Starting in 1917, the Russian Revolution and Civil War greatly impacted the Russian Empire and the Russian Orthodox Church. After the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government abolished the Most Holy Synod and allowed the church to restore the Patriarchate. The Most Holy Synod had administered all church property and controlled the expenditure of churches and monasteries. The Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution of 1917. Shortly afterwards, the church elected Tikhon of Moscow to be Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The subsequent violence of the Russian Civil War devastated the church and the country. The Soviet government opposed the church, and many White émigrés came to Cleveland and joined St. Theodosius during this period. Longtime pastor Fr. Jason Kappanadze of Georgia was among them.