Holy Patriarch Tikhon and the Petrograd Diocese in 1923–1925

In the early post-revolutionary years, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia took a direct active part in the administration of the Petrograd Diocese. This was especially evident in the last years of the saint’s life, in 1923–1925. During this period, after the execution of the Holy Martyr Veniamin (Kazan), there was no metropolitan in the diocese, and the influence of the Renovationist schismatics was very strong. However, the energetic actions of St. Tikhon were able to correct the situation. Despite the repression by the Soviet authorities, the bishops appointed by the Patriarch to Petrograd, through their selfless ministry, contributed to a sharp decline in the influence of the Renovationists, and by the time of St. Tikhon’s death on April 9, 1925, Renovationism in the northern capital had collapsed. The article has been prepared on the basis of previously unknown archival documents.