Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov is official. The book "Unholy Saints". Priests in a jar

Viceroy Sretensky Monastery Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov in 2017 almost surpassed Patriarch Kirill in terms of mentions in the media.

He is still called Vladimir Putin's confessor, despite the fact that he denies his closeness to the president. He is persistently 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 turned into a major in 35 years church leader, whose influence on the Kremlin is legendary, was examined by Zoya Svetova.

A black cassock, smoothly parted dark-ash hair with gray streaks, a neat beard - Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov of Yegoryevsk meets me in his spacious office at Sretensky Seminary. Having learned about my arrival, he quickly ends the conversation, and his visitors hastily leave the office.

Not Putin's confessor

“What should we call you: Father Tikhon? Vladyka Tikhon? - I ask.

“I’m not yet used to being called Vladyka, call me Father Tikhon, (ordained bishop in 2015 - Z.S.) he offers democratically and invites you to sit on the leather sofa. He sits down opposite me in a chair and places two iPhones on top of each other on the coffee table. He doesn’t turn them off, he just turns down the volume, and throughout our conversation both iPhones literally explode with text messages. Father Tikhon asks to bring us herbal tea. I look around. Photos of the Pskov-Pechersk Elder John Krestyankin with Father Tikhon himself, the collected works of Dostoevsky. Above the desk there is a huge, entire 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 was writing an article about him: “I know that several articles about me have been ordered now. Even a movie. I will not be able to give an interview now, regardless of the topic. Take action,” he wrote in response.

I replied that he was mistaken, no one commissions me to write articles. He wrote: “God will forgive you. Do your thing." But when I asked him to talk about my mother, the religious writer Zoya Krahmalnikova, who was sentenced in 1983 to a year in prison and five years of exile for publishing collections of Christian reading “Nadezhda” in the West, Shevkunov still agreed to talk.
We talked about mom and Soviet religious dissidents for about ten minutes, and then for about another hour about everything. The result was an interview published on Radio Liberty. Shevkunov urgently asked 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 the bishop threw out several very interesting moments which speak 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 “theater case” and the arrest of the artistic director of the Gogol Center, Kirill Serebrennikov.

- Gossip, gossip. I didn’t watch this film by Kirill Serebrennikov, I didn’t watch anything he did.

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

- Yes of course I know.

- How do you know if you didn’t watch anything?

“When they told me that I had banned his performance, I, of course, took a more serious interest in who he was. But even before that I heard about him. I watch very few movies now. It’s good if I have time to watch one film a year.

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

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

- But you've never seen him? And they didn’t show it to Putin?

- Are you kidding me?

- I'm telling you what they say.

- You never know what they say.

- Then explain why?

- Because they are liars and gossips.

- To harm you?

- No, just to chat and create the appearance of being informed. Did I show it to Putin? I have nothing to do! Bullshit! You say that I vaguely assessed Venediktov’s statement (Wediscussed With him statement Venediktova O volume, What supposedly Shevkunovsent on play "Nureyev" their monks, which play Notliked it, And Shevkunov complained Medinsky — Z. WITH. ) I respect Venediktov as a professional. Our positions with him differ radically, but he is, of course, a great professional, what can I say. And he created such an amazing, so to speak, radio station hostile to me personally.

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

— Hostile because she is 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 liquidated, shot, or banned. There are opponents, tough opponents. Here I call tough opponents enemies. Tough opponents can reach the point of hostility. What is enmity? This is an irreconcilable attitude towards one position or another. Right? And every person is God’s creation for us. And we should in no way transfer onto a person hostility towards one or another of his ideas, a worldview that contradicts ours. We can criticize and denounce his ideas and disagree with them. I absolutely definitely said: “Alexey Alekseevich Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, is lying.” Dot. As people say: “He lies like he bakes pancakes.”

- And he answered you?

— The guys showed it to me, I asked them to track it. 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 voice recording.

Another very interesting fragment also disappeared from the interview:

— Don’t you think that today’s FSB officers are the successors of the NKVD and KGB?

- I don’t think so. I know several FSB officers. I know a man who worked in intelligence. He is much older than me, I respect him endlessly. 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.

— Did they behave rudely?

- No. They came for an unknown reason and were looking for traces of Khodorkovsky’s money. They came to me as a journalist. And one of the employees, reading out the report of the search at my mother’s, said that he knew those investigators who conducted a search at our house almost forty years ago.

— These are probably their teachers. Now, to tell a current employee, as I know them and imagine them, that you are the direct heirs and continuers of the work of Yagoda and Yezhov, I won’t be able to turn my tongue.

— Why not Andropov’s followers, for example?

— As far as I know, Andropov is respected by many. Many are categorically against it. 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 bust of Dzerzhinsky.

- And Stalin?

— I’ve never seen Stalin. But I don’t like Dzerzhinsky, I can say this, but this is their personal business. You know, it's determined by deeds.

— So it doesn’t bother you that repressions of anti-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 articles of the Criminal Code, but people say that in fact this is political persecution. You need to understand these things, I don’t know. If there really was some kind of unauthorized demonstration under political slogans, yes. Well, the guys were detained and released. As I understand it, this is a normal practice throughout the world. If someone hit a policeman or threw a stone at him, this is already an article of the Criminal Code. You can spare this person if he falls under 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 going out, “you have to go out to the square,” remember? Come out, it’s a duty of your conscience, but there’s no need to throw stones!”

Communication with Father Tikhon raised many questions in me: is it true that he has not seen Serebrennikov’s film “The Apprentice” and is it true that he knows Vladimir Putin very little? 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 Gosha Shevkunov, after graduating from school in 1977, he entered VGIK in the screenwriting department of Evgeny Grigoriev (authorscript films "Romance O lovers", "Three day Victor Chernyshev" — Z. WITH.) and to Vera Tulyakova, the widow of the writer Nazim Hikmet. As his fellow students say, Gosha entered without any cronyism. His mother Elena Shevkunova, famous doctor, the founder of a laboratory for the diagnosis and treatment of toxoplasmosis, dreamed that her son would go to study as a doctor, 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 Shevkunova’s classmate, screenwriter Elena Lobachevskaya. — For Gosha, Evgeny Grigoriev was like a father. Paola Volkova gave lectures at VGIK then (coursesuniversal stories arts Andmaterial culture — Z. WITH.) , philosopher Merab Mamardashvili. Gosha borrowed Solzhenitsyn’s books from me. And master Evgeny Grigoriev told us in class that Solzhenitsyn is a great Russian writer, and Gosha listened to him attentively.”

