|
 When,
in 1917, Patriarch Tikhon accepted his election to the patriarchal throne,
he did so in humble submission to the will of God, knowing full well that
he was being handed a bitter cup: the throne was his Cross and the white
patriarch's hood - his crown of thorns. For 7 years he daily endured the
suffering which fell to him as to the head of the Russian Church during
one of the most difficult periods in all of her history. At first he called
upon the faithful to resist the communists – whom he anathematized
as servants of Satan - and, if necessary, to suffer martyrdom for the
sake of Christ's truth. Then, when the atheists gained control, he did
everything in his power  -
without compromising the truth - to reconcile the Church with the new
regime, humiliating himself to save others from humiliation. But the aim
of the communists was not reconciliation but extermination. Unwilling
to make a martyr of the Patriarch, they tried to demoralize him by murdering
clergy everywhere and weaving about him a net of lies, slander and threats.
Although he had the opportunity, and was even urged to flee abroad for
his own safety, the Patriarch refused to abandon his flock, and for this
he was rewarded by the undying love and devotion of the Russian people
who felt in the Patriarch "one of their kind". On March 25,
1925, ill from exhaustion, the holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
died. |
