Theological schools (entry)

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THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS appeared in St. Petersburg in 1714 after Peter the Great's edict to create schools for mathematics at eparch houses and monasteries, in order to prepare priests to become clerics. Archbishop Feodosy (Yanovsky) founded the Slavonic-Russian school for the same purpose at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in 1721. In 1725, it was renamed the Slavonic, Greek, and Latin Seminary and merged with the seminary attached to the House of Feofan (Prokopovich) by the Karpovka river in 1736. In the 1740s-60s, between 70 and 80 people studied at the seminary in an eight-year program, taught by the monastery's monks. Besides theological subjects and ecclesiastical law, they learned singing, grammar, Old Church Slavonic, Greek, and Latin. In 1788, the existing seminary became the Main Seminary, and, in 1809, the Theological Seminary, operating under the archdiocese and the teachers of the Law of God. A lower grade of theological education in St. Petersburg included parish schools existing from the mid-18th century (from 1884 called church parish schools), the Alexander Nevsky Antonievskoe Theological School opened in 1809 (9 Obvodny Canal Embankment). Some of the graduates of these schools entered the seminary. The St. Vladimir Church Teachers' School for Women was opened in 1889 (104 Moskovsky Avenue) to prepare teachers, including those of the Law of God, for parish schools, as did the Eparchial St. Isidor School (176 Nevsky Avenue). The Women's Theological Institute at Tsarskoe Selo was meant to be opened in 1916. Theological schools were closed in 1918, but theological education continued through the 1920s with pastoral courses at the Theological Institute and in illegal circles. The Theological Seminary and the Theological Academy were re-instituted in Leningrad in 1946 under the State's control. In 1990, various religious schools for children and adults started opening; the eparchial theological school operated in 1992-96. From 1996, the St. John Courses of Orthodox Pedagogical Society, which conducted a three-year program, operated at the Theological Academy, but the former structure of theological schools has not been yet restored. Today, theological schools consist of enclosed, higher educational institutions such as the Theological Seminary (in 2002, 168 pupils) and the Theological Academy; open secondary schools of the regent department (founded in 1979, 95 students); and icon painting schools (founded in 1997, 47 students). These are all headed by the rector Bishop of Tikhvin Konstantin (Goryanov). The theological schools' library consists of over 300,000 books and journals. Theological education is also given by Russian Christian Inter-Faith University of Humanities and the Institute of Theology and Philosophy.

References: Очерки истории Санкт-Петербургской епархии. СПб., 1994; Бовкало А. А. Последний год существования Петроградского Богословского института // Минувшее: Ист. альм. СПб., 1998. [Вып.] 24. С. 484-549.

V. V. Antonov. Feodosy (Yankovsky), Archbishop
Feofan Prokopovich (lay name Eleazar Prokopovich)
Konstantin (Oleg Alexandrovich Goryanov), Archbishop
Peter I, Emperor
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 104
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 176
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 9
Очерки истории Санкт-Петербургской епархии. СПб., 1994
Бовкало А. А. Последний год существования Петроградского Богословского института // Минувшее: Ист. альм. СПб., 1998 Religious schools