Patriarch Tikhon received Metropolitan Sergii (Stragorodskii) from the Renovationist schism on this day in 1923. Metropolitan, and later Patriarch, Sergii was one of the foremost figures in the life of the Russian Church. He was born in Arzamas in 1867. He came from an old clergy family and excelled in his studies at various theological institutes. Archimandrite Sergii twice visited Japan as a missionary, and on the second occasion he was accompanied by the future hieromartyr Andronik (Nikolʹskii), Archbishop of Perm. Archimandrite Sergii learned Japanese to such a high level that he could teach dogmatic theology in the language at the local seminary. Just like his teacher, Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitskii), Fr. Sergii sought to make Orthodox dogmatics something living that could be experienced by the Christian soul rather than it being a mere theological and philosophical system detached from life. In this context, Archimandrite Sergius’ book Pravoslavnoe uchenie o spasenii [The Orthodox Teaching on Salvation] (his candidate of theology dissertation) is an outstanding work, whose author demonstrates a profound knowledge and understanding of the works of the Holy Fathers. Before the 1917 Revolution, Bishop Sergii was the first Russian Orthodox bishop in Grand Duchy of Finland, where the local Senate had considerable authority in matters of religion. For instance, following Swedish law, children’s faith was determined by that of their father. In May 1922, Patriarch St. Tikhon was arrested, and his chancellery seized by a group of Petrograd clergy, who, based on their proclaimed purpose of making church life more comprehensible to modern people, were dubbed “Renovationists”. Metropolitan St. Agafangel (Preobrazhenskii), the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, was temporary administrator of the Church at the time. It seemed that chaos was engulfing the Church. On June 10, 1922, the trial of Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd began. At the height of the trial in Petrograd, the so-called “Memorandum of the Three” appeared in the Renovationist publication Zhivaia tserkovʹ [Living Church] (June 16, 1922). In it, three venerable hierarchs – Metropolitan Sergii (Stargorodskii) of Vladimir, and Archbishops Evdokim (Meshcherskii) of Nizhny Novgorod and Seraphim (Meshcheriakov) of Kostroma – acknowledged the self-proclaimed Renovationist Supreme Church Administration to be “the sole canonical authority in the church.” Nearly half of the Russian episcopate followed the example of these eminent bishops. Some of them were utterly at a loss for what to do, others were inflamed with ambition, and others still were hoping to steer the Renovationist movement back to the mainstream of canonicity and head up the Supreme Church Governance. In the words of Metropolitan Manuil, the thinking of many bishops and clergymen at the time was: “If Sergii, in all his wisdom, has acknowledged the possibility of submitting to the Supreme Church Administration, it is clear that we ought to follow his example.” Although Patriarch Tikhon received repentance some of the bishops privately because of Metropolitan Sergii’s stature, the Patriarch decided to receive him back into the Russian Church publicly in Donskoi Monastery in Moscow. On August 27, 1923, Metropolitan Sergii, clad only in a cassock, approached Patriarch Tikhon and repented of his actions, asking for forgiveness. In return, he was forgiven and received back from the Patriarch his panagia and pectoral cross, white klobouk, mantle, and staff. Source Monk Benjamin (Gomartely). Letopis’ tserkovnykh sobytii Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi nachinaia s 1917 goda. [The Chronicle of the Events in the History of the Orthodox Church Beginning in 1917] Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad Relevant Links A. Psarev, Metropolitan Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod as Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens to Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy. Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad |
