Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) will say goodbye to the parishioners of the Sretensky Monastery. This is a link. Why Kirill sent Tikhon Shevkunov to Pskov

The abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, Vladyka Tikhon Shevkunov, in 2017, in terms of mention in the media, almost bypassed Patriarch Kirill.

He is still called the confessor of Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that he denies his closeness to the president. He is stubbornly called a competitor of Patriarch Kirill and is credited with the role of one of the "customers" in the case of director Kirill Serebrennikov. How a student of the screenwriting department of VGIK has turned into a major in 35 years church leader, whose influence on the Kremlin is legendary, Zoya Svetova understood.

A black cassock, dark ash-gray hair smoothly parted in the middle, a neat beard - Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov of Yegorievsk meets me in his spacious office at the Sretensky Seminary. Upon learning of my arrival, he quickly ends the conversation, and his visitors hurriedly leave the office.

Not a confessor of Putin

“What should I call you: father Tikhon? Vladyka Tikhon? I ask.

“I’m not used to being called Vladyka, call me Father Tikhon, (ordained a bishop in 2015 - Z.S.) democratically he offers and invites to sit on a leather sofa. He sits down opposite me in an armchair, puts on coffee table one on the other two iPhones. He does not turn them off, he only reduces the sound, and during our conversation both iPhones literally explode with text messages. Father Tikhon asks to bring us herbal tea. I look around. Photographs of the Pskov-Pechersk Elder John Krestyankin with Father Tikhon himself, collected works of Dostoevsky. Above the desk is a huge, wall-to-wall bright picture- a rural landscape, reminiscent of the cover of Shevkunov's book - "Unholy Saints". We agreed on an interview for two months - at first Shevkunov refused me quite sharply. I texted that I would like to talk to him because I am writing an article about him: “I know that several articles about me are ordered now. Even a movie. I won't be able to give an interview now regardless of the topic. Go ahead," he wrote back.

I replied that he was mistaken, no one orders articles for me. He wrote: “God will forgive you. Do your thing." But when I asked him to talk about my mother, the religious writer Zoya Krakhmalnikova, who was sentenced in 1983 to a year in prison and five years in exile for publishing Hope collections of Christian reading in the West, Shevkunov nevertheless agreed to talk.
We talked about my mother and Soviet religious dissidents for about ten minutes, and then about an hour more about everything. As a result, an interview was published on Radio Liberty. Shevkunov urged me to send the text, because he carefully edits all his interviews.

When I received the endorsed text of the interview, it turned out that Vladyka threw out some very interesting moments that say a lot about his attitude towards important issues Russian life.

I asked him if he really showed President Putin Kirill Serebrennikov's film The Apprentice, which led to the emergence of a "theatrical case" and the arrest of the artistic director of the Gogol Center, Kirill Serebrennikov.

- Gossip, gossip. I did not watch this film by Kirill Serebrennikov, I did not watch anything that he did.

- Well, do you know that there is such a director?

- Yes of course I know.

How do you know if you haven't watched anything?

- When they told me that I banned his performance, I, of course, more seriously asked who he was. But before that, I heard about it. I watch movies very little now. It's good if I manage to watch one film a year.

“The Apprentice is a very tough anti-clerical film.

- I know, I know the plot of it, they told me about it, I read it somewhere in an article.

"But you never saw him?" And they didn't show Putin?

- Well, are you kidding me?

- I'm telling you what they say.

- They don't say much.

"Then explain why?"

Because they are liars and gossips.

- To hurt you?

- No, just to chat and create the appearance of being informed. I showed Putin? I have nothing to do! Bullshit! You say that I vaguely assessed Venediktov's statement (wediscussed from him statement Venediktova about volume, what supposedly Shevkunovsent on the spectacle "Nureyev" their monks, which spectacle notliked, And Shevkunov complained Medina — W. FROM. ) I respect Venediktov as a professional. Our positions differ radically from him, but he is, of course, a great professional, what can I say. And he created such an amazing, so to speak, hostile to me personally radio station.

Vladimir Medinsky (left) and Tikhon Shevkunov. Photo: Yury Martyanov / Kommersant

"Hostile because she's an atheist?"

— No, atheists, Lord! Today he is an atheist, tomorrow he is a believer.

Who are your enemies then?

— Enemies of my beliefs. They have one belief, I have another. I'm not saying that they should be eliminated, shot, banned. There are opponents, tough opponents. Here I call tough opponents enemies. Tough opponents can come to enmity. What is enmity? This is an irreconcilable attitude towards a particular position. Right? And every person is a creation of God for us. And we should in no way transfer to a person hostility to one or another of his ideas, a worldview that contradicts ours. We can criticize and denounce his ideas and disagree with them. I quite definitely said: “Alexey Alekseevich Venediktov, Chief Editor"Echo of Moscow" is lying. Dot. As the people say: "He lies like he bakes pancakes."

And did he answer you?

- The guys showed me, I asked to trace. He said: "I don't know how to bake pancakes."

After Shevkunov's editing, the entire fragment about Alexei Venediktov disappeared from the interview, but remained on my dictaphone recording.

Disappeared from the interview and another very interesting fragment:

- You do not think that today's FSB officers are the successors of the NKVD, the KGB?

- I don't think so. I am familiar with several FSB officers. I know a man who worked in intelligence. He is much older than me, I have infinite respect for him. This is Nikolai Sergeevich Leonov, lieutenant general, our intelligence officer. Of course, they did not participate in all these repressions. And even more so modern law enforcement agencies.

Were they being rude?

- Not. They came for no clear reason and were looking for traces of Khodorkovsky's money. They came to me as a journalist. And one of the employees, reading the protocol of the search at my mother's, said that he knew those investigators who had conducted a search at our house almost forty years ago.

Probably their teachers. Now to tell the current employee, as I know them and represent them, that you are the direct heirs and continuers of the work of Yagoda and Yezhov, my tongue will not turn.

Why not followers of Andropov, for example?

- As far as I know, many people respect Andropov. Many are strongly opposed. The young guys who came to military service protect the peace and security of the state. I don't like, for example, that some people have a portrait or a bust of Dzerzhinsky.

- And Stalin?

I have never seen Stalin. But I don’t like Dzerzhinsky, I can say it, but this is their own business. You know, you will learn from business.

- So you are not embarrassed that repressions against dissidents are taking place in Russia?

- I see, of course, that some cases are being initiated. Cases, including those under the article “violation of public order”. According to the articles of the Criminal Code, but people say that in fact it is political persecution. These things need to be sorted out, I don't know. If there really was some kind of unsanctioned demonstration under political slogans, yes. Well, the guys were detained and released. As far as I understand, this is a normal practice all over the world. If someone hit a policeman or threw a stone at him, this is an article of the Criminal Code. You can spare this person if he falls under the amnesty and so on. This is where the law comes into play. I can sympathize with him, but at the same time say: “Listen, you are leaving,“ you must go to the square, ”remember? Come out, it's a duty of your conscience, but don't throw stones!"

Communication with Father Tikhon raised many questions in me: is it true that he did not see the film “The Apprentice” by Serebrennikov and is it true that he knows Vladimir Putin quite a bit? Does he really believe that the enemies of the Church are ordering films and articles against him, wanting to weaken the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on society?

Student "Whispers"

The future bishop and abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, in the world of Gosha Shevkunov, after graduating from school in 1977, entered the VGIK at the screenwriting department to Evgeny Grigoriev (authorscript films "Romance about lovers", "Three days Victor Chernyshev" — W. FROM.) and to Vera Tulyakova, the widow of the writer Nazim Hikmet. According to his fellow students, Gosha acted without any cronyism. His mother Elena Shevkunova, a well-known doctor, founder of the laboratory for the diagnosis and treatment of toxoplasmosis, dreamed that her son would go to medical school, but Gosha chose cinema.

Gosha Shevkunov (right) and Andrey Dmitriev, 1977. Photo: Dmitriev's personal archive

“He grew up without a father, read Dostoevsky, wrote well, I remember him as a frail boy with burning eyes,” recalls Shevkunov’s classmate, screenwriter Elena Lobachevskaya. - For Gosha, Evgeny Grigoriev was like a father. Paola Volkov lectured at VGIK (coursesuniversal stories arts Andmaterial culture — W. FROM.) , philosopher Merab Mamardashvili. Gosha borrowed Solzhenitsyn's books from me. And master Yevgeny Grigoriev told us in class that Solzhenitsyn was a great Russian writer, and Gosha listened to him attentively.”

Another fellow student of Shevkunov, the writer Andrey Dmitriev, was one of his close friends during his student years. Over time, their paths diverged: Dmitriev now lives in Kyiv and is not going to come to Moscow. Shevkunov called him during the events on the Maidan, asked what was happening there. Hasn't called since.

“He is my godfather. I was baptized even before he became a monk. This person is very dear to me, despite our cardinal difference in views. Gosha is one of the most talented people that I know. Either the great-grandson, or the grandson of the Socialist-Revolutionary, who was preparing an attempt on the sovereign emperor. His mother was an outstanding Soviet epidemiologist, but they lived in a small apartment in Chertanovo and, as Gosha said, he worked in some construction team, and one of the guys who worked with him persuaded him to enter VGIK. The guy failed, but Gosha passed. He was so naive, pure, like Candide. He told me quite sincerely in my first year in 1977: "Let's publish a magazine." I explained to him: "It's impossible." He did not understand:

- Why?

"They'll put me down," I said.

He didn't believe me.

Gosha came up with different stories. For example, I remember he wrote a script about Ilya Muromets, there was also some story about a man who sits in his apartment and manipulates other people, there was something about the Nightingale the Robber.

Dmitriev could not remember the plot of Shevkunov's thesis. One of the employees of VGIK said that it was called "Driver". This is a story about a man at a crossroads who does not know how to live. There is a scene with a dove in the script, when the hero twists his neck, catching him on the windowsill. It was not possible to confirm that this was exactly the plot of Shevkunov's graduation script: they were not allowed to read the manuscript at VGIK.

Screenwriter Elena Rayskaya, who studied a year older than Shevkunov, remembers him well, although she did not communicate much with him: “He was smiling, soft, quiet. When I learned that he later devoted himself to the Church, I was not surprised. He was always like that - detached, enlightened, as they say, not of this world.

Olga Yavorskaya, another VGIK graduate, has somewhat different memories of Father Tikhon: “He came to our hostel, and we called him Gosha Sheptunov. I think it's a no-brainer."

