№ 5. Замечания Митрополита Филарета, сделанные во время испытания и рассмотрения сочинений студентов 7-го курса Московской духовной Академии

Conference of the Moscow Theological Academy offer As a result of the testing and examination of the essays and translations of the students of the Academy of the seventh academic year, intending to offer to the Academic Conference what turns out to be necessary for consideration and guidance for the future, I find that for this purpose I must, in part, repeat what I said at the end of the last course, in proposal No. 95 on July 8, 1828. 1) The teaching of Dogmatic Theology has now shown superiority over the previous works of the professor, rewarded with corresponding fruits. It is advisable that Fr. The rector, upon completion, submitted his lessons to the discretion of his superiors. 2) According to Hermeneutics, the analysis of small articles of the prophecy of Zechariah, the same in preliminary and open testing, turned out to be focused on unimportant subjects, and not very entertaining. To make this choice, it was necessary to pass through many very important articles in the Holy Scriptures, which the lessons of Hermeneutics had probably not yet touched upon. Much depends on the theory and practice of Hermeneutics in theological teaching. It is advisable that in the next course this part be taken up by the senior assistant professor of Theology, with the attention worthy of the subject. 3) According to Moral Theology, students’ answers are mostly not free; and it seems that this partly comes from the way the lessons are presented. It is necessary for the professor of Theology to actively delve into this and give these lessons a direction as possible, more precisely in accordance with the benefit of the students. 4) It is advisable for the personal works of those teaching philosophy in those areas in which they have reached sufficient maturity to be presented at the discretion of their superiors. 5) For literature classes, two things are presented as desirable in the above sentence: examples and analysis of samples. The latter's experience is shown in the summary; and the former were not shown in the test. So, I repeat, it is advisable to see examples. 6) I repeat that in the mentoring review of sermons composed by students, one can partly notice inattention, overlooking errors without correction and immoderate condescension in praise. 7) I also repeat that disorder, which consists in the unauthorized selection of subjects for essays by students, without the approval of mentors, should not be tolerated. 8) I insistently repeat that those who have mediocre success in writing should not be required to write too extensive works and, through careful analysis and criticism of them, to reveal and develop the ability for more extensive considerations; for it was carefully observed that some of the best students, having taken plans for their dissertations that were too extensive, could not bring their essays to a final finish before the end of the course. 9) I also repeat that some works are presented in different types of unfinished work. In the example, I present a long discussion about chiliasm, in which, however, the speech did not go so far as to make at least a brief consideration of the well-known passage of the Apocalypse, in the understanding of which lies the key to resolving the dispute about chiliasm. 10) What was said in the above proposal about submitting translations is beginning to bear fruit. There are many translations from Greek, and some of them are worthy of attention. I did not have time to look at the translations from English. If other activities do not allow me to make a special order regarding the translations presented to me, then Fr. The rector will need to understand which of them can be submitted for publication and which can be preserved until perfection or until combined with similar ones, since they do not form a whole. One can only wish that on this subject there would be increased attention, especially from the leaders of the upper class, to the lower class. For example. The conversation of Saint Chrysostom about the news of the feast of the Nativity of Christ and about deducing the time of this event from the high priesthood of Zechariah has been translated. This conversation can be read and used as a guide to Archaeological considerations, but it is difficult to set the right goal for presenting it in translation. However, what is noted here for the improvement of the affairs of the Academy should not be turned into a reproach to its current state, which shows the diligence and success of students with signs of good behavior, that everything should be the fruit of well-intentioned action and the good example of those in charge and teaching. You might be interested in: