Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin (the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia) was born on January 19, 1865 in the village of Klin, Toropetsky district, Pskov province, into a pious family of a patriarchal priest. The children helped their parents with household chores, took care of livestock, and knew how to do everything with their own hands.
At the age of nine, Vasily entered the Toropetsky Theological College, and in 1878, upon graduation, he left his parents' home to continue his education at the Pskov Seminary. Vasily was of a kind disposition, modest and friendly, his studies were easy for him, and he was happy to help his classmates, who nicknamed him "bishop." After graduating from the seminary as one of the best students, Vasily successfully passed the exams to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy in 1884. And the new respectful nickname, "patriarch," which he received from academic friends and turned out to be visionary, speaks about his lifestyle at that time. In 1888, after graduating from the academy as a 23-year-old candidate of theology, he returned to Pskov and taught at his native seminary for three years. At the age of 26, after serious thought, he takes his first step after the Lord to the cross, bowing his will to the three high monastic vows of virginity, poverty and obedience. On December 14, 1891, he took vows with the name Tikhon, in honor of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, the next day he was ordained a hierodeacon, and soon a hieromonk.
In 1892, fr. Tikhon is transferred as an inspector to the Kholmsky Theological Seminary, where he soon becomes rector in the rank of archimandrite. And on October 19, 1899, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, he was consecrated bishop of Lublin with the appointment of vicar of the Kholmsko-Warsaw diocese. Saint Tikhon had only been in his first pulpit for a year, but when the decree on his transfer came, the city was filled with weeping – Orthodox Christians, Uniates and Catholics, of whom there were also many in the Kholm region, wept. The city gathered at the train station to see off the archpastor, who had served so little, but had served so much. 
And such send-offs surrounded the saint all his life. Orthodox America wept, where to this day he is called the Apostle of Orthodoxy, where for seven years he wisely led the flock: traveling thousands of miles, he visited hard–to-reach and remote parishes, helped to equip their spiritual life, and built new churches, including the majestic St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York. His flock in America has grown to four hundred thousand: Russians and Serbs, Greeks and Arabs, Slovaks and Rusyns converted from Uniatism, indigenous Creoles, Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos.
Having headed the ancient Yaroslavl department for seven years, upon his return from America, Saint Tikhon rode on horseback, on foot or by boat to remote villages, visited monasteries and county towns, and brought church life into a state of spiritual unity. From 1914 to 1917, he managed the Vilna and Lithuanian departments. During the First World War, when the Germans were already under the walls of Vilna, he took the relics of the Vilna martyrs and other shrines to Moscow and, returning to lands not yet occupied by the enemy, served in crowded churches, went around the infirmaries, blessed and parted the troops leaving to defend the Fatherland.
Shortly before his death, Saint John of Kronstadt, in one of his conversations with Saint Tikhon, said to him: "Now, Vladyka, you sit in my place, and I will go and rest." A few years later, the elder's prophecy came true when Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected patriarch by lot. There was a time of troubles in Russia, and at the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which opened on August 15, 1917, the question of restoring the patriarchate in Russia was raised. The peasants expressed the opinion of the people on it: "We no longer have a King, there is no father whom we loved."; It is impossible to love the Synod, and therefore we, the peasants, want a patriarch."
There was a time when anxiety for the future gripped everyone and everyone, when anger revived and grew, and deadly hunger looked into the face of the working people, fear of robbery and violence penetrated into homes and temples. A premonition of the general impending chaos and the kingdom of the Antichrist embraced Russia. And under the thunder of guns, under the rattle of machine guns, Primate Tikhon is delivered by God's hand to the patriarchal throne to ascend to his Golgotha and become the holy Patriarch-martyr. 
How tearfully the new patriarch weeps before the Lord for his people, the Church of God: "Lord, the sons of Russia have forsaken Your Covenant, destroyed Your altars, shot at temple and Kremlin shrines, and beat up Your priests..." Russian Russians are called upon to purify their hearts with repentance and prayer, and to resurrect "the bright, unforgettable deeds of their pious ancestors in the year of the Great Visitation of God in the current feat of the Orthodox Russian people." To raise religious feelings among the people, grandiose processions were organized with his blessing, in which his holiness invariably took part. He fearlessly served in churches in Moscow, Petrograd, Yaroslavl and other cities, strengthening the spiritual flock. When, under the pretext of helping the starving, an attempt was made to destroy the Church, Patriarch Tikhon, blessing the donation of church valuables, spoke out against encroachments on shrines and national property. As a result, he was arrested and imprisoned from May 16, 1922 to June 1923. The authorities did not break the saint and were forced to release him, but they began to monitor his every move. On June 12, 1919 and December 9, 1923, assassination attempts were made, and in the second attempt, His Holiness's cell attendant, Yakov Polozov, died a martyr. Despite the persecution, St. Tikhon continued to receive people at the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived in seclusion, and people came in an endless stream, often coming from afar or traveling thousands of miles on foot. During the last painful year of his life, persecuted and ill, he invariably served on Sundays and holidays. On March 23, 1925, he celebrated the last Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Great Ascension, and on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he rested in the Lord with prayer on his lips.
The glorification of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, took place at the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 9, 1989, on the day of the repose of the Apostle John the Theologian, and many see this as God's Providence. "Children, love each other! – says the Apostle John in his last sermon. "This is the Lord's commandment, and if you keep it, it's enough."
Patriarch Tikhon's last words resound in unison: "My children! All Orthodox Russian people! All Christians! Only on the stone of healing evil with good will the indestructible glory and greatness of our Holy Orthodox Church be built, and her Holy name and the purity of the heroic deeds of her children and servants will be imperceptible even to enemies. Follow Christ! Don't cheat on Him. Do not succumb to temptation, do not ruin your soul in the blood of revenge. Don't be defeated by evil. Defeat evil with good!"
67 years have passed since the death of St. Tikhon, and the Lord has granted Russia his holy relics to strengthen it in the difficult times ahead. They rest in the great cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery.