Holy patriarch Tikhon and the renovationist schism: the compatibility of the incompatible

In this article, the author examines the question of how the reign of such an outstanding holy Primate of the Russian Church as Patriarch Tikhon turned out to be marked by the Renovationist Schism, the most difficult hierarchical schism during the Russian Church’s millennial history. The nature of the schism, the mechanism of its spread, and the main content of the activities of the schismatics are considered. Tрe attitude towards the Renovationists of the Orthodox people in Russia is shown, and a conclusion is drawn about the complete agreement of Patriarch Tikhon and his flock on this matter. On the basis of the facts described in the article, the author comes to the conclusion that the widespread of the Renovationist Schism was due to the fact that the head of the Russian Church was a great saint. In the struggle against him and his supporters, the atheist authorities needed to make extraordinary efforts to plant a church schism. These efforts were successful, but, in the end, the agreement of the Holy Patriarch and the church people (the “Tikhonovtsy”) predetermined the failure of Renovationism, in spite of the fact that the Bolsheviks appealed to the Patriarchate of Constantinople to support the schism