His Contemporaries in North America Speak
As we celebrate the centennial of the repose of Saint Tikhon, Patriarch and Confessor of Moscow, Enlightener of North America, the words of his co-laborers in the American Mission offer us insight into the saintly human traits, so visible to those around him, which adorned his archpastoral care for his North American flock. Contemporaneous reflections, translated into English for this article, give us a glimpse of the man whom his fellow missionaries knew and loved, and whose unceasing apostolic labors on this continent continue to bear fruit in the Orthodox Church in America.
St. Alexander Hotovitzky’s eyewitness account of an encounter of St. Tikhon with Syro-Arab faithful; Metropolitan Leonty’s journal entries; and reflections by other co-laborers in Christ’s vineyard as well as by St. Tikhon’s successor Metropolitan Platon https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/past-primates/platon-rozhdestvensky give us very poignant insights into the impact of this beloved Archpastor. As we sing in his troparion the Church venerates St. Tikhon as:
“an ardent follower of the Apostolic traditions, and good pastor of the Church of Christ. Who was elected by divine providence, and laid down his life for his sheep” (St. Tikhon troparion – April 7).
A glimpse of St. Tikhon during his ministry in North America is provided by Archpriest Elias Klopotovsky (+1950) who began his priestly service in the New World while St. Tikhon was the ruling hierarch and decades later recalled meeting St. Tikhon who welcomed him on arriving in America:
“From almost the first words spoken by Bishop Tikhon, I felt that I was standing before a father, a profoundly believing bishop and a most kind person, who by his counsel and exhortation desired to make me a worthy bearer of the priesthood. This marked me so profoundly that I expended my best efforts to be a decent person and a good shepherd, so as not to disappoint the most kind and merciful Bishop Tikhon.”
Indeed, Fr. Elias would go on to faithfully serve parishes in the US and Canada for nearly 50 years. Fr. Elias concluded his published recollection of St. Tikhon, writing prophetically:
“Can the hierarch Tikhon be forgotten, his humility, his meekness, kindness, deep faith and devotion to the Holy Mother Church??!. Years and years will pass but the Russian people will not forget His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon and at his grave, they will learn how the Church, the faith, the motherland and people must be loved. His name will be proclaimed for centuries by believing Russian people.”
Another faithful laborer in the North American diocese at this time was Paul Zaichenko (1873–1961) , recruited for missionary service from Russia as a church musician and choir director, who would serve the Church in America for over six decades. In published reminiscences, he remembered unity in the diocese under St. Tikhon’s leadership:
“Under Bishop Tikhon all were united by a commonality of positions, interests, feelings and thoughts; throughout the Mission reigned the bliss of peace, harmony, friendship and love. There were no destructive quarrels, bitterness and mutual hatred. There was no quarreling, there were no divisions - there was one Archpastor and one flock. His name is worthy of bright remembrance.”
This unity and singlemindedness is remarkable given the ethnic diversity and geographic distances in the vast North American Diocese. To foster unity through his personal contact, Saint Tikhon, remarkably before the era of air travel, made three lengthy and arduous pastoral trips to Alaska and three to Canada – in addition to crisscrossing the US numerous times. This speaks to his tireless devotion as shepherd to his flock. Moreover, the faithful of various backgrounds were united around Christ by their Archpastor, who toiled ceaselessly to build a local Church through conciliar governance.
A decade after leaving America, St. Tikhon was elected Patriarch of Moscow. Archpriest Leonid Turkevich, who had served under St. Tikhon as a parish priest and rector of the first Orthodox seminary in North America and later became Metropolitan Leonty, was a delegate from the Diocese of North America at the landmark All-Russian Church Council in 1917-18 that restored the patriarchate in the Russian Church after a two century interruption and elected St. Tikhon as the first Patriarch of Russia of the modern era. While attending the Council, Fr. Leonid kept a journal, which was recently published in Russia. In his journal entry for October 31/November 13, 1917, Fr. Leonid recorded his observations about the opening of the Council session that day at which the three candidates for Patriarch would be selected by secret ballot, as follows:
“General session of the Council. Moleben (Prayer Service). Wonderful speech by Metropolitan Tikhon - we must be working for peace in the world and in the realm of Christ’s Church, where there must be peace. Let us put passions and calculations aside. We are doing something of utmost importance, which is holy. ‘And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and do Thou guide aright the works of our hands upon us; yea, the works of our hands do Thou guide aright.’ (Psalm 89:17). This made the best impression. A speech of an inspired elder-patriarch was heard.”
