“They decided: Bishop Tikhon of Yegorievsk will be the head of the Pskov metropolitanate, with his Eminence of Pskov and Porkhov retaining his position as chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture.” The decision of the Holy Synod on a new career for one of the most recognizable bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church caused, as they say, a mixed reaction from the public. “The candidacy of the future patriarch is almost determined,” he wrote, for example, on this occasion in LiveJournal Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev. But there are other assessments of Tikhon’s career prospects.
“The Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church does not allow a suffragan bishop to be a candidate for the patriarchal throne,” notes Andrei Kuraev on his blog. “Vladyka Tikhon will now have experience in governing a metropolitan. I hope it will be many years. I believe that in the coming years he will not lose his current status as a “leader of the people.” sympathy. I also believe that it would be better for him to become the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the post-Putin years. So that it is “honest”, so that he does not look like a “protege of the Kremlin”, so that they see him as himself, and not a political puppet.”
However, in a conversation with a MK observer, Father Andrei explained that he did not mean Operation Successor at all: “I cannot conclude that the patriarch would like to see him in this post after himself. Those stars that the patriarch was guided by, making this decision may be completely different."
The church publicist knows nothing about the intentions of Tikhon himself. But his patriarchal prospects, Father Andrei believes, are evidenced by the very course of events: “The current patriarchate will leave behind a very bad aftertaste. A person who is at least somewhat similar to the current patriarch, who represents his inner circle, has no chance of becoming his heir. And among the bishops known throughout the country, only Tikhon has a good reputation. He does not smell of power, he does not have the desire to build everyone up, to break everyone over the knee - which is very visible in the current patriarch."
He rates Tikhon’s career prospects quite highly and Member of the Public Chamber of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin: “I think Bishop Tikhon’s opportunities will expand with this election. He has long outgrown the status of a vicar, which he had until now. Having experience in managing a diocese makes it possible, at least technically, to be nominated to the patriarchal throne. Also appealing “It’s worth noting that he has retained the post of head of the Patriarchal Council for Culture. This means that he will continue to work in the capital quite often. That is, there will be no disappearance from Moscow.”
So far, Chaplin believes, Tikhon’s patriarchal rating is low: “If the patriarchal elections were held now, I would not expect that Tikhon would be even one of the two main candidates. The most obvious candidates would be Metropolitan Barsanuphius and Kiev Metropolitan Onufriy. But the transition to status diocesan bishop while preserving the possibility of church and social activities in Moscow gives Tikhon, let’s say, a good opportunity for a running start.”
Takes a completely different point of view leading expert of the Center for Political Technologies Alexey Makarkin. In his opinion, Tikhon’s new post is very little like a launch pad for takeoff. By outward signs, this is indeed an elevation: Tikhon received an independent diocese to manage, and a very significant and rich one at that. But at the same time, Tikhon is leaving Moscow, the political scientist notes, “and his influence is largely due to the fact that he is in constant contact with his spiritual children.”
Makarkin, however, does not believe the persistent rumors that Tikhon is Vladimir Putin’s confessor: “It cannot be ruled out that Tikhon could take confessions from him. This is quite possible. But the fact that he is the president’s confessor, so to speak, on a regular basis - It is very doubtful. In this case, he would hardly have left for Pskov. But the fact that many representatives of the elite, including the security elite, are among Tikhon’s spiritual children is a reality. Accordingly, it will now be more difficult for him to maintain relationships. with these same people."
Makarkin recalls that last year the possibility of Tikhon occupying the St. Petersburg department was actively discussed. This would indeed be a sharp increase in status: according to the statutes of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg is a permanent member of the Holy Synod." But the result is not St. Petersburg, but Pskov, a much less prestigious option. But the most important circumstance does not allow Tikhon’s new rank to be seriously considered as a springboard for jumping into the patriarchal chair is, according to Makarkin, the absence of any signs that the current patriarch is going to resign. “Of course, anything can happen, but I’m still more inclined to the version of an honorable removal from Moscow,” - the expert summarizes.
The appointment of a bishop to the Pskov See, whom the media calls “Putin’s confessor,” caused a wave of conspiracy theories on the topic: future Patriarch or honorary exile?
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, as it met in St. Petersburg, appointed Bishop Tikhona (Shevkunova). At the same time, he will retain the post of head of the Patriarchal Council for Culture.
Vladyka Tikhon is a very media figure. Bishop of Yegoryevsky, vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (Western Vicariate of the capital), a famous church writer, film scriptwriter and journalist, he often attracts the attention of the media. Tikhon is called “the confessor of President Putin,” which the bishop himself has never confirmed nor denied. 
The appointment generated an explosion of comments.
The candidacy of the future patriarch is almost determined, writes a well-known church dissident deacon Andrey Kuraev. – The Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church does not allow a suffragan bishop to be a candidate for the patriarchal throne. Bishop Tikhon will now have experience in managing a metropolitan. I hope it will last for many years. I believe that in the coming years he will not lose his current status as a “leader of popular sympathy.”
