Saint

Tikhon of Zadonsk.

Collected Works.

Volume 1.

Biography.

Words and Instructions to the Flock, Parents and Children, Priests.

"Flesh and Spirit".

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and All Russia the Wonderworker.

His Life, Writings, and Glorification

Prot. A. Lebedev

Preface

Remember your leaders who preached the word of God to you, and beholding the end of their lives, imitate their faith.

(Hebrews 13:7)

Not without the all-wise and good will of God's Providence, it was in our time that the discovery of the miraculous relics of the God-pleaser, St. Tikhon, took place. Without a doubt, it pleased the Lord with such a joyous event in the Russian Church to show us in the life and deeds of the newly-glorified Wonderworker the guidance in life that we need according to our needs.

And indeed, the life of St. Tikhon is abundant in edification for our time. It presents us with an example not only of monastic, but primarily of general Christian virtues, equally necessary for every Christian. Reducing the ascetic deeds of the saint to general features, we find that in his life, on the one hand, the living relationship of dogma to life and their mutual connection are revealed. That is, how Christian dogmas, vividly and constantly conscious of the believing mind, must and do express themselves in the corresponding dispositions of the heart and free actions of the will. On the other hand, there is an example of our service to our neighbors. In the first case, the life of the saint convicts us of our coldness to the faith, of our inconstancy and being carried away by every wind of teaching. And in the second, in our selfish concentration only on ourselves.

And the more convenient it is for us in the life of St. Tikhon to find instructive lessons for himself, that she is so close to us in her properties and in time. In spite of this, or better to say, precisely because St. Tikhon was a monk who lived in a monastery, he manifested in himself podvigs and virtues, not only those that are characteristic of monks, but also those that are necessary for every Christian living in the world. These virtues are contemplation of God, attention to oneself, exercise in the word of God, prayer, spiritual and bodily mercy. Practicing these virtues, St. Tikhon lived and was saved under the conditions and orders of public and private life, under which we ourselves live, act, and move. Reading the life of this saint of God, you encounter words, institutions, and orders that are already familiar to you, you will see, for example, the same order by which one now ascends to the highest degree of priesthood – the Hierarchs, you will find the same order of monastic life to which you are already accustomed and which, perhaps, you look at with indifference. In short, the entire life of the saint passed under the conditions of life of the new Russia, already after Peter the Great, which some look upon as an environment especially unfavorable for the salvation of the sons of the Orthodox Church. Therefore, the closeness of the life of the saint to us deprives us of the opportunity, under the pretext that he was a monk and lived in a monastery, that these are not the times, these are not the circumstances, to refuse his guidance.

But in this closeness to us, the life of St. St. Tikhon is the reason for the particular difficulty of depicting it. At first glance, it seems too simple and ordinary. It seems to us that it is not surprising to live and act in this way, that under the same conditions in which the saint found himself, each of us could live and act in the same way. But in this lies the greatness of Christian simplicity, that the lofty life of the ascetic is so close to us that we find it accessible to us as well. The life of St. St. Tikhon's work is indeed simple, but behind this simplicity or in this simplicity is the height and richness of the grace-filled life, the depth and versatility of monastic feats. Therefore, in order for the depiction of the life of St. Tikhon to be true and edifying, it is necessary, on the one hand, to understand and appreciate this simplicity, and to preserve it in the biography, and on the other hand, to express all the depth and height of his asceticism. If omitted in this case from any side, the biography will not be worthy of the saint, especially if one of Tikhon's lofty, remarkable and exemplary exercises is overlooked, namely, contemplation of God – his subject, his constancy, his vivacity and loftiness. Without the disclosure and sufficient explanation of this exercise, the life of the saint will indeed seem too ordinary and simple.

Wishing from this point of view to more fully reveal the inner side of the ascetic life of St. Tikhon and by his own efforts and labors to serve the glorification of this saint of God, the author offers his work to Christ-loving readers, asking their attention to him and condescension to those shortcomings that may be found in him.

At the same time, the author considers it his duty to speak about the means that he had in compiling this biography. He had at hand:

a) "Notes on St. Tikhon" by Vasily Chebotarev, the former cell-attendant of the saint. These notes were published in the "Orthodox Review" for 1861 No 7, July.

b) The "Notes" are also "about the Saint" by another cell-attendant, John Efimov, in whose arms St. John Efimov breathed his last. Tikhon. Both cell-attendants tell about the feats of the saint, which they themselves witnessed, and tell with all genuine simplicity and sincerity. They did not have a preoccupied thought when composing notes, they wrote under the influence of those impressions of surprise and respect that the deeds and words of St. Tikhon. Therefore, their testimonies are very important.

c) "Description of the Life of the Right Reverend Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh and Yeletsk", composed for lovers and admirers of the memory of this bishop. This description of Tikhon's life is one of the best in terms of conciseness, accuracy of information, and excellent understanding and integral portrayal of the saint. It was compiled by His Grace Eugene, the former Metropolitan of Kiev, who himself collected information about St. Tikhon.