Date of Birth: July 2, 1958 Country: Russia Biography:

In 1982 he graduated from the screenwriting department of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography with a degree in Literary Work. In the same year he entered as a worker, then as a novice.

In 1995, he was elevated to the rank of hegumen and was appointed abbot of the Sretensky stauropegial monastery.

In 1998 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

In 1999, he was appointed rector of the Sretensky Higher Orthodox Monastery School, which was later transformed into.

Since March 2001 - Chairman of the monastery economy - agricultural production cooperative "Resurrection" in the Mikhailovsky district of the Ryazan region.

In 2004, he graduated from the Sretensky Theological Seminary as an external student.

By order of the President of the Russian Federation of March 16, 2010 to the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Art.

Place of work: Commission for Interaction of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Museum Community (Head) Place of work: Church-Public Council for Defense Against the Alcohol Threat (Co-Chair) Diocese: Pskov Diocese (Ruling Bishop) Place of work: Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery (Vicar) Place of work: Patriarchal Council for Culture (Chairman) Place of work: Pskov Metropolis (Head of the Metropolis) Scientific works, publications:

Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) when he was named Bishop of Yegorievsk.

• Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, which received the Grand Prix at the XII International Festival of Orthodox Cinema and TV Programs Radonezh (Yaroslavl) in November 2007;
• "Death of an Empire. The Byzantine Lesson", which received the Golden Eagle award of the Russian Film Academy in 2009.

Awards:

Church:

• 2008 - Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree;
• 2008 - Order of St. equal to ap. book. Vladimir III Art. “taking into account the efforts to restore unity with the Russian Church Abroad”;
• 2010 - Order of St. Nestor the Chronicler (UOC);
• 2017 - St. blgv. book. Daniel of Moscow, I class;
• 2019 - Rev. Sergius of Radonezh III Art.

Secular:

• 2003 - National Prize. P.A. Stolypin "The Agrarian Elite of Russia" in the nomination "Effective owner of the land" and a special sign "For the spiritual revival of the village";
• 2006 - Award "Best Books and Publishing Houses of the Year" "for the publication of religious literature";
• 2007 - Order of Friendship "for merits in the preservation of spiritual and cultural traditions, a great contribution to the development of agriculture";
• 2008 - Best Book of the Year 2007 award;
• 2008 - the prize of the newspaper "Izvestia" "Izvestnost";
• winner of the national award "Person of the Year" for 2008 and 2009.

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November 27, 2017 | Alexey Makarkin

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov): secrets of influence

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Yegoryevsk is considered one of the most influential figures in the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). He is called the confessor of Vladimir Putin - although there is no evidence of this particular status, Vladyka Tikhon's closeness to the Kremlin and his political influence are beyond doubt. Especially a lot of controversy has unfolded around the figure of the Yegorievsk bishop this year - he is called both a competitor of Patriarch Kirill, and the ideological leader of the conservatives, and a persecutor of director Kirill Serebrennikov.

Unusual Bishop

The standard biography of a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church includes receiving a higher spiritual education, either full-time or part-time. As a rule, such a career begins after school and the army, sometimes after a secular university or institute (completed or left due to a change in life plans). A young man begins his journey in the church with a short "internship" in the form of an altar boy in a church or a similar position, then receives a recommendation and enters a seminary, and receives a higher spiritual education either full-time or by correspondence, simultaneously with priestly service. If he chooses the monastic path, then soon after a short period of obedience, he takes the tonsure.

The fate of Tikhon looks different. He graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in 1982 with a degree in screenwriting. However, in the same year he entered the Pskov-Caves Monastery as a novice, one of the two monasteries that were then operating on the territory of the RSFSR. The arrival of people from the creative intelligentsia to the church was not uncommon then. The rector of the Moscow church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhy, Archpriest Alexander Shargunov (the most famous priest among those who supported Gennady Zyuganov in 1996, the father of the writer and State Duma deputy from the Communist Party Sergei Shargunov) graduated from the capital's foreign language, was engaged in poetic translations. The rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kadashi (in the courtyard of which a prayer standing against the film "Matilda" took place) Archpriest Alexander Saltykov is a graduate of the art history department of the history department of Moscow State University.