However, other commentators speak of an "honorable exile".
A friend of Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) Andrei Kuraev happily reports that today a new patriarch has been appointed. Following him, blogger Venediktov writes about this. But it is not at all clear why they are so happy. Surrounding Patriarch Kirill there are other joys. There, on the contrary, they believe that the intrigue in which the people of the patriarch, the rector of the Valaam Monastery Pankraty, Metropolitan Barsanuphius, as well as Medvedev and Sechin were involved, successfully ended with the removal of Shevkunov to the Pskov see, writes the telegram channel "Nezygar" claiming to have insider information.
According to the source, Tikhon Shevkunov had plans to occupy the department in St. Petersburg, the channel further writes. “As a result, he turned all the main groups in the Russian Orthodox Church against himself. The last straw was Shevkunov’s intervention in the Ukrainian issue and participation in organizing negotiations with Philaret of Kyiv through the ROCOR.
The appointment of Tikhon (Shevkunov) as Metropolitan of Pskov can be considered as a real promotion only in one case - if there is a real plan for his promotion to the patriarchate, says the deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies. Alexey Makarkin. “For this to happen, Kirill needs to resign, but he is clearly not going to do this.” And the precedent for the departure of the patriarch was in the 17th century, and even then with a great scandal - during the beginning of a church schism, at a council with the participation of the Eastern patriarchs, which removed Nikon. If there is no immediate prospect of the patriarchate, then Tikhon’s transfer can be considered as very honorable, but removal from Moscow to a provincial see.
Metropolitan Tikhon replaced Bishop Eusebius (Savvin) at the Pskov See. The retired metropolitan quite often came under fire from the media for his methods of managing the diocese and for his conflict with the late priest Pavel Adelgeim, who was popular in liberal circles.
In any case, the Pskov See is not only prestigious (due to its antiquity), but also a rich see due to the presence of the famous Pskov-Pechersky Monastery - one of two monasteries in Russia that were not closed during Soviet times. In it, Tikhon began his church activities as a novice in the 1980s, recalls Makarkin.
All this conspiracy theory is based on secular journalists’ misunderstanding of the fact that the Church lives in its own time. And it is managed accordingly,” he argues in a conversation with IA FederalCity writer Pavel Ganiprovsky. “Everything is done there measuredly and slowly.” Therefore, to say that the appointment of Bishop Tikhon as bishop of one of the key Russian dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church is an honorary exile, only on the basis that Patriarch Kirill is now clearly not going to resign, means not to understand the algorithm of church personnel policy. The Council of Bishops will never elect as Patriarch a bishop who has not himself ruled the diocese for at least several years. But Vladyka Tikhon was only a vicar and did not manage anything on his own. That is, he was simply promoted to obtain the necessary “qualifications”. And from this point of view, yes, Bishop Tikhon is the successor of His Holiness Kirill, who, of course, is not planning to resign in any way now. Another thing is that in a few years the situation can change a lot.
Metropolitan Tikhon himself confirmed several years ago that he currently cannot be elected Patriarch: From the point of view of psychological science, two characters coexist in an infantile person: one still remains a little emperor, claiming a position remembered from childhood, when everyone was fussing around him, the other feels like a chicken, remaining in a shell to avoid the dangers of the outside world. Even a cursory analysis of the biography of Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) shows that the creator of the sensational imperial film (and supposedly the “spiritual father of the president”) was and remains an infantile person, trying not to grow up.
Any official biographical information about Archimandrite Tikhon begins with the fact that Georgiy Alexandrovich Shevkunov was born in 1958 into a family of doctors who lived on Red Lighthouse Street in the south of Moscow, in Chertanovo. An ordinary family, not members of the Central Committee, but the story of the mother who did not allow her son to go into religion, and without her Gosha, as he was then called, would not be ordained, is repeated by various sources. " I know that my mother did not accept his decision to go to the monastery for a long time. But now I seem to have calmed down. Gosha is doing well and travels abroad. He recently made a European-quality renovation of this apartment for his mother.", reports the weekly Companion neighbor. There she is echoed by icon painter Vladimir Shcherbinin, Gosha’s classmate at the Faculty of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK): “ When he decided to become a monk, his mother did not bless him for a long time. She is a scientist and has been involved in microbiology all her life. It was Soviet times, and it was difficult for her to understand her son’s passion for religion. She came to terms only after 8 years".
After school, Gosha, who, according to Shcherbinin, looked like a 12-year-old boy, entered the screenwriting department. It was at this faculty that the famous Orthodox dissident Alexander Ogorodnikov studied a little earlier, and was, as they say, “survived” from the institute. And in 1978, for creating a seminar for those interested in Orthodoxy, the KGB sent him to the camps - accusing him, as was then customary, of “parasitism.” But Gosha did not seem dangerous to anyone - rather, as Vladimir Shcherbinin recalls, he was a “hooligan.” For Shcherbinin, the screenwriting department of VGIK was marked by a meeting with a teacher on ancient Russian art - it was " an Orthodox person even in Soviet times", told the students a lot, while Gosha kept silent about him. But he showed the guys the Bible." It was difficult to get it then, but he was always quick with us“,” notes Vladimir Shcherbinin. However, Goshino’s authorities were clearly not alarmed by hooliganism, since in 1982 he successfully graduated from the screenwriting department with a degree in “Literary Work.”
