Timofey Sokolov (monastic name Tikhon) was born in 1724 at Korotsk in the Novgorod Governorate to a Russian peasant family. Educated at the Novgorod Seminary, Tikhon received the monastic tonsure in 1758.
In 1763, Tikhon was consecrated Bishop of Voronezh. His four-year episcopal ministry (1763–1767) undertook the systematic pastoral reform of the vast Voronezh diocese in southern Russia.
In 1767, Tikhon requested retirement from his episcopal office — undertaking the vocation of the retreatant-bishop at the Zadonsk Monastery. For the 16 years (1767–1783), Tikhon lived at Zadonsk engaged in the systematic composition of his spiritual writings.
Tikhon composed multiple spiritual works — most famously 'On True Christianity' (Ob Istinnom Khristianstve, 6 volumes) and 'The Spiritual Treasure Gathered from the World' (Sokrovishche Dukhovnoe ot Mira Sobiraemoe). Tikhon's spiritual-literary style — combining the Russian Orthodox monastic tradition with the influence of the Lutheran-Pietist devotional literature (particularly Johann Arndt's *True Christianity*) — established the Russian Catholic-Orthodox 'evangelical-monastic' spiritual tradition.
Tikhon became famous in the Russian tradition as the 'Russian Chrysostom'. His writings influenced the Russian Catholic-Orthodox spiritual tradition — most famously Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov (1880), where Tikhon is the model for the elder Zosima.
He died at Zadonsk on August 13, 1783 at the age of 59.