However, the novitiate of George (the worldly name of Tikhon) lasted almost a decade, but included not only a stay in a monastery remote from Moscow, but also work in the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate under the leadership of the then influential Metropolitan Pitirim. In the second half of the 1980s, the significance of the Publishing Department grew - it was preparing materials for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, and its chairman enjoyed the support of the influential Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva. But after the death of Patriarch Pimen and the collapse of the USSR, the influence of Pitirim fell sharply, after a while he lost leadership of the department due to difficult relations with the newly elected Patriarch Alexy II. However, by that time George had already been tonsured a monk with the name Tikhon. He was tonsured by Patriarch Alexy II, who became his new patron.

Patriarch Alexy II, during his entire tenure as primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, was forced to take into account the interests of a group of bishops - "Nikodimovites" - tonsured by Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad, who died in 1978. Among the “Nikodimovites” are, in particular, Metropolitan Yuvenaly and the then Metropolitan and current Patriarch Kirill. Under these conditions, Alexy made a bet on monasticism, which was suspicious of the liberal tendencies associated with the Leningrad Theological Academy. Most of the bishops ordained under Alexios were conservatives, adherents of traditional piety.

Tikhon fully complied with this course. Widely known was his struggle with the liberal priest Georgy Kochetkov, whose community was ousted first from the Sretensky Monastery, and then from the nearby Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki. The monastery complex was occupied in 1993-1994 by the courtyard of the Pskov-Caves Monastery, which was headed by Tikhon. It is characteristic that the cathedral was re-consecrated - in this way Tikhon demonstrated that he did not consider the community that served in Russian to be Orthodox, despite its official canonical status within the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Church of the Assumption in Pechatniki was forced to leave the community of Father George in 1997 after a loud and scandalous conflict. As a rule, this conflict is interpreted in the context of the confrontation between church liberals and conservatives. This is true, but there is another, much less well-known aspect: Father Georgy Kochetkov was a student of the future Patriarch Kirill at the Leningrad Academy. And after the end of the conflict, he got the opportunity to serve in Moscow's Novodevichy Convent, the residence of Metropolitan Yuvenaly.

"Lubyansky Father"

Tikhon was the abbot of the courtyard of the Pskov-Caves Monastery for a short time - already in 1995 it was transformed into an independent Sretensky Monastery. Patriarch Alexy II became its rector, and Tikhon had the rank of governor. Soon the active development of the monastery began. It created a choir, which currently has the status of the main choir of the Russian Orthodox Church, which conducts concert activities in Russia and abroad. One of the largest publishing houses of the Russian Orthodox Church and the largest Orthodox book store in Moscow were organized. In 2000, the Internet portal Pravoslavie.Ru, popular among believers, was created.

In 1999, on the initiative of the then Archimandrite Tikhon and under his leadership, the Sretensky Higher Orthodox Monastery School was opened in the monastery. In 2001 it was transformed into a theological school, and in 2002 into a seminary. The first graduation of students took place in 2004 - Rector Tikhon was among the graduates. In such an extremely unusual way, he received the religious education necessary, in particular, to occupy the post of patriarch. Among the teachers at the seminary was Olga Vasilyeva, currently the Minister of Education and Science of Russia, who taught classes in church history.

One of the main problems of monasteries is the lack of revered relics of saints in many of them, which are worshiped by believers. The presence of such relics enhances the informal status of the monastery and increases the influx of pilgrims. Particles of relics are not enough for this - you can recall the story about a piece of the girdle of the Virgin, which is located in one of the Moscow churches, but does not attract increased attention from believers (whereas the girdle itself, brought to Moscow, became the object of worship of a huge number of Orthodox). There were no such shrines in the renewed Sretensky Monastery.