However, Andrei Dmitriev does not believe that he could have been recruited at the institute: “I don’t know this, he was the Komsomol organizer of the course, we collected contributions together, and then drank them together. I have never heard anyone call him "Whisperer", maybe this myth developed later.

Gosha Shevkunov was fond of the Baptists and went to services with Dmitriev. And then Dmitriev, who lived in Pskov as a child, told a friend about the Pskov-Caves Monastery, and in his fourth year Shevkunov went there in search of God.

Pskov-Pechersk Lavra. Newsreel TASS

Novice Gosh Shevkunov

“Then there was the only Moscow-Tartu train, it stopped in Pechory, one night Gosha got off the train and knocked on the gates of the monastery. They let him in, and so he became a novice,” recalls Dmitriev.

In the book Unholy Saints, Shevkunov writes a lot about the Pskov-Caves Monastery, about the monks, about his life in the monastery. Dmitriev says there is a story that is not written in the book: “He lived in a monastery and wrote his graduation script. The governor was Gabriel, a tough man and, apparently, Gosha resisted this totalitarian monastic system. He had chronic pneumonia since childhood, he then weighed 49 kilograms. And Gabriel sent him to a punishment cell, where he had to sleep on a stone bench, and one day his mother came to the monastery. She was generally against his monastic vows, and when she saw how badly he was in, she got scared. She turned to his teacher Vera Tulyakova, begging her to get her son out of the monastery. Tulyakova called Vladyka Pitirim, who then headed the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate, and asked to take Gosha Shevkunov to Moscow: he is a professional filmmaker and can come in handy. The date of the millennium of the baptism of Russia was approaching, and Gosha could make films. Once in the publishing department of Vladyka Pitirim, he quickly entered a very serious circle, and in Pechory he had already been only on short visits.

Archimandrite Zinon, one of the most respected masters of Russian icon painting (in 1995 year behind contribution in ecclesiastical art got State Prize RF— W. FROM.) in the mid-80s he lived in the same Pskov-Caves monastery. He tells a completely different version of Shevkunov’s position in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate: “He worked for a long time in the monastery at the cowshed, he didn’t like it, and, obviously, his patience was already running out. He told me that once the governor asked him to give a tour of the monastery to some KGB officer and his wife (according to another monk, to whom Shevkunov told the same story, he did not tour the KGB officer, but some prominent party member and his wife). So, the wife of this officer asked what education he had. When I heard that he graduated from VGIK, I was horrified that a person with such an education was sitting in this hole. She asked her husband to arrange a nice novice to Vladyka Pitirim. So Gosha ended up in Moscow. He said that his mother was an unbeliever and did not agree that he went to the monastery. She allowed her son to take the tonsure, but only in Moscow.” Many years later, Shevkunov's friend Zurab Chavchavadze said in an interview that Elena Anatolyevna Shevkunova was baptized at the end of her life and took monastic vows.

Another monk who lived in the Pskov-Caves Monastery in those same years recalls that Gosha already boasted of his KGB connections.

Father Zinon does not rule out that Shevkunov could have been “recruited” at VGIK: “I think this is possible. Once he came running to my studio very excited: "A KGB major came with me, and he wants to see how you paint icons, can you accept him?" I told him: “You know how I feel about this audience. How could you, without warning me in advance, promise a person that I will accept him? I won't talk to him." He snorted: "You pushed a man away from the Church." And since then he stopped all communication with me.

Sergei Pugachev (second from left), Sergei Fursenko, Yuri Kovalchuk, Vladimir Yakovlev, Vladimir Putin and Tikhon Shevkunov (left to right), 2000s Photo: personal archive of Sergei Pugachev

"An eavesdropper of Gosh Whisperers"

Georgy Shevkunov remained a novice for almost ten years and did not take monastic vows. Already being the rector of the Sretensky Monastery, he told his parishioners that he decided to become a monk, almost running away from the crown, leaving his bride, who was considered one of the most beautiful girls in Moscow. One of his friends says that the future archimandrite had an affair with a famous actress, but he preferred a monastic career: as if one of the elders predicted a patriarchal chair for him in the future.

Be that as it may, but, once in Moscow, a graduate of VGIK and a novice began to make a successful church career.

“He always liked secular intrigues,” recalls Yevgeny Komarov, a journalist who worked in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate in the late 1980s. - Gosha did not really work in any particular division of the publishing house, he directly communicated with Pitirim, was his "oprichnik", as he himself said. Accompanied him at bohemian parties, communicated with visiting Western bishops. It was already impossible for him to drink then: he got drunk quickly. It felt admiration for those in power. We jokingly called him not “the novice of Gosh Shevkunov”, but “the eavesdropper of Gosh Whisperers”.

Another former employee The publishing department of the MP, on condition of anonymity, says that in the 90s KGB officers began to drop in on them, Shevkunov willingly communicated with them. He said that we need to cooperate, because only the special services can protect the country from Satanism and Islamism, that the KGB is the force that can keep the state from disintegration.

In 1990, he published a program article “Church and State” in the newspaper “Soviet Russia”, in which he stated: “ Democratic state will inevitably seek to weaken the most powerful Church in the country by bringing into play the ancient principle of "divide and rule."

In August 1991 he was ordained a hieromonk.

“Shevkunov had a difficult transition from partying to a church-bureaucratic position. He was in charge of cinema under Vladyka Pitirim, then he served as a hierodeacon at the Donskoy Monastery, everything went smoothly, and then he realized that he needed to change his status,” says Sergey Chapnin, a journalist and former executive editor of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The beginning of the 1990s was the time when the Russian Orthodox Church returned churches taken away in Soviet times. In 1990, Father Georgy Kochetkov was appointed rector of the Vladimir Church of the Sretensky Monastery. The headman of the parish, Alexander Kopirovsky, says that at that time the community of Father George numbered about a thousand parishioners, there was constant catechesis, they tried to equip the temple. But in November 1993, Patriarch Alexy decided to transfer the monastery to Hieromonk Tikhon Shevkunov, who was going to create a courtyard there for the Pskov-Caves Monastery.

“Apparently, there was also a political motive here,” says Kopirovsky. “The Sretensky Monastery is located on the Lubyanka, and, probably, those who worked nearby did not like the neighborhood with our community at all: we were engaged in catechesis, and foreigners came to us.”

The Kochetkovites served in Russian, and in the Russian Orthodox Church they were called Novoobnovlentsy. The parishioners of Father George themselves considered the eviction from the Sretensky Monastery a “raider seizure”, the patriarch’s decree appeared only after the Cossacks came to the temple to expel the Kochetkovites, who actively supported Father Tikhon Shevkunov.

“When Shevkunov drove Kochetkov out of the Sretensky Monastery, he realized that he needed a systematic media resource. So Alexander Krutov appeared in his orbit with the Russia House, - says Sergey Chapnin. - He realized that he needed professional analytics, Nikolai Leonov appeared. And through Leonov (Nikolai Leonov - head of the analytical unit of the KGB of the USSR - Z. S.) he entered the KGB circle.

Former senator and banker Sergei Pugachev says he was the one who introduced Father Tikhon to future President Vladimir Putin in 1996. Then Putin held the position of deputy manager of the presidential administration. Once Pugachev brought Putin to serve in the Sretensky Monastery. After that, they began to communicate.

Sergei Pugachev and Lyudmila Putina during a pilgrimage to the Pskov-Caves Monastery, mid-2000s. Photo: personal archive of Sergei Pugachev

Spiritual Advisor to the President

“I have known Tikhon since the 90s. We were very friendly,” recalls the ex-senator. He is a real adventurer. In the 90s, he was a terrible monarchist, was friends with the now deceased sculptor Slava Klykov, monarchist Zurab Chavchavadze, Krutov, editor-in-chief of Russia House. At the same time, he is very Soviet: he loves Soviet songs, sobs to the marches of Slavyanka. Forces the choir of the Sretensky Monastery to perform Soviet songs. He has a vinaigrette in his head: everything is mixed up there. He has, in my opinion, terrible trait for a priest: veneration. For example, Nikita Mikhalkov is his idol. When he sees him, he is speechless."

At the end of 1999, in the “Kanon” program, Shevkunov told the story of how Putin’s dacha near St. Petersburg burned to the ground, and the only thing that survived was a pectoral cross. They began to talk and write about the fact that Father Tikhon is Putin's confessor. Today he says that this is not so, and he "has the good fortune to know the President quite a bit." And in the early 2000s, the status of Shevkunov's "confessor of the president" was quite satisfactory. In August 2000, Sergei Pugachev, together with Shevkunov, took Putin to the elder John Krestyankin in the Pskov-Caves Monastery. And in 2003, it was he, and not Patriarch Alexei, who accompanied the president on a trip to the United States. And there Putin conveyed to the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia an invitation from the patriarch to visit Russia. This was the beginning of the unification of the two Orthodox Churches separated after 1917, which long years considered hostile to each other.

“He gave Putin a very powerful, literally“Imperial experience—thanks to Shevkunov, Putin played a major role in uniting the Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate,” says Sergei Chapnin. “I have no doubt that Putin is grateful to Shevkunov for getting the chance to go down in history as a unifier of the Churches. Putin won over the anti-Sovietists (the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia-Z.S.), revived the Church, became president not only of Russia, but also of the Russians in the Diaspora - this is a very serious intangible capital that Putin could not get without Shevkunov. I think that the president appreciates this and is grateful to Shevkunov. And Shevkunov carefully uses this.”

Now Shevkunov heads the commission to investigate the murder royal family and is responsible for ensuring that the Investigative Committee recognizes the Yekaterinburg remains as authentic, which should be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg in the summer of 2018.

Sergei Pugachev says that Boris Yeltsin opened a house church in the Kremlin next to Stalin's former office. According to the ex-senator, once in this 15-meter room, Father Tikhon Shevkunov gave communion to Vladimir Putin. “I was against it,” Pugachev recalls. “Putin was late for the service, and the confession lasted half a second.”

It was Shevkunov who oversaw the construction of the temple at Putin's residence Novo-Ogaryovo in the village of Usovo. This was confirmed by deacon Andrei Kuraev, who once came there with Shevkunov.

