The first candidate of theological sciences defended himself in Russia

In the Russian Orthodox Church

Until the beginning of the 19th year, there was no coherent general system of certification in Orthodox theological educational institutions of the Russian Church, and academic degrees were awarded in each school in accordance with its own charter. The first attempt to harmonize the statutes of theological academies with national norms for awarding academic degrees occurred in 1814. As a result, according to uniform rules, clergy began to be awarded academic degrees “ PhD of Theology”

", "
Master of Divinity
" and "
Doctor of Divinity
". The first two of them were assigned to graduates of theological academies based on the results of their studies and the knowledge acquired. The degree of Doctor of Divinity could be awarded only on the basis of the defense of a dissertation.

In 1869, a new charter for theological academies was adopted, and with it a new procedure for awarding degrees. The degree of candidate of theology began to be awarded to students who completed three, and the master's degree - four years of study. These degrees merely designated different classes of academic credentials.

Since 1884, those who most successfully graduated from theological academies were awarded degrees, and the rest were given the title of “ full student.”

“, which was identical to university diplomas.
A master's degree in this case was evidence of higher theological education. Since 1884, based on the results of the defense of dissertations, the following degrees have been awarded: “ Doctor of Theology
,” “
Doctor of Church History
,” and “
Doctor of Canon Law
,” although there were exceptions.

The first candidate of theological sciences defended himself in Russia

Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky. Photo: Orthodox St. Tikhon's University/Alexander Filippov Russian science has reached another milestone. The first candidate of theological sciences appeared in the country. He became Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky, dean of the theological faculty of the Orthodox St. Tikhon University, RIA Novosti reports. The specialist prepared a dissertation on the topic “Solving the problems of Russian theology of the 18th century in the synthesis of St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow.” It is interesting that the dissertation candidate stated, among other things, his “experience of faith and life as a theologian,” that is, personal insights and revelations, as a source of scientific knowledge.

The defense took place at the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies named after Saints Cyril and Methodius. 21 of the 22 present members of the Joint Dissertation Council in Theology voted for the award of an academic degree. The dissertation council is headed by a scientist from the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. RIA Novosti notes that the dissertation abstract received four positive and five negative reviews. According to critics, the author's scientific method is “based on the personal experience of faith and the life of a theologian,” which is not acceptable.

For example, the head of the laboratory for the Study of Information Processes at the Cellular and Molecular Levels at the Institute of Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences Yuri Panchin wrote the following in his review:

The applicant states that the “scientific-theological method” used is constituted by: 1) a specific (unique) subject and source of theological knowledge;
2) the personal experience of faith and life of the theologian implied by them; 3) a set of rational operations characteristic of all humanities”…. We believe that this approach contradicts the norms of scientific research, including those adopted by the system of state certification of scientific workers of the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC). The main thing we teach undergraduates and graduate students in our research laboratories is not to accept any untested, unverifiable, or unfounded assumptions on faith. And we also teach that in science there are no absolute authorities and data obtained through insight and revelation... It is important for us that the use of a theologian’s “personal experience of faith and life” discriminates against researchers and specialists conducting scientific examination in state institutions and commissions, who do not have the required experience of faith... Is my “personal experience of faith” in Santa Claus as a child sufficient to meet the specified requirement?

(according to the text broadcast, during the reading of this review, at the words “Father Frost,” those present began to look at each other indignantly)
Philosophers, however, reacted favorably to such a source of scientific knowledge: “In the work (Khondzinsky - ed.) the proximity of a number of methods that do not belong to only theology, but the personal nature of theological knowledge is emphasized; it cannot be completely rationalized. However, even within the framework of philosophical knowledge, there are many teachings oriented towards the personal principle, and besides, it is difficult to imagine a researcher who in his scientific activity (at least in the field of the humanities) would not, in one way or another, proceed from personal ideological premises.” , said Academician of the Russian Academy of Education, Doctor of Philosophy Alexander Korolkov, the official opponent of Archpriest Pavel Khondzinsky. Regarding the above-quoted negative review by Yuri Panchin, he added: “The dissertation was written by a qualified specialist. She is philosophical. I don’t understand what the doctor of biological sciences has to do with her. Although, as far as I know, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov once did not oppose himself to religion, and Vernadsky was religious. Unfortunately, in our country they really don’t like Orthodox sentiments. We have lived with this for an entire era. It’s impossible to convince.”