Then Archimandrite Tikhon achieved the transfer in 1999 to the monastery of the relics of the New Martyr Hilarion (Troitsky), who died in 1929 in Leningrad, where he was on his way from the Solovetsky camp to the Central Asian exile. His relics were in the St. Petersburg Novodevichy Convent, but the main period of his activity was associated with Moscow and the Moscow Theological Academy. Apparently, proceeding from this, Alexy II blessed the transfer of relics to Moscow. The reputation of St. Hilarion as a conservative theologian, who believed that only believers belonging to the Orthodox Church can be considered Christians, could also play a role in the decision to transfer the relics to the Sretensky Monastery. This thesis is consonant with the point of view of Bishop Tikhon. Thus, the veneration of the new martyrs was laid in the Sretensky Monastery, which led to the construction of the “church on the blood” consecrated in 2017 in honor of the new martyrs and confessors of Russia.

Of course, such large-scale projects cannot be implemented without sponsors. Initially, one of them was the banker Sergei Pugachev, previously close to the Kremlin. However, his bank went bankrupt a long time ago, and he himself ended up in exile and turned into a critic of the Russian authorities. But the financial support of the monastery did not decrease, but even increased - the construction of the cathedral took place without Pugachev. The prosperity of the monastery is due to the numerous connections of its governor. In his book Unholy Saints, Tikhon calls the former Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice, and now the presidential envoy to the Southern District, Vladimir Ustinov, his parishioner. Tikhon's good acquaintances include the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin (whose daughter was married to Ustinov's son for some time). Nikolai Patrushev, the former head of the FSB and now secretary of the Security Council, is considered an ally of Tikhon. The FSB building is located not far from the Sretensky Monastery - that is why Tikhon was nicknamed "the Lubyanka father."

Vladimir Putin is considered the most influential acquaintance of Tikhon. As far as can be judged, they first met in 2000, when the president visited the Pskov-Caves Monastery, where he met with Elder John (Krestyankin). After that, there was a rumor that Tikhon became Putin's confessor, but it is not confirmed. It is unlikely that the president has a permanent confessor, although it is possible that Putin once confessed to Tikhon. Tikhon's extensive connections are also associated with his hardware successes. Among them, the transfer to the monastery of the former school building with in-depth study of the French language - Tikhon publicly stated that the school was located on the site of the cemetery of people who died during the Napoleonic invasion, and emphasized in this regard that French was spoken at the school. As well as the demolition of several buildings of the 19th century, on the site of which a new cathedral was built - the protests of the Archnadzor did not lead to anything.

According to the TV channel "Rain", the budget of the project of modern multimedia exhibitions "Russia - my history", implemented by Tikhon, amounted to more than 10 billion rubles. In 2018, the number of exhibition parks "Russia - My History" will reach 25. Money for the construction of centers and the creation of expositions is allocated from the budgets of different levels, by large companies (including Gazprom) and through government order systems and grants. In total, more than 10 billion rubles will be allocated for these purposes. At the same time, the most expensive center after the capital will appear next year in St. Petersburg, where 1.4 billion rubles have already been allocated from the budget. In Moscow, a similar exhibition, on behalf of President Putin, was placed in one of the largest pavilions at VDNKh, the reconstruction of which cost 1.5 billion rubles. Norilsk Nickel became the general sponsor of the exhibition.

Thus, Tikhon is one of the most influential church figures - his capabilities are comparable to those of the patriarch, despite the fact that Tikhon, although he was ordained a bishop in 2015, is only one of the many vicars (assistants) of the patriarch. Despite the fact that his cathedra is officially located in Yegorievsk near Moscow, the bishop's residence remains in the Sretensky Monastery, which he continues to head.

The secret of success and problems

The question arises as to the reasons for such success of Tikhon. The fact is that the majority of representatives of the highest church hierarchy are perceived by state officials as their nomenklatura colleagues. In the Brezhnev era, the episcopate was dissatisfied with the fact that the high church status did not allow him to join the Soviet elite. Bishops were dependent on petty officials who could fulfill their requests, or they could refuse. This was due to the role of the church, which was considered a temporary, obsolete anomaly in the Soviet state. Much has changed in post-Soviet times. Bishops have become a natural part of the regional elite - their influence and living standards have risen sharply. As well as the patriarch, by definition, is included in the federal "super-elite", despite the separation of church and state.

