The People's Patriarch

The People's Patriarch tells the dramatic story of Patriarch Tikhon (Bellavin), who became head of Russia's largest religious body, the Russian Orthodox Church, at the same moment as the Bolshevik Revolution. As militant atheists, the Bolsheviks sought to destroy the Church and eradicate religion, and castigated Tikhon as a "counterrevolutionary" for his valiant efforts to defend his faith. Utilizing previously classified documents from the top Bolshevik leadership and secret police, the book tells the story of Tikhon's heroic resistance to a totalitarian regime and provides an entirely new perspective on the Russian Revolution.

Scott M. Kenworthy is Professor in the History Department at Miami University (Ohio), where he also teaches for the Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and Religious Studies programs. He is the author of the prize-winning book The Heart of Russia: Trinity-Sergius, Monasticism and Society After 1825 and, together with Alexander Agadjanian, Understanding World Christianity: Russia. He is past president of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christianity and has held research fellowships in the US, Germany, Hungary, and Romania.