At that time, which is now called the “period of stagnation,” the choice facing a young man with such a specialty was small: either silently praise Komsomol construction projects, or go into denial of the system, write to the table or emigrate. Many did just that, making films about the “man of the century” Brezhnev or refusing to work in their specialty. But Gosha chose the third path - the most “childish” one, leading not only away from politics, but also from the problems of growing up in general. Immediately after baptism, the circumstances of which remain little known (they could have been informed at the place of study or work), the 24-year-old young graduate of VGIK moved to the Pskov-Pechorsky Monastery, where for a long time he was listed as a novice in the barnyard. The monastery, we note, has just experienced a “riot”, as a result of which 14 monks left the monastery, being distributed among rural parishes. This protest, known from later publications, was a consequence of the regime of surveillance and constant denunciations to the KGB, established in the monastery by the abbot, Fr. Gabriel (Steblyuchenko). It was not in vain that one of the young monks whispered to St. Petersburg students who came to the Pskov-Pechora Monastery on a pilgrimage in the spring of 1983: “ You hippies are always looking for God, but He is not here.".
Not everyone would risk staying in such a monastery, but Gaucher, judging by his memoirs, liked it in this Orthodox “House-2”. Later he will tell how Sasha Shvetsov, the son of an employee of the Soviet trade mission, who lived in America for a long time, came to the monastery - all so “cool”, “in jeans” - saw fifteen people lying on the beds in the cell, and immediately decided to stay . The abbot, who arrived at the monastery in a black Volga to get his son out of religion, was easily convinced by the abbot that this was the most suitable place for him - and, we note, not least thanks to good contacts with the authorities. " He remained there as a novice until 1986. The obediences were very different: working in a cowshed and chopping wood"Shevkunov later recalled the monastic exploits. In fact, there were completely different tasks - trips with a large truck from Pechory to Moscow to buy food for the monastery for Easter and Christmas.
As Shevkunov said in April 2005, at that time Fr. John (Peasant) did not make a special impression on him: a very kind old man, very strong (he was only 72 years old at the time), always in a hurry somewhere, always surrounded by a crowd of pilgrims. The other inhabitants of the monastery looked much more strictly ascetic, monastic-like"But a much greater impression, again in his own words, on Gosha's infantile consciousness was made by the "real merchant's wife" Valentina Konovalova, director of a large grocery store on Mira Avenue in Moscow." Plump, squat, she sat at the table in her office, - he recalls the representative of the Soviet trade mafia who received the monastery envoys, - Behind her, even in the most difficult Soviet times, large Sofrino icons hung behind her, and on the floor next to her desk bedside table lay a huge plastic bag with money, which she disposed of at her own discretion.". Such a person aroused genuine reverence in the soul of the infantile young man." Her subordinates feared her, but loved her, Shevkunov sincerely admires a few years later. – During Lent, she organized a general unction right in her office, which was reverently attended by the Tatars who worked at the base. Often, in those years of shortages, Moscow abbots, and even bishops, visited her. With some she was reservedly respectful, and with others, whom she did not approve of “for ecumenism,” she was harsh and even rude".
Well, if such a mentor determined the relationship with faith, then one should not be surprised that Gosha was not ready to become a monk - it is still too dangerous from the point of view of social growth. Moreover, some believing friends had already gotten involved in politics - and who then knew what could await them. During perestroika, Gosha, who by this time had been visiting the Pskov-Pechora Monastery on visits, tried to comply with any possible development options. He recalls how in the late 1980s one Moscow priest, the former spiritual son of Fr. John (Krestyankin), turned to him with a request " return the stole with which Father John blessed him for the priesthood", declaring his disappointment in his spiritual mentor. Gosha, without much hesitation, complied with his request and returned the stole to the elder." His reaction amazed me, he recalls. – He crossed himself, reverently kissed the sacred vestment and said: “I passed it on with love, I receive it with love.”". Whereas about another case, when Fr. John (Krestyankin) for many days resisted the pressure of the ruling bishop and governor, who came "with a knife to the throat", demanding the blessing of the elder for a decision with which he did not agree, he says: "B may cause mixed reviews "Subsequently, Gosha will generally say that the decisive influence on him was his father Nikolai Guryanov, to whom he came to Zalit Island, on Lake Pskov, in 1982." Exactly about. Nicholas predicted the monastic path for me and blessed me on it, when I didn’t even think about monasticism", he said in a radio program Radonezh. But here’s what’s strange: Father Nikolai did not send anyone else to the Pskov-Pechora Monastery; rather, on the contrary, he took people away from under the too close supervision of the authorities.
