Sergiev Posad, Russia, May 7, 2020
Photo: stsl.ru Yesterday, May 6, the head doctor of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and the Moscow Theological Academy, Igumen Tikhon (Barsukov), reposed in the Lord from complications caused by the coronavirus, reports Patriarchia.ru.
Fr. Tikhon worked in healthcare for two decades and labored at the monastery for 14 years.
A number of monks of the Lavra became sick after Holy Week, though the majority have fully recovered.
May Fr. Tikhon’s memory be eternal!
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Igumen Tikhon (Alexander Yakovlevich Barsukov) was born in Altai on November 11, 1954. He graduated from the Altai State Medical University in 1979, after which he worked in healthcare for almost two decades.
While working in a Moscow hospital, he received the Sacrament of Baptism at the age of 37. He was accepted as a novice at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in March 1996, and he was tonsured as a monk on April 17, 1997, receiving the name Tikhon, in honor of Patriarch St. Tikhon of Moscow.
He was ordained as a hierodeacon and later a hieromonk in 1998. He was elevated to the rank of igumen on Pascha day, 2010.
In the monastery, he bore the obedience of chief doctor. Every monastic of the Lavra and student of the seminary and academy could turn to Fr. Tikhon for speedy help. He also visited the sick brothers and students who were hospitalized outside the monastery.
Many brothers and students noted an immeasurably loving heart in Fr. Tikhon, manifested in his care for everyone who suffered any physical illness.