From academic life

In the life of institutions like the Theological Academy, there are from time to time periods when individual events, from the chain of which life is composed, begin and end somehow remarkably calmly and evenly. And it cannot be said that this evenness depended on the fact that in the series of these events there were no institutions that were outstanding in their significance for life: there are some among them; but it happens that either the institution gradually prepared for them, so that their onset was not unexpected, or for some reason people were in such a mood that they did not feel any special excitement in themselves when experiencing such events. This is precisely the character of a calm, somewhat minor tone, that characterizes academic life for the entire second half of the academic year 18 94/93. It is remarkable, however, that while inside the Academy this character of silence prevailed, outside it and precisely about it one could hear talk and talk quite loudly. So, let's say in order, first about what really happened at the Academy, and then about what was said about it. The year 1895 began for the Academy with concerns about finding a place for a new student cemetery. On January 20, the members of the academic board, in view of the increase in the number of graves of deceased students in the academic garden, decided to find a more convenient place for burial... And they decided: it would be most respectful to ask His Eminence to order that the clergyman of the Ascension cemetery closest to the academy should allocate a sufficiently spacious area for the burial of students, if possible not far from the graves of the deceased professors of the academy Kudryavtsev and Amfitheatrov and entered into an agreement on this subject with the board of the Academy..... The board's petition was crowned with success: a fairly spacious plot was allocated for the academic cemetery near the cemetery Church of the Resurrection in one of the Posad cemeteries (on average, the same distance between Posad and Bethany). Here is the first academic news for 1895! In itself, this event is quite ordinary and - without hesitation - not important... But in the tone of the academic petition one hears something painfully sad, something oppressive with melancholy. “Multiplied graves of students”, “quite a spacious area” - the words are sadly significant! They clearly indicate that in recent years the mortality rate of students has increased and that, in the opinion of the academic board, there is no reason to hope that at least in the near future this percentage will decrease. “A sufficiently spacious area” is required! And moreover, for the students of the academy, that is, for young people who flock to the academy from different countries and are recommended as the flower of local theological seminaries, young people full of bright hopes for life, and not for a fairly spacious cemetery. However, it is possible that we are mistaken in giving such full meaning to the words of the executive resolution; Maybe these words mean something else, or are just random. God grant that it be so. There are, however, some reasons to believe that these words are not accidental, but mean exactly what we mean: thus, at the insistence of an academic doctor, with the onset of summer, six students were sent for treatment with kumis; In recent years, the Academy has also quite often had to turn to Moscow doctors and hospitals for help regarding nervous diseases. In general, chest and nervous diseases have become quite typical student illnesses. Therefore, the question involuntarily arises about the causes of this sad phenomenon. What are these reasons? We admit that we consider this question too difficult for ourselves. They usually point out how crowded the students' quarters are.... Currently, their number reaches 276; one should, they say, put only half of this number; yes, but what should we do with the rest? They also say that some student premises are damp, cold and do not have healthy air, since their windows overlook the Lavra cemetery. Indeed, such premises exist and their above-mentioned properties have long been noticed by students, who from time immemorial have nicknamed them “Lapland.” Perhaps these climatic conditions, so to speak, really have a bad effect on the health of students; but, we repeat, we do not at all take the liberty of speculating about any reasons, but point out the indicated phenomena to competent people, noting for our part that such academic premises exist decisively contrary to some points of the Spiritual Regulations: for according to the Regulations, the place for the academy should be allocated to a “cheerful” place, and not... Lapland 1 . In our opinion, this decree of the Spiritual Regulations is very important. By the very nature of the academic studies of students of the Theological Academy and by their comparative (class) poverty, an environment that is not oppressive to the flight of the soul is required, but a free, cheerful one. Thus, the entire cycle of theological sciences is imbued with the character of abstraction and detachment from life. In fact, the most abstract dialectics, philology, bibliography, archeology - these are the main elements with which the student mind operates during the entire course of the academic course. To this must also be added that according to established custom, and especially at the Moscow Academy, students are required not so much to give oral reports in their classes as to produce independent written work. But composing an independent