HEAD
DOCTOR OF HOLY
TRINITY LAVRA DIES FROM CORONAVIRUS
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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