Another classmate of Shevkunov, writer Andrei Dmitriev, in student years was one of his close friends. Over time, their paths diverged: Dmitriev now lives in Kyiv and has no plans to come to Moscow. Shevkunov called him during the events on the Maidan, asking what was happening there. Hasn't called since then.

"He is mine Godfather. I was baptized even before he became a monk. This person is very dear to me, despite our fundamental difference in views. Gosha is one of the most talented people that I know. Either the great-grandson or grandson of the Socialist-Revolutionary, who was preparing an assassination attempt on the 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 and pure, like Candide. He told me quite sincerely in my first year in 1977: “Let’s publish a magazine.” I explained to him: “This is impossible.” He didn't understand:

- Why?

“They’ll put you in prison,” 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 Nightingale the Robber.”

Dmitriev could not remember the plot of Shevkunov’s thesis. One of the VGIK employees said that she was called “Driver.” This is a story about a man at a crossroads who does not know how to live. In the script there is a scene with a pigeon, when the hero breaks its neck after catching it on the windowsill. It was not possible to confirm that this was exactly the plot of Shevkunov’s graduation script: VGIK was not allowed to read the manuscript.

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

Olga Yavorskaya, another VGIK graduate, has slightly different memories of Father Tikhon: “He came to our dormitory, and we called him Gosha Sheptunov. I think it’s not without reason.”

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

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

Pskov-Pechersk Lavra. TASS photo chronicle

Novice Gosha Shevkunov

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

In the book “Unholy Saints” Shevkunov writes a lot about the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, about the monks, about his life in the monastery. Dmitriev says there is a story that is not written about 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 tonsure, and when she saw how bad his condition was, she was afraid. She turned to his teacher Vera Tulyakova, begging her to get her son out of the monastery. Tulyakova called Bishop Pitirim, who then headed the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate, and asked to take Gosha Shevkunov to Moscow: he was a professional filmmaker and could be useful. The date of the millennium of the baptism of Rus' was approaching, and Gosha could make films. Finding himself in the publishing department of Bishop Pitirim, he quickly entered into a very serious circle, and only visited Pechory on short visits.”

Archimandrite Zinon, one of the most authoritative masters of Russian icon painting (V 1995 year behind contribution V church art received State Prize RF— Z. WITH.) in the mid-80s he lived in the same Pskov-Pechersky Monastery. He tells a completely different version of Shevkunov’s placement in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate: “He worked for a long time in the monastery on a cowshed, he didn’t like it, and, obviously, his patience was running out. He told me that one day 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 was giving a tour not to a KGB officer, but to some prominent party member and his wife). So, the wife of this officer asked what kind of 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 handsome novice for Bishop Pitirim. This is how Gosha ended up in Moscow. He said that his mother was an unbeliever and did not agree for him to go to a monastery. She allowed her son to take monastic vows, 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-Pechersky Monastery during the same years, recalls that Gosha already boasted of his connections in the KGB.

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

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

"Eavesdropper Gosha Sheptunov"

Georgy Shevkunov remained a novice for almost ten years and did not take monastic vows. Already being the abbot 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 famous actress, but he preferred a monastic career: as if one of the elders predicted a patriarchal see for him in the future.

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

“He always liked social intrigue,” recalls journalist Evgeny Komarov, who worked in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate in the late 80s. — Gosha didn’t really work in any specific department of the publishing house, he communicated directly with Pitirim, was his “guardsman,” as he himself said. Accompanied him at bohemian parties, communicated with visiting Western bishops. He couldn’t drink even then: he got drunk quickly. There was a sense of admiration for those in power in him. We jokingly called him not “novice Gosha Shevkunov,” but “overhearer Gosha Sheptunov.”

Another former employee 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 it was necessary to cooperate, because only the special services could protect the country from Satanism and Islamism, that the KGB was the force that could keep the state from collapse.

In 1990, he published a policy article in the Soviet Russia newspaper, “Church and State,” in which he argued: “A democratic state will inevitably try to weaken the most influential Church in the country, bringing into play the ancient principle of divide and rule.”

In August 1991, he was ordained a hieromonk.

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

The beginning of the 90s was the time when the Russian Orthodox Church returned what had been taken away to Soviet time temples. In 1990, Father Georgy Kochetkov was appointed rector of the Vladimir Church of the Sretensky Monastery. The head 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 metochion there at the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery.

“Apparently, there was a political motive here,” says Kopirovsky. “Sretensky Monastery is located on Lubyanka, and, probably, those who worked nearby did not like the proximity to 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 new renovationists. The parishioners of Father George themselves considered the eviction from the Sretensky Monastery a “raider takeover”; the patriarch’s decree appeared only after the Cossacks, who actively supported Father Tikhon Shevkunov, came to the temple to drive out the Kochetkovites.

“When Shevkunov drove Kochetkov out of the Sretensky Monastery, he realized that he needed a systemic media resource. This is how Alexander Krutov appeared in his orbit with the “Russian House,” says Sergei Chapnin. — He realized that he needed professional analytics, Nikolai Leonov appeared. And through Leonov (Nikolai Leonov - head of the analytical division of the KGB of the USSR - Z.S.) he entered the KGB circle.”

Former senator and banker Sergei Pugachev says that it was he who introduced Tikhon’s father to future President Vladimir Putin in 1996. At that time, Putin held the position of deputy manager of the presidential administration. Once Pugachev brought Putin to a service at the Sretensky Monastery. After that they began to communicate.