theological work is a work that, even with skill, requires very significant mental effort. Teachers of the Law of God in secular educational institutions are those who can indisputably and authoritatively testify to the fact that a student who excels in natural science, law, even pure mathematics, often becomes positively stumped by a relatively popular presentation of Orthodox dogma..... It is not uncommon in the writing practice of academy students that an author who has been tormented by the topic of an essay and who has almost completed it tears his work into shreds two days before the due date. Why? Yes, because only now, having almost completely finished my work, I saw that it was necessary to completely redo it... But such intense mental work is good and beneficial for development when it is accompanied by a feeling of satisfaction, good results of the labor expended and the efforts made. If you are dissatisfied, work is only exhausting. And if we add to this the above-mentioned climatic conditions of the external environment, the idea in the past and future of only the prospect of this mental struggle and energy only for daily bread (after all, students are mostly poor and, having received a candidate’s degree, have recently even willingly become psalm-readers); then, perhaps, we will have to agree that nervous and chest diseases under such conditions are quite natural. One may, of course, object to this that the study of theology, on the contrary, requires the strictest monastic asceticism, that the universal teachers and theologians were precisely ascetics..... The answer can be the following: only spiritual, but not physical asceticism can be obligatory: for the latter for some - people of a weak, especially naturally sick physique, would only be a slow murder - for others - people who are naturally healthy, it, of course, could be both easy and fruitful, but of course with a very reasonable method and exercise, and most importantly - that it be voluntary and meaningful, and not at all violent: for only under this condition would spiritual asceticism be united with it and strengthened; without this latter physical asceticism has no meaning. It is the examples of great ascetic theologians that explain this. The ascetic exercises they voluntarily undertook were only a lengthy preparation for theology, but did not go alongside it. The theological school, structured in a Spartan manner, created, as long experience has shown, a type of student, but by no means an ascetic theologian. On the contrary, a school that provides all the conveniences for the normal growth of spiritual and physical strength can also provide a strict ascetic theologian. Both the task of physical asceticism and rational, comfortable physical education are the same - to discipline bodily forces and inclinations in a reasonable way, that is, so that they are subordinate to the rational will and correspond to the highest aspirations of the human soul. As a result of this, the mortification of gross passionate urges and impulses by strict fasting, mortification of the flesh, is no more advisable than reasonable hygiene. But the latter, as an educational affinity, is applicable to all natures, while the former is only applicable to exceptional ones, especially to schoolchildren of adolescence: after all, this is still a period of growth and formation of the body: insufficient nutrition, lack of rest with significant mental stress can directly lead to deformity and pain. On this basis, we consider the above decree of the Spiritual Regulations to be very wise and appropriate. Its one-and-a-half-century antiquity simply should shame those of the late 19th century who are unwilling or unable to appreciate its profound expediency. But enough about that. At present, concern for the new academic cemetery turned out to be far from unnecessary: ​​as recently as May 13th, the occupant of the new academic cemetery was found. This turned out to be a third-year student, priest Pyotr Ilyich Beltov. The deceased was a native of the Vladimir province. After completing the course, he entered the priesthood in a poor rural parish. The very unfavorable conditions of his home and parish life prompted him to dare to seek a way out for the better in an honest way, although in his position as a family man, it was very difficult: he sought, leaving his family at home, to enter the Moscow Theological Academy. Admission took place and the family priest, isolated from his family, successfully fulfilled his student duties for three years, distinguished at the same time by his zeal for church service. For this zeal, his fellow priests called him their dean. But his naturally weak health, due, of course, to family sorrows and worries, could not withstand everyday struggles, and only after a short but very acute illness (inflammation in the brain) Fr. Peter died in one of the Moscow hospitals, where he was placed at the insistence of an academic doctor. The patient stayed here for no more than 3 days. – With the permission of the Metropolitan, the body of the deceased was transported from Moscow to Sergiev Posad. Here at the station the coffin was met by Fr. Rector Archimandrite Anthony and moved to the cemetery Resurrection Church. The funeral service was performed on the 15th by two archimandrites: the Rector of the Academy, Archimandrite Anthony, and the rector of the embassy church in Athens, Archimandrite Sergius, co-served by student priests. Of the deceased's relatives, only his wife was present at the funeral service. The deceased’s comrades