The People's Patriarch
Tikhon Bellavin and the Orthodox Church in North America and Revolutionary Russia
Book •
Scott M. Kenworthy's 'The People's Patriarch' is a critical biography of Tikhon Bellavin, elected patriarch during the upheavals of 1917, based on extensive archival research across multiple countries.
The book examines Tikhon's earlier career, notably his influential years as bishop in North America (1898–1907), where he promoted conciliar participation and pastoral reforms.
It then follows his tenure as patriarch during the Bolshevik seizure of power, his navigation of church-state conflict, arrests, the renovationist schism, and efforts to preserve the church amid famine and repression.
Kenworthy uses newly available primary sources—letters, encyclicals, and secret police materials—to shed light on Tikhon's strategies, theological vision, and personal character.
The work situates Tikhon within broader debates about conciliarism, national politics, and the survival of Orthodoxy under Soviet rule.
The book examines Tikhon's earlier career, notably his influential years as bishop in North America (1898–1907), where he promoted conciliar participation and pastoral reforms.
It then follows his tenure as patriarch during the Bolshevik seizure of power, his navigation of church-state conflict, arrests, the renovationist schism, and efforts to preserve the church amid famine and repression.
Kenworthy uses newly available primary sources—letters, encyclicals, and secret police materials—to shed light on Tikhon's strategies, theological vision, and personal character.
The work situates Tikhon within broader debates about conciliarism, national politics, and the survival of Orthodoxy under Soviet rule.
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Scott M. Kenworthy, "The People's Patriarch: Tikhon Bellavin and the Orthodox Church in North America and Revolutionary Russia" (Oxford UP, 2026)