Sergei Pugachev and Lyudmila Putina during a pilgrimage to the Pskov-Pechersky 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,” the ex-senator recalls. - He is a real adventurer. In the 90s, he was a terrible monarchist, friends with the now deceased sculptor Slava Klykov, monarchist Zurab Chavchavadze, Krutov, editor-in-chief of the Russia House. At the same time, he is very Soviet: he loves Soviet songs, sobs to the “Slavyanka” marches. 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 it, he is speechless.”

At the end of 1999, in the “Canon” program, Shevkunov told the story of how Putin’s dacha near St. Petersburg burned to the ground, and the only thing that survived was pectoral cross. They began to talk and write that Father Tikhon is Putin’s spiritual father. 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 “spiritual father of the president” suited Shevkunov quite well. In August 2000, Sergei Pugachev, together with Shevkunov, took Putin to Elder John Krestyankin at the Pskov-Pechersky 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 handed over to the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, 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 were considered hostile to each other.

“He gave Putin a very powerful, literally words imperial experience - thanks to Shevkunov, Putin played a major role in the unification of the Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate, says Sergei Chapnin. “I have no doubt that Putin is grateful to Shevkunov for having the chance to go down in history as a unifier of Churches. Putin attracted anti-Soviet activists to his side (the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad - Z.S.), revived the Church, became the president of not only Russia, but also 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 royal family and is responsible for investigative committee recognized as authentic the Ekaterinburg remains, which should be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg in the summer of 2018.

Sergei Pugachev says that in the Kremlin, next to Stalin’s former office, Boris Yeltsin opened a house church. According to the ex-senator, once in this 15-meter room, Father Tikhon Shevkunov gave communion to Vladimir Putin. “I was against it,” recalls Pugachev. “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-Ogarevo in the village of Usovo. This was confirmed by Deacon Andrei Kuraev, who once came there with Shevkunov.

Among Shevkunov’s spiritual children are former Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, head of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, head Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, KGB general Nikolai Leonov, TV presenter Andrei Malakhov, State Duma deputy and editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Culture” Elena Yampolskaya, who was also the editor of Shevkunov’s book “Unholy Saints”. Yampolskaya became famous for her recklessly uttered maxim: “Two forces can hold Russia over the abyss. 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 at the Donskoy Monastery. Then she followed him to Sretensky. “He had incredible power of prayer,” Lina recalls. — People lined up to see him for confession at the Donskoy Monastery. He is very humane, always understands your circumstances, always communicates in a friendly manner, without rudeness. He is not a money-grubber, he is calm about comfort, but he has bad taste. Worship supplies may cost huge money. He willingly helps those in need.

I remember how during one of the sermons Father Tikhon said 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 and 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 - as it should be according to the Gospel. At the same time, he called Catholics and those who support gays as enemies.”

Lina Starostina left the parish of 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, and 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 about ritual murder 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 near, V monasticarrival. Now— That You big And influential face, Not only V MP, take ithigher, A Then, quarter century back… To me trusted first The veil (sew — Z. WITH.) And altarpiece vestments, Not was more workshops, And I crawled Houses onknees, afraid come on on sacred textile, When sewed her. AND You servedliturgy on this throne, Not was seizures disgust?

AND Veil Easter, first Easter. When You opened us Royal gate, How entrance V Paradise, You already Then disdainful those, To why touched my hands? Icould be from these, No? Not felt? Instructed to me restorestole old man Joanna Krestyankina, You every year put on her beforeGreat fasting, came out on Chin forgiveness, she Not strangled you? You Sosincerely asked forgiveness from myself And all brethren monastery, A All— after allsuspected?

For what You lied to me, When I asked you 20 years back:

— Father, write And They say, What Jews kill Christian babies. ButI, my loved ones And familiar, This unthinkable!

You they said Then — calm down, No, Certainly.

You taught us: » Our struggle Not against flesh And blood, A against spirits maliceunder heaven».

Isn't it Not You repeated us, What » is our fatherland — Kingdom God's» ?

» Check yours heart, main criterion — Love To enemies. Bye You readyto pay evil behind evil, You Not You know Christ» .

How You could quit serious accusation mine blood brothers And sisters, after Togo, How thousands, tens thousand buried V Baby Yaru, there And mygreat-grandfathers? After Togo, How many from Jews were baptized, become priestscontrary to everyone And everything. After murders father Alexandra Me? How many once Youprayed behind me And mine family, A you overpowered doubts? You knew O myancestors And were silent?

If All these years suspicions poisoned your monastic feat, Sorry.

When— That You talked: Church must be persecuted, to cleanse yourself Andbe Faithful, A With ami built tombs to the prophets, together With their Notrepentant murderers.

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

If What, Come under my shelter, at us You you will V security, Welet's divide piece, even If He will the last one".

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 to the publishing house, to the collective farm “Resurrection” in the Ryazan region and to the monastery in which the monks of the Sretensky Monastery live. After the screening of the film “The Confessor” by the Dozhd TV channel at Artdocfest, Deacon Andrei Kuraev shared his knowledge about this monastery, to which ordinary people are not allowed entry: “This monastery is a closed organization where no one is allowed except VIP guests.” Father Andrei confirmed that a helipad was specially built at the monastery so that VIPs “could come and communicate with the monks.”

Receipt from the Sretenie store

At the Sretensky Monastery there is a large book Shop and the Unholy Saints Cafe. According to the register of individual entrepreneurs, income from trading in a store goes to the account individual entrepreneur monk Nikodim (in the world Nikolai Georgievich Bekenev), who has the right to trade in retail jewelry, wholesale ceramics and glass, run restaurants and dozens of other types of economic activity). Big question: why was it necessary to open IP to a monk who, by definition, takes a vow of poverty? Why not trust management economic activity layman?

However, monk Nikodim has long been Father Tikhon’s confidant. He is a member of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, where Shevkunov is 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 exhibition “Forbidden Art 2006” Yuri Samodurov and Viktor Erofeev in 2010.

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

Shevkunov also owns a share in the Russian Culture Foundation, 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.

Other information about Shevkunov’s shares or property in open sources not found.

A check from the Sretenie store, issued by IP Bekenev N.G (Hieromonk Nikodim Bekenev, resident of the Sretensky Monastery)

Effective manager

In recent years, two large projects have occupied 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 Russia.