and colleagues in the academic church, the priests, expressed their sympathies to him at parting with deeply felt speeches. During the funeral service, the word spoken by the priest, Fr. Simeon Nikolsky (who graduated from the academic course this year). After a long priestly funeral service, the coffin was carried out of the church by the hands of the priests and, preceded by a banner, was surrounded around it and then nearby, on the western side, lowered into the grave, with the quiet chime of small cemetery bells. Thus marked the sad beginning of the settlement of the new student cemetery. On February 6 at 6 pm, a master's debate took place in the presence of professors and students of the academy. The dissertation of I.P. was discussed. Nikolina “Acts of the Holy Apostles. Experience of historical-critical introduction". Sergiev Posad 1895. The disputant, according to curriculum vitae, is the son of a priest in the village of Ryzhev, Yegoryevsky district, Ryazan province. Upon completion of the course at the Ryazan religious school. Seminary with a first-class certificate, he entered the Ryazan Theological School as an overseer. In 1888 he was admitted to the number of students in Moscow. Academy on state support. At the end of the course at the academy, he was left with it as a professorial fellow, but due to the lack of vacancies in the academy, by order of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod dated February 4. 1892 appointed teacher of dogmatic theology and related subjects at the Bethany spiritual school. seminary, where he is now a teacher. While still a student, the disputant published an article in the Ryazan Diocesan Gazette: “the religious and moral state of Judea during the reign of Josiah.” Then in 1894 in “Readings in the Amateur Society.” spiritual enlightenment" was published: "Refutation of the opinion about the borrowing of some legends of the holy book of Acts from the narrative of Josephus", and in "The Joy of a Christian": Ap. Paul on trial at the Sanhedrin”, “On the veneration and calling of saints”, “The teaching of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian on the Trinity of persons in God”. The debate opened with a lively and animated speech by I.P. Nikolin, dedicated to clarifying the significance of critical-isagogical works, which include his dissertation, for the positive disclosure of Christian doctrine and criticism of the opposing opinion. At the end of his speech, the master’s student cited a number of interesting parallels from the history of Christian antiquity, clearly showing with what keen interest the fathers and teachers of the church treated questions about the origin, authors and authenticity of the sacred books. The first opponent was the rector of the academy, Fr. Archimandrite Anthony. Agreeing with the main points expressed by the disputant in his speech, and recognizing the importance and necessity of the critical part in every work that has claims to be scientific, Fr. The rector, however, reproached the master's student for being too enthusiastic about polemical problems. It was pointed out to the master's student that he sometimes engages in a detailed and detailed analysis of opinions, the inconsistency of which is obvious by itself, from which the polemical part of his work takes on the character of hypercriticism. After listening to detailed explanations from the disputant regarding his objection, Fr. the rector moved on to the contents of the book. Here, first of all, he did not agree with the disputant’s opinion about the purpose of writing the book. Acts. He recognized this goal as the presentation of the history of the life and work of the apostle. Pavel. In support of his opinion, he referred to the fact that St. Luke ends his narrative with Rome, as soon as the life and work of the apostle is interrupted. Mutual explanations about. The rector ended by indicating the possibility of reconciling the disputant’s opinion with his own. Further noting a few more minor oversights, the opponent spoke with great praise of the merits of Mr. Nikolin’s book. He particularly approved of the fact that the author based his exegesis on the demolition of parallel passages of St. Scripture, using the hermeneutic rule, which the newest interpreters of St. often sin against. Scripture, as well as to the last chapter of the dissertation, in which the author reveals complete independence, churchly direction and is completely freed from the influence of foreign aids. The essence of the objections of the second official opponent, a professor at the department of St. Scriptures New Head M.D. Muretova, comes down to indicating some of the gaps and excesses of the dissertation. First of all, he reproached Mr. Nikolin for incompletely studying the literature of the subject. In particular, the opponent pointed out the author’s unfamiliarity with the major works of Zahn, Feine, with the new edition and revision of Schurer’s book and with the work of Schleiner. Moreover, the opponent recognized the lack of attention on the part of Mr. Nikolin to the works of Russian scientists as worthy of reproach: Rev. Innocent and Michael, Rev. Gregory, St. Glagoleva and others. The opponent recognized the omission of the question about the relationship of the book as a research gap. Acts to the Epistles of St. Pavel. The Book of Acts was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, therefore two years after the death of St. Pavel. So. arr. St. Luke could use when compiling the book. Acts in the written works of St. Pavel. In addition, the