RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Physician monk succumbs to pandemic

HEAD DOCTOR OF HOLY TRINITY LAVRA DIES FROM CORONAVIRUS

Interfax-Religiia, 6 May 2020

 

The chief physician of the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra and the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, Hegumen Tikhon, died from complications caused by the coronavirus.

 

The working group under Patriarch Kirill explained that the hegumen's death happened yesterday, 5 May.

 

Hegumen Tikhon (secular name, Alexander Yakovlevich Barsukov) was born in Altai on 11 November 1954. After graduating secondary school he studied in the Altai State Medical University. He received baptism at 37 years of age. In March 1996 he was accepted as a novice in the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra, where a year later he was tonsured a monk. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2020)


REAL CAUSE OF DEATH OF HEAD DOCTOR OF TRINITY LAVRA IS IRRESPONSIBILITY OF EPISCOPACY—EXPERT

Hegumen Tikhon was healer from God
by Sergei Bychkov

Moskovskii Komsomolets, 6 May 2020

 

The critical situation with the coronavirus, which has affected not only Russia, has revealed a lot of problems in the Russian Orthodox Church. Originally they did not seem especially serious. Eleven years ago the 63-year-old Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill was elected to the patriarchal throne. An energetic, modern, successful manager.

 

In the years of his administration, the number of dioceses in Russia and abroad has increased four-fold. Naturally, the number of bishops also increased; today there are no fewer than 350! Last year, Patriarch Kirill conducted a rotation. He sent into retirement experienced administrators and managers, and to their places he appointed young and energetic bishops. The majority of them were barely 40 years old. It cannot be said that this rotation proceeded painlessly. Many did not understand why this was necessary. To which the patriarch declared to his close circle: "I warned you that when you elected me, people will not be in key positions longer than 10 years!" Church life followed its own course, interspersed with minor scandals, until the Chinese pandemic showed up unannounced.

 

It turned out that the RPTs was completely unprepared for a national catastrophe. The more so, in that the illness began to rage during Lent. On the eve of Easter, which this year fell on 19 April, the question was pondered a long time: will churches and monasteries be open, or was it necessary to close them for quarantine? It soon became clear that during Holy Week, first the rector of the patriarchal Epiphany cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Ageikin, became ill, and then the first vicar bishop of the patriarch, Metropolitan of Voskresensk Dionisy. Father Alexander died, but before his death he talked with the patriarch. He concelebrated with the patriarch and the sick Metropolitan Dionisy. An order was issued that it was necessary to close the churches and monasteries for quarantine. Patriarch Kirill served for the last time in the church of Christ the Savior on Pascha, 19 April. After that he did not appear at all in public space.

 

Before going to the hospital, Metropolitan Dionisy issued an order requiring bishops to close churches and monasteries for quarantine. However the bishops, who were rather unfamiliar with Metropolitan Dionisy, in their majority ignored this order. Pascha is the most revered feast in Orthodoxy, when the churches and monasteries are filled with people. For many bishops the question arose: if one obeys the order, then how will he live? How will one pay the utilities? Will parishes be able to transfer monthly contributions to the diocese? In Nizhny Novgorod diocese, Bishop of Zheleznogorsk and Lgov Veniamin attacked in a sermon the Masons who sow panic and delude Orthodox believers, urging them not to attend churches. Shortly after Easter he contracted the coronavirus and died. In this diocese, Hegumenia Sergia, mother superior of the Diveevo monastery, did not obey the order. This was all the stranger since she is a physician by profession. In the convent, the coronavirus infected more than 20 nuns.

 

Today monasteries have become centers of the pandemic. The most disastrous situation is in the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra. The chief physician of the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra and the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, Hegumen Tikhon, died on 5 May from complications caused by the coronavirus. Hegumen Tikhon (secular name, Alexander Barsunov) was born in Altai in 1954. He studied in the Altai State Medical University and after graduating from it in 1979 he worked six years in Health Department No. 27 of the Third Chief Directorate of Health of the U.S.S.R. In 1987 he completed a clinical residency in Moscow. He worked in the Central Hospital for Rehabilitation under the Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia.

 

In March 1996 he received baptism at the age of 37 and was accepted as a novice in the Saint Sergius Holy Trinity lavra. In the lavra he was assigned as the chief physician. In 1998 he was ordained to the rank of monastic priest and in 2010 he was promoted to the rank of hegumen. Hegumen Tikhon was, body and soul, a real physician. He worked it out that the clinic in the lavra, which served students of the seminary and the ecclesiastical academy, as well as the brotherhood of the monastery, was transformed into an affiliate of the Khimki Hospital. Thanks to his efforts, students and monks received comprehensive medical care. According to information as of 1 May, symptoms of the coronavirus infection were manifested by 150 of the approximately 170 residents of the lavra and many are in extremely critical condition.

 

The responsibility for the outbreak of the coronavirus in the lavra is borne by its abbot, Bishop of Sergiev Posad Paramon. He did not obey the patriarch's order, appealing to the fact that the Council of Elders opposed closing the lavra for quarantine. The neighboring Khotkov convent and its abbess Olimpiada also did not obey the order. Two priests died after serving the divine liturgy in the Khotkov convent. More than 30 nuns have been infected. There also is a serious outbreak of coronavirus in the St. Elizabeth's convent in Minsk. The spiritual director of the convent, Archpriest Andrei Lemeshenok, opposed closing the convent for quarantine. Priests were infected and became seriously ill after serving in this monastery, along with more than 20 nuns.

 

An interesting detail of the pandemic is that authorities in the regions did not want to conflict with ruling bishops. Orders regarding closing churches and monasteries for quarantine were issued by chief health physicians. The majority of bishops ignored these orders. Much has been said in recent years about symphonia, that is, about the complete agreement between ecclesiastical and secular authorities. The Chinese infection overturned these views. Some bishops intend to file a lawsuit against local authorities who insisted upon closing churches and monasteries. They think that their civil rights were infringed thereby. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 May 2020)


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