Contemporary assessments
St. Tikhon (Belavin), patriarch:
“Do you know that Vladyka is a holy man? He is an extraordinary, rare person. Such lamps of the Church are an extraordinary phenomenon. But it must be taken care of, because such extreme asceticism, complete disregard for everything in life affects one’s health. Of course, the bishop chose a holy, but difficult path; few are given such strength of spirit.”
Priest Xenophon Tsendrovsky, the main ideologist and leader of renovationism in Astrakhan, bringing public repentance for the sin of schism, said the following:
“For a long time I have been stuck in the sin of renovationism. My conscience was calm, because it seemed to me that I was doing some necessary and right thing. But then I saw Vladyka Thaddeus; I looked at him and felt some kind of revolution taking place in my soul. I could not bear the pure, heartfelt look that convicted me of sin and warmed me with all-forgiving love, and I hurried to leave. Now I was clearly aware that I had seen a man whom I could worship not only in my soul, but also here, before your eyes.”
Arrest and martyrdom
Archbishop Thaddeus never participated in the political movement; during interrogations he behaved courageously and with dignity, which especially infuriated the jailers. They sent the saint to a cell with criminals, who began to abuse him from the very first minute of his stay in the cell. Vladyka slept under the bunk, giving his pillow to one of the prisoners.
The Lord showed His love for his faithful son by sending the Mother of God to help. The Most Pure Mother of God appeared to the senior criminal and ordered him to leave the saint alone, threatening him with cruel death. In the morning, after listening to their comrade, the criminals bowed under their bunks, but were blinded by the bright light pouring out from the priest’s resting place. The ardent criminals fell to their knees, asking for forgiveness from the saint, after which they began to take care of him. The prison management became aware of this and the bishop was transferred to another cell.
Just 10 days in prison changed the lives of some criminals, but Archbishop Thaddeus himself was sentenced to death; his holiness so embittered the investigator that he insisted on drowning the bishop in prison.
Relics of the Hieromartyr Thaddeus in the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord in Tver
Thanks to the assistance of the prison doctor, who conveyed the news of the saint’s burial place to the outside world, it became possible to find his relics in the future.
Prayers
Troparion, tone 1
Praise be to God and your living sacrifice,/ Hieromartyr Thaddeus, appearing./ By fasting, vigil and prayer, I received the heavenly gifts,/ I became a good helper and comforter to many./ Pastoral You are adorned with wisdom and quietness of disposition,/ You have overcome the wickedness of Christ’s enemies./ Glory to Him who gave There is strength in your suffering, / glory, like a martyr, who crowned you, / glory to him who brings healing to all through you.
Kontakion, tone 4
The spirit of fearlessness, strength, love and hope/ the Chief Shepherd gave to you, Saint Thaddeus,/ in your suffering you gave thanks to God/ and in persecution you comforted the afflicted, eyes Goly // do not be discouraged, for Christ is with us.
Hieromartyr Thaddeus (Uspensky)
The Sretensky Monastery Publishing House has published a new book in the “Guardian of the Faith” series: “The Hieromartyr Thaddeus of the Assumption.” Compiled by Olga Rozhneva.
Hieromartyr Thaddeus Uspensky / Comp. O. L. Rozhneva. - M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2022. - 144 p. : ill. - (On guard of faith).
The book is dedicated to the Holy Martyr Thaddeus (Uspensky; 1872–1937), Archbishop of Tver. Patriarch Tikhon spoke about him: “Do you know that Vladyka Thaddeus is a holy man? He is not an ordinary, rare person. Such lamps of the Church are an extraordinary phenomenon.” Bishop Thaddeus accepted martyrdom for Christ with the courage and inspiration of the martyrs of the Church of the first centuries.
Hieromartyr Thaddeus, Archbishop of Tver (in the world Ivan Vasilyevich Uspensky), is the son of a priest and the grandson of a priest. He was born on November 12, 1872 in the village of Naruksovo, Nizhny Novgorod province. Ivan studied, continuing the family tradition, at the Nizhny Novgorod Theological School, and then at the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary. In 1892, at the age of twenty, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy. At that time, the rector of the academy was Archimandrite Anthony (Khrapovitsky), a philosopher and theologian, later Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia, and even later, after the Civil War in Russia, the first chairman of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
Hegumen Damascene (Orlovsky) wrote about the youth of the future Bishop Thaddeus: “While studying at the academy, Ivan Vasilyevich arranged his inner world, showing rare patience in this matter. Wanting to know everything about himself exactly, he kept a daily diary. Opening his soul to him, he maintained amazing chastity and refined Christian delicacy, writing down only what was truly significant and important, not allowing himself, when writing about others, to go into unnecessary details that could harm someone. His gentle soul, which retained its childishness and simplicity, strove only for the love of God and the impeccable fulfillment of the commandments, and he vigilantly monitored the moments of weakening of this love, grieving over the cooling and spiritual relaxation, and again and again turned to God for help.”
