His Holiness Patriarch Pimen in the church of St. Pimen the Great

Abstract

The article offers new insights on the spiritual relation of Sergey  Mikhailovich Izvekov (riassophore monk Platon, monk Pimen) who  became the 14th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, with the Moscow  Church of St. Pimen the Great — the church with an altar dedicated  to his Patron Saint. The Holy Trinity Temple in Novy Vorotniki,  widely known for its side-altar dedication to the great Egyptian Abba,  witnessed Patriarch Pimen’s monastic path from monk to hierarch,  and as Patriarch since 1971. The research sources presented in this  article include the Patriarch’s speeches and jubilee celebration records,  files from central archives, from the Moscow Danilov Monastery and  St. Pimen Church archive funds, as well as documented reminiscences  graphers — archimandrite Dionisiy (Shishighin) and V.A. Nikitin,  by the authors of the Orthodox Encyclopedia and by the historian  protodeacon Serghiy Golubtsov is complemented by new data; new  documental sources are also introduced. The published biographies  of the Patriarch offer scarce information on his spiritual links with this  old Moscow church: it is mostly limited to dates of his choirmaster  service there in his young years and to mentioning some Divine services  celebrated on his Patron Saint’s Day. The new information presented  in the article and its analysis in conjunction with the published data  is aimed at filling this gap in the Patriarch’s biography.