Among the spiritual children of Shevkunov are former Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, head of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, KGB General Nikolai Leonov, TV presenter Andrei Malakhov, State Duma deputy and editor-in-chief of the Kultura newspaper Elena Yampolskaya, who She was also the editor of Shevkunov's book "Unholy Saints". Yampolskaya became famous for her recklessly said maxim: “Russia can be held over the abyss by two forces. The first is called God. The second is Stalin.

Tikhon Shevkunov and Vladimir Putin. Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS

“His target is the Orthodox Taliban”

Lina Starostina first came to Father Tikhon with her son more than 20 years ago, back in the Donskoy Monastery. Then she followed him to Sretensky. “He had an incredible power of prayer,” Lina recalls. - A queue lined up for him in the Donskoy Monastery for confession. He is very humane, always enters into your circumstances, always communicates in a friendly way, without rudeness. He is not a hoarder, he is calm about comfort, but he has bad taste. Attributes for worship can cost a lot of money. He willingly helps those in need.

I remember how Father Tikhon said at one of his sermons that the Lord had finally given Russia a believing president, and now it was possible to build an Orthodox state. I understand now that his goal is the Orthodox Taliban, the Orthodox empire. He is a man of ideas. His main idea: if you do not cooperate with the authorities, then the Antichrist will come, who will destroy the Church. If Father Tikhon was asked who to vote for, he always answered: you know who. His sermons were sermons of love for one's neighbor and for enemies - just as it should be according to the Gospel. At the same time, he called the enemies of Catholics and those who support gays.”

Lina Starostina left the parish of the Sretensky Monastery in 2014, when one of the parishioners said that Father Tikhon supported the annexation of Crimea and the entry of troops into Ukraine, while another priest did not bless her to go to a rally against the war. A month ago, when Shevkunov announced that the Investigative Committee should check the version of the ritual murder of the royal family, Lina wrote him an open letter, which was published on the website « Achilles":

"I that the most jewish, which more 20 years was nearby, in monasticparish. Now— then You big And influential face, not only in MP, takeabove, but then, quarter century back… to me entrusted first Veil (sew — W. FROM.) And altarpiece vestments, not It was yet workshops, And I crawled Houses on theknees, afraid step on on the sacred the cloth, when sewed her. AND you servedliturgy on the this throne, not It was seizures disgust?

AND Veil Easter, first Easter. When you opened US Royal gate, how entrance in Paradise, You already then disdained topics, to what touched my arms? Icould to be from these, No? Not felt? instructed to me restorestole old man John Krestyankina, you every year put on her frontGreat fasting, went out on the Chin forgiveness, she not strangled you? You Sosincerely asked forgiveness from myself And all brethren monastery, but all— stillsuspected?

Why you lied to me, when I asked you 20 years back:

— Father, write And they say, what Jews kill Christian babies. ButI, my close And familiar, this unthinkable!

You said then — take it easy, No, certainly.

You taught US: » Our wrestling not against flesh And blood, but against spirits maliceheavenly».

Is not you repeated US, what » our fatherland — Kingdom God's» ?

» check his a heart, main criterion — love to enemies. Bye you readyto pay evil behind evil, you not you know Christ» .

How you could quit grave accusation mine blood brothers And sisters, after Togo, how thousands, dozens thousand buried in Babi Yaru, there And mygreat-grandfathers? After Togo, how many from Jews baptized, become priestscontrary to everyone And everything. After killings father Alexandra Me? How once youprayed behind me And mine family, but you overcame doubts? You knew about myancestors And were silent?

If all these years suspicions poisoned your monastic feat, sorry.

When— then you spoke: Church should to be persecuted, to be cleansed Andto be faithful, but from ami built tombs prophets, together from them notrepentant killers.

Time are changing, And from favorites « elite" you you can become persecuted Anddespised.

If what, Come under my shelter, at US you you will in security, welet's divide piece, even if is he will last".

At the birthday party ex-wife Sergei Pugachev Galina. Tikhon Shevkunov (far left) and Nikolai Patrushev (second from right). Photo: personal archive of Sergei Pugachev

Church businessman

Sergei Pugachev financed Shevkunov's projects for many years: he gave money for a publishing house, for the Resurrection collective farm in the Ryazan region, and for the skete in which the monks of the Sretensky Monastery live. After the film “Confessor” by the Dozhd TV channel was shown at Artdocfest, deacon Andrey Kuraev shared his knowledge about this skete, to which ordinary people are barred: “This skete is a closed organization where no one is allowed in except for VIP guests.” Father Andrei confirmed that a helipad was specially built in the skete so that VIPs “could come and communicate with the monks.”

Receipt from the store "Sretenie"

At the Sretensky Monastery there is a large bookstore and a cafe "Unholy Saints". According to the register of individual entrepreneurs, income from trade in the store goes to the account of an individual entrepreneur, monk Nikodim (in the world, Bekenev Nikolai Georgievich), who has the right to trade in retail jewelry, wholesale ceramics and glassware, engage in restaurants and dozens of other types of economic activity). The big question is: why was it necessary to open an IP to a monk who, by definition, takes a vow of poverty? Why not entrust the management of economic activity to a layman?

However, the monk Nicodemus has long been a confidant of Father Tikhon. He is a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, where Shevkunov is the chairman. It was on his instructions and blessing that Nikodim acted as a witness for the prosecution at the trial of the curators of the Forbidden Art 2006 exhibition, Yuri Samodurov and Viktor Erofeev, in 2010.

According to the SPARK database, Georgy Shevkunov himself owns 14.29% of the shares of the Voskresenie collective farm. In 2015, the company's profit amounted to about 7 million rubles.

Shevkunov also owns a stake in the Russian Culture Fund, which in turn owns the Russian House publishing house. According to SPARK, the Fund's net loss is 104 thousand rubles. Father Tikhon also owns a share in the Return Fund, where the Minister of Culture Medinsky and his deputy Aristarkhov previously had their shares.

No other information about Shevkunov's shares or property was found in open sources.

Receipt from the store "Sretenie", issued by IE Bekenev N.G. (Hieromonk Nikodim Bekenev, resident of the Sretensky Monastery)

Effective manager

IN last years two large projects were occupied by Father Tikhon Shevkunov - the construction of the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the Sretensky Monastery and the exhibition "My History" in different regions of Russia.

The temple was solemnly consecrated on May 25, 2017. It was built for three years, and all this time fierce disputes did not subside around the construction. Many architects were surprised that the temple turned out to be so huge, and for its construction several historical buildings had to be demolished, in addition, the design competition was won by an unknown designer Dmitry Smirnov, who does not have an architectural education.

“When the project for a gigantic temple on the territory of the Sretensky Monastery came to our methodological department, I strongly opposed it,” says Andrei Batalov, deputy general director of the Moscow Kremlin museums, architectural historian. “I believed that a church in the name of the new martyrs should be extremely modest and contain allusions to the catacombs where priests and hierarchs served in the name of persecution.”

Batalov's opinion changed after Shevkunov invited him to Sretensky Monastery. Batalov saw that the parishioners did not fit into the old small church and were standing on the street. He agreed with Fr. Tikhon that the temple should "mark the feat of the new martyrs and become a sign that it is impossible to destroy Christianity in our country." The architect Ilya Utkin, who is known for his temple buildings, also participated in this competition, but his project was rejected. He says that when Shevkunov presented the competitive projects to Patriarch Kirill, he "pointed" brought him to the layout of Dmitry Smirnov, who was later declared the winner.

“From an architectural point of view, this project presented an absolutely impossible picture. There was a feeling that such a fabulous tower was standing in an open field, where there was a blue sky and golden domes. Unprofessional work done by absolute amateurs,” architect Utkin evaluates the winner.

With Yuri Kuper, who since the 70s lived between Paris and Moscow, Father Tikhon met in Voronezh, where he came together with the Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev. Cooper designed the new building of the Voronezh Drama Theatre. “Avdeev recommended me to Shevkunov, and he invited me to the temple construction project,” says Cooper. — I made only the outer part of the temple. Dmitry Smirnov was my assistant. He is not an architect, but a computer scientist. I refused to do the interior of the temple. What Tikhon proposed to do inside the temple turned out to be very tasteless, a kind of space for the nouveau riche, there is nothing religious there. All the walls are painted with terrible frescoes.

Yuri Kuper says that his friendly relations with Shevkunov cracked, and Dmitry Smirnov, after the construction of the temple, never mentioned his last name in any of the interviews and did not say that he participated in this project: “Dmitry has no education, he is a computer scientist who has worked with me for many years. Tikhon lured him to him, and now he is doing all the projects with him.

I asked Yuri Kuper if Shevkunov was an anti-Semite, because he is sometimes referred to as a nationalist and a Black Hundred. “No, there was nothing like that. He offered to become my godfather,” said the artist.

Shevkunov came up with the exhibition "Russia - My History" and traveled with them all over Russia for the whole of 2017. These projects will continue next year. The initiative group for the nomination of Vladimir Putin for the presidency, as you know, gathered at this particular exhibition at VDNKh in Moscow.

The Ministry of Education and Science suggested that university rectors use these expositions to organize extracurricular activities for students and to retrain history teachers. This initiative outraged the members of the Free Historical Society. They addressed the Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva with an open letter, demanding a public professional examination of these exhibitions.

And the Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiatives “Transparency International – R” became interested in financing exhibitions: “Since 2013, almost 150 million rubles have been allocated for the creation of exhibition content through the system of presidential grants alone, 50 million rubles through subsidies from the Ministry of Culture, technical support for exhibitions has cost 160 million, and 1.5 billion was spent on the construction of the pavilion at VDNKh, where the exhibition is now permanently located (this without accounting regional costs, but, for example, construction one exhibition complex in Saint— Petersburg cost in 1.3 billion rubles — W. FROM. ). In addition, the exhibitions are actively financed by Russian business,” says Anastasia Ivolga, expert of the Center. - The received budget funding is absolutely not competitive, that is, in fact, in 2013, for a specific idea of ​​a specific person, a specific network of organizations was created, which was guaranteed financial support for several years to come. It is rather difficult to imagine another similar structure that could so easily secure active support for itself both in Moscow and in the regions, and in four years freely grow into a federal-scale project.”

