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St. Tikhon of Moscow: Instructions and Teachings for the American Orthodox Faithful
This volume of St. Tikhon’s sermons and other writings, newly translated and edited by Alex Maximov and David C. Ford, provides English-speaking readers access to the words of a figure of towering importance for the Orthodox Church both in America and in Russia. Born Vasilii Ivanovich Bellavin (1865–1925), St. Tikhon was bishop of the Orthodox Church in North America from the end of 1898 until the spring of 1907, longer than any bishop between the establishment of the diocese in 1870 and the Russian Revolution.
Alex Maximov is an independent scholar, and member of the parish of the Monastery Church of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, South Canaan, PA. Dr. David C. Ford is Professor of Church History, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary, South Canaan, PA.
Alex Maximov is an independent scholar, and member of the parish of the Monastery Church of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, South Canaan, PA. Dr. David C. Ford is Professor of Church History, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary, South Canaan, PA.
265 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2016
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April 25, 2020
This is a 1923 compilation of sermons, suggestions, opinions, and ideas for reform by St Tikhon of Moscow, translated to English in 2016.
The words of St Tikhon grew on me. At the outset, I found it a bit stock in trade hum drum typical Orthodox basics, however by the end his particular brilliance was apparent. St Tikhon was bishop of the Orthodox Church in North America from late 1898 to early 1907. After his return to Russia in 1907, in 1917 he was elected as Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. After suffering under the rule of the Bolsheviks he died in 1925, possibly from poisoning.
The various writings selected for this book reveal snapshots of American history intertwined with Orthodox Church history in the United States. Orthodox Christianity, then as now, was a minority in a sea of competing heterodox versions of Christian practice. His perceptions and experiences of this during the time he worked as a bishop serving the Orthodox faithful in the USA caused him to sometimes reference the bigotry and/or incessant poaching attempts that ethnic Orthodox often encountered from the mainstream culture. His answer, likely to Evangelical Christians, is found in one of the sermons:
Overall, St Tikhon's work comes through as a labor of Christian love for all people to share with them the Apostolic faith. He speaks with compassion of the poverty experienced by Native Alaskans. He really does not come across as a 'company man' out increasing business. His real work is to bring people to Christ and salvation.
This work also gives a great inside view of how the Orthodox Church current day issues with parallel jurisdictions came into being, something that had not occurred anywhere else in the world. Now of course the same is occurring all over the world. His vision of how this should work in practice, with one jurisdiction overseeing all the various cultural varieties of Orthodox parishes, has not been realized. He wanted to respect all the various and comforting small 't' traditions people brought with them from their respective homelands while counseling the well known scriptural passage that 'in Christ there is no Greek or Jew'. He might be a bit disappointed with some current day parishes and bishops. Even then he had to encourage people to not view the local parish as their personal culture club or for "hatch, match, and dispatch" but rather to focus on the spiritual life and seek first the kingdom of God.
St Tikhon studied Scripture, advised his priests to never stop studying Scripture, and took his task seriously. His sermons continually refer to Scripture. He counsels newly ordained priests to put themselves below others, as Christ Jesus did, in order to help people draw closer to God. He set an example with his own conduct and came as a servant, like Christ, not to make himself great, but to nurture the faithful and assist many from the Unia of Brest-Litovsk 1596 back to the Apostolic tradition held and preserved by the Orthodox.
Some lovely facts learned was that in that era, Russians actually tithed funds to parishes in the USA to assist them to build churches. This was the really the beginning of Orthodoxy in America, with a vision of seminaries for those with a real calling to the priesthood, schools, orphanages, monasteries and new churches built.
The priest of the Chicago parish starting in 1895 was Fr John Kochurov who returned to Russia before WWI and was the first clergymen to be murdered by the Bolsheviks. He is now canonized as a martyr and saint.
St Tikhon understood very well that Christ is the bridegroom, the head of the Church. What a contrast to some current day bishops!
Reading this work definitely makes an old blood American consider carefully if they ought to support the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America. Granted, the Metropolia, now called the OCA, was cut loose a bit early from the mother Russian church due to the Bolshevik Revolution then the Soviet Atheist regime, but is our American heritage of Orthodoxy, a little piece off the hem of His garment.