Only nine years later, when Soviet society was a thing of the past, Gosha, who was already 33 years old, took monastic vows at the Donskoy Monastery under the name Tikhon, immediately becoming a senior monk here - practically the abbot of the monastery. When there was a fire in the monastery, he sincerely, as in his school days, blamed “foreign agents” for the arson. And very soon, at the end of 1993, Fr. Tikhon (Shevkunov) was appointed rector of the metochion of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in Moscow - this is the current Sretensky Monastery. In July 1996, he completely expelled priest Georgy Kochetkov and his community, who had been recalled from office on charges of “renovationism.” When did the supporters of Fr. They tried to protest against Georgy Kochetkov, and some Cossacks helped Shevkunov. However, although as governor of the Sretensky Monastery he becomes somewhat influential, the infantile style of his speeches becomes even more expressive.
Let's take, for example, the curious conflict around the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), the discussion about barcodes and other “chips of the Antichrist.” Our hero's inability to express his own opinion is expressed very clearly here. In 2000, Shevkunov did not speak out at all, publishing a letter from Fr. John (Krestyankina). On January 29, 2001, Shevkunov made a comment on the TIN problem on Radio Radonezh, again citing the authority of Fr. John (Krestyankin), who " was extremely alarmed by the situation that is emerging today around the issue of TIN". Later he will say: " It seemed that for those who listen to Fr. John, the main thing is said"As if unaware that modern myths about the number of the Antichrist were replicated not by his spiritual children, but by Soviet people who converted en masse to Orthodoxy (these myths received some confirmation from the authorities who took populist steps to change the number 666 of the bus and train routes). In May 2002, Shevkunov finally spoke on this topic, saying, firstly, that as a result of the discussion organized on the monastery website, " we received an expert statement that in the EAN-13 barcode, including the code that is applied today to almost all goods, although it does not contain the number 666 in electronic form, but visually for a person who knows machine language, these parallel stripes are associated specifically with three sixes. So, the EAN-13 code really contains the odious number 666". Secondly, he mentions the monks of Athos, who found that " apocalyptic odious number contained in electronic documents"; while in Russia the number 666 attracted special attention when " Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) began to be introduced". Thirdly, " We know that in Russia they are trying to destroy three structures. This is a unified energy system that unites Russia, railways and the Russian Orthodox Church". And what was the dispute about – about the number or about the “three structures”?
In 2000, as a result of a vague process, the estate of General Ermolov’s nephew, a monument of federal significance in the Ryazan region, became the property of the Sretensky Monastery - it is not clear from Shevkunov’s words whether there was already a monastic monastery there, or whether it was opened later. Having liquidated the "Voskhod" farm located there, the people of the monastery created the "Resurrection" agricultural production cooperative in the Mikhailovsky district of the Ryazan region: " The workers on the farm are hired, and the financial director is the monastic one, Father Hermogenes". "It is generally accepted that it is impossible to build an earthly paradise in a single village. How do you feel about this?", asks Rossiyskaya Gazeta on May 14, 2003." Let me disagree with you. Normal life in a separate village is possible, and without any permanent revolutions", retorted Father Tikhon (Shevkunov).
The word “revolution” appeared here in a childish way, without connection with reality. The other day, on February 14 this year, the agency Interfax announced that Tikhon Shevkunov, as a result of a confrontation that lasted several years, finally achieved the closure of the French special school No. 1216 located next to the monastery. Closing a school is a joke; school is as much a sign of stability as the fact that summer will certainly come. It’s enough to just imagine how parents and children spread the news throughout all areas: the monastery has taken away our school. But now the “permanent revolution” against the school has received a new fuse.
Another story demonstrating Shevkunov’s infantile style is dedicated to a young foreigner: he was Russian, but a German citizen, who, while studying at a university at a monastery, stole 180 thousand dollars from a safe, which were “supposed to be invested” in the economy of that same “destroyed collective farm” in Ryazan region. " So he stole this money and went to Germany, says Fr. Tikhon. – In May 2003, in connection with the dialogue with the Church Abroad, I flew to Munich. There are 68 million people in Germany. Do you know who I met first there?! This little guy! I grabbed him and locked him in a local Orthodox monastery. I called the prosecutor: “I caught him!” He couldn’t believe it for a long time, but when he realized that everything was serious, he said: “Release him immediately! You detained a German citizen, you will now be imprisoned in accordance with German laws!”"After such a story, you can’t help but wonder: who came up with the idea of calling such a person “the confessor of the president”? Surely, some PR man like Andrei Bogdanov, who likes to mix Freemasonry with democracy.
Another truly remarkable episode relates to working with drug addicts. As part of the now half-forgotten campaign, it was planned to create an “Overcoming” center at the Sretensky Monastery, which would unite priests and drug addiction specialists. Of all the achievements of the center, one can only remember the conference held in 2001 under a faceless name, at which Shevkunov himself made a report on the work done. " Over the course of seven years, quite a lot of former drug addicts, about fifty young people, have joined the church in our parish", he said, adding that at least 15-20 of them remained drug addicts, and one of them became churchgoers, " who came to us in a terrible state of heroin addiction", continuing to inject drugs, six years later he died of an overdose. And if we were talking about something else, not about such a tragedy, but it may seem as if it was not the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery who spoke on this issue, but a person from the party.
