In difficult times, when the normal course of life is disrupted, when life is outraged by grand events that throw everything into the abyss, when death and despair reign everywhere, God sends into this world His saints—spirit-borne heroes, people of special courage and selfless devotion, faith and love’s devotees—who are necessary for the world to stand firm in truth, not to lose the discernment of good and evil, and not to perish spiritually. And the feat of such spiritual giants and leaders of the people can probably be called the hardest of all feats.
Patriarch Tikhon (in the world Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin; January 31, 1865 — April 7, 1925) was the bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church; from December 4, 1917 he was Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, the first after the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia. After a detailed study of Patriarch Tikhon’s life and work, he was canonized on October 9, 1989, by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church; he currently leads the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.