He was joined by fellow philosopher, Doctor of Philosophy Valery Savrey from Moscow State University: “Negative reviews do not carry any value. Only reviews from those who specialize in the areas of knowledge being analyzed can have scientific value. There are five characteristics of a true expert, and critical biologists do not live up to them,” he said.

None of the authors of the critical reviews were present at the defense. The vote for awarding the academic degree was positive.

Defense of a candidate's thesis in theology within the walls of the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral School named after Cyril and Methodius in the center of Moscow, June 1, 2017. Photo: Pavel Kotlyar/Gazeta.Ru

The defense of Khodzinsky's Ph.D. thesis aroused unusually great public interest. About 70 people were present in the hall - representatives of the church, the scientific community and the media. At the entrance to the hall

. The scientist himself was not very ready for such attention: “You know, I now think that I will never participate in such an event again. It costs a lot of blood,” said Pavel Khondzinsky. However, he expressed hope that in the near future other theologian-scientists who “in Soviet times wrote on the table, thinking that perestroika would come and so much could be published, would be able to defend their dissertations, but this did not happen.” Now they have this opportunity.

In October 2015, the Presidium of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science approved a passport for the scientific specialty “theology”. The fundamental difference between theology and religious studies is that the theologian studies religion not from the outside, but from the inside - therefore it is a completely special scientific discipline. An atheist cannot be a candidate of science in theology, just as a person who has never listened to music cannot be a musicologist (Khondzinsky’s argumentation).

In 2021, dissertation and expert councils were created and the defense of works on theology became possible. The first dissertation council was created on the basis of Moscow State University, RANEPA, the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies and the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities.

Now representatives of the Muslim community are expressing complaints, because defense of the works is possible only according to Orthodox theology.

In the English-speaking world

In a number of Orthodox educational institutions that arose in the English-speaking world, the generally accepted local system of religious educational degrees came into use. Usually a three-stage system is in use - “ Bachelor

", "
master
" and "
doctor
", with the addition of the area of ​​specialization.
Thus, as of 2014, one of the most significant Orthodox higher theological schools in the English-speaking world - St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York - offered three master's and one doctoral programs with four specializations: Theology
,
Divinity
,
art
(Arts) and
ministry
(Ministry) [1].

Origin[ | ]

Unlike the West, for the teaching of theology in medieval Rus', the schools of Byzantium (for example, the University of Constantinople) and Bulgaria and, possibly, England and Ireland served as models.

