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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



peror and of his representative, the High 

 Procurator, assumed a predominance in- 

 compatible with the spirit of the canons 

 of the Orthodox Church. There was 

 danger that, as a consequence of the re- 

 cent revolution, the head of the democ- 

 racy might assume a like predominance. 

 The only way out of this menacing situa- 

 tion was to convoke a council, which is 

 the supreme normal organ of Church 

 legislation, administration, and justice. 



The Council assembled in Moscow on 

 the 15th day of August, 191 7. It was 

 opened in the Church of the Falling 

 Asleep (Uspenski Sobor), within the hal- 

 lowed precincts of the Kremlin. The 

 Metropolitan of Moscow, Tikhon, was 

 elected President ; the Vice-Presidents 

 were the two Archbishops — Arsenius, of 

 Novgorod, and Antonius, of Kharkov — 

 and two presbyters, one of whom was 

 Father Nicholas Lubeimov, chief priest 

 of the army and navy, and two laymen — 

 Professor Prince Eugene Troubestskoi 

 and the President of the Duma, M. V. 

 Rodzyanko; later Mr. Alexander Sama- 

 rin was elected a Vice-President (see 

 pages 379-382). 



"we wish to have: a father" 



The first question to be settled was 

 this : should the Patriarchate be re- 

 stored? Some of the peasant members 

 spoke energetically to this end, declaring 

 that such were the instructions from their 

 constituents. One of them said, "We 

 wish to have a father." 



In Russia's present condition a decla- 

 ration from the most numerous class of 

 the Russian people possesses a peculiar 

 weight ; but the idea of the restoration 

 was vigorously opposed by a group 

 headed by the liberal professors and by 

 several priests. When, however, a con- 

 siderable majority declared in favor of 

 the Patriarchate, the opponents received 

 the decision calmly, and most of them set 

 to work heartily to assist in its realization. 



So the Patriarchate was restored. But 

 it was not restored in the form it had in 

 Russia in the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. In those days the Patriarch 

 was invested with excessive personal 

 power, which did not strictly conform to 

 the spirit of the Orthodox Church. 



The Council narrowly defined the po- 

 sition of the Patriarch as that of "the 

 first among equals," on a par with the 

 other organs of the higher Church admin- 

 istration, the Holy Synod and the su- 

 preme Church Council, of which the Pa- 

 triarch is president. He is awarded a 

 position much like that occupied by the 

 Patriarch of Constantinople, but with 

 some extension of rights, compared to 

 those given to the latter by the statute of 

 his local Patriarchate. 



THE ELECTION OF THE PATRIARCHATE 



The election of the Patriarch took place 

 during the time of the armed conflict in 

 Moscow, when part of the city was cut 

 ofr* from the building in which the Coun- 

 cil has its sittings. The election, how- 

 ever, took its perfectly regular course, 

 a sufficient number of members being 

 present. 



Under strict observance of the rules 

 for elections established by the Council, 

 and with the participation of the mem- 

 bers who represented all the Church ele- 

 ments, three candidates were chosen: 

 Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow ; Arse- 

 nius, Archbishop of Novgorod, and An- 

 tonius, Archbishop of Kharkov. 



A few days later a solemn service was 

 celebrated, after which three tickets bear- 

 ing the three names were dropped into a 

 special casket. Father Alexis (who is 

 distinguishable by his black cowl and 

 white beard and is sitting at the right in 

 the second row of the Assembly, page 

 393), a holy monk and recluse, vowed to 

 the solitude and absolute silence of the 

 monastery of Zosimov (a dependence of 

 the Troitsa-Sergian Laura), being thereto 

 appointed by the Council, in the presence 

 of the assembled people took out one of 

 the tickets, on which was found to be 

 inscribed the name of Tikhon. 



As ordained by the Council, the Most 

 Reverend Metropolitan Tikhon was at 

 once proclaimed Patriarch of Moscow 

 and all Russia. He represents the new 

 birth of the free Russian Church, the new 

 Father. 



Two illustrations which accompany this 

 article show the Council of the Sobor in 

 session (pages 392 and 393). At the 

 end of the hall, within the inclosure of 