Tikhon Shevkunov at the presentation of the book Unholy Saints at the 24th Moscow International Book Fair at the All-Russian Exhibition Center. Photo: Maxim Shemetov / TASS

Man in a shell

Since 2000, when, at the suggestion of Shevkunov himself, one of the journalists stated that Father Tikhon was Putin’s confessor, as soon as he was not called “the Lubyanka archimandrite”, “the confessor of His Majesty”, “the confessor from Lubyanka”. True, he himself was in no hurry to refute his closeness to the head of state, receiving certain dividends from the status of "confessor". His book "Unholy Saints" has already gone through 14 editions and is published in millions of copies, translated into several languages. In an interview with RBC, Shevkunov said that he earned about 370 million rubles from the sale of books and invested them in the construction of the temple. Filmed by him in 2008 " Byzantine Lesson"secured him the image of an anti-Western and obscurantist. Sergei Pugachev claims that now Shevkunov is afraid of his own shadow:

“A few years ago, he came to me in London and begged me: “Let's go to the forest, otherwise Western services are listening to me everywhere.” He was used to listening to the FSB. But his anti-Western idea came out on new round. He repeated: "Westerners want to destroy our country." Some kind of stream of consciousness. In general, he looks like Igor Sechin. Only in a cassock. Ministers sit in his waiting room for hours. He bathes in it and is very afraid of losing it. If he doesn’t like something or someone, he can become very tough.”

Journalist and publisher Sergei Chapnin calls Tikhon Shevkunov the main interpreter of Russian history for the authorities. “He tells the president what a great country he rules. Starting with a film about Byzantium, he creates a new "author's" mythology, using a modern political language that is quite understandable to those who sit in the Kremlin, Chapnin argues. - In the film "The Byzantine Lesson" he explained to dummies the history of the fall of Byzantium and the insidious role of the West. And soon he decided that by doing so he had found the key to the history of Russia. Unlike many bishops, he is interested in all this. Sometimes he says reasonable things, but when you listen to how the accents are placed, it becomes scary - the desire to search for enemies of Bishop Tikhon does not leave.

Nikolai Mitrokhin, a historian and researcher of the Russian Orthodox Church, explains why Shevkunov was not ordained a bishop for so long: “He is a bishop for relations with the FSB, I think he was, as it were, the representative of the FSB in the Church. And it was precisely for this reason that he was not made a bishop, although he deserved it according to formal indicators already 15 years ago. And it's hard to do now. The church people do not like the FSB people very much, they especially do not promote such ambitious characters.

His entire biography in the latest period points to his clear connections with the FSB. He has some pretty serious money, good connections with the FSB. The street where the Sretensky Monastery is located, this street, by agreement with the FSB, is his street. He destroyed the French school, which stood on the territory of the monastery, erected his giant temple. It is clear that he did not do this with the income from the publishing house. He got some money."

“The FSB people like to have their own priest, who, moreover, sticks out in the same place for 25 years,” says Mitrokhin. - They feed him as best they can, provide him with assistance and services. It ideologically strongly coincides with them, with their ideological vision of the world and with everything else. I reviewed the film "The Byzantine Lesson". This is an ideal presentation of textbooks, according to which they study at the Academy of the FSB, only in historical analogy: a conspiracy, an implacable enemy, pressure on the authorities and the state through internal groups. The logic of the textbook of the KGB Institute. I read what they wrote about Soviet history.”

The editor-in-chief of the Credo.ru portal, Alexander Soldatov, believes that Patriarch Kirill did not want to ordain Shevkunov as a bishop because of jealousy: the presidential administration pushed through his consecration, ”he is sure.

“According to the charter of the Moscow Patriarchy, a candidate for patriarch must have experience in managing dioceses. Shevkunov has no such experience, and he has not yet been given an episcopal chair. But, if necessary, the charter will be rewritten, ”continues Soldatov.

A friend of Shevkunov's youth, the writer Andrei Dmitriev divides his friends and acquaintances into "people of the shell" and "people of the ridge."

“It doesn’t mean that the man of the spine is strong, the spine can be weak,” Dmitriev explains his theory. - It does not mean that the shell protects, the shell can be frail. Mayakovsky was a man of shell, because he could not live on his own. This is either the party, or the Brik family, or someone else.

Shevkunov is one of the brightest people of the era, he cannot live without a shell, he was always looking for this shell. But the shell is influential and spiritual.”

“Shevkunov symbolizes the conservative wing in the Russian Orthodox Church,” says one of the priests on condition of anonymity. He is pragmatic and romantic at the same time. His main idea is that Russia is an Orthodox country, and the churched Chekists are the right Chekists. He really loves the Church more than Christ, and it is dangerous if ideology and faith at some point come together, and faith is reduced to ideology.”

And yet, how does friendship with the Chekists and the glorification of the New Martyrs fit in one head?

Father Iosif Kiperman, who met with the novice Gosha Shevkunov at the Pskov-Caves Monastery in the late 1980s, offers his explanation: “From the very beginning, the Chekists planned to build a Soviet church so that the parishioners would be just Soviet people. They wanted to leave appearance church, but change everything inside. Tikhon is one of those Soviet people. The latest idea of ​​the devil: to mix everything so that both Ivan the Terrible and the holy Metropolitan Philip are together. There were both new martyrs and their tormentors, who suddenly turned out to be good, because political Orthodoxy sees both Ivan the Terrible and Rasputin as saints, and Stalin as a faithful child of the Church. This mixing is the devil's last know-how."

A few words about the meeting of the Synodal Theological Commission (SBC) on February 19-20, 2001 and the events that unfolded around it, for we are not the only living witnesses of all this. We think that it will be important and useful for everyone to remember some details of this action.

Paradoxical as it may seem, preparations for this meeting were very similar to preparations for the defeat of the anti-globalization movement in Russia, in any case, an attempt to knock out the spiritual foundation from under it once and for all, to “squeeze” it out of the boundaries of the Church. Hysterical company - "Split!", "Split!" covered many ecclesiastical and secular media by order... In the publications, all the classic techniques of modern PR technologies were visible to the naked eye: "And then and now people went into the catacombs ... because of the TIN.

"Newsmakers" have long fueled the heat of passion around the topic of "split" - the last weapon in the hands of church supporters of globalization and digital coding of the population. The fact is that they no longer have any reasonable and not yet refuted arguments “in defense of the TIN”. It was clear to all sane people that the Church has no reason to “bless” the universal “INN-ezation”, and even more so to oppress her faithful children who do not accept digital nicknames-antonyms. Nevertheless, a whole army of "theologians" tried diligently to prove the "harmlessness" of the adoption of the TIN, as well as branding "schismatics", "outcasts" and "sectarians" those who dared to look at this problem not from the point of view of their nomenclature "theology", but was guided Holy Scripture, the creations of the Holy Fathers, the dictates of his Christian conscience and his - still alive - Orthodox feeling of what is happening.

Much can be said about how the frightening danger of a “split” was inflated, how labels were hung on opponents who could not be defeated in an honest dispute. It was in such, to put it mildly, non-constructive atmosphere that preparations for the SBK plenum took place ...

And shortly before the start of the meetings, an unprecedented action took place to influence the opinion of both the members of the Commission and the general public, which was carried out with the help of a professional director. Metropolitan Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), stocking up on letters signed by the Patriarch, drawn up accordingly (it is very likely that the archimandrite himself prepared them), made a lightning-fast "voyage to the elders." Moreover, he persistently, at any cost, tried to achieve confirmation of pre-prepared assessments and conclusions that “TIN is not terrible”, “there are no sixes there”, “split is terrible” and the like. At the same time, Father Tikhon relied on the authority and indisputable opinion of the highest hierarchy. Here is just a small example of "questioning the revelation of the truth and the will of God" at Father Nikolai Guryanov. Radio listeners of "Radonezh" could hear it on the air on January 29, 2001, then in a somewhat "edited" form this dialogue was posted on the Internet:

Archimandrite Tikhon (about TIN): "This is the tax number that is given to every person now"(precisely in such a crafty wording: they don’t “force them to write an application for assigning a number, they don’t force them to accept it”, but this number is “given” as if by itself; however, the person is also “given a name”)

Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov: "Ah, is that how? .."

Archimandrite Tikhon: “About which His Holiness writes... Some say that this is the seal of the Antichrist... So the Holy One wrote to you... The Most Holy One says that this is not the seal of the Antichrist... If there were 666, then His Holiness wrote to you about this. He won't deceive you!?"

After such, as they say now, "collision", what kind of "revelation" can be expected from the elder?

The archimandrite arrived on the island of Talabsk to shoot a story about how Father Nikolai blesses the acceptance of the numbers. After several unsuccessful takes, during which the archimandrite read the “secret package” brought from Moscow to the elder, Father Nikolai, who was not devoid of a sense of humor, began to play the fool in front of the camera, and eventually covered it with his hand. At the same time, his cell-attendant, mother John, exclaimed loudly: “Father! You don’t bless taking numbers!”

After that, an audio recording of the “speech” of Archpriest Nikolai was played on the radio “Radonezh”, to which the inventive archimandrite commented: "Father Nikolai has no opinion on the TIN." But excuse me, thousands of people came to the island with this question, both before the visit of the archimandrite and after it. By the inexpressible mercy of God, many of our associates managed to communicate with this chosen one of God. Everyone knew that Father Nikolai does not bless the acceptance of numbers. Here's the story...

The next elder, whose opinion Archimandrite Tikhon wanted to convey to the people, was Father John (Krestyankin). The video in which Father John reads an appeal prepared in advance (naturally, “with the help” of the mentioned archimandrite) was repeatedly replicated, played on television and radio throughout Russia for maximum impact on the thoughts and feelings of believers, not to mention the fact that it was shown (as the main argument) on a wide screen at a meeting of the SBC.

It was evident throughout that Father John is absolutely clueless relating to spiritual, technical and social aspects people digital coding; not informed about the violence that secular authorities are doing against people; about those ecclesiastical bans that believers were subjected to for refusing to accept the number; about the incredible lies spread by the media disinformation; that digital identity is global.

On the other hand, Father John possessed clearly excessive information about non-existent problems: about the alleged split in the Church over the TIN; non-recognition by someone of the grace of the Church; about the departure of entire communities "into forests, swamps and ravines."

Sadly, we also heard from him that it is possible to save oneself in a concentration camp, but we just did not understand: why should we build this concentration camp with our own hands? ..

Finally, Archimandrite Tikhon wanted to film Father Kirill (Pavlov), but the confessor revered by all of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra and the Patriarch himself from filming shrewdly refused. After that, he was suspended from participation in the work of the SBC. However, after the end of the plenum, he was long and persistently persuaded to sign the Final Document, which stated that "the acceptance of numbers is not a matter of confession of faith or a sinful act" and "has no religious significance."