Initially, in the Russian lands there were schools of primary education - Dyakovsky, with a teacher who was a psalm-reader, as well as schools at churches and monasteries, where they taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and church singing. 2nd half The 16th century is a time of rapid development of Protestant (Calvinist, Arian, Socinian, etc.) and Catholic schools in Western Russian lands (the first Jesuit colleges appeared in Vilna and Yaroslav(l)e (Galician) in 1570 and 1571), and due to the lack Orthodox theological education, Orthodox[1] nobles and rich Russians willingly sent their children to these schools, especially to Jesuit colleges, where the Jesuits promised not to engage in proselytism, but in practice it turned out that many graduates either converted to Roman Catholicism or became supporters of the union, although many are also known as zealots of Orthodoxy (for example, Khmelnitsky). The Ostrog Slavic-Greek-Latin school, founded in 1576 by Prince Konstantin Ostrogsky as an alternative to heterodox theological education, became the first Orthodox higher school in Eastern Europe. The first Brotherhood schools are known as universities in 1585 under the Lvov Uspensky (Lvov Brotherhood School) in the center of the Russian Voivodeship of Poland and the Vilna Trinity Brotherhood. It was these universities that played a leading role in the educational system of Orthodox theology until the advent of the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium (1632). Fraternal schools were also created in Brest (1591), Mogilev (1590-1592), at Rogatinsky (1589), Gorodoksky (1591), Peremyshlsky (1592), Komarninsky (1592), Belsky (1594), Lublinsky (1594), Kamenets -Podolsk (90s of the 16th century), Galich (late 16th century) brotherhoods. The organization of these brotherhoods and their schools was directly influenced by the Lvov Brotherhood, which directed teachers, bought the printing house of pioneer Ivan Fedorov, and supplied other brotherhoods and schools and all Russian lands, including the Russian state, with books from its own printing house. In the 17th century, the number of schools increased: in 1609 there was a school at the Lviv Epiphany Brotherhood, in 1613 a school was opened at the Minsk Peter and Paul 2nd Brotherhood, in Kiev a fraternal school appeared in 1615, the year the Kyiv Brotherhood was founded, in Lutsk - in 1619/ 20 year. At the beginning of the 17th century, fraternal schools arose in Zamosc, Kholm, Vinnitsa, Nemirov, and Pinsk. Schools with primary education began to be organized in small rural or shtetl brotherhoods. There was close cooperation between the brotherhoods, including in the field of education. So, at first the Lvov brotherhood sent teachers and books to Vilna, students of the Vilna school (Sylvester Kossov, Isaiah Trofimovich-Kozlovsky) taught in Lvov; in the 20s of the 17th century, many teachers left Lvov for Kyiv. Temporary teachers and students without permanent teaching or learning positions were typical. The fate of fraternal schools in Western Russian lands was different. Throughout its existence, the Kiev school remained the most important center of spiritual education; after being transformed into a college, it became part of the Moscow state in the mid-17th century. However, most fraternal schools lost their importance; the decline of fraternal education began in the middle of the 17th century. At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, many brotherhoods, under pressure from Catholics and Uniates, closed or accepted a union. Until the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, brotherhoods continued to exist in Brest, Belsk, Vilna, Minsk, Zabludov (now Bialystok Voivodeship of Poland), Pinsk, Slutsk, Mozyr and other cities and towns, but the schools at the brotherhoods apparently closed or teaching in them was relegated to the level of elementary literacy instruction. The Stavropegian Institute, which, like the Lviv Brotherhood, always adhered to a Russophile orientation, was liquidated after the annexation of Lvov to the USSR for the refusal of the professors to recognize themselves as Ukrainians[2][3]. The first stavropegic theological school in Rus' was the Kiev-Mohyla Academy (originally called the collegium), created by Metropolitan Peter Mogila (Petru Movila) in Kiev in the mid-17th century, modeled on the collegiums of the Society of Jesus, which until 1592 were distinguished by their complete denial of racism, nationalism and Russophobia. Peter established, independently of the Kiev-brotherly school, a higher school “for teaching the liberal sciences in Greek, Slavic and Latin languages” (1631) at the Kiev Lavra, but when the brothers recognized him as the guardian and guardian of their school and subordinated it exclusively to the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, whom he represented in Kyiv Peter, he merged his Lavra school with the fraternal one. The first rector subsequently became the first Russian doctor of theology, Isaiah Trofimovich-Kozlovsky. In the 17th century, the Kiev-Mohyla Academy had 8 classes, divided into junior (4 classes), middle (2 classes) and senior (2 classes) departments. The duration of study at the academy reached 12 years. The college taught: Slavic, Greek, Latin and Polish languages, grammar, rhetoric, poetry (poetry), philosophy, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, theology. In the junior and middle departments, students were called students (spudei), teachers - teachers (didaskala); in the two senior departments - students and professors. Teaching was conducted mainly in Latin, Church Slavonic was used mainly only during divine services. Due to the absence of a single living language of Russians (the Old Belarusian language was no longer alive and was not in use in the Chernigov-Seversk land, annexed to Ukraine only during the Time of Troubles), in the same board, at the suggestion of A. Kisel, based on the syntax of the Chernigov-Kursk dialect, it was subsequently developed Russian (current Russian) literary language both for teaching theology and liberal sciences and, as Kisel proposed, as a promising unified state language of the Moscow State and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Kisel's plan to elect the Moscow sovereign as the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - a vassal of the Pope - in accordance with the Orthodox principle of the Symphony meant, albeit vague and broad, but some kind of new union. The development of all this multi-confessional and inter-confessional scholarship was not initially welcomed by the Moscow state, on the border of which, as a result, from the end of the 16th century, they began not only to baptize Jews, but also to carry out a new baptism in general for everyone entering from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although, for example, usually even Roman Catholics, as professing the closest, Chalcedonian faith, communion is enough. The situation changed dramatically only after the annexation of Ukraine to Russia and the introduction of a new unified rite in a single state by Patriarch Nikon, the basis of which was the rite of the Western Russian Church, which raised the authority of Western Russian Orthodox theologians who were able to successfully argue with Old Believers of different directions.