The words of St Tikhon grew on me. At the outset, I found it a bit stock in trade hum drum typical Orthodox basics, however by the end his particular brilliance was apparent. St Tikhon was bishop of the Orthodox Church in North America from late 1898 to early 1907. After his return to Russia in 1907, in 1917 he was elected as Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. After suffering under the rule of the Bolsheviks he died in 1925, possibly from poisoning.
The various writings selected for this book reveal snapshots of American history intertwined with Orthodox Church history in the United States. Orthodox Christianity, then as now, was a minority in a sea of competing heterodox versions of Christian practice. His perceptions and experiences of this during the time he worked as a bishop serving the Orthodox faithful in the USA caused him to sometimes reference the bigotry and/or incessant poaching attempts that ethnic Orthodox often encountered from the mainstream culture. His answer, likely to Evangelical Christians, is found in one of the sermons:
Often those who preach next to us say that it is enough for a person to only come to believe in Christ for salvation. But they are under delusion, not understanding the Scripture--although they boast of its knowledge.
"And they are Christ's" says Apostle Paul, "have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Gal 5.24). If the salvation of the entire human race was accomplished by the Cross of Christ, then it is necessary for everyone, for his salvation, to crucify himself in a way similar to Christ--to erect a cross in one's soul, on which to crucify his old sinful man with his passions and lusts.
Through this, the saving power of the Cross of Christ is absorbed by a Christian, and within his soul Christ is formed (cf Gal 4.19). This kind of man can say along with the Apostle Paul about himself: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me"(Gal 2.20); and this kind of man indeed inherits eternal life and salvation.
But aside from this "inner" cross, a Christian also has external crosses, which are sent by Christ for each one of us. These are sorrows, troubles, misfortunes, sickness, loss of those who are close to us, failures, offenses, etc. Who does not have them? Neither wealth nor nobility save anyone from them.
Why does the Lord give these crosses? Some of you know how grain is extracted from the harvested ear--it is knocked out with chains, threshed out. You have also heard that gold is purified from foreign impurities with fire. So our soul is purified through sorrows and becomes enlightened, elevated, and produces from within itself a pure grain of goodness.
A Christian also knows that here he is only a wanderer and stranger, that his motherland is in heaven (cf Phil 3.20). And a wanderer, as long as he remains out of his house, endures various deprivations and discomforts along the way....
Overall, St Tikhon's work comes through as a labor of Christian love for all people to share with them the Apostolic faith. He speaks with compassion of the poverty experienced by Native Alaskans. He really does not come across as a 'company man' out increasing business. His real work is to bring people to Christ and salvation.
This work also gives a great inside view of how the Orthodox Church current day issues with parallel jurisdictions came into being, something that had not occurred anywhere else in the world. Now of course the same is occurring all over the world. His vision of how this should work in practice, with one jurisdiction overseeing all the various cultural varieties of Orthodox parishes, has not been realized. He wanted to respect all the various and comforting small 't' traditions people brought with them from their respective homelands while counseling the well known scriptural passage that 'in Christ there is no Greek or Jew'. He might be a bit disappointed with some current day parishes and bishops. Even then he had to encourage people to not view the local parish as their personal culture club or for "hatch, match, and dispatch" but rather to focus on the spiritual life and seek first the kingdom of God.
St Tikhon studied Scripture, advised his priests to never stop studying Scripture, and took his task seriously. His sermons continually refer to Scripture. He counsels newly ordained priests to put themselves below others, as Christ Jesus did, in order to help people draw closer to God. He set an example with his own conduct and came as a servant, like Christ, not to make himself great, but to nurture the faithful and assist many from the Unia of Brest-Litovsk 1596 back to the Apostolic tradition held and preserved by the Orthodox.
Some lovely facts learned was that in that era, Russians actually tithed funds to parishes in the USA to assist them to build churches. This was the really the beginning of Orthodoxy in America, with a vision of seminaries for those with a real calling to the priesthood, schools, orphanages, monasteries and new churches built.
The priest of the Chicago parish starting in 1895 was Fr John Kochurov who returned to Russia before WWI and was the first clergymen to be murdered by the Bolsheviks. He is now canonized as a martyr and saint.
St Tikhon understood very well that Christ is the bridegroom, the head of the Church. What a contrast to some current day bishops!
Reading this work definitely makes an old blood American consider carefully if they ought to support the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America. Granted, the Metropolia, now called the OCA, was cut loose a bit early from the mother Russian church due to the Bolshevik Revolution then the Soviet Atheist regime, but is our American heritage of Orthodoxy, a little piece off the hem of His garment.
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