Archangelsk, October 20, 2010
Bishop Tikhon, in the world Nicholai Vladimirovich Stepanov, was born on March 2, 1963 in the city of Kostroma, to mitered Archpriest Vladimir Stepanov and his matushka, Margarita. He began his service to the Church as a subdeacon to Archbishop Cassian of Kostroma (Yaroslavsky, † 1990). From 1982–1986, he studied at the Leningrad Theological Seminary, and from 1986–1990, in the Leningrad Theological Academy. From 1990–1991, he served in the St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary in New York, and collected material on the Patriarch Tikhon’s service in America.
On August 28, 1991, he was tonsured a monk by Bishop Manuel (Pavlov) of Petrozavodsk and Olonets, on August 29, 1991 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on September 1, 1991, a hieromonk. On June 16, 1992 he was made an Igumen.
From October of 1991 he served as secretary to the Petrozavodsk diocesan government and personal secretary to Bishop Manuel (Pavlov).
From 1995 he headed the parish council and was rector of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral being restored in Petrozavodsk.
From May 1995 he was a member of a special working group to plan the renewal of the Orthodox mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in its canonical territory.
On December 27, 1995, at the meeting of the Holy Synod, he was appointed to become bishop of Archangelsk and Kholmogorsk. On January 1, 1996, he was made an archimandrite, and on February 4, 1996, he was consecrated a bishop by Patriarch Alexy II, of Archangelsk and Kholmogorsk.
On February 10, 2001, Bishop Tikhon was awarded a medal for “Service to the Fatherland,” second degree.
From 2001, Bishop Tikhon served on the support council for the fund for the architectural inheritance of Andrei Rublev, and in December 2002, he served as the co-chairman of a working group for cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway.