Thus, in Russia theology historically developed within the framework of religious educational institutions (theological seminaries and academies), where it was taught together with a number of applied disciplines (charter, apologetics, church singing, pastoral theology), in contrast to Western countries, where theology has always remained a part university education, and in the theological faculties of many universities there are still practical specializations for the training of priests. Following the model of Western universities that combined secular and spiritual education, after the annexation of Ukraine, only the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, which was later transformed into the Moscow Theological Academy, founded on the initiative of Simeon of Polotsk (before the reforms of Plato (Levshin) at the end of the 18th century, operated -Latinskaya, and during the time of M.V. Lomonosov - Spassky schools). According to the charter, the institution was called the Humanitarian Academy of the Russian Orthodox Kingdom, headed by the Greek brothers Ioannikis and Sophronius Likhud, graduates of the University of Padua. The Academy was supposed to provide a general humanitarian education, the “seeds of wisdom” were studied - spiritual and civil sciences, “starting from grammar, literature, rhetoric, dialectics, rational, natural, moral philosophy even to theology” - that is, the entire cycle of the school from the lower classes to the highest. It was assumed that the school would be open to everyone, regardless of social status. They studied from the children of the Odoevsky princes to the children of serfs, not to mention the free ones, including Mikhail Lomonosov, Leonty Magnitsky, Vasily Trediakovsky, Pyotr Postnikov and others. According to the charter, in the future, with the exception of the nobility, only graduates of the school could hold government positions. The Academy was to receive broad autonomy - according to the charter, professors and students were subject to their own jurisdiction. But in 1694, the Likhuds were removed from teaching at the academy at the suggestion of Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem, who had sent them at the time, since the Orthodox clergy feared that the academy, where the Likhuds hired theologians, would become a conductor of heresies, and, indeed, under the influence theology and scholasticism, its clergy initially intervened in secular affairs and carried out an examination “for Orthodoxy”[4][5].

Notes[ | ]

1. Buryanov S. Secular education on the altar of sacralization of power // Portal-Credo.Ru, 11/15/2002
2. ↑ 1 2 Shakhnovich M.
   “The Doctrine of God” as an object of professional activity // Daily Journal, 02.27.2010
3. ↑ 123456
   from the State Educational Standard for specialty 020500 Theology, approved by order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated March 2, 2000 No. 686
4. ↑ 12
   See eg. What is theology? Archived copy of November 5, 2011 on the Wayback Machine // Department of Theology of Tula State University.
5. ↑ 12
   Open letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
6. ↑ 12
   Regulatory documents of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. ORDER dated 04/06/2000 No. 1010 Archival copy dated October 25, 2010 on the Wayback Machine copy of the order
7. ↑ 12
   Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. Draft Order on the approval and implementation of federal state educational standards for higher professional education (inaccessible link)
8. ↑ 12
   Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation No. 49 dated January 17, 2011 “On the approval and implementation of the federal state educational standard of higher professional education in the field of training 033400 Theology (qualification (degree) “master” Archived copy dated April 19, 2012 on the Wayback Machine “)”//Official website of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
9. ↑ 123
   Atheists peacefully fought with “people in robes” // Portal-Credo.Ru, 08/9/2007
10. Graham L., Cantor J.-M.
    (German)Russian.. Names of infinity. A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity = Naming Infinity: A True Story of Religious Mysticism and Mathematical Creativity. - St. Petersburg: EUSPb Publishing House, 2011. - 232 p. — ISBN 978-5-94380-114-3.
11. ↑ 1 2
    Seminary Charter Archived copy
    (unspecified)
    (inaccessible link). Access date: June 12, 2012. Archived January 21, 2013.
12. ↑ 12
    The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation does not plan to include theology in the list of scientific specialties // Interfax-Religion, 02/19/2009.
13. ↑ 123
    The Russian Orthodox Church stands for the right of theologians to receive an academic degree // Gazeta.ru
14. ↑ 12
    The Russian Academy of Sciences refused to include theology in the list of scientific specialties // Pravoslavie.Ru, 03/12/2009
15. ↑ 123
    Appeal of 1,700 scientists to the President of the Russian Federation regarding the introduction of Orthodoxy in schools and theology in universities // Portal-Credo.Ru 05.26.2008
16. ↑ 12
    Appeal from representatives of the scientific community to the President of the Russian Federation in connection with plans to introduce the “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” course in schools
17. Confirmation of educational documents (apostille) (undefined)
    .
    Rosobrnadzor
    .
18. ↑ 12
    Officially, 227 signatories were announced, but two signatures in the appeal were duplicated.
19. Appeal of 227 doctors and candidates of science to the President of the Russian Federation in connection with the introduction of academic degrees in theology and the teaching of disciplines about religions in schools // Interfax-Religion, 14.02. 2008
20. * Mist S.
    In one fell swoop - “Ten”? Let's talk about the oddities of the epistolary genre of 227 doctors and candidates of science who stood up for the defense industry // Portal-Credo.Ru, 02/25/2008.
    • Danilov V., Martynov K., Ulyanova L.
      227 learned clerics // “Russian Journal”, 02/19/2008