In August 1897, Ivan Uspensky was tonsured a monk with the name Thaddeus, in memory of the Apostle Thaddeus. In the same month, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and a month later to the rank of hieromonk, with an appointment to the post of teacher of logic, philosophy and didactics at the Smolensk Theological Seminary.
In December 1908, in the city of Vladimir-Volynsky, in the church of the Nativity of Christ Monastery, Archimandrite Thaddeus was named Bishop of Vladimir-Volynsky, the first vicar of the Volyn diocese.
In 1918–1919, Volyn was plunged into all the horrors of occupation, civil strife and destruction: it was alternately occupied by the Germans, the Poles, and the Petliurists.
Bishop Thaddeus was arrested. After leaving prison, he was appointed to the Astrakhan department. And in Astrakhan there was the height of renovationism, with which the ruler began to fight.
A. A. Solovyov told the following interesting fact: “In 1925, the renovationist “Metropolitan” Alexander Vvedensky read his lectures in all cities along the Volga and led debates. At the same time, he pursued a policy of strengthening renovationism locally. Vvedensky published an essay about his trip in the VCU magazine. In it he wrote that “nothing can be done for the Church in Astrakhan while the fanatic bishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) sits there.” Of course, it would be more correct to say that the Church cannot be harmed in Astrakhan while such a wonderful Bishop Thaddeus is there.”
In 1926, the deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky), was arrested, and Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) temporarily assumed his duties. The arrests of clergy and bishops followed one after another, so Metropolitan Joseph also appointed several archbishops in the event of his own arrest, in the hope that at least one of them would remain free. One of the three successors was Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) of Astrakhan. Metropolitan Joseph, indeed, was soon arrested; one of his appointed successors, Archbishop Korniliy (Sobolev), was in exile. And then, in mid-December 1926, Bishop Thaddeus left Astrakhan for Moscow to begin temporary leadership of the Church. Evgeniy Tuchkov, the head of the sixth department of the Secret Department of the GPU-OGPU, whose competence included the fight against religious organizations in the USSR, who called himself the “Soviet chief prosecutor,” ordered the detention of Bishop Thaddeus and sent him to the city of Kuznetsk, Saratov region, and the bishop was forbidden leave Kuznetsk. After his release from prison, Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) appointed Vladyka Thaddeus Archbishop of Saratov.
In November 1928, Bishop Thaddeus was transferred to Tver. In the summer of 1937, mass arrests began; almost the entire clergy of Tver and the region, as well as many lay believers, were arrested. Many of them were shot. On December 20, NKVD officers arrested Archbishop Thaddeus.
Hegumen Damascene (Orlovsky) wrote: “The bishop did not stay long in prison, but even in these last days he had to endure many humiliations. The prison authorities placed the bishop in a cell with criminals, and they mocked him and tried to humiliate him... He endured all the torment and bullying with meekness and humility. Lying under the bunk and constantly praying, in his last days on earth he humbly carried the cross, now weighed down with humiliation and reproach. And then the Mother of God Herself interceded for Her righteous man.” She appeared to the offenders, who first stopped tormenting him out of fear of the Mother of God, and then became imbued with respect for Bishop Thaddeus.
The Bishop said: “How do we usually react to suffering? How often we grumble and curse them, instead of blessing them, if not during the grief itself, then at least after, when its benefit for us has become undeniable. That’s why our soul is not transformed, that’s why our appearance is rarely bright.”
Ten days after his arrest, the bishop was sentenced to death on charges of leading a church-monarchist organization.
The honorable remains of Bishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) were found on October 26, 1993, on the day of the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. In 1997, the Bishop was canonized by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. His memory is celebrated by the Church on the day of his martyrdom - December 18/31. Currently, the shrine with the relics of the holy martyr Thaddeus is in the Ascension Cathedral in the city of Tver.
Hieromartyr Father Thaddeus, pray to God for us!
Used materials
- Life based on materials of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints:
- Holy Hieromartyr Thaddeus, Archbishop of Tver and Kashin commemorated December 18 (31) // Orthodoxy and modernity.
Information and analytical portal of the Saratov Metropolitanate : - (prayers)
- (partially used)
[1] Official church calendar on the website of the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate -
[2] Dating of appointments in 1927 - according to Gubonin, M. E. et al., History of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church
, Moscow: PSTGU, 2006, 404-405.
Early life and entry into monasticism
On November 12, 1872, a male child was born, who was named Ivan, the son of Vasily. In the Uspensky family, who lived in the village of Naruksovo, in the Lukoyanovsky district of the Saratov province, both the boy’s father and grandfather were clergy. God gave the local dean, Archpriest Vasily Fedorovich and his wife Lydia Andreevna nine sons and two daughters. The children were raised according to strict Christian canons, in love for the Savior and humanity.
Thaddeus Uspensky
Having graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, the young graduate joined the ranks of students at the Moscow Theological Academy, graduating from its walls in 1896 as a candidate of theology.