The temple was solemnly consecrated on May 25, 2017. It took three years to build, and all this time fierce disputes surrounding the construction did not subside. 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 has no architectural education.

“When our methodological department received a project for a gigantic temple on the territory of the Sretensky Monastery, I strongly opposed it,” says Deputy General Director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, architectural historian Andrei Batalov. “I believed that the 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 the Sretensky Monastery. Batalov saw that the parishioners did not fit into the old small church and were standing on the street. He agreed with Father 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.” Architect Ilya Utkin, who is famous 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 “pointwise” led him to Dmitry Smirnov’s model, which was later recognized as the winner.

“From an architectural point of view, this project presented a completely impossible picture. There was a feeling that in an open field there was such a fairy-tale tower, with blue skies and golden domes. Unprofessional work done by absolute amateurs,” architect Utkin assesses the winner.

Father Tikhon met Yuri Cooper, who had lived between Paris and Moscow since the 70s, in Voronezh, where he arrived together with the Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeev. Cooper designed the new building of Voronezh drama theater. “Avdeev recommended me to Shevkunov, and he invited me to the temple construction project,” says Cooper. — I only made 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 covered with terrible frescoes.”

Yuri Cooper says that his friendly relations with Shevkunov have cracked, and Dmitry Smirnov, after the construction of the temple, never mentioned his last name in any interview or said that he participated in this project: “Dmitry has no education, he is a computer scientist , who worked with me for many years. Tikhon lured him over, and now he does all the projects with him.”

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

Shevkunov came up with the exhibition “Russia - My History” and spent the whole of 2017 traveling with them throughout Russia. On next year these projects will continue. Initiative group on the nomination of Vladimir Putin for president, as is known, gathered precisely at this exhibition at VDNKh in Moscow.

The Ministry of Education and Science invited university rectors to use these exhibitions to organize extracurricular activities for students and to retrain history teachers. This initiative outraged 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 alone through the system of presidential grants, through subsidies from the Ministry of Culture - 50 million rubles, technical support for exhibitions 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 V Saint— St. Petersburg it worked out V 1.3 billion rubles — Z. WITH. ). In addition, exhibitions are actively financed by Russian business,” says Center expert Anastasia Ivolga. — The budget funding received 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 were guaranteed financial support several years ahead. It’s quite difficult to imagine another similar structure that could so easily secure active support both in Moscow and in the regions, and in four years easily grow into a federal-scale project.”

Tikhon Shevkunov at the presentation of the book “Unholy Saints” as part of the XXIV Moscow International Book Fair at the All-Russian Exhibition Center. Photo: Maxim Shemetov / TASS

The Man in the Shell

Since 2000, when, at the instigation of Shevkunov himself, one of the journalists stated that Father Tikhon is Putin’s confessor, he has been called, “Lubyansk archimandrite”, “confessor of His Majesty”, “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 “spiritual father.” 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” he shot in 2008 cemented his image as an anti-Western and obscurantist. Sergei Pugachev claims that Shevkunov is now afraid of his own shadow:

“A few years ago he came to me in London and begged me: “Let’s go into 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 level. He repeated: “The 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 Russian history for power. “He tells the president what a great country he runs. Starting with a film about Byzantium, he creates a new “author’s” mythology using modern political language“, quite understandable to those who sit in the Kremlin,” says Chapnin. — In the film “The Byzantine Lesson,” he explained for dummies the history of the fall of Byzantium and the insidious role of the West. And he soon decided that in 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 find Bishop Tikhon’s enemies does not leave him.”

Historian and researcher of the Russian Orthodox Church Nikolai Mitrokhin explains why Shevkunov was not ordained bishop for so long: “He is the 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 15 years ago. And they did it with difficulty now. The church people don’t really like FSB people, and they especially don’t promote such ambitious characters.

His entire biography in recent times indicates his obvious connections with the FSB. He has some pretty serious money, good connections with FSB men. The street where the Sretensky Monastery is located, this street, by agreement with the FSB, is its street. He destroyed the French school that stood on the territory of the monastery and erected his own gigantic temple. It is clear that he did not do this with income from the publishing house. He got some money somewhere.”

“FSB officers like to have their own priest, who, especially, has been stuck in the same place for 25 years,” says Mitrokhin. “They feed him as best they can, provide him with help and services. He strongly coincides ideologically with them, with their ideological vision of the world and everything else. I rewatched the film “The Byzantine Lesson”. This is an ideal presentation of the textbooks used to study at the FSB Academy, only in a historical analogy: a conspiracy, an irreconcilable enemy, pressure on the authorities and the state through internal factions. Logic of the KGB Institute textbook. I read what they wrote about Soviet history.”

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

“According to the statutes of the Moscow Patriarchate, a candidate for patriarch must have experience in managing dioceses. Shevkunov does not have such experience, and he has not yet been given the episcopal see. But, if necessary, the charter will be rewritten,” continues Soldatov.

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

“It doesn’t mean that a person with a backbone is strong; a backbone can also be weak,” Dmitriev explains his theory. “It doesn’t mean that the shell protects; the shell can be frail.” Mayakovsky was a man of the 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 brightest people era, he cannot live without a shell, he has always been looking for this shell. But the armor is powerful and spiritual.”

“Shevkunov symbolizes the conservative wing in the Russian Orthodox Church,” says one of the priests on condition of anonymity. — He is a pragmatist and a romantic at the same time. His main idea- Russia - Orthodox country, and church-going security officers are correct security officers. 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 can friendship with the security officers and the glorification of the new martyrs fit into one head?

Father Joseph Kiperman, who met with novice Gosha Shevkunov at the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in the late 80s, offers his explanation: “From the very beginning, the Chekists planned to build a Soviet church so that the parishioners would be simply Soviet people. They wanted to leave appearance church, but change everything inside. Tikhon is one of these Soviet people. The most last idea the devil: mix everything so that both Ivan the Terrible and Saint Metropolitan Philip are together. There were 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 confusion is the devil’s latest know-how.”