current state of science required us to touch upon the issue of the literary dependence of the book. Acts of Ev. John the Theologian. In the chapter about the writer of the book. The opponent also pointed out one omission. It does not specifically discuss negative dates regarding the origin of the book. Acts of St. Luke. On page 160 of his dissertation, Mr. Nikolin speaks of the remarkable unanimity with which church tradition has always attributed the book of Acts to St. Luke. In fact, this unanimity was less significant than the author claims. So eg. Chrysostom says that even in his time the origin of kg. Acts of Ev. Luke was not generally accepted, but some attributed this book to St. Luke, others to Clement of Rome, third ap. Barnabas. Photius testifies to the same thing. Likewise, some heretics, for example. The Marcionites and Manichaeans, accepting the Gospel of Luke, rejected the book. Acts. So. arr. The evidence from the tradition regarding Luke's authorship is not entirely unanimous, and the task of the dissertation is to analyze the negative evidence. Finally, the opponent noted another gap in the chapter on the purpose of the book. Acts. He reproached the disputant for not paying due attention to one essential theory that recognizes the book. Acts by analogy. Paul in his Roman trial, seeking to prove the harmlessness of Christianity for the state, a theory based on the evidence of the Myratorian fragment, claiming that the ap. Paul took St. with him to Rome. Luca, as a lawyer - ut juris studiosum, and outlined in the articles of Aberle in Tüb. Theol. Quartalschrift for 1855 p. 173, 1863 93 and Schӓfer’a in the same magazine for 1877. In contrast to these gaps, the opponent also noted in some places that the dissertation was too complete. So, in his opinion, the author should not have touched upon the questions of whether Luke was a painter and whether he belonged to the 70 disciples of Christ. Mr. Nikolin gave appropriate explanations to all of the opponent’s objections. The dispute concluded with the objections of an unofficial opponent, an associate professor in the department of cer. archeology, A.I. Golubtsova. The latter's objections related to the area of ​​his specialty. He stated that he expected to find in his dissertation a detailed analysis of the legend about the iconography of Eve. Luke, but found in it only a note devoted to this subject. Further reproaching the disputant for the strong dependence in which he stood when compiling this note to his manuals, Mr. Golubtsov asked him two questions: 1) why a detailed treatise on Ev. Luke, as a painter, in the presentation of his biography and 2) why the question of the iconography of St. Luke is decided by the disputant in a positive sense, while the manuals on which he was dependent express doubts about this subject. To the first question, the disputant answered that the inclusion in the biography of St. Luke of a detailed treatise on his iconography, as having little relevance to the main subject of study, he considered unnecessary and therefore limited himself to one note. That he was not mistaken in this, he is convinced by the opinion of his previous opponent, who recognized even this note as unnecessary. Regarding his dependence on manuals when compiling notes on the iconography of St. Luke's disputant noticed that he did not hide it at all and, for this purpose, quoted his manuals. The Academy Council, recognizing the defense of the dissertation as satisfactory, decided to petition the Holy Synod for approval of the undergraduate in the degree of Master of Theology. On February 28, the Academy Council heard a request for dismissal from the academic service of the distinguished extraordinary professor Pavel Ivanovich Gorskago-Platonov. Pavel Ivanovich served at the Academy for almost 37 years. Immediately after completing the academic course in 1858, on August 19, he was appointed a bachelor in the class of Ecclesiastical Biblical History and Jewish Language, then, with the transformation of the Academy in 1870, he chose to teach Hebrew Language and Biblical Archeology. From 1878 to 1887, he held the position of Academy Inspector by election of the Academy Council. In his place, on May 2, the Council of the Academy and His Eminence approved the master's student and professor's scholarship holder Pavel Vasilyevich Tikhomirov. On May 29th, the Academy Council heard another petition for dismissal from the academic service of the Honored Ordinary Professor Evgeniy Evsigneevich Golubinsky. His entire service was also almost 37 years. In 1858, upon completion of the academic course, he was assigned to the Bethany Theological Seminary as a teacher of literature, and in 1859, on September 26, he was transferred to the Moscow Theological Academy as a bachelor of Russian Church History and German Language. Scientific works on the History of the Russian Church and the history of the Orthodox Slavic churches brought Evgeniy Evsigneevich a very honorable reputation in the scientific world. He is currently a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences; honorary member of: Imperial Kharkov University, Society of Nestor the Chronicler at the Imperial University of St. Vladimir in Kyiv, the Rostov Museum of Church Antiquities and the Bulgarian Book Friendship in Sredets (Sofia); full member of the Society of Ancient Russian Art at the Moscow Public Museum and the Society of Russian History and Antiquities. In his place, the Academy Council on June 14 elected a professorial fellow who had just completed his course, master's