Father Kirill, despite enormous administrative pressure, refused to do so. Moreover, he courageously expressed his dissenting opinion in an interview with the editor of the Orthodox Internet portal “Russian Resurrection”: “Assigning numbers to people is a godless, sinful thing. Because when God created man, He gave him a name. Giving a name to a person is God's Will. All the millennia that have passed since that time, people used names. And now, instead of a name, a person is assigned a number. How and why this is done leaves no doubt about the sinfulness and the theomachic nature of this work. Therefore, it is not necessary to participate in this matter, but to the extent possible, resist it. From these words of the elder it absolutely unequivocally followed: if assigning a number to a person is a god-fighting, sinful matter, then accepting and using a number by a person is a no less god-fighting and sinful matter!

There is no doubt that the people of God believe in Father Kirill, and not the ideologists of globalism “from theology”, who serve not God, but time and justify the “mystery of lawlessness”.

Now is the time to bring the text of the letter brought by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) on behalf of the Patriarch to the Pskov-Caves Monastery to Archimandrite John (Krestyankin). This letter, probably due to some oversight, was published in Pskov-Pechersky list and became the property of a wide audience. This was the reason for the video speech of Father John, presented to the members of the SBC and widely broadcast on radio and television.

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW
AND ALL RUSSIA ALEXY

His Reverend Archimandrite John,
Pskov-Pechersk Dormition Convent

Your Reverence, dear Father Archimandrite John!
I heartily congratulate you on the great Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord
and prayerfully wishing many mercies of God, bodily and spiritual strength.

I was forced to turn to you by a question that, as you know, is now worrying many, is the attitude to the TIN - the tax number entered by the state in order to streamline the collection of taxes, and subsequently to determine the amount of pension accrual.

Today, this issue is taking on extremely painful forms. Anti-church forces are attempting to split the Church, using rumors that the TIN allegedly contains the number 666. This is not true: the TIN is an ordinary number, is not an apocalyptic omen, and even more so is not the seal of the Antichrist. Meanwhile, at the instigation of the enemy, anti-church forces are whipping up a real panic associated with the acceptance or non-acceptance of the TIN. Your letter, published in many newspapers and read from the ambos of churches, largely pacified the situation, but people immediately appeared who claimed that this letter was forged. There are already cases of people leaving work and their homes, calls for disobedience to the hierarchy of the Church, calls for a schism and going almost to the forests. All this is reminiscent of the situation with the splits in the 27th century and the post-revolutionary events.

Dear Father Archimandrite! I ask you, for the comfort of the people of God, to express your opinion on all these issues. I ask you to record your words on a video camera in order to deprive the slanderers of a reason to say that your opinion is forged. This is very important, because because of irresponsible screamers and schismatics, the disease can go too far. I look forward to your support at this critical moment. In turn, We will do everything to pacify the division that has arisen, so that members of the Church who do not want to accept a tax number for one reason or another, are in no case forced to do so, and no negative consequences are caused to them as a result. In this we received assurances from the Minister for Taxes and Duties Russian Federation GI Bukaev, an Orthodox person who supports Us.

I ask for your holy prayers, which I always rely on.

With love in the Lord, Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

I must say that the video speech of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) made an impression on many, including members of the SBC. We recall how the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Archimandrite Pankraty (now Bishop of Trinity), who had previously strongly opposed the theomachic global projects, said: “Brothers! But Father John is a confessor. He went through prisons and camps. How can we not trust him?

We heard similar words from other members of the Commission, including the bishops. At the same time, during the preparation of the Final Document, the report of the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary, Professor dogmatic theology, His Grace Constantine, Bishop of Tikhvin and a number of others like him. Vladyka Konstantin was simply not given the floor. "There wasn't enough time."

A very convenient technique: if it is impossible to refute an opponent in an honest way, then you can pretend that his arguments did not exist at all. On this occasion, we had a serious conversation with Bishop Konstantin. Vladyka was sincerely worried, for his report would not have left a stone unturned from the arguments of Archimandrite John. The Commission also ignored the well-founded scientific and technical conclusions of reputable scientists with degrees of candidates and doctors of sciences and the titles of academicians, who completely refuted the conclusions of the Commission.

The opinion of the Commission was formed by such "theologians" and "famous experts" in the field of computer technology as the aforementioned Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) and Deacon Andrei Kuraev, which led to very deplorable results. Their only judge is God!

It can only be unequivocally stated that if the Church had said then a firm “NO” to digital identification of a person, then today there would be no problems associated with the introduction of electronic “passports” and other means of electronic control and management, including those inseparable from the human body ; there would be no problems associated with the discrimination of hundreds of thousands of Orthodox citizens who, due to religious beliefs, do not want to enter the “new identification system”. It is very sad that to this day many clergymen and officials use the words of Father John (Krestyankin), which have long been refuted by life itself.

“One must know, beloved, that in every deed one must seek truth and falsehood, and the goal of the one who acts, whether it is good or bad,”- our reverend father John of Damascus teaches us.

P.S. Now the newly appointed bishop (Shevkunov) is trying to make his "modest" contribution to the organization of an early meeting of the Patriarch with the Pope of Rome and the "unification of the Churches."

"Axios!" (from the headlines in the patriotic media about his consecration).

Anaxios!!! (thrice)

the entire editorial board of the "Orthodox Apologist" fully subscribes to the opinion of the editorial board "For the right to live without TIN and microchips" and also expresses its word regarding the consecration of Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, who led so many persons from the hierarchy and ordinary believers into error, pushed Archimandrite to a terrible performance. John (Krestyankina), Anaxios! Anaxios! Anaxios!

Naming Archimandrite Tikhon (Zaitsev) Bishop of Podolsky, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese

The Franciscan William of Baskerville, the outwardly unremarkable Father Brown, the shrewd nun Pelagia… The number of “priest-detectives in Christ” without too much fuss was replenished with one more, this time not at all fictional character.

Private detective Bishop Tikhon

“Tikhon, Bishop of Podolsky, vicar of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia” – so simply, without unnecessary deduction, the title of Father Tikhon (in the world – Alexander Zaitsev) is indicated on the website of the patriarchate. "Place of work: Nicholas the Wonderworker in Khamovniki temple (rector) and the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate (chairman)". That is, even officially, he is an outstanding person, not just holding a candle in front of the images, but holding the entire church economy. Chief Church Warden.

What else have we found out about Bishop Tikhon?

Born April 1967. At the age of 20 he entered the seminary. At 26 he became a monk. At 32 he became abbot. At 39 - archimandrite, head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem itself. He became the caretaker of the Moscow Patriarchate, bishop and vicar already in 2009, under the current Patriarch Kirill, and since then has been considered his closest ally in the Russian Orthodox Church. In any case, one of those.

After all, everyone is equal before God, but some are more equal before the Patriarch. After all, without Tikhon, Kirill is like without hands, or rather, without money. It is not for nothing that this particular priest (along with Metropolitan Hilarion) is tipped to be the Patriarch's successor: Tikhon has in his hands today the main financial levers of the entire church, which means real, and not just spiritual power.

– The financial and economic management has a lot of functions related to the internal life support of the Russian Orthodox Church. If we draw secular parallels, then, in fact, the FHU is the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economics rolled into one, - his Eminence Tikhon himself once admitted. – First of all, the FHU helps His Holiness the Patriarch and the Holy Synod to carry out the functions of managing the property of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2009, the new Patriarch Kirill decided to restore the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church, which had been liquidated by Parkhaev. At the head of the department, Cyril put a man from his team, the rector of the church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki Tikhon (in the world Alexander Zaitsev). Soon Tikhon was also appointed Bishop of Podolsk, Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Tikhon has known Patriarch Kirill since the early 2000s, when the future Patriarch oversaw the international relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. At that time, Tikhon was a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, then headed the non-profit organization Orthodox Television Fund, which owned CJSC Vital JSC. Among the "daughters" of JSC "Vital" was the company "TV-Pita", which, by order of the "First Channel", produces the weekly author's program of Patriarch Kirill "The Word of the Shepherd".

One of the co-owners of TV-Pit, according to SPARK, is a personnel intelligence officer Vasily Loginov, who is on the board of directors of the large chemical company PhosAgro. According to knowledgeable employees of PhosAgro, Loginov represents the interests of one of the shareholders on the board of directors of the holding - the rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko, who headed Vladimir Putin's campaign headquarters three times.

Also owned by the Orthodox Television Fund, JSC Vital owned a quarter of the BMW Russland company (the rest belonged to the Austrian division of BMW), through which the German concern's cars were delivered to Russia. The company was headed by Christian Kremer, who combined this position with the post of head of the Russian representative office of BMW. The German company has repeatedly supported the ROC. In 2012, BMW Rusland LLC was liquidated, and BMW began to deliver cars from Germany directly.

Another confirmation of the cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and BMW can be found in the obituary of the former general director of JSC Vital, a friend of Patriarch Kirill Igor Malakhov, published in the newspaper NG-Religion. “In 1995, Malakhov moved to Switzerland and worked for two years in one of the Swiss companies. In 1997 he returned to Russia and became CEO JSC Vital. The profit of Vital JSC in the project with BMW, which built a plant for assembling expensive cars in the Kaliningrad region, did not exceed $300,000 per month, and in total, Vital managed $20–25 million in assets,” writes the NG-Religion newspaper. ”, which has always been distinguished by loyalty to Patriarch Kirill.

Church financial vertical

Having headed the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Tikhon began to build a vertical of power. First, he subordinated to himself the Unified Service of the Customer of the Moscow Patriarchate Parkhaev, but could not find a common language with him. Tikhon tried to break Sofrino's monopoly on the production of church utensils by allowing the dioceses to open independent production facilities. One of the stages of the internal struggle between Parkhaev and Tikhon was the publication in 2012 of photographs from the celebration of the anniversary of Parkhaev in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

With the advent of Bishop Tikhon, the construction companies of Parkhaev’s friends, Malyshev and Meshalkin, stopped winning tenders for the restoration of churches, and Tikhon transferred financial flows from Sofrino Bank to Peresvet Bank, where Patriarch Kirill and Bishop Tikhon himself had previously been on the board of directors.

