Nikolai Ivanovich Sagarda

The name of Doctor of Church History, Professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy Nikolai Ivanovich Sagarda 1, until recently, was known only to a narrow circle of specialists who study in depth the patristic heritage. But in connection with the long-awaited publication in 2004 of his Lectures on Patrolology 2, which existed for almost a century after the start of their compilation only in a few lithographic copies, the name of Professor N.I. Sagardy becomes known to the general reader. Our Publishing House considered it necessary to continue publishing the fundamental works of the famous St. Petersburg patrolologist. However, it seems that the publication of a scientist’s doctoral dissertation must be preceded by at least brief information about his life 3 . Nikolai Ivanovich Sagarda was born on December 1, 1870 in the city of Zolotonosha in the family of a priest. His father served in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Krasionovka, Zolotonosha district, Poltava province. Nikolai Ivanovich received his primary education at the Pereyaslavl Theological School; Secondary - at the Poltava Theological Seminary, and higher - at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, where he entered in 1892. In 1896 he graduated from the course with the degree of candidate of theology and with the right to receive the degree of master without new oral tests. For the 1896–1897 academic year, Nikolai Ivanovich was left at the academy as a professorial fellow at the department of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. From 1897–1905 Nikolai Ivanovich teaches in Poltava, first at a theological school, and then at a seminary. During these years, he worked on the essay “The First Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. Isagogical-exegetical study,” for which he received a master’s degree in theology in 1904, and also published his articles in local spiritual magazines. At the same time, Nikolai Ivanovich married the daughter of the archpriest of Poltava, Lidia Nikolaevna Uralova (born 1880). In 1900–1913, the couple had four children. Since 1904, Nikolai Ivanovich began to actively look for a place to teach in the capital's academies. He feels cramped in Poltava, and the situation in the seminary there depresses him. “I am eager with all my soul to leave Poltava to where I could devote myself to scientific work, and I am not afraid of work,” he writes to his older friend Prof. in St. Petersburg. N.N. Glubokovsky. Finally, in the summer of 1905, he learned that the department of patristics was being vacated at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and he asked to put himself forward when discussing the issue of replacing this department: “If I am recognized as worthy of the honor of being invited to the academic department, I will go with joy and readiness to do everything in my power for the Academy,” he wrote in September 1905. And on September 29 of the same year, he received a long-awaited letter notifying him of his election to the department of patristics. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Nikolai Ivanovich eagerly began to compile a course of lectures on a subject so little developed in Russia. His famous “Lectures on Patrolology,” in which the scientist’s talent was most fully revealed, first published only in our time - in 2004 in St. Petersburg by the Resurrection Publishing House - were lithographed from 1907 to 1917 by the students of the Academy with the permission of the rector in a small number (several dozen) copies. Until now, the course of Prof. N.I. Sagardy is the main textbook on patrolology for current students of the academy. In 1905, Nikolai Ivanovich was already an associate professor at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and in 1909 he received the position of extraordinary full-time professor at the Theological Academy. From the beginning of December 1911 until January 1, 1915, he was editor of the famous magazine Christian Reading. The scientist worked with passion: we can judge the fruits of his work by the high scientific level of this journal over those years. Continuing his scientific studies, in 1910 he published the brilliant work “Ancient Church Theological Science in the Greek East during its heyday in the 2nd–5th centuries, its main directions and characteristic features.” And in 1916, his now republished in-depth pathological study “St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea” was published in Petrograd. His Life, Works and Theology." The seventeenth year, like for many other scientists and teachers, became a turning point for Nikolai Ivanovich. Having a hard time with the closure of the theological academy in 1918, he and his family were forced to return to their homeland - Poltava, where they lived in poverty and suffered hardships. In October 1918, Nikolai Ivanovich, together with his brother Alexander Ivanovich (who read lectures on church literature at the Second Department of Patrolology at the Academy from 1910–1918) and his son Vasily, in order to find a means of livelihood, ended up in Kyiv, where in 1919 he was enrolled as a private lecturer at the Kyiv University of St. Prince Vladimir and began lecturing on the history of ancient Christian literature. In the summer of 1920, Nikolai Ivanovich left for Poltava to reunite with his family and with the goal of “correcting the education of children, which is crumpled and torn.” In order to have at least some income, Nikolai Ivanovich is hired to work on the analysis of private noble archives with an hourly wage. Since the end of 1920, Nikolai Ivanovich has been the head and chief librarian of the Poltava Central Scientific Library, formed from book collections seized from the destroyed estates of intellectuals who fled with