student Sergei Ivanovich Smirnov. The departure from the Academy of these two comrades in the course and long academic service constitutes a very noticeable decrease in the spiritual and scientific strength of the Academy. They brought their rich spiritual gifts to spiritual science and devoted all their strength; the steady fulfillment of their professorial duty remained for them all the time the high goal of life: their entire long service was one continuous academic work - without entertainment: for there were no such people in Sergiev Posad, according to their tastes and habits, and they lived in Posad without leaving 2. For the first, scientific works were replaced only by a short rest with his family, and for the second, rest consisted only of alternating studies in the unprecedentedly closed and detached solitude of a learned Kellyot, detached from the vanities of life. On May 11th, the academic and Bethany corporations honored these two of their teachers and colleagues with a farewell fraternal meal. In modest, sincere speeches here, feelings of love, respect, gratitude were expressed, desires for a calm longevity were expressed, and the sad farewell note, inevitable in these circumstances, was somewhat weakened by the consciousness that this farewell is only external; for the long service of these luminaries of academic science has already made them so close to the academy that their internal union with it will remain indissoluble for the future and, God willing, for a long time to come... The year-long tests of the students this year, as in the previous year, were honored with a gracious visit from His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Moscow. The Bishop blessed with his visit the exams in Moral Theology and Dogmatics. At the first, His Eminence deigned to stay for quite a long time, listened extremely carefully to the students’ answers and himself gave them objections and questions, extracting them from the answers he heard. At both exams, Vladyka, in conclusion, deigned to express a very flattering review of their answers to the students. On June 14th, the master's colloquium of the Rector of the Orthodox Embassy Church in Athens, Fr. Archimandrite Sergius, who defended his dissertation: Orthodox doctrine of salvation. Sergiev Posad. 1895 The Secretary of the Academy M.K. Kazansky read the following curriculum vitae about. Archimandrite Sergius. Fr. Archimandrite Sergius received his initial education at the Arzamas Theological School and the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, where he graduated from the course in 1886; After that, he went as a volunteer to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, into which, after passing the admission tests, he was admitted to government support. After completing the course at the Academy in 1890, on June 13 of the same year he was appointed a missionary to Japan, where he stayed for about 3 years. Returning to Russia in 1893, Fr. Sergius, according to the election of the Council of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, was approved to correct the position of associate professor in the department of the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament, and on December 30 of the same year he was appointed by decree of the Holy Synod to correct the position of Inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy and held this position until September 21, 1894, when by decree of the Holy Synod he was appointed rector of the church at Russian mission in Athens, a position he still holds to this day. In addition to the master's thesis, Fr. Sergius typed: The Church Bulletin contains several small articles - correspondence on issues and events of current church life in Japan; In the Russian Bulletin (1892–93) - an article about the calling of the Orthodox mission in the Far East under the title: “Christianity in China and Japan”; In the Theological Bulletin - for the current year - part of a lecture on Moral Theology under the title: “Eternal life as the highest good.” Official opponents of Fr. Sergius were: Fr. rector of the academy, Archimandrite Anthony and extra. Professor in the Department of History and Analysis of Western Confessions V. A. Sokolov. First opponent, Fr. The rector of the academy began by speaking with great praise about the work of Fr. Sergius, familiar to him as a candidate’s dissertation, and now significantly improved and completely consistent in meaning with the author’s main idea that salvation is not a reward for a conditional feat of thought or will, but the revelation in all its strength of that grace-filled mood that is gradually acquired here by a believer and striving Christian. The shortcomings of the essay, in the opinion of the opponent, are only partial and, moreover, relate more to the presentation than to the content of the book. Thus, the author, having established the above teaching about salvation, should not return to the concepts from which he himself tried to rid the reader, and pose the question: what is the active force in the assimilation of saving communion with God: faith or works? and he does this at the end of the book, and answers - faith; Meanwhile, one should have answered - a Christian mood, as the Apostle says, that the kingdom of God is truth, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The opponent finds the second imperfection of the dissertation in the fact that the author, speaking about the feat of the cross of Christ, does not indicate what its saving power is, if a Christian enters the kingdom of heaven in