Chosen for His People: A Biography of Patriarch Tikhon [Paperback]

St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow (Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin, 1865–1925) is one of the most important figures of both Russian and Orthodox Church history in the 20th century. Yet 90 years after his death this remains the only complete biography ever published in the English language. It has now been updated and revised with a new preface and bibliography, together with revised and additional endnotes, by Scott M. Kenworthy. The biography reveals a picture of a man whom no one expected to be chosen as Patriarch, yet who nevertheless humbly accepted the call of God and the people to guide the Church during the most turbulent of times as it faced both internal upheavals and external persecution. Both specialists and general readers will become better acquainted with St. Tikhon through this modest but carefully crafted monograph.

“Swan’sbook . . . has stood the test of time. It is particularly valuable because it presents in English many of St Tikhon’s key epistles and addresses, as well as documents from the Soviet side. There are, to be sure, some inaccuracies and factual errors, especially about his early life and his family, which have been indicated in the notes of the current edition. Recent scholarship has not overturned her key insights, however, but in many cases has strengthened them.”  —Scott M. Kenworthy,author, The Heart of Russia

Jane Swantaught history at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and served as the director of the Women’s Center. She earned her doctorate in Russian history from the University of Pennsylvania.Scott M. Kenworthyis an associate professor of comparative religion at Miami University in Ohio. He was the recipient of the 2010 Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History for his bookThe Heart of Russia: Trinity-Sergius, Monasticism, and Society after 1825. He lives in Oxford, lSˇ