Then Meshalkin sold the main share in Ergobank to new partners, who brought other large clients to the bank. And the owner of the Sofrino bank, Dmitry Malyshev, instead of building, took up the development of a network of gas filling stations for motorists Sofrino-gaz in the Smolensk, Bryansk and Kaluga regions, there were plans for the Crimea. The source of financing for this project, probably, was to be the funds of depositors, and Sofrino Bank began to aggressively attract deposits from the population.

The gas business was not as profitable as the construction of temples. Back in the autumn of last year, messages from investors about problems with receiving money began to appear on the forums. The dioceses that held funds in the Sofrino bank, at the request of Bishop Tikhon, began to transfer accounts to the Peresvet bank.

Parkhaev's banking business got even worse when organizations close to Bishop Tikhon stopped servicing loans taken from Sofrino Bank. For example, last year, Sofrino Bank, through the courts, obtained the return of a loan from CJSC TRISS-stroy Peredelkino, which was building an Orthodox residential area next to the residence of the patriarch in Peredelkino. ZAO TRISS-stroy Peredelkino is owned by the family of Anatoly Dmitriev, one of the functionaries of the International Public Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Peoples and, according to Slon, close to the patriarch. Moreover, the board of trustees of the foundation is headed by Patriarch Kirill himself.

Consecration of Archimandrite Tikhon (Zaitsev) as Bishop of Podolsk

State monopolies choose

In April 2012, when a loud scandal broke out around the Patriarch's apartment, the financial and economic department of the Russian Orthodox Church quietly bought out 19.9% ​​of the shares of Peresvet Bank from the Moscow oil trader Vitaly Savvin, receiving almost a controlling stake - 49.99%. Another 15% of the bank is controlled by its top managers - Elena Kagdina and Pavel Panasenko. Other owners include the Moscow Expocentre (25%) and the founder of the bank, Viktor Litvyakov (9.53%).

Soon, the affairs of Peresvet went uphill sharply, not only dioceses, but also state-owned companies transferred their accounts there. With the election of Kirill as patriarch, the deposits of enterprises rapidly increased at the bank: from 8.7 billion rubles to 37.4 billion rubles (40th place in Russia). A small bank for storing free funds was chosen by many state monopolies: Transneft, Rosnano, the Housing and Utilities Reform Assistance Fund, JSC OGK-1 and several large subsidiaries of Gazprom. Bishop Tikhon, who, to top it all, also manages the construction program of "200 churches" within walking distance in the sleeping areas of Moscow, transferred all the financial flows of the program to the Peresvet bank as well.

Having achieved the centralization of the financial flows of the church, Bishop Tikhon began to build a vertical of power in the economic activities of the ROC. At the end of 2012, according to SPARK, he became a co-owner of Private Security Organization Cohort-7 LLC. And in May 2014, the abbots of the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church located in Central Russia received a letter from the Patriarchate stating that “during the installation, overhaul, maintenance security equipment, electrical work and physical security services at the facilities of the Russian Orthodox Church ... in order to reduce the cost of these types of work and services, it is recommended to involve the organization LLC “ChOO “Cohort-7””. In the future, it is planned to create branches of the company in all dioceses. Thus, the companies of friends of Alexy II are gradually replaced by the monopoly of hierarchs close to Patriarch Kirill.

Orthodox "Cohort"

The bishop has several awards, including the distinction "For strengthening cooperation with the Accounts Chamber", and several scientific works, including translations from Greek. But about the most intriguing work of Father Tikhon, a detective, in the patriarchy for some reason they prefer not to spread.

But the summer before last, Alexander Zaitsev (verified, the same one), according to the documents that we have at our disposal, became a co-founder of Private Security Organization Cohort-7 LLC. The main activity of the company in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities is listed as "Investigation and security."

Tikhon (Zaitsev) owns 60 percent of Cohort (in the authorized capital of the company, his contribution is 150 thousand rubles out of 250 thousand). The remaining 40% belongs to pensioner Nina Terentyeva (born in 1933). This Orthodox private security company was created in 1997, and initially it was also not far from the Russian Orthodox Church: its owners in the documents are Vladimir Simonov associated with the patriarchate and CJSC Simako, owned by the same Terentyeva (this company is engaged in wholesale trade in drinks and tobacco).

As for Terentyeva, her Simako, together with the Orthodox Television Fund, owns the consulting company Vital. The president of the co-founder is the same Zaitsev, also known as Bishop Tikhon. A few years ago, this "Vital" did not hover at all in the clouds, but even descended to sinful earth - through the BMW Russland company it was the official dealer of the German automaker in Russia. That is, the church imported into the country not only tobacco and alcohol, as is commonly believed, but also prestigious foreign cars. Another "daughter" of "Vital" - "TV Pete" - still brings to the audience of "Channel One" "The Word of the Shepherd" (the weekly sermon of the Patriarch).

But if the “Orthodox TV Fund” under the leadership of Father Tikhon is still a church structure, established by various institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, then “Cohort-7” is, according to all documents, a purely private company. For nothing that Alexey Leonov is in charge of it, as we found out, he comes from the private security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and now he is the head of the administrative secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate. But since the bishop wants to have a personal business - his own business. Why not?

And everything would be fine, but two months ago, the rectors of the churches of Central Russia received an official letter from the patriarchate (a copy is on the website of the deanery of the Bogoyavlensky district of Moscow) with a recommendation to “engage the organization LLC ChOO Kogorta-7 ... to reduce costs when performing installation work , overhaul, maintenance of security equipment, attestation of electrical networks, electrical installation work and physical security services at the facilities of the Russian Orthodox Church.

What does the overhaul have to do with it - it is not very clear: the private security company simply does not have the authority to carry out activities of this kind. The profile is not the same. And the information that the “Cohort” was created by the patriarchate, as indicated in the letter, does not really correspond to reality. We repeat once again: this company is private, and it turns out that the money of the ROC should, for the most part, go into the pocket of its supply manager.

On the other hand, what do you want? These are not Chesterton's writings. This is a reality in which, if investigations are carried out, then to search not so much for criminals as for cash. And if corruption has penetrated all social structures, then why should the church be an exception. Or should it still?

"23" May 2014

No. 189-ts

TO THE ALL-CHORIOUS FATHERS OF CHURCHES

OF THE CENTRAL VICARITY OF MOSCOW

With the blessing of His Eminence ARSENY, Metropolitan of Istra, First Vicar of His Holiness

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Administrator

By the Central Vicariate of Moscow, I bring to your attention the information contained in the letter of the Administrative Director of the Moscow Patriarchate No. 01/1294 dated March 19, 2014.

The Moscow Patriarchate established the organization LLC “ChOO “Cogorta-7” to reduce costs when performing installation, overhaul, maintenance of security equipment, certification of electrical networks,

electrical work and physical security services at the facilities of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In order to reduce the cost of these types of work and services, it is recommended to involve the organization LLC “ChOO “Cohort-7”.

The management of this project was entrusted to the assistant to the Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate and concurrently to the director of OOO ChOO Kohorta-7, Alexei Viktorovich Leonov (Chisty per., 5, room 31, tel. 8-923-171-53-17).

"The naming of Archimandrite Tikhon (Zaitsev) as Bishop of Podolsky, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese"

Priests in the Bank

The other day, the State Corporation "Deposit Insurance Agency" sent out regular "letters of happiness" to the next bankrupt depositors: "The Agency notifies you of the revocation of the banking license for Sofrino Bank from June 2, 2014." The owners of Sofrino were friends of the late Patriarch Alexy II, and now the financial flows of the Russian Orthodox Church have flowed to a bank close to the current hierarch Kirill, to Peresvet Bank, on the board of directors of which Bishop Tikhon, whom we know, sits.

With the election of Kirill Patriarch, the volume of Peresvet's deposits quadrupled - Transneft, Rosnano, Gazprom, Pulkovo Airport, the administration of St. and went bankrupt. Now the ROC has about 50% of the shares of Peresvet.

JOURNAL No. 64

LISTENED:

Petition of His Grace Bishop Tikhon of Podolsk, Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, with a request to release him from his post as chairman of the said department.

RESOLVED:

1. To release His Grace Bishop Tikhon of Podolsk from the post of Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate in accordance with the submitted petition.

2. To appoint His Grace Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk as chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, with the temporary retention of his position as head of the Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Institutions Abroad.

Before you read this essay, please watch this video:

It seems to be, as they say, “both laughter and tears” ... But, having laughed, those to whom I happened to show these interviews usually became noticeably sad. And it is true: if this is the case everywhere, there is nothing to laugh at: “The connection of times has broken,” no more, no less than a Shakespearean theme.

Every year we accept new students to the Sretensky Theological Seminary. More than half are yesterday's schoolchildren, the rest are young people with higher education. The level of their humanitarian training is simply appalling. Although many graduated from high school with excellent grades. I hear the same thing from rectors and teachers of secular higher educational institutions.

To rectify the situation, we have been teaching Russian literature for three years as a bachelor, which is called from scratch, and for four years - history. In fairness, it should be said that in each course there are one or two well-prepared students, but there are only a few of them. A Soviet average graduate from some 1975-1980s is a luminary compared to the excellent students of the Unified State Examination-2016.

The interviews you saw were conducted at our request by two well-known television companies, Red Square and Masterskaya, whose correspondents interviewed university students and young people with higher education. Many young people refused, saying that they were not ready to answer questions of a humanitarian nature. What was presented is by no means a selection of the worst answers: this was our condition, the fulfillment of which we were assured by the employees of the television companies.

When preparing this video for publication, we initially wanted to hide the faces of young people. But then we decided to leave everything as it is. First, the young people who answer our questions are surprisingly lively, likable, resourceful and smart (this is not irony). And secondly, in my opinion, they are not to blame for the fact that they are practically not even familiar with the literature, art and culture of Russia - the great heritage not only of our country, but of all mankind. But this property belongs primarily to these young people - by birthright, by the right of their native language. It is really not they who are to blame for the current situation, but those who did not pass on their legitimate spiritual heritage to them. These are none other than us - people of the middle and older generations. We are to blame.

Our parents and grandfathers, in the difficult, to put it mildly, conditions of the 20th century, were able to pass on to us a priceless treasure - the great Russian culture: literature and art, instill a taste and love for them. We, in turn, had to do the same for the next generations. But they failed to fulfill their duty.

