Attitude towards renovationist schism of Most Holy Patriarchs Tikhon, Sergius and Alexy I: comparison of their positions

The article examines the attitude of three Patriarchs of Moscow - Most Holy Tikhon (Bellavin), Sergius (Stragorodsky) and Alexy I (Simansky) - to the Renovationist schism in the times their reign. Their most expressive statements (official and unofficial) about Renovationism are cited, their actions in relation to schismatics are assessed, especially their practice of accepting repentant renovationists into the Patriarchal Church, and peculiarities of their positions are determined. Patriarch Tikhon declared the gracelessness of the Renovationists due to the severity of their sin, but in case of their sincere repentance he was ready to be lenient, even to recognize some ordinations performed in the schism. Metropolitan Sergius stressed that Patriarch Tikhon should ban Renovationists from priesthood in 1924. For him, the main criterion to recognize Renovationist ordinations or not was the time of these ordinations (before or after the ban, which, Metropolitan Sergius believed, deprived schismatics of grace). On becoming Patriarch in 1943, Most Holy Sergius was forced to be content even with the formal repentance of the Renovationists (especially when such cases became widespread due to the orders of the NKGB - People’s Commissariat of State Security). His Holiness Alexy I combined the approaches of both of his predecessors: he followed the procedure of accepting Renovationists introduced by Patriarch Sergius, but he also emphasized the severity of the Judas’ sin that schismatics had committed, which doomed the defenders of the Church to suffer till bleeding.