But colleagues in the elite do not perceive such archpastors as spiritual authorities - for them they are often pragmatic business executives and, despite monasticism, secular people in terms of behavior. Therefore, for spiritual guidance and consolation - and it is often necessary even for the powerful of this world - they prefer to go to monasteries in order to touch the ancient senile tradition. It is difficult to confess to a bishop, unlike a simple monk or even the abbot of a monastery. However, Tikhon is now also a bishop, but he retained his former image of a confessor, a monk, and not a bureaucrat - and this is a great advantage.

But the monastic tradition can be presented in different ways. The advantage of Tikhon as a certified screenwriter is that he does it brightly and, as they say now, creatively, combining the conservative tradition with the modern "shell". It is difficult for an ordinary secular person to master complex monastic texts, such as the five-volume "Philokalia", the lives of saints and the biographies of ascetics are often archaic for him. Another thing is Tikhon's popular book, Unholy Saints, which has withstood many editions, a collection of stories written not only with knowledge of the matter, but also with a literary gift, with irony and elements of self-irony (which is rare for the church, but characteristic of modern society). Or the simple analogies contained in the film he created, The Fall of an Empire. Byzantine Lesson” – about how the Byzantine elites colluded with the West and destroyed the country, and the Russians almost followed suit, but the president prevented them. Archpriest Maxim Kozlov said that this film is “a political satire filmed as part of a telenarrative, with the presenter, who is a clergyman, referring to Byzantine history as a substratum for narrating the facts of modern history.”

Attention is drawn to another important aspect that explains Tikhon's rapprochement with former and current security officials. For them, it is important to build a consistent concept of history, which would include both the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods of history. Tikhon proposed his own version, based on the division of politicians into statesmen and anti-statists, which is widespread in the church. The priority of state interests unites Russian tsars and Soviet leaders, Stalin is not idealized, but he is not considered the culprit of all the troubles of the twentieth century that befell Russia. Instead, attention is focused on the responsibility for them of the liberals who participated in the overthrow of the monarchy. Tikhon's anti-liberalism and anti-Westernism are quite consistent with the mentality of the security forces. In "Unholy Saints" there is no condemnation of the Soviet power, characteristic of many church works - its place is taken by the attitude towards it as a reality with which it is necessary to coexist, preserving one's own Orthodox identity.

However, Tikhon's informal political influence led to problems in relations with three serious interest groups.

The first is a considerable part of the official church hierarchy, up to the patriarch. There, it seems, not only are they jealous of Tikhon's hardware capabilities, but they also believe that he has his own patriarchal ambitions. Related to this is the "leak" made public by Alexei Venediktov - that Tikhon intends to become rector of St. Isaac's Cathedral, then a metropolitan, and then a patriarch (Tikhon himself denied this information). True, as a vicar bishop Tikhon does not have the right to be elected patriarch - according to the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, the candidate must have "sufficient experience in diocesan administration." But sufficient experience is a loose concept; in principle, the council can recognize as such both half a year and a year (refuting rumors about his ambitions, Tikhon said that we are talking about five years, but this is not in the Charter). Apparently, it is precisely with this that the assignment that Tikhon received is connected - to deal with the question of whether the “Ekaterinburg remains” are the relics of the royal family. If he recognizes them as authentic, he will irritate many conservatives, who proceed from the fact that under Boris Yeltsin and Boris Nemtsov it was impossible to open the real relics. If not, then the Kremlin will be greatly disappointed, where they want to reburial Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria next year, on the centenary of the execution of the royal family.

The second is the liberal part of the social spectrum, for which Tikhon is an ideological opponent. Regardless of the degree of reliability of the information that the bishop was involved in the arrest of Kirill Serebrennikov, there is no doubt that Tikhon is one of the main opponents of contemporary art and, in general, orientation towards a global society. Moreover, in contrast, for example, from Nikita Mikhalkov, who retained significant apparatus influence.