There are many reasons for what happened - from the influence of the Internet, unprofessionalism and negligence of reform officials to the intrigues of liberals and the intrigues of the West. You can very convincingly explain why everything happened this way. But the essence of the matter will not change from this: our generation, quite obviously, has not fulfilled its duty in relation to those to whom we will transfer Russia, these guys from the screen.

Having dealt with our first traditional and sacramental question "Who is to blame?", Let's move on to the second traditional question: "What to do?"

Last year, the Society of Russian Literature was formed, headed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. One of the projects of the society will be the association "Pushkin Union", whose task, if I may say so, is the return of Russian classics and, more broadly, national culture, literature and art to the field of spiritual and intellectual life of the younger generation. Members of the Society of Russian Literature, Ministers of Culture and Education V.R. Medinsky and O.Yu. Vasilyeva, Rector of Moscow State University V.A. Sadovnichiy, rectors of many other universities, leaders of creative unions, cultural figures have already met twice to discuss and develop a program of action.

It was obvious to everyone: the worst thing that can be done in this situation is to start forcibly and intrusively with all the might of the state, the Church and society to force people to love the classics. In fact, the real and most important thing is to convey to young people who have already left school, at least the basics of our cultural heritage with whom neither the school nor the family were able to introduce them. To instill a taste for Russian literature and art. Instead of the current simulacrum of liberal arts education, it is necessary to create an effective and holistic educational system with living teaching methods for current and future schoolchildren and students. This is what many departments and public associations are now doing under the general coordination of the Society of Russian Literature. By the way, a similar and positive experience already exists: the activities of the Russian Historical Society.

How great was the Soviet education system, if we leave aside its ideological component? After all, already by the mid-1970s, the communist ideology, even without any restructuring, remained outside the brackets of the lessons of most thinking teachers. The phenomenon of Soviet education was based on two outstanding and brilliant achievements. The first is the teacher. The second is a unique system of school education and upbringing.

A good and even outstanding teacher was not an exception, but an excellent, but also a familiar norm. I remember my usual Moscow school. All our teachers from a human point of view were unusually interesting personalities. From the point of view of the specialty - outstanding professionals.

How things are now is not for me to judge. But looking at the system of so-called practice-oriented education that is currently in use in pedagogical universities, one is at least amazed at the courage of its creators. I recall the Soviet five-year pedagogical education of the then students. Prepared for high school by that school at that level, students were allowed to practice in the classroom, starting only from the penultimate year. Now undergraduate students (four years of study) are removed from lectures and sent to practical work in schools from the first year. The teachers with whom I have spoken on this topic are horrified by this system.

And now about the system. Soviet education It was built and debugged in such a way that even a teacher of average abilities interested students in a humanitarian subject, conveyed and made clear and close the values ​​that our great literature carried. In addition, endless essays (let me remind you: school essays, canceled by our reformers, were returned to schools only by a direct order of the President just three years ago), polls, control of the RONO, which was subordinate to the Ministry of Education, excluded cultural amnesia and large-scale illiteracy as a phenomenon for the majority.

Today, schools are not subordinate to the Ministry of Education. Their superiors are regional and municipal bodies. It's the same as if in the army the local garrisons were not subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, but to the governors.

The comparison of the educational sphere with the army is not accidental. We remember the significant words of the Leipzig geography professor Oskar Peschel after the victory of the Prussian army over the Austrians in 1866: “Public education plays a decisive role in the war. When the Prussians beat the Austrians, it was the victory of the Prussian teacher over the Austrian school teacher. These words hit the mark so well that their authorship is still attributed to Otto von Bismarck, an unshakable authority in state and national construction.

The current education system, its reforms and programs have been criticized so often that it makes no sense to take up this matter again. At the first congress of the Society of Russian Literature, President V.V. Putin has set quite definite tasks, the main of which is the formation of the state language policy and the "golden" list of works required for study in schools. Let me remind you that today it depends on the teacher (a classmate of those guys we just saw on the screen) whether his class will study such masterpieces as “I loved you: love still, perhaps ...”, “I erected a monument to myself not made by hands ...” A.S. Pushkin, "Motherland", "I go out alone on the road ..." M.Yu. Lermontov. Or the teacher will replace them with much more “perfect” works from his point of view. This is the right of today's teacher.

“Alternative”, that is, in fact, not obligatory for study, is, in addition to the works already cited, also, for example, “War and Peace”. At school, we didn’t read this novel completely either, skipping the author’s historiosophical reflections, but most of Tolstoy’s masterpiece accessible to a teenager shaped the worldview of generations. "Crime and Punishment" is also from the list of variable, read, optional works for studying. Even Mumu, where we learned compassion and mercy, is from the same group. "Young people won't read this!" With an energy worthy of a better use, we are persuaded and forced to accept this "advanced" point of view.

But, firstly, young people, if they are truly introduced into the world of domestic and world literature and art, show a striking interest in them. And they only wonder why until now they have been excommunicated from all this treasure. And secondly, the alternative of referring to the best examples of culture created by previous generations is quite obvious. A. S. Pushkin clearly reminds us of what deliberate and snobbish neglect of the classics leads to: “Respect for the past is the feature that distinguishes education from savagery.”

Of course, let professionals judge all this finally. But we, the humble recipients of their students and pupils in society in general and in higher education in particular, cannot help but ask questions.

Actually, the Society of Russian Literature was created as a platform for such discussions. Of course, no one is going to force young people to delve only into the classics and force them to completely forget about contemporary culture. The only way to interpret public concern about the decline of liberal arts education in this way is to look at the problem from the point of view of malevolent predilection. I am writing this because there are many hunters to discredit the return of Russian classics.

I'll give you the last one, but case in point. Recently Minister of Culture V.R. Medinsky brought together the most popular video bloggers to discuss exactly the issues that we are talking about today. The audience of these bloggers is millions of subscribers, representatives of just the generation we are talking about. A well-known fact: many of the young hardly read. They don't watch TV. Therefore, even if plans for new productions of classics in serials are implemented, these young people simply will not see such films. They, with rare exceptions, do not go to popular, especially scientific, lectures. Cultural figures beloved by the older generations are not convincing and absolutely not interesting for them. The new generation spends a significant part of their lives online. Representatives of their culture, which have a huge influence on them, are completely unknown to us. Or they cause us about the same rejection that the current student with an earring in his nose feels towards people of the art of the last century, significant to us. Sometimes it seems that we are becoming more and more aliens to each other.

Bloggers turned out to be very interesting interlocutors, thinking people. At a meeting with the minister, they made several important proposals, among which was the idea of ​​attracting the attention of young people to the classics through those whom the youth themselves are ready to hear. We proposed to consider whether it is possible for contemporary performers, who gather huge audiences of young people, to unite to hold special concerts based on the best works of Russian poetry and music. Such performers like no one else in our situation could help the common cause. This idea, it seemed to me, was unanimously supported by all our young interlocutors.

And if, they added, these singers also read excerpts from their favorite poetic and prose works of the classics and urge listeners to seek and find the beauty of the best works of Russian poets, then, no doubt, they will be heard. Moreover, some of the most popular performers today read video lectures, for example, on issues of culture and art of the early twentieth century. All these were working moments of the discussion. Everyone understood that the final decisions were still far away.

Bloggers, despite their youth, turned out to be professional and - most importantly - noble interlocutors: nothing from the preliminary discussion was “thrown” into the network. But the correspondent of one of the leading news agencies who was present at the meeting taught them a lesson in “professionalism”: taking a few phrases out of the context of the discussion and not explaining any details, she published sensational news in her agency that the Patriarchal Council for Culture had come up with a proposal to popularize the classics with with the help of the foul language Shnur and rapper Timati. It was, of course, rather strange, but for me in this story the decency and professionalism of our young interlocutors turned out to be the most important. And there will still be plenty of those who want to discredit the planned work. Sometimes from the most unexpected areas. And you have to be ready for this.

“And what about the Church?” - ask us a question from church environment. (Stronger questions await us from the secular environment, but let's leave them aside for now.) So, what is the point for the Church to participate in solving, of course, an important, but purely secular problem? The Church's interest in liberal education was best expressed by one of the most famous elders of the 20th century - Reverend Silouan Afonsky: "In the last times, the way to salvation will be found by educated people."

I have no doubt that, despite all the complexity, the problem we raised today will be resolved. The key to this is the common concern of parents and teachers, secular and church people, government officials and cultural figures. Losses cannot be avoided, but on the whole, many real steps have been planned by our ministries, and by creative and public communities.

But there is another factor that gives hope.

“Uncle, not looking at anyone, blew off the dust, tapped the lid of the guitar with his bony fingers, tuned it and straightened himself in his chair. He took (with a somewhat theatrical gesture, leaving the elbow of his left hand aside) the guitar above the neck and, winking at Anisya Fyodorovna, began not the Lady, but took one sonorous, clear chord and measured, calmly, but firmly began to finish the well-known song “According to li-i-ice pavement”. At once, in time with that sedate joy (the same that Anisya Fyodorovna's whole being breathed), the motive of the song began to sing in the souls of Nikolai and Natasha. Anisya Fyodorovna blushed and, covering herself with a handkerchief, laughingly left the room ...

Charm, charm, uncle! more more! Natasha screamed as soon as he finished. She jumped up from her seat, hugged her uncle and kissed him. - Nikolenka, Nikolenka! she said, looking round at her brother and as if asking him: what is this?

... Natasha threw off the scarf that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands on her hips, made a movement with her shoulders and stood.

Where, how, when she sucked into herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant - this spirit, from where did she get these tricks that pas de châle should long ago have been forced out? But these spirits and methods were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. As soon as she stood up, she smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly cheerfully, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and all those present, the fear that she would do something wrong, passed, and they were already admiring her.

She did the same thing, and did it so exactly, so quite exactly, that Anisya Fyodorovna, who immediately handed her the handkerchief necessary for her work, burst into tears through laughter, looking at this thin, graceful, so alien to her, educated countess in silk and velvet. who knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person. - L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace".

- I've been pretty tired of this kind of journalistic questions and guesses for fifteen years.

Bishop Tikhon (in the world Georgy Alexandrovich Shevkunov; July 2, 1958, Moscow) - Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop of Yegoryevsky, vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, head of the Western vicariate of the city of Moscow.