Russian volunteers, and also gives lectures on the history of Byzantine literature at the Institute of Public Education (I.N.O.). However, his work is hampered by the suspicion with which he is treated as a Little Russian of Russian orientation. In a letter dated November 20, 1920, he will write to N.N. Glubokovsky: “In Poltava, as in Ukraine in general, life is greatly complicated by the national struggle, which has taken on acute forms and will make itself felt at every step not only by Russians, but also by Ukrainians of Russian orientation - the latter are considered “big Ukrainians” for a more harmful element than purebred Russians” 4. In a letter on May 27, 1921 to the same addressee, he wrote with bitterness about the internal political situation of that time: “... all the foundations of the state, commercial and economic life of the country have been destroyed, and so much bitterness has been poured into everyone’s soul that its aftertaste will be felt and experienced for a very long time.” The incredible high cost forces the professor, along with his son Misha, to perform the duties of a janitor, and in the summer the whole family cultivate the rented land and garden. His last letter to N.N. Glubokovsky (dated May 27, 1921) is full of sadness: “...The best years are passing, and with them hopes for the implementation of even modest plans that were outlined in the field of scientific work.” In 1924, Nikolai Ivanovich moved to Kyiv with his family. He received the post of head of the department at the All-People's Library of Ukraine, and from 1926 to 1928 he was deputy chairman of the Byzantine Commission at the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Later, Prof. N.I. Sagarda continues his work at the Academy of Sciences. His latest published works are exclusively articles of a bibliographic nature, devoted to the compilation of catalogs of scientific publications of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Lived by Professor N.I. Sagarda in Kyiv at the address: Kudryavsky Lane, 8, apt. 4. We were unable to collect complete information about the time and circumstances of his death. Presumably, he died in 1943 during the German occupation. Continuing to publish the works of Doctor of Church History, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Sagarda, the Publishing House considers it especially important for Russian theological science to reprint for the first time since 1916 the doctoral dissertation of the professor “St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea. His life, works and theology. Pathological research" (Petrograd, 1916). This work was published in the series “Scientific works of the Petrograd Theological Academy, published with funds from the anniversary fund in memory of the centenary of the Academy.” What makes this publication especially valuable is the fact that there are very few monographs dedicated to St. Gregory the Wonderworker, even in modern pathological science. Apostle of the Pontic country, founder of the Neocaesarian Church, this saint (born ca. 213, commemorated November 17/30), being a man of active service, devoted his literary works mainly to practical pastoral purposes and wrote them only when there was an urgent need for it. Coming from a pagan family of high-ranking dignitaries of Neocaesarea Pontus, 5 having studied rhetoric and jurisprudence in his homeland, he and his brother Athenodorus came to Caesarea Palestine, where their sister’s husband was appointed imperial governor of Palestine. While there, he fell under the influence of the inspired genius of Origen and began to attend his lectures, which played a decisive role in his life and was then reflected in the writing of St. Gregory's "Gratitude Speech to Origen", which is a valuable source of information about the personal fate of Origen and his teaching method. Both he and his brother, having converted to Christianity and been baptized, remained in Caesarea for five whole years (233–238) to thoroughly go through the entire course of Origen’s lectures. In this school, St. Gregory studied philosophy, logic, dialectics, geometry, physics, astronomy, ethics, metaphysics. On this basis, the crown of learning was based - theology and explanation of the Holy Scriptures. After completing his studies with Origen, St. Gregory and his brother were sent back to their homeland to their mother. Belonging to the highest circle of Neo-Caesarean society, having an excellent education, St. Upon returning home, Gregory did not strive to publicly display his learning in meetings. On the contrary, as his biographer St. Gregory of Nyssa, he decided to “move away from the noise of the squares and from all city life, and in solitude to abide with himself and through himself with God.” Having left practical activities, St. Grigory is looking for solitude. However, at the call of the Church and the urgent request of Fedim, Bishop of Amasia, devoted to the spread of Christianity, he leaves his solitude. And soon, despite the youth of St. Gregory, Bishop Fedim performed his consecration as the first bishop of Neocaesarea. St. Gregory preached the Gospel in his province so zealously that by the time of his death there were only 17 pagans left in all of Pontus. He attracted many people to himself with the gifts of miracles that the Lord gave him. These miracles performed by St. Gregory, in order to overcome the obstacles encountered in his missionary field, earned him the title of Thaumaturg (Faumaturg) or Wonderworker. St. Gregory remained a religious philosopher even in his episcopate, preferring to “philosophize” over everything, in the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa, “about the desired heavenly life.” And his philosophical gifts were sanctified by the gift of Divine admonition. In each term of the short Creed