The appointment of Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), who has the fame of “Putin’s spiritual father,” as head of the Pskov Metropolis excited and puzzled the church-political world. Some decided that this was a step towards patriarchy, others - that it was the opposite: exile. The answer has become clear now.

Bishop Tikhon of Yegoryevsk was appointed to the Pskov Metropolis with all possible pathos - at a synod meeting in the imperial building of the Holy Governing Synod on Senate Square. Three days later, on May 17, Patriarch Kirill elevated him to the rank of metropolitan.

The status of “Putin’s confessor,” which Bishop Tikhon never renounced, but never confirmed, is controversial. From the second half of the 90s, he was the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow near Lubyanka and, it is believed, made friends there with many figures in this department, including Vladimir Putin. Even if Bishop Tikhon is not his spiritual father, they know each other well, the bishop often accompanies the president on trips, etc.

To what extent do external friends help Bishop Tikhon move through career ladder in the church, and in which - this is a consequence of his own talents, is not so important. It is important that until recently he was the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery (formally its head is the patriarch himself), the rector of the Sretensky Theological Seminary and the head of the Patriarchal Council for Culture. And also a vicar (that is, a bishop without a subordinate territory) of the Moscow diocese.

In parachurch circles, Bishop Tikhon is traditionally viewed as main competitor Patriarch Kirill. Devout security officers with a warm heart and clean hands They say they love him much more than the money-loving and ambitious Kirill. In addition, Kirill is an ecumenist, kissed the Pope, a Westerner and a modernist. Worse, there is a suspicion that deep down he believes that “the priesthood is higher than the kingdom.” Tikhon is a much greater traditionalist, has not been tainted by any scandals, studied at VGIK and, they say, is very congenial in communication.

Therefore, many perceived Tikhon’s ordination as bishop in 2015 as a step towards the patriarchal throne. He was a vicar for 2.5 years and now, finally, he headed the Pskov Metropolis. This is the second step, since only a bishop who has experience in leading the territory can be elected patriarch. Plus a slight increase in status - from an ordinary bishop to a metropolitan.

At first it was not clear what Bishop Tikhon’s appointment to Pskov was. Indeed, preparation for the patriarchate or exile from Moscow, which should reduce his influence.

However, events last days dotted the i's. Metropolitan Tikhon was removed from his post as abbot of the Sretensky Monastery and rector of the theological seminary. Sources familiar with canon law confirmed to City 812 that legally Tikhon could, as the ruling bishop of the Pskov Metropolis, also lead a monastery in Moscow. That is, his displacement is most likely political in nature. Apparently, Patriarch Kirill is trying to deprive his competitor of connections with Moscow and formal reasons to appear in the capital and walk around the Kremlin. Now for him there is another Kremlin - Pskov. True, Tikhon retains the position of head of the cultural council, but this is not at all like the monastery near Lubyanka. And for how long? In addition, the Sretensky Monastery was an important source of income for Metropolitan Tikhon, which he lost and which is unlikely to be able to compensate for the diocesan tax from the ancient but poor Pskov Metropolis.

In this sense, the biography of Metropolitan Methodius of Perm and Kungur is noteworthy. He graduated from the Leningrad Theological Academy, worked in the Department for External Church Relations, was one of the people close to Patriarch Alexy II - in general, a ready candidate for his successor. There is a version that it was the result of competition between him and the then head of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk, that led to the events that went down in history as the “Tobacco Scandal.” In 1997, Moskovsky Komsomolets published a series of articles in which they described how the Russian Orthodox Church made money from the duty-free import of tobacco and alcohol into the country. The newspaper called Kirill, who, according to its version, was behind these events, “the tobacco metropolitan.”

In 2003, when Alexy’s health deteriorated and preparations for the battle for the patriarchate entered a decisive phase, Methodius was removed from all his posts and sent to care for the Orthodox Christians of Kazakhstan. The patriarchal chair, however, became vacant only in 2009, and only a year after that Methodius managed to return to his homeland, to the Perm diocese, where he remains to this day.

However, the source of Tikhon's power is in outside world, and hardware damage within the ROC cannot significantly weaken it. And the patriarch will not be able to prevent him from appearing in the capital (only an ordinary priest can be prohibited by the bishop from leaving the territory of the diocese). Therefore, perhaps, by exiling Tikhon to Pskov, Patriarch Kirill is acting in a Christian manner, but clearly not in accordance with the rules of the struggle for power. Which say that it is better not to attack the enemy at all than to leave him undead.

However, Metropolitan Tikhon himself immediately began work in the new place, that is, he treated his appointment not as an annoying formality distracting him from important affairs in Moscow, but as a serious occupation for a long time. He has already removed the rector of the main temple of Pskov - the Holy Trinity Cathedral, standing in the center of the Pskov Kremlin. And the governor of the historical Pskov-Pechora himself wrote a statement for health reasons.

Stanislav Volkov

Date of Birth:

Ordination date:

Date of tonsure:

Day Angel:

A country:

Biography:

Graduated from 9th grade high school No. 8 Perm. In 1994-1997 studied at vocational school No. 19 in Perm.

In 1997, he entered the Faculty of Chemical Technology of the Perm State Technical University, specializing in “Machines and Apparatuses” industrial production And building materials" At the end of the 3rd year, I transferred to the correspondence department. In January 2002, he defended his thesis with a bachelor's degree in the direction of “Technological machines and equipment.”

Since April 2002 - resident of the St. Michael-Arkhangelsk Monastery in the village. Kozikha, Novosibirsk region. The monastery hosted various obediences related to the construction of the Trinity-Vladimir Cathedral in the courtyard in Novosibirsk. From June 2003 - regent of the monastery fraternal choir, from April 2008 to April 2011 - dean of the metochion.

On March 31, 2006, the abbot of the monastery, Abbot Artemy (Snigur), tonsured him into monasticism with the name Matthew in honor of the holy apostle and evangelist Matthew.

In 2002-2007 Studied at the Tomsk Theological Seminary (by correspondence).

