spoke out in defense of the victims of racial intolerance. Loyalty allowed Pimen to strengthen the position of the Russian Orthodox Church within the USSR, as well as to conduct active international activities, which the Soviet leadership saw as part of the general foreign policy course.
They say that company commander Izvekov at the front was ready to expose himself to bullets rather than risk people once again. Having become a patriarch, Pimen behaved the same way: showing loyalty to the authorities, he tried to preserve his flock and carefully expand opportunities. Thanks to this, Pimen was able to resolve issues that people were afraid to raise before him. It was he who achieved the transfer of the Danilov Monastery complex to the creation of the administrative center of the Moscow Patriarchate. At the same time, it was allowed to create a monastic community, which in 1983 seemed like a revolutionary event.
Peter the Great's method. How the Russian Church was left without a patriarch for 200 years Read more
Other times
The Patriarch considered aggressive missionary activity unacceptable, believing that it would rather alienate and frighten people than attract them. Perestroika and changes in the relationship between church and state created new opportunities for the Russian Orthodox Church, but Pimen could hardly imagine that this new freedom of conscience would result in churches supported by organized crime groups, a car consecration business, churches “within walking distance,” etc.
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The case of the “theft of history”: which country did Vladimir baptize?
The big celebrations in 1988, dedicated to the millennium of the baptism of Rus', became Pimen’s last big undertaking. He was already very ill, although he tried to fulfill his duties until his last days. The Patriarch passed away in May 1990. A new time was dawning in the life of the church and country. There was a lot to it. There was only no peace and stability, which Pimen valued so much.