Ivan is eager to study the Bible, and in 1901 he defended his master’s project “The Unity of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.” Being a master, he thinks about taking monasticism, but he is stopped by only one thought: whether he will be able to serve people. The young man’s decision is influenced by his father, closest adviser, and friend Anthony, who headed the academy at that time.
At the end of the summer of 1897, the master's theologian became a monk with the name Thaddeus, he was ordained as a hierodeacon and sent as a teacher to the theological seminary of Smolensk. In 1900, the hierodeacon read the basics of theology to Ufa seminarians.
Interesting! On March 15, 1902, Thaddeus was ordained to the rank of archimandrite, and at the same time his theological work “Notes on Didactics” on the foundations of pedagogy and education in the church was published.
On January 8, 1903, Olontsevo Seminary welcomed its new rector, thirty-year-old Archimandrite Uspensky.
How Bishop Thaddeus hid the bread under his pillow
The prison where Archbishop Thaddeus (Uspensky) died a martyr.
Photo from the site kuz1.pstbi.ccas.ru When they brought parcels to Bishop Thaddeus in prison, he gave everything to the warden of the cell, who divided the parcel among all the cellmates. But there was a case when the archbishop hid some of the food under his pillow, and only after that he gave the rest to the warden and asked him to divide it among the prisoners.
Metropolitan Kirill was surprised at such a “concealment” of the product, and Bishop Thaddeus immediately explained: “No, no, not for myself. Today our brother will come to us, we need to feed him, but will they take him for allowance today?”
That same evening, Bishop Afanasy (Sakharov) arrived to serve his sentence, and he was placed in a cell with Bishop Thaddeus. So the archbishop’s stock made in advance came in handy! The unsentimental Metropolitan Kirill immediately told Bishop Athanasius about how Bishop Thaddeus “predicted” his arrival.
Architects were imprisoned and arrested. Thaddeus more than once. And in the intervals between arrests and prison, he served selflessly. When the authorities deprived him of registration, and Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) appointed him to the Tver See, which had previously been occupied by Arch. Thaddeus, Archbishop Nicephorus (Nikolsky), recognition and veneration of arch. Thaddeus was so unconditional that the clergy of the diocese continued to communicate with him as with their ruling bishop.
Married "groom"
In the rank of hieromonk.
Photo from the site kizhi.karelia.ru Bishop Thaddeus helped with good advice and prayer. People noticed that if you ask the Bishop for anything, help comes. One day the mother of the bride came to Vladyka Thaddeus on the eve of the wedding to ask for a blessing. She proudly shared that her daughter met a rich groom who presented him with expensive gifts.
In response to the mother’s request, the archpastor said: “Wait a little. Wait two weeks." The woman was indignant, since the table had already been prepared and guests had been invited. But the bishop asked to wait. The mother of the family was afraid to disobey the archbishop and postponed the celebration for two weeks.
On the fourteenth day, the “groom’s” wife arrived with two children and took her husband home.
Eyewitnesses from the life of Saint Archbishop Thaddeus recall many other cases of miraculous help to people. One day, when the Volga overflowed its banks and threatened to flood the fields, the residents of these places turned to Archbishop Thaddeus for help.
The Bishop went with the peasants to the river bank, served a prayer service, blessing the waters. And the waters receded.
One girl made a bet (!) that she would receive communion without confession. She approached the Chalice, but the serving Bishop Thaddeus stopped her with the words: “Do not sin. Confess first.” Such foresight of the bishop, who somehow “learned” about her “brave act,” so amazed the girl that she sincerely repented.
In one family, the son, who held a major party post in the 1920s, went crazy and was hospitalized. The mother came to him, the son knelt before her, begging to take him away from here. The woman went to consult Archbishop Thaddeus. He said:
“Take it immediately: it will not bring harm to any of you, and endure it until your death.”
The couple did as the Bishop blessed. The patient died during the war; Before his death, he turned to God and took communion.
"Present Christian Time"
Bishop of Vladimir-Volynsky Thaddeus (Uspensky).
1908 Photo from the site kizhi.karelia.ru In 1919, Bishop Thaddeus was first arrested and placed in Vladimir prison. Sitting on the bunk with him was Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov), the third candidate for the patriarchal see according to the will of Patriarch Tikhon. One of the most intelligent and persistent hierarchs of the Russian Church wrote this in his memoirs about Arch. Thaddee:
“The terrible prison situation among thieves and murderers had a depressing effect on me... Vladyka Thaddeus, on the contrary, was calm and, sitting in his corner on the floor, thought about something all the time, and prayed at night. One night, when everyone was sleeping, and I was sitting in melancholy and despair, Vladyka took me by the hand and said:
“This is a real Christian time for us. Not sadness, but joy should fill our souls. Now we must open ourselves to heroism and sacrifice. Don't be discouraged. Christ is with us!”
My hand was in his hand, and I felt as if some kind of fiery stream was running through my hand. At some point, everything changed in me, I forgot about my fate, my soul became calm and joyful.
I kissed his hand twice, thanking God for the gift of consolation that this righteous man possessed.”