The third is a part of the representatives of the "illiberal" secular elite, for whom Tikhon can be a dangerous competitor. The very fact of having a figure with such a serious informal influence looks like an irritant for people who are in the public service and are used to certain formalized procedures. All these factors contribute to a strong informational tension around the figure of Tikhon, which may further intensify in the future.

  – leading expert of the Center for Political Technologies

Archimandrite Tikhon, aka Georgy Alexandrovich Shevkunov, was born in 1958. Graduated from the screenwriting department of the All-Union Institute of Cinematography. Soon after graduating from VGIK, he went to the Pskov-Caves Monastery, where he was a novice for nine years, and then took monastic vows. He returned to Moscow, worked in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Ten years ago, Shevkunov first appeared in print as the only ideologue of the fundamentalist direction of the Russian Orthodox Church, publishing an article Church and State, in which he openly laid out his concern for democracy. A democratic country, quotes Father Tikhon Frei Lapse Vireau, will inevitably strive to weaken the most influential Church in the country, putting into action the old principle of divide and rule. This statement seems important in connection with the fact that the Russian media call Father Tikhon the confessor of President Putin, that is, a person who influences the worldview of the leader of the state.

In church circles, Tikhon is spoken of as a well-known intriguer and careerist. The certified screenwriter made the first step in his brilliant church career shortly after his return to Moscow from the Pskov-Caves Monastery in 1991. Then he initiated a brawl near the fire in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived. According to investigators, the culprit of the fire was a drunken monastery watchman who fell asleep with a lit cigarette. Shevkunov also accused agents of Western intelligence agencies sent to us under the guise of believers of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad of malicious arson. (By the way, at the moment, foreigners, despite the long-standing brawl, support Father Tikhon. According to rumors, they see him as the main candidate for the post of the next Patriarch of All Russia.) They say that the certified screenwriter himself is not out of place to take the highest church post in Russia.

There is information about the connection of Father Tikhon with the KGB. Perhaps later these connections helped him get to know Vladimir Putin better. One of the parishioners of the Sretensky Monastery is a close friend of Father Tikhon, Lieutenant General Nikolai Leonov. He served in the KGB from 1958 to 1991. In the 60-70s he worked in the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB of the USSR, was the deputy head of the department. (Putin also served at PSU in the 1970s.) Tikhon (Shevkunov) and Nikolai Leonov are members of the editorial board of the Russian House magazine, the one that is printed on the basis of the publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery. Leonov is a political commentator for the program of the same name, which airs on the Muscovy channel, and Shevkunov is also the confessor of both projects of the magazine and the TV show. Among the frequent guests of the Russian House are representatives of the Russian National Unity (RNE) and the Black Hundreds.

Papa Tikhon is also known for more global projects. He was one of the activists of the movement for the canonization of the royal family. He led a crusade against the tour of the magician David Copperfield in Russia, informing the flock that the magic tricks of this vulgar American Woland put the audience in bondage from the darkest and most destructive forces. And whatever is his popular battle plan with satanic barcodes and individual taxpayer numbers (TIN). In the barcodes and TIN, according to Father Tikhon, the number of the beast 666 is disguised. In addition, the universal organization of accounting subordinates the Orthodox to total control from the secular, anti-Orthodox, from the point of view of Tikhon, state. His article The Schengen Zone, dedicated to this global problem, was published in the RNE Russian order. Despite the fact that Pope Tikhon denies his connection with the Russian Nazis, their views are very, very close.

Here are the reflections of the holy father on censorship. Censorship is a typical tool in a normal society, one that should cut off everything extreme. Personally, of course, I am for her both in the religious field and in the secular field. As far as state censorship is concerned, society will come to a sober understanding of the need for this institution before the deadline or later. Let us recall how Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in his youth scolded censorship and did not rhyme with it otherwise than with the word fool. Later, he advocated censorship. The last thought of Tikhon, nevertheless, baffled the researchers of A.S. Pushkin. Well, Pushkin did not write this!

Tikhon was one of the first to congratulate Putin on his accession to the throne and then publicly rejoiced at the timely departure of Yeltsin, condemning the era of Yeltsinism.