accordance with his inner content. True, the author speaks of our assimilation by Christ as a new Adam, but does not explain his thoughts and, in addition, allows the expression: the merit of Jesus Christ, created by scholastic Latin, and although adopted by our educational literature, it is alien to the patristic and completely inappropriate in a dissertation devoted precisely to abolishing the concept of external merit in the matter of salvation. The third objection about. The rector proceeded from that extreme opposition between the exploits undertaken out of fear and the exploits of selfless love that leads us into eternal life, which is emphasized more than once by the author. How will the author reconcile this contrast with the threats to sinners and promises to the righteous mentioned in his own book, so well known to us from the word of God? True, the author stipulates that such feats are required at the lowest stage of a Christian’s spiritual development, but if they are so alien to the spirit of evangelical love, then what benefit can they bring to the human soul? The answer to such a question is not in the book, but it lies in the fact that the fear of retribution, which does not, of course, directly implant the feelings of the Gospel in the heart of a sinner, can at least attract his scattered attention to self-examination, search in his soul for the seeds of good that have died out in the thorns of passions and thus return them to life; Such was the influence of the fear of starvation on the prodigal son: he came to his senses, and this gave him the opportunity to repent. The opponent found ambiguity in the dissertation on the subject of Chapter 4, which deals with the grace-filled gifts of baptism. These gifts consist, by the way, in faith, according to one paragraph of the book, and according to another, faith precedes baptism; finally, according to the author, faith itself arises only in a good heart that seeks truth, and then it turns out that love and goodness are possible only as the grace-filled gifts of faith and baptism. After exchanging several more objections, the opponent concluded them with approximately the following words: “I am so glad to see your thoughts on the most important subject of theological science appear in print, as if I myself were their author. I especially rejoice that you presented them in the words of sacred tradition, or, more precisely, showed their identity with the latter. I would like you, for greater and final convincing of your scientific positions, to analyze all the sayings of St. from an established point of view. Bibles that deal with the teaching of the saving power of faith or good works. I say this for final convincing, but not in the sense that I expect everyone to quickly assimilate your explanations. On the contrary, many phenomena in our theological literature convince me that neither your book nor your thoughts will quickly spread even in the spiritual world. For this, your book will receive lasting value. She will not lose her interest even after a hundred years; Moreover, interest in it will gradually increase, and if not in it, then in your wonderful explanatory thoughts, which will now be assimilated by the best and most sincere and believing readers, and then will spread from their minds into the environment, imperceptibly gradually, like everything deep, reasonable, and true. Your book, as a confession of spiritual understanding, does not relate to the interests of the day, is not the subject of attention of the current moment: it looks into the future, giving us yet another confirmation of that bright hope that we will finally get rid of the influence of heterodox theology and merge our minds with the tradition of the Church.” The second opponent, Professor V.A. Sokolov, also praised the disputant’s dissertation, but pointed out the following shortcomings. First of all, he reproached the disputant for his harsh judgment about theological science, expressed on page 44 in the following words: “Whoever wants, finds Orthodoxy, but not in our science, but in the Divine service of our church, in the elder’s cell, near Fr. John of Kronstadt, in life in general.” It seems to me, says the opponent, that these careless words have said much more than they should have. Very recently, Fr. John of Kronstadt, whom you mention, solemnly declared that he always had deep respect for theological science and, moreover, “he owes it to her that he has now become what he is.” You yourself, in your research, focusing your critical gaze on the works of some of the newest theologians, find precisely the Orthodoxy you are looking for in them. O Reverend Macarius You say that he “wants to express the distinctive feature of the Orthodox understanding”, that his thoughts and phrases “speak with certainty that the Reverend. Macarius saw the inconsistency of the legal (i.e., heterodox) understanding of salvation and discovered a “deeper” Orthodox understanding (54–55). About the work of Fr. Protopresbyter I. L. Yanyshev You say that he “very definitely makes it possible to see the true essence of Orthodoxy (57). Finally, whose works of the newest theologians and thinkers enjoy your special favor and are placed, so to speak, at the basis of your own research, so much so that it is with them, in your own expression (215), that you “test your understanding of the patristic teaching?” These are the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and the Reverend. Feofan, i.e. representatives of our own theological science. It is in them that you find true