Fr. Leonid’s assessment of Metropolitan Tikhon’s speech proved to be prescient. Following this speech, Metropolitan Tikhon, somewhat unexpectedly, garnered the third highest vote total of the nearly 30 candidates on the original roster nominated by the Council.
A few days later, on November 4/17, 1917, Metropolitan Tikhon spoke to the Council again. Fr. Leonid’s journal entry on that day mentioned the “dreadful days of November” in reference to the overthrow of the provisional government by the Bolsheviks and highlighted St Tikhon’s report about his visit to the Kremlin the previous day where he surveyed and assessed the devastation of churches and monasteries inside the Kremlin and even witnessed the execution of at least one military officer opposed to the Bolshevik forces.
“From the morning, a general meeting of the members of the Holy Council. His Eminence, Metropolitan Tikhon delivered a report regarding what he found in the Kremlin after the dreadful days of November. Vladyka spoke evenly, clearly, simply, but at the same time thoroughly and without any undue emphases. The assembly listened to him intently. The entire room behaved quieter than ever before, which in turn left a favorable impression on Vladyka.”
According to Fr. Leonid, the quiet restraint of St. Tikhon’s speech transformed the spiritual mindset of those gathered in council as they prepared for a solemn Divine Liturgy to be celebrated at Christ the Savior Cathedral the next morning, after which the election by lot of St. Tikhon as Patriarch would take place.
After his enthronement on November 21/December 4, Patriarch Tikhon would courageously lead the Russian Church under the most trying circumstances of totalitarian persecution until his repose at age 60 on March 25/April 7, 1925. St. Tikhon’s health was undermined by privation and various forms of persecution, and it is widely suspected that his death did not result from altogether natural causes.
On April 12 (Palm Sunday), 1925, Metropolitan Platon, who had returned to the US as a refugee and was elected to a new tenure (1922-34) as head of the North American Church, celebrated a memorial service at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York to solemnly commemorate the newly-departed Patriarch. At the service, Metropolitan Platon pronounced the following assessment of St. Tikhon as Patriarch:
“Patriarch Tikhon was an ascetic precisely in patience and love. He loved the prayer of St. Ephrem: ‘give rather the spirit of patience and love to Thy servant.’ Our Russian Orthodox people initially felt this in their hearts and then also understood it with their minds, and their souls were drawn to their dear Patriarch. The people saw how the Patriarch lived and how he acted and understood that he lived in a Godly manner and did what needed to be done. The people understood that the Patriarch recognized the governing authorities but that he considered that God had allowed this to be sent to the people as punishment for their sins, and the people stood in solidarity with the Patriarch. The people living in Moscow saw that the Patriarch was truly an ascetic of patience and love, and they strived to be with him and near him when he was praying to God.”
A vignette published in an article by St. Alexander Hotovitzky provides a glimpse of the mutual love between St. Tikhon and the diverse members of his flock, as it documents Saint Tikhon’s encounter with Syro-Arab (Antiochian) faithful at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Tikhon, accompanied by Fr. Alexander, had come to St. Louis to visit the parish in nearby Madison, Illinois and to bless the church building there. On arrival in St. Louis, before proceeding to Madison the following morning, St. Tikhon and St. Alexander decided to visit the World’s Fair, where they encountered Orthodox faithful at certain of the exhibits. One such encounter vividly described in an article penned by St. Alexander that appeared in the secular press in Moscow and was reprinted in the Russian American Orthodox Messenger (Vestnik) took place at an exhibit called “Jerusalem” where they went, according to St. Tikhon, “to visit the countrymen of His Grace, Raphael, who are, after all, also close to us…”
The article continues:
“As if in response to these words of His Grace, familiar, loud sounds were heard nearby, the appeal of which the performers obviously believed was in their dissonances, the most unpalatable for a European ear. There was everything: the sound of whistles, and horns, and drums, and the drone of voices, and the clanging of cymbals, etc. Everything was intertwined into some kind of most unique, albeit intrinsically consonant, cacophony. All this was familiar to us, and there was no doubt that we were in the vicinity of those we had just spoken about.
And indeed, an original, eastern image, not unmajestic, appeared before us. A procession was coming out of the gates of ‘Jerusalem’. At the head walked the Kawas in national costumes, fezzes, papakhas, with large staffs, behind them a row of musicians, singing, shouting and playing, and, further on, a row of camels with riders and guides. All this presented a most picturesque spectacle against the background of the Jerusalem towers and domes surrounded by a high wall, and it transported the viewer to the distant Palestinian lands.
