№ 2022. The 150th Birth Anniversary of Patriarch Tikhon (1865-1925)

 

Tikhon (born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin) was the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia after the Russian Patriarchate was reinstated (1917-1925).

Patriarch Tikhon managed to preserve Orthodoxy amid revolution, civil war and turmoil that overwhelmed Russia. He made important steps to normalize relations between the Church and the state, called for end to bloodshed, opposed decrees on separation of Church and state and on nationalization of Church property, called the clergy and believers for loyal attitude to the Soviet regime. In 1922 he was accused of anti-Soviet activity and sentenced to house arrest in Donskoy Monastery but the case against Patriarch Tikhon was closed on 21 March 1924.

In 1988 Tikhon was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The day of glorification of Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, is celebrated on 9 October.

The stamp depicts a portrait of Patriarch Tikhon with silhouettes of churches on the background.