Viceroy of the Moscow Sretensky Stauropegial Monastery. Executive Secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture. Co-Chairman of the Church-Public Council for Protection from the Alcohol Threat. Member of the Board of Trustees of the St. Basil the Great Foundation (founded by businessman Konstantin Malofeev). Upon graduation, he entered the Pskov-Caves Monastery as a novice. In September 2003, he accompanied the head of state to the United States, where Putin conveyed an invitation from Patriarch Alexy II to Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), to visit Russia. In the media, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) was called the confessor of Konstantin Malofeev (but Malofeev himself claims that his confessor is a monk from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra) and Vladimir Putin.

– Let’s move on to another difficult topic – as a rector, do you understand the structure of the ROC’s economy?

— As the abbot, I understand how the economy of our monastery works. As for the budget of the patriarchate, as far as I know, it consists of deductions from the dioceses and donations from Christians.

— How much does your monastery contribute to the patriarchate?

- The Sretensky Monastery transfers an annual fee to the patriarchate - it changes from year to year, but the order is from 3 to 5 million rubles. in year. If the situation is difficult, and all funds are spent on maintaining the life of the monastery, then the patriarch exempts from contributions to general church needs. This happens everywhere with temples being revived and built; the first especially difficult years, and we did not transfer funds to the patriarchy.

- Do you transfer the annual contribution to the account of the patriarchate?

- Which bank?

- If I'm not mistaken, to Sberbank.

“We can earn and earn ourselves”​

— How is the Sretensky Monastery financed?

— The main source is our monastery publishing house. We publish up to four hundred titles of books: spiritual, historical, scientific and fiction. Secondly, we have an agricultural production - the Voskresenie cooperative in the Ryazan region, we took it in 2001 in a completely ruined form.

- It seems you still have a cafe called Unholy Saints.

- This position is rather costly. A small cafe where people go to chat after the Sunday service, that's why we created it. Yes, we still receive money from the church, but no one comes with a plate during services, the parishioners themselves leave as much as they see fit for the upkeep of the church.

- There are more candles.

- Candles can be taken from us for free or put some small amount. Expensive pure wax and large candles have some value.

— How much does it cost you to maintain the monastery?

- These are large funds, I do not see the need to disclose them. We maintain the highest spiritual institution created in the monastery - the seminary. Last year it had 250 students. Seminarians - six years on full board.

- The former accountant of the patriarchate, Natalya Deryuzhkina, estimated the annual maintenance of two seminaries - Moscow and St. Petersburg - at 60 million rubles. How much of that amount do you spend on running the seminary? half?

- About. The brethren of the monastery themselves earn money for the seminary, for the maintenance and Maintenance of the whole monastery, to help the orphanage, where 100 children are brought up, to the website, to many of our educational projects, to charity. On all this we can earn and earn ourselves.

There are donors...

- Yes, sure. The help of philanthropists is very important, and we are sincerely grateful to all of them. Once upon a time, within a few difficult years revival of the destroyed monastery, we were helped a lot by Sergey Pugachev (former senator and ex-owner of Mezhprombank, to two years in prison; currently located in France. — RBC). To make it clear the ratio of money earned by the monks themselves and received from donations to the monastery, even in the best years, charitable funds amounted to no more than 15% of the budget for the maintenance of the monastery. But in the case of new construction, help is needed. This happened when we realized that the size of our temple for the parish was already hopelessly small, and we took blessings holy patriarch Cyril for the construction of a new church.

— I know that Rosneft helps you.

Yes, without her and without the help of other benefactors, we would not have built a new church. But the brethren of the monastery do not stand aside either: 370 million rubles, all the funds received from the sale of almost two million copies of my book “Unholy Saints”, we directed to the construction.

Does businessman Konstantin Malofeev really help you a lot?

- The St. Basil the Great Foundation (founder of the foundation - Malofeev. — RBC) twice participated in the partial financing of our historical exhibitions in the Manezh, and once transferred 50% of the necessary budget for the maintenance of the seminary. In general, charitable assistance is not something permanent. During the seventeen years of the seminary's existence, we received such help from philanthropists only three times, in the rest of the years we managed on our own.

Questions about money annoy you?

- Rather, they surprise. To be honest, it always seemed to me that such questions were, to put it mildly, unethical. Just in case, I’ll warn you: if somewhere in Germany, or in England, or in France you will conduct a conversation on such topics, the conversation will be instantly terminated. But, I repeat, if you and your readers are so interested, I am ready to answer. Speaking of help, once we, for example, held an action to distribute free Gospels. They were published at the expense of Oleg Deripaska. This does not apply to the Sretensky Monastery itself, but our joint project of the "Historical Park" at VDNKh was prepared common labors the government of Moscow, the Patriarchal Council and Norilsk Nickel.

“I have to interact with a wide range of people”

“You have, if I am not mistaken, a large number of influential acquaintances.

- I am the chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, and I really have to interact with a wide range of people, including well-known people in society.

Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov of Yegoryevsk, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/TASS)

- I'm talking about something else, rather. Is it easy for you to communicate with representatives of the state? Forgive me, please, but I constantly catch myself thinking that the FSB officers - you have it right next to you - figuratively speaking, apples from the apple tree that shot priests in Soviet times.

- I understand that you, as a journalist, exacerbate the issue. But to put an equal sign between the atrocities of the Chekists, who repressed and destroyed their own people, and the current military, serving in the law enforcement sphere, is possible only in the incurable mind of an ultra-liberal. With this approach, I must refuse to talk to you, saying: “Since your predecessors, journalists of the former news agencies and publications, have blatantly lied to the whole world and their own people for many years, I do not intend to communicate with you!”

- When did you lie? Then? Now?

- As for what is happening now, you know better. But in this case, I'm talking about Soviet times, when journalists sometimes lied so that everyone around them blushed, except for them. There are numerous current departments that worked not only in the USSR, but also in former very distant times. We must understand whether today even in the punitive organs the vector of attitude towards the people, towards the individual, towards the church has changed, or not? Is there now a command from the state to repress the church? No.

Is there any contradiction in this position? Now there is no persecution of the ROC, but will the church stand up for those who are subjected to repression?

- If there are unjust persecutions, he will definitely stand up.

- Agree, nevertheless, paradoxical things are happening - in schools they propose to introduce a single history textbook, in which Joseph Stalin looks like an almost effective manager. And there are clerics who adhere to the same position (in particular, the priest Evstafiy Zhakov, rector of the Church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga in Strelna, openly expressed his respect for Stalin and even hung an icon depicting the Generalissimo in the church. — RBC).

- In the version of the future textbook that I saw, the assessment of the Stalinist period is presented in a very balanced way. If you have a version of the textbook with a different interpretation, please send it to me. Among today's clergy there are very different views on the personality of Stalin, but at the same time I have never seen a priest who would say: "Stalin is my ideal!" and even more so would justify the repressions, or at least remove Stalin's personal responsibility for them.

- Don't you think that the church in relations with the state goes through pendulum periods? Love is hate. Now, for example, love. So the hatred must return.

- More than nine hundred years - since the Baptism of Russia - love. Then a few decades - hatred. So what do you think? Rather, everything is more complicated here. As for the essence of your question - about the interaction of church and state - today we are dominated by the position of undoubted rationality and mutual benefit from the separation of church and state. There can be no question of any unification of the two institutions - the state and the church. It will only bring harm.

- Why does it feel like the ROC and the government go hand in hand?

- Well, let them go hand in hand where it is impossible not to welcome. Together, the church and state institutions are engaged in charity, helping the needy, preserving ancient cultural monuments related to the church and its history. And also projects in the field of culture, historical science, some general diplomatic programs. But of course you are talking about politics?

- Yes.

- I can reassure you: the Russian Church has long adopted a law that priests and bishops should not participate in political life country.

- Nevertheless, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are quite active in speaking out on political topics.

- Representatives of many public organizations express their opinion on a wide range of social, cultural and political phenomena, but this does not mean their real participation in the politics of the state.

- Father Vsevolod Chaplin actively spoke out in support of the residents of Donbass.

- Father Vsevolod Chaplin is a separate conversation.

Yes, but Chaplin is not alone. For example, the rector of a church near St. Petersburg openly consecrates body armor for the DPR militias.

- Well, what is the crime? Bulletproof vest allows you to save lives.

- If we talk about Father Chaplin, he has recently demanded to disclose the items of income and expenses of the Russian Orthodox Church.

- So here's the thing: your interview about church finances is such a kind of hello to us from Father Vsevolod ?! Well, there are special financial monitoring bodies, let them check everything competently and responsibly.

“I hear and know that there are also abuses on the part of church authorities in some dioceses”

— How do you feel about the law on the return of religious property? By the way, do you own a monastery?

- Not. Perpetual and free use. Everything in the monastery is the property of the state.

- Why? Are you more comfortable?

— It happened that way.

- And you were given money under the federal program "Culture of Russia"?

- Once ten years ago - to restore the frescoes in the temple. But they did not give it to us, but to the restoration organization, which restored these frescoes in a wonderful way. What else to report? The city authorities allocated funds for paving stones for the ancient part of the monastery courtyard.

- As far as I know, you are the head of the public council under Rosalkogolregulirovanie. Why do you need it?

- Very necessary. Seven years ago, with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, the Church-Public Council for Protection from the Alcohol Threat was created. The writer Valentin Rasputin and I became co-chairs. A few years later, I was called to head the public council at Rosalkogolregulirovanie. For me, the main task of the work is to reduce the consumption of alcoholic products in the country, primarily among adolescents and young people. We did something: according to the latest data, alcohol consumption in Russia has fallen by 18% in six years.

- Your prayers?

- Prayers and common labors of many people.

- As far as I understand, priests in Moscow live easier than in the provinces - on the periphery, the percentage of diocesan deductions is higher, parishioners are many times smaller, and people are poorer. The priests are complaining.

- As for the fact that the percentage of deductions is higher, I don’t know here. I mostly know the parish life only of the Pskov diocese, which I myself described in the book Unholy Saints. I have friends from very poor priests who also helped their grandmothers with their salary. Here, the late Father Nikita and Father Victor did not pay anything at all to the Pskov diocese, because there was nothing - absolutely impoverished parishes. But this is my knowledge of the diocese ten years ago. Of course, I hear and know that there are also abuses on the part of church authorities in some dioceses. Well, if so, then that's a problem.

“I’m not the first to tell you about such problems.

- No no.

— Nevertheless, there was no talk of this at the last Bishops' Council.

— Financial topics were not the subject of discussion at the Bishops' Council.