On June 17, 2007, Archbishop Tikhon of Novosibirsk and Berdsk ordained him to the rank of hierodeacon, and on April 5, 2009, to the rank of hieromonk.

In June 2010, he was appointed teacher of church singing at the Novosibirsk Theological Seminary.

In April 2011, for further ecclesiastical obedience, he was transferred to the clergy of the Peter and Paul and Kamchatka diocese. On June 11, 2011, he was appointed to the position of secretary of the diocesan administration. Since January 2012 - head of the diocesan architectural and construction department. In March 2013, he was elected Chairman of the Council of the Foundation. Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) in support of the construction of churches in the Kamchatka region.

Since 2012 - member Public Council at the Office of Rosreestr for the Kamchatka Territory.

In 2009-2015 Studied at the Moscow Theological Academy (by correspondence). He defended his thesis on the topic “Persecution of the Church in the city of Kungur and the Kungur deanery of the Perm diocese 1917-1941.”

By the decision of the Holy Synod of December 24, 2015 (magazine No. 99), he was elected Bishop of Anadyr and Chukotka.

On December 25, 2015, the manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

He was consecrated bishop on December 26, 2015 in the Throne Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He was consecrated on January 3, 2016 during the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The services were led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

By decree His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on September 20, 2016 was appointed rector of the Church of the Icon Mother of God“Znamenie” in Kuntsevo, Moscow.

On December 4, 2017, during the Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill elevated him to the rank of archbishop.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of July 14, 2018 (journal No. 50), he was appointed vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' with the title “Egoryevsky”.

By order of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill dated July 27, 2018, he was appointed manager of the North-Eastern and Western Moscow Vicariates. Also, by Patriarchal decree of July 27, he was relieved of his post as rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” in Kuntsevo and appointed rector of the temple Life-Giving Trinity in Sviblovo, Moscow.

Education:

2007 - Tomsk Theological Seminary (in absentia).

2015 - Moscow Theological Academy (correspondence).

Scientific works, publications:

Word of Archimandrite Matthew (Kopylov) upon his naming as Bishop of Anadyr and Chukotka.

Awards:

Church:

2014 - medal named after. Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) III Art. (Peter and Paul Diocese);

2015 - Patriarchal charter.

The following story is going around Moscow: “One of the officials is hired for a high position. Putin's personnel adviser Viktor Ivanov casually asks: what is your attitude towards Orthodoxy? The candidate was savvy and answered correctly. “Why don’t you get baptized?” – Ivanov asked sincerely and immediately called the fashionable priest, the rector of the Lubyanka monastery, Father Tikhon. And together they accepted a new worker - both into the bosom of the church and into the ranks of the administration.”

Many of the current elite can say to themselves: “We all came from the same font.” And the pectoral cross has become as important as the party card used to be. Whether we will live to see the day when thieving officials will be forcibly tonsured into monks - only God knows. Well, maybe even Father Tikhon. Rumor and sources (which cannot be specified) persistently call him the personal confessor of President Putin.

- What am I to you, what Richelieu? – Father Tikhon himself responds to such suspicions, not without coquetry.

Faith slowly

In New York, at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Putin almost became embarrassed. In the line of handsome elders, he needed to recognize the most important thing - Metropolitan Laurus. VVP hesitated a little, then confidently walked towards the priest with the longest beard. The next frame was captured by all the television cameras. A puny, short monk jumped up to Putin and turned him in the right direction. The “nun” who directed the president on the right path was Archimandrite Tikhon.

Soon the priest himself gave an interview to the Greek newspaper “Strana”, after which he was firmly included in “Putin’s confessors” - the priest knows too many of the president’s spiritual secrets.

“The President of Russia,” Father Tikhon told the journalist, “really Orthodox man who confesses, receives communion and recognizes his responsibility before God...

Of course, no one held a candle during the president’s confession. But many would like to know: what and to whom does Vladimir Putin repent?

The human soul is darkness. And what is going on in the soul of the president of the country is completely unknown to mere mortals. A person who has trodden a path there cannot be ordinary. There are polar assessments about Father Tikhon - from enthusiastic to sharply abusive. For a humble Orthodox monk, they are even too polar. To us, the former to the Soviet people, it is difficult to imagine the relationship between the head of state and his “spiritual father.” After all, he doesn’t ask him for his blessing to sign laws? Therefore, Father Tikhon is not compared with anyone - with Grigory Rasputin, Grishka Otrepyev and other monks who influenced the kings and the destinies of the country.

Life of Georgy Shevkunov

Father Tikhon is 6 years younger than his “spiritual son” Putin, but they say they even have similar characters - both are very energetic. What brings them together, apparently, is the fact that Father Tikhon is interested in politics.

Before becoming a monk, Tikhon had an ordinary Soviet life, and in his youth he even experienced a “bohemian period.”

Tikhon is a monastic name; in childhood the future archimandrite was called George. Neighbors remember him as Gosha.

– Gosha was very sick since childhood. Asthma, pneumonia, lameness - physically weak, to be sure, but he always had a fire in his temperament, recalls one of Shevkunov’s student friends.

“I remember him very well,” says Roza Tavlikhanova, a janitor from the apartment next to the Shevkunovs on the southern outskirts of Moscow on Red Lighthouse Street. “His mother still lives next door to me.” Gosha comes to see her, but not often. I know that my mother did not accept his decision to go to the monastery for a long time. But now I seem to have calmed down. Gosha is doing well and travels abroad. He recently made European-quality renovations in this apartment for his mother. He was very responsive since childhood. If I was sick, I always ran in: Can’t buy you some medicine? Gosha had two bosom friends, and misfortunes happened to both of them. One has gone crazy and is now being treated in a mental hospital. And the second one became ill with his heart on the subway and died.

– I came for the entrance exam to VGIK, and there were applicants sitting there - grown-up guys, bearded. And ahead, I saw a boy who looked about 12 years old at most,” recalls classmate Vladimir Shcherbinin. – It was Gosha Shevkunov. We both did. And we became friends. As a student, he was both the darling of the course and, one might say, a bully. Just don’t ask for details - I won’t tell you anyway.