Papa Tikhon hides the history of his acquaintance with Putin. But he advertises his closeness to the first person in every possible way. In circles around the church, they say that the rumor, just as Tikhon is the confessor of the president, was started by Tikhon himself. The certified screenwriter himself does not confirm the rumor, but does not refute it, flirting: What are you trying to make of me some kind of Richelieu? Nevertheless, journalists from Moscow publications firmly wrote, according to Tikhon, that Vladimir Putin confessed to him all the way. It is he who instructs the president in the spiritual life.

In any case, the certified screenwriter Tikhon actively uses his real (or imaginary) proximity to the president. As they say, now the Patriarch himself is more afraid of him.

Also read the biographies of famous people:

Tikhon Zhuchkov Tihon Juchkov

He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (thrice), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star, and medals.

Leaves Moscow, receiving in return a good opportunity for a run

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), who is called "Putin's confessor", has received a new appointment. He will head the Pskov Metropolis. In this regard, rumors intensified: Tikhon could become the new patriarch.

"It was decided: His Grace of Pskov and Porkhov, the head of the Pskov Metropolis, to be Bishop Tikhon of Yegoryevsk, while retaining the post of chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture." The decision of the Holy Synod on the new career of one of the most recognizable bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church caused, as they say, an ambiguous reaction from the public. "The candidacy of the future patriarch is almost determined," he wrote, for example, on this occasion in LiveJournal Protodeacon Andrey Kuraev. But there are other assessments of Tikhon's career prospects.

“The charter of the Russian Orthodox Church does not allow a vicar bishop to be a candidate for the patriarchal throne,” Andrey Kuraev notes on his blog. “Vladyka Tikhon will now have experience in managing the metropolitan. sympathies. I also believe that it would be better for him to become the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the post-Putin years. To be "honest", so that he does not look like a "puppet of the Kremlin", so that they see him as himself, and not a political puppet."

However, in a conversation with an MK observer, Father Andrei explained that he did not mean Operation Successor at all: “I cannot conclude that the patriarch would like to see him in this post after himself. Those stars that the patriarch was guided by, making this decision, may be completely different."

Nothing is known to the church publicist about the intentions of Tikhon himself. But Father Andrei believes that his patriarchal prospects are already evidenced by the very course of events: “The current patriarchate will leave a very bad aftertaste. A person who is even somewhat similar to the current patriarch, representing his inner circle, has no chance of becoming his heir. And among the bishops, known to all the country, only Tikhon enjoys a good reputation. He does not smell of power, he does not have a thirst to build everyone, to break through the knee - something that is very visible in the current patriarch."

Quite highly appreciates the career prospects of Tikhon and Member of the Public Chamber of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin: "I think Bishop Tikhon's opportunities will expand with this election. He has long outgrown the vicar status that he had until now. Having experience in managing a diocese makes it possible, at least technically, to be promoted to the patriarchal throne. It also draws attention is paid to the fact that he retained the post of head of the patriarchal council for culture. This means that he will continue to work quite often in the capital. That is, there will be no disappearance from Moscow."

So far, Chaplin believes, Tikhon's patriarchal rating is low: "If the election of the patriarch were taking place now, I would not expect Tikhon to be even one of the two main candidates. The most obvious candidates would be Metropolitan Barsanuphius and Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv. But the transition to the status diocesan bishop while maintaining the possibility of church and social activities in Moscow gives Tikhon, let's say, a good opportunity to take a run.

It takes a completely different point of view leading expert of the Center for Political Technologies Aleksey Makarkin. In his opinion, Tikhon's new post bears little resemblance to a launch pad for takeoff. By outward signs, this is really an elevation: Tikhon received an independent diocese for administration, and a very significant and rich one at that. But at the same time, Tikhon leaves Moscow, the political scientist notes, "and his influence is largely due to the fact that he is in constant contact with his spiritual children."

Makarkin, however, does not believe the persistent rumors that Tikhon is the confessor of Vladimir Putin: “It cannot be ruled out that Tikhon could receive confessions from him. This is quite possible. But the fact that he is the president’s confessor, so to speak, on a regular basis, is very doubtful. In this case, he would hardly have left for Pskov. The confessor should be nearby. But the fact that many representatives of the elite, including the power elite, belong to the spiritual children of Tikhon is a reality. Accordingly, now it will be more difficult for him to maintain relations with these people."

