The Church remembers the finding of the relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

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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, in a pious family of a priest with a patriarchal way of life. The children helped their parents with the housework, took care of the cattle, and knew how to do everything with their own hands.
At the age of nine, Vasily entered the Toropetsk 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 the way of his life 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 on the cross, bowing his will to three high monastic vows – 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 Kholm 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 only stayed at his first pulpit for a year, but when the decree on his transfer came, the city was filled with tears – the Orthodox wept, Uniates and Catholics wept, of whom there were also many in the Kholm region. The city gathered at the train station to see off their beloved archpastor, who had served so little, but 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, built new churches, among which is 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 Ruthenians converted from Uniatism, indigenous Creoles, Indians, Aleuts and Eskimos.
Having headed the ancient Yaroslavl department for seven years, upon his return from America, St. 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. In 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 temples, bypassed the infirmaries, blessed and admonished the troops leaving to defend the Fatherland.
There were times 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. Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow was elected patriarch by lot. The opinion of the people was expressed by the peasants: "We no longer have a Tsar, 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 seized 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 houses and temples. A premonition of the general impending chaos and the kingdom of the Antichrist enveloped Russia. And under the thunder of guns, under the rattle of machine guns, the primate Tikhon is delivered by God's hand to the patriarchal throne to ascend to his Golgotha and become the holy Patriarch-martyr.
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 the churches of Moscow, Petrograd, Yaroslavl and other cities, strengthening the spiritual flock. When, under the pretext of helping the hungry, an attempt was made to destroy the Church, Patriarch Tikhon, blessing to donate church values, 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 during the second attempt, the cellarer of His Holiness Yakov Polozov was martyred. Despite the persecution, St. Tikhon continued to receive people at the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived in seclusion, and people walked in an endless stream, often coming from afar or on foot traveling thousands of miles. 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 Most Holy Theotokos 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, the day of the repose of the Apostle John the Theologian, and many see this as God's Providence.
And today the words of Patriarch Tikhon are heard: "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 its Holy Name, the purity of the feat of its children and servants, will be elusive even for enemies. Follow Christ! Don't cheat on Him. Do not give in to temptation, do not ruin your soul in the blood of revenge. Don't be defeated by evil. Defeat evil with good!"
On February 22, 1992, the relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, which were considered lost, were found by the Providence of God in the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow.

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