Shevkunov’s classmates still remember how he got into a fight with a future famous journalist. By the way, he has not forgotten this and still writes critical nasty things about his long-time offender. (And some words and actions of the controversial priest Tikhon actually give rise to this.)

“We had a teacher at VGIK on ancient Russian art,” Shcherbinin continues his memoirs. – He was an Orthodox man even in those Soviet times. And not only did he not hide this, but he also told the students things that there was nowhere else to learn. We even got together after classes... Gosha got his own Bible - then it was difficult to get it, but he was always smart with us.

After graduating from the institute, the graduate cinematographer’s interest in religion continued. Georgy Shevkunov went to the Pskov-Pechora Monastery, one of the main Orthodox centers in Soviet times. The famous old seer of the 20th century, John Krestyankin, lived here - he became the spiritual father of the future archimandrite.

“George lived in the monastery on and off for about 8 years,” recalled Vladimir Shcherbinin. – Worked for barnyard. When he decided to become a monk, his mother did not bless him for a long time. She is a scientist and has been involved in microbiology all her life. It was Soviet times, and it was difficult for her to understand her son’s passion for religion. She reconciled herself only after 8 years.

Georgy-Tikhon made the right decision. A life more interesting than any movie awaited him.

My own director

Tikhon became an atypical monk. Too many scandalous stories arose around the newly minted novice - with him, Tikhon, in leading role. Detractors called it “self-promotion,” and friends called it a consequence of his too lively character.

Having taken monastic vows, Tikhon moved to the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow. One night the monastery burned down, and Tikhon publicly blamed some “foreign agents” for everything.

Soon in church walls Another “Hollywood” story played out. The Patriarch recalled the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, Georgy Kochetkov, and in his place appointed “his own man” - the young and devoted Tikhon Shevkunov. Sretensky Monastery is located in the city center, on Lubyanka. The church and the state then began to rapidly move closer, and it was imprudent to leave the “uncontrollable” Georgy Kochetkov and his supporters in such an important place. The expelled monks did not want to leave, because on their own they restored the building, which was destroyed during the Soviet years.

– We will come once, hold a service in the yard, then a second time. And for the third time we will come here with the Cossacks,” said the new abbot of the monastery on Lubyanka in a quiet voice.

“We did just that,” said Vladimir Shcherbinin, who eventually became an icon painter and witnessed the division of the monastery. “It was winter, and after serving in the cold, Tikhon caught a bad cold. But he didn’t back down.

The next time he appeared on the territory of the monastery with the “Black Hundred” - a combat Cossack unit under Orthodox banners. Supporters of Georgy Kochetkov surrendered the monastery without a fight.

After this story they began to say about Tikhon: he has a “bulldog grip.”

From the vicegerent's chair, the windows of Vladimir Putin's office were already visible, where the immortal soul of the future president at that time worked as director of the FSB.

Road to the temple

There are different versions about how the two Lubyanka bosses met.

One says that Putin himself came to the temple because it was close to his work.

Another version: Shevkunov and Putin were introduced by the KGB general, now State Duma deputy Nikolai Leonov. Putin was just beginning to “go into reconnaissance” when Nikolai Leonov had already become the second man in the First Directorate of the KGB and, as they say, personally supervised Fidel Castro and all our Jamesbonds on the American continent.

“I did not participate in this process,” Leonov immediately debunked this version. “And I didn’t see the president himself in Sretensky Church. I heard he has his own church on Valaam. I think in Moscow he has a place to celebrate personal, non-political rituals. But in Sretensky Church, among the parishioners, I often see former Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, Minister Agriculture Alexei Gordeev, presidential representative for the Central Federal District Georgy Poltavchenko, deputy Sergei Glazyev...

Tikhon's entourage insists on the most casual of all versions of acquaintance.

– Father Tikhon carried out restoration work in the monastery - built, rebuilt... But in order to transport goods around Lubyanka, and even more so to dig, a special permit was needed - there are a variety of wires underground there... For such permission you had to go to to the first person of the FSB - Putin, that is,” said Vladimir Shcherbinin. “That’s how they met.”

Court Monk

Tikhon loudly welcomed Putin’s assumption of the presidency and rejoiced aloud at “the end of the era of Yeltsinism.” At the beginning of his church career, the fiery monk loved to make loud statements on various occasions. He either condemned the introduction of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), or opposed the arrival of David Copperfield to Russia.

And Tikhon began to be called the “gray eminence” after he began accompanying Putin on various important trips. In 2001, under the leadership of Father Tikhon, the first “truly” Orthodox president of Russia made a trip (in church circles it is called a pilgrimage) to the northern monasteries of Russia and the holy places of Greece.

Before the death of the elder wonderworker John Krestyankin, Father Tikhon took the president to him. They talked face to face a whole hour, and, as they say, the leader big country came out shocked and a little confused and even said:

- Very little time left...

Finally, in New York, at a meeting on the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Vladimir Putin was again accompanied by Father Tikhon. Such closeness to the first secular figure even causes legitimate jealousy in the ranks of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is no coincidence that one of Shevkunov’s former “subordinates” at the Sretensky Monastery has already risen to the rank of bishop, and Tikhon is still an archimandrite.

Democrats whisper about Tikhon's illiberal influence on Putin.

– We never have any lousy democrats, only patriots! – one of the frequent visitors to the church on Lubyanka boasted to me about the “cleanliness of the ranks” of the parishioners.

“Tikhon has always professed conservative patriotic views,” says CEO information and analytical center "SOVA" Alexander Verkhovsky. – In short: Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality. He is one of the statesmen in robes. But he is unlikely to be the president’s confessor; rather, he is simply one of his advisers on church issues.

About the priest and his workers

Under Tikhon, the Sretensky Monastery became rich. The monk choir performs in the Kremlin and even tours abroad. Lubyanka Compound, as I was convinced, produces and sells more Orthodox literature than the entire Moscow Patriarchate. Father is a good business executive. But for some cases only him and God's will few. We also need a presidential one.