In March 2007, in an interview with the newspaper Tatyana's Day, Shevkunov answered a question about the possibility of convening a Local Council - and answered that he understood: decision-making is not in these hands. On the one hand, he said, " that form of the Local Council that exists now, i.e. sample of the cathedral of 1917-1918. - this is an innovation of revolutionary Russia". In accordance with tradition, he notes, it is enough to hold only councils of bishops, and holding a Local Council with the participation of the laity - " This is all, in my opinion, controversial"On the other hand, he states, the “controversial” council will be convened, since the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church MP is still " does not allow convening a Local Council without laity and priests". In other words, whether such a Local Council will be convened or whether it will be done with a Bishop's Council will still be decided by others, adults, people.
"Gosha had two bosom friends, and misfortunes happened to both of them. One has gone crazy and is now being treated in a mental hospital. And the second one became ill with his heart on the subway and died", says the neighbor. As if hinting that Gosha knows: there is no need to strain anyone once again - get away from growing up, and everyone will be happy. He, like the hero of the novel by Günter Grass, prefers to continue beating the tin drum. Exactly. This is how both documentaries by Tikhon Shevkunov are perceived outside of PR - these are not thoughts, but reflections of childhood. One is about what kind of monks he met in the monastery, what they looked like, the other is a cheerful story about a boy’s dream - to have an imperial office. lay at the desk's bedside table " huge plastic bag with money"that you can get without counting, and behind your back are scarce icons." How to understand this rattling scarecrow for fools?“, the literary critic of “NG” Natalya Ivanova is perplexed about this story. And you have to understand it like a scarecrow: a boy made it and plays around.
November 27, 2017 | Alexey Makarkin
Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov): secrets of influence
Bishop of Yegoryevsk Tikhon (Shevkunov) is considered one of the most influential figures of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). He is called the confessor of Vladimir Putin - although there is no evidence of this particular status, Vladyka Tikhon’s closeness to the Kremlin and his political influence are beyond doubt. Especially a lot of controversy has arisen around the figure of the Yegoryevsk bishop this year - he is called both a competitor of Patriarch Kirill, and an ideological leader of conservatives, and a persecutor of director Kirill Serebrennikov.
Unusual bishop
The standard biography of a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church includes receiving higher spiritual education - either full-time or part-time. As a rule, such a career begins after school and the army, sometimes after a secular university or institute (finished or abandoned due to a change in life plans). A young man begins his journey in the church with a short “internship” as an altar boy in a church or a similar position, then receives a recommendation and enters a seminary, and receives higher spiritual education either full-time or part-time, simultaneously with priestly service. If he chooses the monastic path, then soon after a short period of novitiate he takes monastic vows.
Tikhon's fate looks different. He graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in 1982, receiving a degree in film screenwriting. However, in the same year, he entered the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery as a novice, one of two monasteries operating then on the territory of the RSFSR. The arrival of people from the creative intelligentsia to the church was not uncommon then. The rector of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi, Archpriest Alexander Shargunov (the most famous priest among those who supported Gennady Zyuganov in 1996, the father of the writer and State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergei Shargunov) graduated from the capital's foreign language school and was engaged in poetic translations. The rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kadashi (in the courtyard of which a prayer stand against the film “Matilda” took place), Archpriest Alexander Saltykov, is a graduate of the art history department of the history department of Moscow State University.
However, the novitiate of George (the secular name of Tikhon) lasted almost a decade, but included not only a stay in a monastery remote from Moscow, but also work in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate under the leadership of the then influential Metropolitan Pitirim. In the second half of the 1980s, the importance of the Publishing Department grew - it was preparing materials for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', and its chairman enjoyed the support of the influential Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva. But after the death of Patriarch Pimen and the collapse of the USSR, Pitirim’s influence fell sharply; after some time he lost leadership of the department due to difficult relations with the newly elected Patriarch Alexy II. However, by that time George had already been tonsured a monk with the name Tikhon. He was tonsured by Patriarch Alexy II, who became his new patron.
Throughout his entire tenure as Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II was forced to take into account the interests of a group of bishops - “Nikodimovites” - tonsures of the Leningrad Metropolitan Nicodemus, who died in 1978. Among the “Nikodimovites” are, in particular, Metropolitan Juvenaly and the then Metropolitan and current Patriarch Kirill. Under these conditions, Alexy relied on monasticism, which was suspicious of the liberal tendencies associated with the Leningrad Theological Academy. Most of the bishops ordained under Alexy were conservatives, supporters of traditional piety.