We couldn’t help but stare, not noticing how the front rows of the procession turned directly towards us - it was too late to get out of the way, and the Kawas in front, meanwhile, well familiar with the attire of Eastern priests and bishops and perhaps having had the opportunity to see our Vladyka before, respectfully surrounded the Archpastor, and the public watching probably attributed all the solemnity of this procession and meeting to the person of the Bishop, whose sacred rank was clearly marked by the Orthodox Cross on his chest.
Thus, completely unexpectedly, the entry of His Grace into ‘Jerusalem’ was preceded by a solemn meeting of him by the inhabitants of this ‘city’.
Fortunately, we soon managed to separate from the procession and, having refused the services of guides, we tried to navigate on our own this small but confusing labyrinth - a replica of the Palestinian holy places. But it was not possible to remain unnoticed here. On all the streets, the Syro-Arabs joyfully greeted Vladyka, putting their palms to their foreheads as a sign of respect and sometimes coming up for a blessing. Many of these sons of Damascus and Syria had met His Grace before, and His Grace recognized some of them, since he had more than once officiated at the Syrian-Arab Orthodox parish in New York, from where they had now come for the exhibition with their simple wares.
But as warm as the greetings were, so were the invitations of the “Papássy” to their shops. Sympathy for the coreligionists had to be proven in practice, so as not to offend anyone. Olive wood products were bought from the one, enamel trinkets from another, silver with niello from a third, and mother-of-pearl from a fourth. Earrings for each sister. The wallet became lighter; the load to carry became heavier with the accumulation of packages. With the warm-heartedness of the sellers, we felt no inconvenience. One Arab, however, was genuinely disappointed by the Bishop’s refusal to do him the honor of taking a ride on his camel. But it was enough to observe other riders, especially when dismounting. This pleasure did not promise to be particularly pleasant and it was put off until a time when we would have the good fortune to be pilgrims to the actual Eastern holy sites.
Most of our attention was devoted, of course, to the replicas of the holy sites. With a feeling of great reverence, we entered the temple where the replica of the Lord’s tomb had been erected. This structure had been described in detail earlier by His Grace, Raphael of Brooklyn, a Syro-Arab bishop, who had come here two months ago to perform the wedding of one of his flock and at the same time delighted other Syro-Arabs, of whom there were many, by celebration of the liturgy and by his masterful preaching. He performed the liturgy and the wedding ceremony in this very structure, which, according to reviews, is an exact copy of the original. The small temple, adorned with sacred images, was empty on the day of our visit. There was no longer an entrance fee, as apparently, they were no longer counting on paying visitors, and no one interfered with us indulging in silent contemplation of the replicas of the holy sites, experiencing with our minds and hearts what is natural for a Christian to experience under such circumstances. We were already preparing to leave, when a noisy stream of visitors poured into the building, immediately taking their chairs, and began listening to the Syrian guide, who succinctly read a lecture on the size of the original temple, its history, and customs associated with the cave of the Holy Sepulcher, etc. He also managed to include a mention of the service officiated by His Grace, Raphael within the walls of this building. It turned out that the Syrian Bible Society had taken on, free of charge, the laudable task of introducing visitors to the history of Palestine, and as was plainly apparent, their efforts were fully rewarded by the attention of the listeners.
Casting one more glance at the buildings of ‘Jerusalem’, we left this city accompanied by the cries of Arab fellow Orthodox.”
This episode shows St. Tikhon’s interaction with faithful from a culture so different from his own yet these members of Bishop Raphael’s flock are so dear to him, and they are also drawn to him. Mutual respect and St. Tikhon’s genuine care for St. Raphael’s flock are clearly evident. Additionally, we see the reverence and honor accorded by St. Tikhon and St. Alexander to the replicas of holy sites in “Jerusalem”. This was not the only significant encounter of St. Tikhon with members of his flock at the World’s Fair. His notable encounter with Aleuts will be described in a future article.
All of these reflections by St. Tikhon’s contemporaries in North America bear witness to his unique spiritual qualities as a saintly Archpastor. Therefore, the Church calls upon us to glorify St. Tikhon and to pray in the following words:
“Let us sing to him with faith and hope, and ask for his hierarchical intercessions: Keep the church in Russia in tranquility, and the church in North America in peace. Gather her scattered children into one flock, bring to repentance those who have renounced the True Faith, preserve our lands from civil strife, and entreat God’s peace for all people!” (St. Tikhon troparion – April 7).
Saint Tikhon, Enlightener and Confessor, pray for us!