A Conference at Grodno State University Focuses on the Person and Legacy of St. Tikhon (Bellavin)

Archbishop Anthony of Grodno and Volkovysk opened the conference's plenary session with a paper devoted to the biography and main milestones in the life of St. Tikhon (Bellavin). 

St. Tikhon's life before the 1917 Revolution was closely tied with the territory that today belongs to Belarus and the Grodno region. This period of the Patriarch’s life formed the subject of a paper by Fr Aleksandr Veliseichik, a PhD Candidate in Theology and Rector of the Church of the Prince St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles, in Grodno. Ivan Petrov, an Associate Professor of the Dostoyevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities and PhD Candidate in History, continued this topic in his presentation entitled “Patriarch Tikhon and His Circle in the Vilno Region during the First World War and the Interwar Period”. 

Petrov underscored that “the period from 1914 to 1917 is key to understanding Patriarch Tikhon’s socio-political stance after the Local Council of 1917–1918. Alongside the better-known episodes of his life, such as his ministry in America, it is important to revive interest in this period, which will enable us to better comprehend his decisions during the Revolution and the Civil War.”

A paper by PhD Candidate in History Aleksandr Gorny, Associate Professor of the Department of Belarusian History, Archaeology and Special Historical Disciplines at Yanka Kupala Grodno State University focused on Patriarch Tikhon’s relations with the Belarusian national movement in the early 20th century.

The Dean of the Faculty of History at St. Philaret’s Institute (SFI), PhD Candidate in History Konstantin Obozny, presented a paper entitled “His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and the Bolshevik Authorities in 1918–1919”, based on materials from four of Patriarch Tikhon's letters issued in 1918–1919 and addressed both to Orthodox Christians and the Soviet authorities.

Konstantin Obozny noted that "Patriarch Tikhon, as the senior hierarch of the Church, acknowledged his own guilt and took personal responsibility for everything that was happening in the country."  The saint expressed this stance in all his letters and in particular in his 1918 epistle, where he called upon all faithful children of the Church to stand in defence of church valuables and to come together in spiritual unions.

Several conference papers were devoted to the practical implementation of this call:

• Senior SFI lecturer Ekaterina Stepanova presented a paper entitled “Patriarch Tikhon as a ‘Servant for Church Unity’ and His Legacy in the Experience of the Russian New Martyrs and Confessors”;
• Church historian and researcher of Orthodox brotherhood history Natalia Ignatovich prepared a presentation on “The Historical Experience and Challenges of the Time: Patriarch Tikhon’s Call to Form Spiritual Unions after 1917”;
• Svetlana Yashina, a staff member of the Museum and Exhibition Department of the Transfiguration Cultural and Educational Center, spoke on the history of the establishment of church unions in Belarus after 1917;
• PhD in History Aleksey Beglov, a leading researcher at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke about church-societal self-organization in the era of Patriarch Tikhon;
• Professor Yulia Balakshina, PhD of SFI and at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, delivered a paper entitled “His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin): An Experience of Practical Conciliarity”. 

Yulia Balakshina noted that "in Patriarch Tikhon's church ministry the concept of sobornost is embodied not only in the election of church authorities and support for various conciliar initiatives, but also in a transformation of the very image of faith in the Church. Sobornost ceases to be identified with conciliarism in the narrower sense, let alone with mere collectivity, democracy, or parliamentarism. Sobornost begins to be understood as an inherent quality of the Church that permeates its life at both the highest and the lowest ‘molecular’ levels — as a spiritual need of Christians who are gathered by the Holy Spirit into one living Body. Patriarch Tikhon opens a fundamentally new page in the life of the Russian Church, into an era when it begins to rely not on the might of the state, but on the power of God’s love acting within unions of faithful Christians. From the very principles of Christian love and freedom and ecclesial personhood and sobornost, the need to establish communities and brotherhoods arises anew, thus this becomes the new form of church life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

The following papers helped conference participants immerse themselves in the historical context of the Church in Russia and Belarus during the 1920s–1930s:

• PhD in Church History Alexander Slesarev, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at Minsk Theological Seminary  presented on “‘Right-wing’ Church Opposition and the ‘Catacomb’ Movement in Belarus from the 1920s–1940s”;
• PhD in History Evgenia Tokareva,  a leading researcher at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Church or the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented on “The Problems of the Orthodox Church in the USSR in 1922–1924 as Understood by Members of the Papal Relief Mission to the Hungry”;
• PhD in History Edmund Yarmusik, a Professor of the Department of Belarusian History, Archaeology and Special Historical Disciplines at Grodno State University presented on “Religious Diversity and Interconfessional Relations in Western Belarus in the Interwar Period”.

Fr Aleksandr Lopushansky, a PhD Candidate in Theology and Rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Priest Alexy of Lelchitsy and Secretary of the Canonization Commission of the Belarusian Orthodox Church,  presented a paper entitled “The New Martyrs Through the Eyes of a Child: The Discovery of the Chernyakovsky Family Manuscript". This presentation was a vivid testimony to the situation of the clergy in the 1920s–1930s.

A memorable conclusion to the discussions was the presentation by the Rector of St. Philaret’s Institute (SFI), PhD Candidate (Pedagogy) Aleksandr Kopirovsky. Kopirovsky spoke about Pavel Korin’s unfinished painting called "Requiem. Leaving Russia", while projecting a large-screen display of the work’s preparatory sketches. Patriarch Tikhon’s funeral in 1925 at the Donskoy Monastery is what inspired the painting. The funeral drew huge crowds despite official prohibitions. The artist perceived the Patriarch’s burial as a farewell to the pre-revolutionary Church and wished to enshrine that moment in history.

The opening of an exhibition titled “St. Tikhon and the Belarusian Land”, prepared by Yanka Kupala Grodno State University and the Grodno Eparchy, was timed to coincide with the conference, at which fourteen papers - all of which will be published as scholarly articles - were presented. On the conference's second day, participants were invited to go on excursions led by:

• Alexander Slesarev, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at Minsk Theological Seminary and Academy, who guided a tour of the Zhirovichi Holy Dormition Stavropegial Monastery and Minsk Theological Seminary;
• Aleksandr Gorny, Associate Professor of the Department of Belarusian History, Archaeology and Special Historical Disciplines at Grodno State University, who led a visit to the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Synkovichi, in the Zelva Region.

Viktor Belozorovich, a PhD in History and the Dean of the Faculty of History, Communication and Tourism at Grodno State University, summed up the conference as follows: "The cooperation agreement between St. Philaret’s Institute and Grodno State University continues to flourish and has been further strengthened. Many thanks for finding the time and opportunity to come to Grodno, for allowing us to meet you and hear you. We would very much like to consider another meeting — either in Moscow or in Grodno. Scholarly work implies moving together toward a goal, and our goal is Church History. Together we will walk the road toward this goal."