Tikhon fully complied with this course. His struggle with the liberal priest Georgy Kochetkov, whose community was forced out first from the Sretensky Monastery and then from the nearby Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki, became widely known. The monastery complex was occupied in 1993-1994 by the courtyard of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, which was headed by Tikhon. It is characteristic that the cathedral was reconsecrated - in this way Tikhon demonstrated that he did not consider the community that served in Russian to be Orthodox, despite its official canonical status within the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki, the community of Father George was forced to leave in 1997 after a loud and scandalous conflict. As a rule, this conflict is interpreted in the context of the confrontation between church liberals and conservatives. This is fair, but there is another, much less known, aspect: Father Georgy Kochetkov was a student of the future Patriarch Kirill at the Leningrad Academy. And after the end of the conflict, he received the opportunity to serve in the Moscow Novodevichy Convent - the residence of Metropolitan Juvenaly.
"Lubyansky Father"
Tikhon was the rector of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery for a short time - already in 1995 it was transformed into an independent Sretensky Monastery. Patriarch Alexy II became its rector, and Tikhon had the rank of governor. Soon the active development of the monastery began. A choir was created there, which currently has the status of the main choir of the Russian Orthodox Church, which conducts concert activities in Russia and abroad. One of the largest publishing houses of the Russian Orthodox Church and the largest Orthodox book store in Moscow were organized. In 2000, the online portal Pravoslavie.Ru, popular among believers, was created.
In 1999, on the initiative of the then Archimandrite Tikhon and under his leadership, the Sretensky Higher Orthodox Monastic School was opened in the monastery. In 2001 it was transformed into a theological school, and in 2002 into a seminary. The first graduation of students took place in 2004 - Rector Tikhon was among the graduates. In this extremely unusual way, he received a religious education, necessary, in particular, to occupy the post of patriarch. Among the seminary teachers was Olga Vasilyeva, currently the Minister of Education and Science of Russia, who taught classes on church history.
One of the main problems of monasteries is the absence in many of them of the venerated relics of saints whom believers worship. The presence of such relics increases the informal status of the monastery and increases the influx of pilgrims. Particles of relics are not enough for this - one can recall the story about a piece of the belt of the Virgin Mary, which is located in one of the Moscow churches, but does not attract much attention from believers (while the belt itself, brought to Moscow, became the object of worship of a huge number of Orthodox Christians). There were no such shrines in the renewed Sretensky Monastery.
Then Archimandrite Tikhon in 1999 achieved the transfer to the monastery of the relics of the New Martyr Hilarion (Troitsky), who died in 1929 in Leningrad, where he was on his way from the Solovetsky camp to Central Asian exile. His relics were located in the St. Petersburg Novodevichy Convent, but the main period of his activity was associated with Moscow and the Moscow Theological Academy. Apparently, based on this, Alexy II blessed the transfer of the relics to Moscow. The reputation of St. Hilarion as a conservative theologian, who believed that only believers belonging to the Orthodox Church could be considered Christians, could also have played a role in the decision to transfer the relics specifically to the Sretensky Monastery. This thesis is consistent with the point of view of Bishop Tikhon. Thus, the veneration of the new martyrs was established in the Sretensky Monastery, which led to the construction of the “Church on the Blood”, consecrated in 2017, in honor of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia.
Of course, such large-scale projects cannot be implemented without sponsors. Initially, one of them was banker Sergei Pugachev, previously close to the Kremlin. However, his bank had long since gone bankrupt, and he himself ended up in exile and turned into a critic of the Russian government. But financial support for the monastery did not decrease, but even increased - the construction of the cathedral took place without Pugachev. The success of the monastery is due to the numerous connections of its governor. In his book “Unholy Saints,” Tikhon names the former Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice, and now the presidential envoy in the Southern District, Vladimir Ustinov, as his parishioner. Among Tikhon’s good friends is the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin (whose daughter Ustinov’s son was married to for some time). Tikhon's ally is considered to be the former head of the FSB, and now the secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. The FSB building is located not far from the Sretensky Monastery - that’s why Tikhon was nicknamed “Lubyansk priest.”
Vladimir Putin is considered to be Tikhon’s most influential acquaintance. As far as one can judge, they first met in 2000, when the president visited the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, where he met with Elder John (Krestyankin). After this, there was a rumor that Tikhon had become Putin’s confessor, but it was not confirmed. It is unlikely that the president has a permanent confessor, although Putin may have once confessed to Tikhon. Tikhon’s extensive connections are also associated with his hardware successes. These included the transfer to the monastery of a former school building with in-depth study of the French language - Tikhon publicly stated that the school was located on the site of a cemetery for people who died during the Napoleonic invasion, and emphasized in this regard that they speak French at the school. As well as the demolition of several buildings of the 19th century, on the site of which a new cathedral was built - the protests of “Arkhnadzor” led to nothing.
According to the Dozhd TV channel, the budget of the project of modern multimedia exhibitions “Russia - My History”, implemented by Tikhon, amounted to more than 10 billion rubles. In 2018, the number of “Russia - My History” exhibition parks will reach 25. Money for the construction of centers and the creation of exhibitions is allocated from budgets at various levels, by large companies (including Gazprom) and through government procurement and grant systems. In total, more than 10 billion rubles will be allocated for these purposes. At the same time, the most expensive center after the capital will appear next year in St. Petersburg, where 1.4 billion rubles have already been allocated from the budget. In Moscow, a similar exhibition, on behalf of President Putin, is located in one of the largest pavilions at VDNKh, the reconstruction of which cost 1.5 billion rubles. The general sponsor of the exhibition was Norilsk Nickel.