    New attempts to renew the discussion about teaching the fundamentals of Orthodox culture in Russian schools // Radio Liberty, 02.18.2008

21. List of scientific specialties Archived March 5, 2009.
22. The Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science did not include theology in the list of scientific specialties // Polit.ru, December 22, 2008.
23. In Russia, a state educational standard in theology has been approved (undefined)
    . "Interfax-Religion" (May 22, 2014). Access date: May 22, 2014.
24. Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia dated April 15, 2014 No. 317 “On approval of the federal state educational standard of higher education in the field of training 48.06.01 Theology (level of training of highly qualified personnel)” (pdf, 923.4KB)//Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. 11/27/2015 Archived December 19, 2021 on the Wayback Machine.
25. For the first time in Russia, a dissertation council on theology was created, it was headed by Metropolitan Hilarion // Interfax-Religion, 06/01/2016
26. Theology has become a scientific specialty in Russia (October 11, 2015).
27. Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of Russia) dated February 17, 2014 No. 125 “On approval of the federal state educational standard of higher education in the field of preparation 48.04.01 Theology (master’s level).”
28. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 18, 2013 No. 1039 (as amended on April 20, 2016) “On state accreditation of educational activities” (together with the “Regulations on state accreditation of educational activities”)
29. Apostille of diplomas (undefined)
    (inaccessible link).
    Education of Russia
    . Date accessed: November 18, 2021. Archived March 2, 2017.
30. Bartholomew (Minin), hieromonk, Khrameshin S.N.
    Draft concept for the creation and development of educational centers for monastics of the Russian Orthodox Church. - M.: Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, 2014. - 48 p. — ISBN 978-1530562220.
31. Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated May 30, 2016 No. 601/nk “On issuing permission to create a joint council for the defense of dissertations for the academic degree of Candidate of Sciences, for the academic degree of Doctor of Sciences on the basis of the institution of professional religious education of the Russian Orthodox Church “Common Church” postgraduate and doctoral studies named after. Saints Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius", non-state educational institution of higher professional education "Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University", federal state budgetary educational institution of higher education "Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov", federal state budgetary educational institution of higher education "Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation" Archival copy dated August 7, 2016 on the Wayback Machine
32. In Russia they defended their first thesis on theology (undefined)
    .
    Interfax
    (June 1, 2017).
33. The Ministry of Education and Science rejected the scientists’ appeal for theological defense // , September 8, 2017
34. “The presentation “Transformation of the system of spiritual education” has been published” // Official website of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church
35. An appeal was filed against the decision to award Russia's first academic degree in theology (unspecified)
    . Meduza (July 29, 2017).
36. ↑ 12
    “Spiritual education on the threshold of change”//Patriarchia.ru, 06.21.2010
37. See for example: “Honoris Causa Diploma Presented” Archived April 2, 2015 on the Wayback Machine.

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  Between science and theology // “-Religions”, 06/2/2010
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• Priest
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• Irina Kravtsova.
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