Makarkin recalls that last year the possibility of Tikhon taking over the St. Petersburg department was actively discussed. This would really be a sharp increase in status: according to the charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg is a permanent member of the Holy Synod. "But as a result, not Petersburg, but Pskov, a much less prestigious option. jumping into the patriarchal chair, is, according to Makarkin, the absence of any signs that the current patriarch is going to retire. "Of course, anything can happen, but I'm still more inclined towards the version of an honorable removal from Moscow," - sums up the expert.

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. Zoya Svetova figured out how a student of the screenwriting department at VGIK turned into a major church figure in 35 years, whose influence on the Kremlin is legendary.

A black cassock, dark ash-gray hair smoothly parted in the middle, a neat beard - Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov of Yegoryevsky 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 opposite me in an armchair, puts two iPhones one on top of the other on the coffee table. 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, full-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 points that speak a lot about his attitude to important issues in 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 don't watch movies very much 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 harm 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 With him statement Venediktova about volume, what supposedly Shevkunovsent on the performance "Nureyev" their monks, which performance 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. Correctly? 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, the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy 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. Young guys who came to military service to 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 it's their own business. You know, it will be recognized by deeds.

- 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 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 kind of 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 will,” 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 Patriarchy, and asked to take Gosha Shevkunov to Moscow: he is a professional cinematographer 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 per contribution in church art received 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 did not 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 of the publishing department of the MP, on condition of anonymity, says that in the 90s KGB officers began to visit 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 policy article in the newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya "Church and State", in which he argued: "A democratic state will inevitably try to weaken the most influential Church in the country, putting into action 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 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 a 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, a terrible trait for a priest: veneration of rank. 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 the "confessor of the president" Shevkunov was quite satisfied. 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 the Patriarch's invitation to visit Russia. This was the beginning of the unification of the two Orthodox Churches separated after 1917, which for many years were 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 having a chance to go down in history as the unifier of the churches. Putin attracted anti-Sovietists to his side (the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia-Z.S.), revived the Church, became president not only of Russia, but also of Russians in the Diaspora - this is a very serious intangible capital that Putin could not have received without Shevkunov. I think that the president appreciates this and is grateful to Shevkunov. And Shevkunov carefully uses this.”

Now Shevkunov heads the commission investigating the murder of the 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 beside, in monasticparish. Now— then You big and influential face, not only in MP, takeabove, a then, quarter century back… to me entrusted first Veil (sew — W. FROM.) and altarpiece vestment, not It was more workshops, and I crawled at home 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 input 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 each year put on her beforeGreat fasting, went out on the Chin forgiveness, she is not strangled you? You Sosincerely asked forgiveness from myself and all brethren monastery, a 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 is unthinkable!

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

You taught us: » Our struggle not against flesh and blood, a against spirits maliceheavenly».

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

» check his heart, main criterion — love to enemies. Bye you readyto pay evil per 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 Babiy 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 per me and mine family, a you overcame doubts? You knew about myancestors and were silent?

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

When— then you spoke: Church must to be persecuted, to be cleansed andto be faithful, a With ami built tombs prophets, together With them notrepentant killers.

Time are changing, and from favorites « elite" you you can become persecuted anddespised.

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

At the birthday party of Sergei Pugachev's ex-wife 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” of 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 shop "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 recent years, Father Tikhon Shevkunov has occupied two large projects - 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 Andrey Batalov, deputy general director of the Moscow Kremlin museums, architectural historian. “I believed that a temple in the name of the new martyrs should be extremely modest and contain allusions to the catacombs in which 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 competition projects to Patriarch Kirill, he “pointedly” 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 is 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 financing 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 provide itself with active support 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. The film “The Byzantine Lesson” shot by him in 2008 cemented his 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 has reached a new stage. He repeated: "Westerners want to destroy our country." Some 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 government 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 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 the exterior of the 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."