In 2000, at the request of the Patriarch, the government transferred ownership of a monument of federal significance to the Sretensky Monastery - the former estate of General Yermolov’s nephew in the Ryazan region with a luxurious mansion, courtyard buildings and a large English park. Where a relative of the legendary conqueror of the Caucasus lived several centuries ago, a monastery will be founded - something like country residence Sretensky Monastery. Multi-million dollar restoration work is being carried out by a government agency – the Directorate for Construction, Reconstruction and Restoration.

I wanted to stop by and see how monastic life would be organized in the former mansions. But no one is allowed there:

- What are you talking about! This is a monastery!

And you won’t find fault.

Next to the estate there was a lagging collective farm. It was given to the monastery as a payload for the estate.

“They brought us under the monastery,” the collective farmers laugh. But they don’t complain much. For them average salary 3,400 rubles a month is already unearthly grace. This didn’t happen before either. Investors in cassocks have already invested 17 million monastery money in pigs and cows, and instead of collective farm junk they bought new tractors. Workers on the farm are hired, and financial director- monastery, Father Hermogenes knows accounting like “Our Father.” Although he calls himself in the old way - an economist.

In Moscow, Father Tikhon also clearly claims to expand his territory - the monastery has long insisted on the resettlement of “inconvenient neighbors” - French school. Some time ago two charitable institutions openly conflicted. But the “crusade” against the school failed - students, parents, and the press rose up. The clerics had to retreat.

- Now they even help us - with cleaning the territory, for example. But we are afraid that this is just the calm before the storm, and we are not giving any interviews, the school administration told me. And they hung up.

Who else is vying for the president's soul?

The president has a broad soul. They say that recently new candidates from the church have appeared to take their place in it. One of the main ones on this list is Elder Kirill, confessor of the last three Russian patriarchs, including Alexy II. He entered a monastery after the Great Patriotic War. Father Kirill lives in the residence of Patriarch Alexy, and, as they say, there is still a queue of people who suffer for advice, blessing or healing.

The other is the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Hegumen Pankratiy. The mere fact that Putin gave Valaam a yacht worth $1.5 million is enough to believe in the president’s special affinity for the northern monastery. Officials and businessmen also pay Valaam Monastery: Recently they were given the Winter Hotel and presented with a mobile diesel power station.

This list also includes one of Putin’s classmates, who became a monk and priest in one of the capital’s large churches. At the word “Putin” he hangs up. And in person he carries himself with that special self-confidence that comes from being close not only to God, but also to the president.

Abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, confessor of the Putin family.

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-Pechersky Monastery, where he was a novice for nine years, and then took monastic vows. He returned to Moscow and worked in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Ten years ago, Shevkunov first appeared in print as one of the ideologists of the fundamentalist direction of the Russian Orthodox Church, publishing the article “Church and State,” in which he openly expressed his attitude towards democracy. “A democratic state,” quotes Father Tikhon from Free Lapse Breau, “will inevitably try to weaken the most influential Church in the country, bringing into play the ancient principle of “divide and conquer.” This statement seems important due to 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 film screenwriter took the first step in his brilliant church career shortly after his return to Moscow from Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in 1991. Then he initiated a scandal around a fire in the Donskoy Monastery, where he lived. According to investigators, the cause of the fire was a drunken monastery watchman who fell asleep with a lit cigarette. Shevkunov accused Western intelligence agents sent to us under the guise of believers of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad of “malicious arson.” (By the way, now “foreigners,” despite the long-standing scandal, support Father Tikhon. According to rumors, they see him as the main candidate for the post of the next Patriarch of All Rus'.) They say that the certified screenwriter himself is not averse to taking the highest church post in Russia.

There is also information about Tikhon’s father’s connection with the KGB. Perhaps these connections subsequently 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, and was deputy head of the department. (In the 70s, Putin also served at PSU.) Tikhon (Shevkunov) and Nikolai Leonov are on the editorial board of the Russian House magazine, which is published at the Sretensky Monastery publishing house. Leonov is a political commentator on the program of the same name, which airs on the Moscovia channel, and Shevkunov is also the confessor of both projects - the magazine and the television show. Among the frequent guests of the Russia House are representatives of Russian National Unity (RNU) and the Black Hundred.

Father Tikhon is also known for more global projects. He was one of the activists in the movement for the canonization of the royal family. He led a “crusade” against the tour of magician David Copperfield in Russia, informing the congregation that “ magic tricks this vulgar American Woland” make the audience “dependent on the darkest and most destructive forces.” And his most famous project is the fight against “satanic” barcodes and individual taxpayer numbers (TIN). In the barcodes and tax identification number, according to Father Tikhon, the “number of the beast” is hidden - 666. In addition, the universal accounting system subjects the Orthodox to total control by the secular, anti-Orthodox, from Tikhon’s point of view, state. His article “Schengen Zone” dedicated to this “ global problem”, was published in the RNE publication “Russian Order”. Despite the fact that Father Tikhon denies his connection with the Russian Nazis, their views are very, very close.

Here are the holy father's thoughts on censorship. “Censorship is a normal tool in a normal society, which should cut off everything extreme. Personally, of course, I am for it - both in the religious and secular spheres. As for state censorship, sooner or later society will come to a sober understanding of the need for this institution. Let us remember how Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in his youth scolded censorship and did not rhyme it except with the word “fool”. And later he advocated censorship.” Tikhon’s last phrase, however, has baffled researchers of A.S.’s work. Pushkin. Well, Pushkin didn’t write something like that!

Tikhon was one of the first to congratulate Putin on his “ascension” and then publicly rejoiced at Yeltsin’s timely departure, condemning the “era of Yeltsinism.”

Father Tikhon hides the story of his acquaintance with Putin. But he advertises his closeness to the first person in every possible way. There is talk in church circles that the rumor that Tikhon is the president’s confessor was started by Tikhon himself. The certified screenwriter himself does not confirm this rumor, but does not refute it either - he flirts: “What are you trying to make of me as some kind of Richelieu?” Nevertheless, journalists from Moscow publications confidently wrote from Tikhon’s words that “Vladimir Putin constantly confesses to him. It is he who instructs the president in spiritual life.”

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