Thus, Tikhon is one of the most influential church figures - his capabilities are comparable to those of the patriarch, despite the fact that Tikhon, although he was ordained bishop in 2015, is only one of the many vicars (assistants) of the patriarch. Despite the fact that his see is officially located in Yegoryevsk near Moscow, the bishop's residence remains in the Sretensky Monastery, which he continues to head.
The secret of success and problems
The question arises about the reasons for such success of Tikhon. The fact is that most representatives of the highest church hierarchy are perceived by government officials as their nomenklatura colleagues. During the Brezhnev era, the episcopate was dissatisfied with the fact that its high church status did not allow it to join the Soviet elite. The bishops were dependent on minor officials, who could fulfill their requests, or could refuse. This was due to the role of the church, which was considered a temporary, moribund anomaly in the Soviet state. Much has changed in post-Soviet times. Bishops became a natural part of the regional elite - their influence and living standards grew sharply. Likewise, the patriarch, by definition, is part of the federal “super-elite”, despite the separation of church and state.
But colleagues in the elite do not perceive such archpastors as spiritual authorities - for them they are often pragmatic business executives and, despite monasticism, secular people in behavior. Therefore, for spiritual guidance and consolation - and the powerful of this world often need it - they prefer to go to monasteries in order to touch the ancient tradition of elders. It is difficult to confess to a bishop, unlike a simple monk or even the abbot of a monastery. However, Tikhon is now also a bishop, but he has retained the same image of a confessor, a monk, and not a bureaucrat - and this is a great advantage.
But the monastic tradition can be presented in different ways. Tikhon’s advantage as a certified screenwriter is that he does it brightly and, as they say now, creatively, combining conservative tradition with a modern “shell”. It is difficult for an ordinary secular person to master complex monastic texts, such as the five-volume Philokalia; the lives of saints and biographies of ascetics are often archaic for him. Another thing is Tikhon’s popular book, “Unholy Saints,” which has gone through many editions, a collection of stories written not only with knowledge of the matter, but also with literary gift, with irony and elements of self-irony (which is rare for the church, but characteristic of modern society). Or simple analogies contained in the film he created “The Death of an Empire. The Byzantine Lesson” is about how the Byzantine elites colluded with the West and ruined the country, and the Russian elites almost followed this example, but the president prevented them. Archpriest Maxim Kozlov said that the film is “a political satire, filmed within the framework of a television narrative, with the host being a clergyman, with an appeal to Byzantine history as a substrate for a narration about the facts of modern history.”
Another important aspect is noteworthy, explaining Tikhon’s rapprochement with former and current security officials. It is important for them to build a consistent concept of history, which would include both the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods of history. Tikhon proposed his own version, based on the widespread division of politicians in the church into statists and anti-statists. The priority of state interests unites Russian tsars and Soviet leaders; Stalin is not idealized, but is not considered the culprit of all the troubles of the 20th century that befell Russia. But attention is focused on the responsibility for them of the liberals who participated in the overthrow of the monarchy. Tikhon’s illiberalism and anti-Westernism are quite consistent with the mentality of the security forces. In “Unholy Saints” there is no condemnation of Soviet power, which is characteristic of many church works; its place is taken by an attitude towards it as a reality with which it is necessary to coexist while maintaining one’s own Orthodox identity.
However, Tikhon’s informal political influence led to problems in relations with three serious interest groups.
The first is a considerable part of the official church hierarchy, right up to the patriarch. There, it seems, they are not only jealous of Tikhon’s hardware capabilities, but also believe that he has his own patriarchal ambitions. Connected with this is the “leak” made public by Alexei Venediktov - that Tikhon intends to become rector of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, then a metropolitan, and then a patriarch (Tikhon himself denied this information). True, as a suffragan bishop, Tikhon does not have the right to be elected patriarch - according to the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, the candidate must have “sufficient experience in diocesan administration.” But sufficient experience is a flexible concept; in principle, the council can recognize as such both six months and a year (refusing rumors about his ambitions, Tikhon said that we are talking about five years, but this is not in the Charter). Apparently, this is precisely the reason for the order that Tikhon received - to sort out the question of whether the “Ekaterinburg remains” are the relics of the royal family. If he recognizes them as genuine, he will irritate many conservatives who assume that under Boris Yeltsin and Boris Nemtsov the discovery of real relics was impossible. If not, then the Kremlin will be greatly disappointed, where they want to hold the reburial of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria next year, on the centenary of the execution of the royal family.