received by St. Gregory, through revelation from the Apostles themselves, expressed the greatest depths of theological speculation. It is known that St. Gregory took part in the Council of Antioch in 265, which condemned the heresy of Paul of Samosata. Full dedication to missionary service, the desire to personally instill the faith of Christ limited the literary activity of the saint, but the speeches of the saint. Gregory, bearing the stamp of inspiration of the ancient prophets, were preserved in the memory of the pious inhabitants of Pontus, who revered him as the Apostle of their country, and then passed on to their children and grandchildren. So St. Basil the Great received the instructions of St. Gregory by succession of memory from his highly educated grandmother Macrina, a living witness to the sermons of the Pontic saint. The Cappadocian fathers of the 4th century revered him as the founder of the Cappadocian Church, and St. Gregory of Nyssa left a biography of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, which has survived to our time. The legend of the Pontic inhabitants, preserved by St. Basil the Great, shows St. Gregory was meek, alien to exaltation and anger, striving first of all in his personal life to implement the commandments of Christ, through which he had a deep moral influence on all aspects of the life of his flock. Thus, the personality and activity of St. Gregory, despite the fact that he was a church leader in a distant outskirts, which at that time was Pontus, and after his blessed death, which followed during the reign of Aurelian (270–275), was of colossal importance in terms of his influence on subsequent generations of the Fathers of the Church. Nikolai Ivanovich Sagarda, having become interested in the so little studied creations and personality of St. Gregory, in 1912 he began translating the few surviving writings of St. Gregory the Wonderworker. Apparently, at the same time he had the idea of ​​compiling a full-fledged monograph dedicated to St. Gregory the Wonderworker. And so in 1916 the book “St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea. His Life, Works and Theology." Unfortunately, this major work has not received due appreciation in the theological literature. Even in the journals of the council of the Petrograd Theological Academy there are no full reviews of the book. The reason for this was the revolutionary turmoil, which interrupted the normal course of life. However, it was precisely this scientific research that Nikolai Ivanovich nominated in 1917 for the degree of Doctor of Church History, and by the determination of the Academy Council of May 5–6, 1917, he was awarded this high degree. And in January 1918, after listening to reviews of the said essay by Professor N.I. Sagarda, presented to the Academy Council by professors I.I. Sokolov and A.I. Brilliantov, he was awarded the Makaryev Prize. Of the surviving reviews, we were able to find only a draft review by Prof. A.I. Brilliantova. This draft, which is an autograph in pencil, has a substantial volume of 84 sheets of neat handwriting, indicating that the review of prof. A.I. Brilliantov itself is of serious theological interest, but the extreme illegibility of the handwriting and the rough nature of the document make its reproduction difficult. First of all, Prof. A.I. Diamonds indicates that “about St. Gregory the Wonderworker in the scientific literature of modern times, in addition to Russell's monograph (1880), there are only... short essays about him in general works on the history of ancient church literature and in theological encyclopedias. But this book is also structured in a unique way for monographs... There are no scientific publications yet... Such a publication... has only been promised so far"... Continuing his thought, Prof. A.I. Brilliantov concludes: “The essay by N.I. Sagardy is, in this case, the first monographic, comprehensive, ...detailed monograph about St. Gregory... in the church historical literature of modern times..." (l. 1). Further, examining the subtleties of various theological judgments, the reviewer gives special credit to the author for the fact that he “was not satisfied with what was said by Western scientists (Caspari and others)”, but carried out independent research work. And finally, he concludes: “The book of N.I. Sagardy should take an honorable place in the patrolological literature. It gives the author, in my opinion, the indisputable right to receive the academic degree of Doctor of Church History" (fol. 27 volume), and further: "His work can be recognized as worthy of the Metropolitan Prize. Macarius" (l. 1–3 vol.). Scientific level of capital research by prof. N.I. Sagardy is so high that to this day it is used as the most authoritative monograph by patrolologists around the world. It is this circumstance, as well as the fact that the dissertation of the St. Petersburg patrolologist itself can become a classic manual for the creation of similar studies by modern theologians, that dictates the urgent need for its republication today. In our publication “The Complete Corpus of Lectures on Patrolology” (St. Petersburg: Resurrection. 2004), the editors considered it possible not to decline the surname “Sagarda”, since the author himself did not decline it, however, in the current edition we decided to be guided by the rule of the Russian language that Slavic surnames ending in accented -a are declined. See Prof. N.I. Sagarda; prof. A.I. Sagarda. A complete body of lectures on patrolology. SPb.: Resurrection. 2004. 1216 pp. A detailed sketch of the life and creative path of N.I. For sagards, see the above-mentioned publication. Letter from N.I. Sagardy - N.N. Glubokovsky (20.IX.1920) // RNL ADP. F 194, op. 1, d. 772. L. 21 (unpublished) Subsequently, the city of Niksar on the Lika River.