Hierarch · 1865–1925
Tikhon of Moscow
Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Enlightener of North America
New Calendar April 7 Old Calendar April 20
Why they are a saint
Tikhon of Moscow was a First Patriarch of Moscow restored in 1917; earlier Archbishop in North America. Confessed the faith under Bolshevik persecution and reposed in 1925. His name is kept on the calendar with the other holy hierarchs. The New Calendar feast is April 7.
Life
Saint Tikhon was born Vasily Ivanovich Belavin on January 19, 1865, the son of Ioann Belavin, a rural priest in the Pskov diocese, and spent his childhood in the village among the peasants.
On September 14, 1898, he was made Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska. As head of the Orthodox Church in America he worked zealously to spread Orthodoxy: he blessed the cornerstone of Saint Nicholas Cathedral in New York in 1901, consecrated the church of Saint Nicholas in Brooklyn for Syrian Orthodox immigrants in 1902, was assisted by Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny) as vicar bishop in Brooklyn, and in 1905 blessed the founding of Saint Tikhon's Monastery.
In 1917 he was elected ruling bishop of Moscow and then, at the Local Council, became the eleventh Patriarch of Moscow. He led the Church as property was confiscated and clergy and believers were persecuted, and he was himself imprisoned from April 1922 until June 1923. He served his last Liturgy on April 5, 1925, and reposed on March 25/April 7, 1925; almost a million people came to the Donskoy Monastery to bid him farewell.
Sources: OCA Lives of the Saints. Retold in our own words.
Traditional patronage
Honoured as Enlightener of North America. The cited source names no other patronage.
Patronage / why chosen as patron
Orthodox Christians usually take Tikhon of Moscow as a patron when they bear the name Tikhon at baptism, or were born or baptized near the feast on April 7. Those who share his calling as a missionary also ask his prayers.
Prayer
O holy Tikhon of Moscow, pray to God for us.
A short general prayer to a saint, not a liturgical text. No public-domain troparion for this saint is included.
Do not confuse with Tikhon of Zadonsk.