The second is the liberal part of the social spectrum, for which Tikhon is an ideological opponent. Regardless of the degree of reliability of the information that the bishop was involved in the arrest of Kirill Serebrennikov, there is no doubt that Tikhon is one of the main opponents of modern art and, in general, the orientation towards a global society. Moreover, unlike, for example, Nikita Mikhalkov, who retained significant apparatus influence.
The third is part of the representatives of the “illiberal” secular elite, for whom Tikhon can be a dangerous competitor. The very fact of having a figure with such serious informal influence looks like an irritant for people in public service who are accustomed to certain formalized procedures. All these factors contribute to strong information tension around the figure of Tikhon, which may intensify further in the future.
– leading expert at the Center for Political Technologies
Archimandrite Tikhon, aka Georgy Alexandrovich Shevkunov, was born in 1958. Graduated from the screenwriting department of the All-Union Institute of Cinematography. Soon after graduating from VGIK, he went to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, where he was a novice for nine years, and then took monastic vows. He returned to Moscow and worked in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Ten years ago, Shevkunov first appeared in print as the only ideologist of the fundamentalist direction of the Russian Orthodox Church, publishing an article Church and State, in which he openly laid out his concerns about democracy. A democratic country, quotes Father Tikhon Free Lapse Breau, will inevitably try to weaken the most influential Church in the country, bringing into play the old principle of divide and conquer. This statement seems important due to the fact that the Russian media call Father Tikhon the confessor of President Putin, that is, a person who influences the worldview of the leader of the state.
In church circles, Tikhon is spoken of as a well-known intriguer and careerist. The certified film screenwriter took the first step in his brilliant church career shortly after his return to Moscow from the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in 1991. Then he initiated a brawl near a fire in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived. According to investigators, the cause of the fire was a drunken monastery watchman who fell asleep with a lit cigarette. Shevkunov accused Western intelligence agents sent to us under the guise of believers of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad of malicious arson. (By the way, at the moment, foreigners, despite the long-standing row, support Father Tikhon. According to rumors, they see him as the main candidate for the post of the next Patriarch of All Rus'.) They say that the certified screenwriter himself is not in the running to take the highest church post in Russia.
There is also information about Tikhon’s father’s connection with the KGB. Perhaps these connections later helped him get to know Vladimir Putin better. One of the parishioners of the Sretensky Monastery is a close friend of Father Tikhon, Lieutenant General Nikolai Leonov. He served in the KGB from 1958 to 1991. In the 60-70s he worked in the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB of the USSR, and was deputy head of the department. (In the 70s, Putin also served at PSU.) Tikhon (Shevkunov) and Nikolai Leonov are on the editorial board of the Russian House magazine, which is published on the basis of the Sretensky Monastery publishing house. Leonov is a political commentator on the program of the same name, which airs on the Moscovia channel, and Shevkunov is also the confessor of both magazine projects and the television program. Frequent guests of the Russian House include representatives of Russian National Unity (RNU) and the Black Hundred.
Papa Tikhon is also known for his global projects. He was one of the activists in the movement for the canonization of the royal family. He led a crusade against the tour of magician David Copperfield in Russia, informing the flock that the magic tricks of this vulgar American Woland put the audience in bondage to the darkest and most destructive forces. And no matter how popular his plan is, he fights with satanic barcodes and individual taxpayer numbers (TIN). In the barcodes and tax identification number, according to Father Tikhon, the number of the beast 666 is disguised. In addition, the universal organization of accounting subjects the Orthodox to total control by the secular, anti-Orthodox, from Tikhon’s point of view, state. His article on the Schengen zone, dedicated to this global problem, was published in the RNE publication Russian Order. Despite the fact that Pope Tikhon denies his connection with the Russian Nazis, their views are very, very close.
Here are the holy father's thoughts on censorship. Censorship is a typical tool in a normal society, one that should cut off everything extreme. Personally, of course, I am for it both in the religious field and in the secular field. As for state censorship, before the deadline or later, society will come to a sober understanding of the need for this institution. Let us remember how Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in his youth scolded censorship and did not rhyme it except with the word fool. And later he advocated censorship. Tikhon’s last thought, nevertheless, baffled researchers of A.S.’s work. Pushkin. Well, Pushkin didn’t write something like that!
Tikhon was one of the first to congratulate Putin on his accession to the throne and then publicly rejoiced at Yeltsin’s timely departure, condemning the era of Yeltsinism.
Father Tikhon hides the story of his acquaintance with Putin. But he advertises his closeness to the first person in every possible way. There is talk in church circles that the rumor, just as Tikhon is the president’s confessor, was started by Tikhon himself. The certified screenwriter himself does not confirm this rumor, but does not refute it either; he flirts: What are you trying to make of me as some kind of Richelieu? Nevertheless, journalists from Moscow publications firmly wrote from Tikhon’s words that Vladimir Putin confesses to him all the way. It is he who instructs the president in spiritual life.
In any case, certified screenwriter Tikhon actively takes advantage of his real (or imaginary) closeness to the president. As they say, now the Patriarch himself is afraid of him.
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Tikhon Juchkov Tihon Juchkov
Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner (three times), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, the Red Star, and medals.