Orthodoxy: do you then have the right to say that “whoever wants to, finds Orthodoxy, but not in our science?” Thanks to some polemical passion, the author, in the opinion of his opponent, further turned out to be not entirely fair to one of his opponents, namely Protestantism. He repeatedly and persistently asserts that the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith does not assume any active participation of the person himself in this matter. “Faith saves externally” (19), spiritual disposition does not participate in justification, does not contribute to it” (20), faith should not be understood in the sense of any moral work on the part of the person being saved (18), “there is no place for human participation, for the subjective side in Protestant justification” (22). Meanwhile, from his book one can learn (p. 18) that the faith that justifies a person, according to the teachings of Protestants, is not acquired at all without the participation of Protestants, is acquired not at all without the participation of the believer himself, but on the contrary is the result of his internal mood, requires quite a lot of work on his part, and therefore is not something external to a person, but an internal process and traces within him. it cannot be argued that there is no place for human participation in the Protestant justification. In Chapter IV, the opponent continued, the author talks a lot about the sacraments and, in particular, about the sacrament of St. baptism. Here, on the basis of many testimonies of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the church, he reveals in detail the Orthodox teaching on this subject and among other things says: “the effectiveness of the sacrament depends on the degree of free participation of the person himself in it” (200) “rebirth is accomplished through a moral path, with the freely conscious assistance of the person himself (201). “The essence of baptism is a radical revolution that takes place in a person’s soul, a change in his entire life.” “One’s own will to leave the old man is a condition for the gracious reality of the sacrament” 175). If this is not the case, then “water will remain water” and the person “received the sacrament in vain” (178–185). All this is wonderful, said the opponent, and, being confirmed by many undoubted paternal testimonies, is imprinted in the reader’s soul as true church teaching. Not only that; With this significance of the sacrament of baptism, it is a very clear and important moment in the process of personal salvation of each person depicted by the author; but the Orthodox believer of our time comes into involuntary bewilderment when he knows that at present nothing like this occurs in the life of the church. The sacrament of baptism is now performed on infants, when, of course, there can be no talk of any moral revolution, or any conscious decision to stop the old life and start a new one. In the same chapter, the author seems to undermine the very idea of ​​the need for baptism for a person’s salvation. He says: “even failure to accept the sacrament in the established form may not harm a person, once the essence of a true Christian has been formed in him - the desire for the kingdom of Christ. He who, for reasons beyond his control, did not have time to realize, or, so to speak, formalize his desire to unite with Christ, is nevertheless accepted on a par with the baptized (217–218). Ergo, isn’t baptism a simple formality that can be dispensed with, and what do the Savior’s words mean after this: unless someone is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God? (John 3:5) The opponent then pointed out some places in the book where the thoughts expressed by the author, due to inaccuracy of expression, appear to be erroneous. On page 71, the author asks the following question: is a legal relationship between God and man possible? – And you resolutely answer impossible. Why? “Because,” he says, that a legal union is fundamentally a selfish desire for one’s own well-being (71): God does not need us, but wants us to do good for our own benefit... From a legal point of view, this phenomenon is not understandable, even downright meaningless... Obviously, it is not jus that is at work here, and the legal point of view here can only distort the matter, not explain it. “What is at work here is not the right, not the desire of “one’s own”, but mercy (79). “In my opinion,” the opponent said, “legal relations are possible without such an assumption.” I eg. I make an act of donation, or make a spiritual will. In both of these cases, my right applies, but there may be no detection at all of my selfish desire for my own well-being and the mutual self-restraint of several egos. This means that between me and my heirs, or those in whose favor I make a deed of gift, although legal relations are established, however, without any selfish concern for my own well-being and the mutual limitation of several selfish interests. Trace. and without such an assumption, legal relations are possible. The opponent also recognized some other expressions of the author as inaccurate, for example. that “the origin of every theological error and every heresy (2) must be sought in the moral sphere and that at their core they all have moral imperfection. – Or: “The Lord Jesus Christ brought this teaching (i.e., the teaching about the personal salvation of man) in all its heavenly purity and intelligibility for every religious and moral consciousness, and not only brought it, but He Himself walked the path he indicated (p. 1). In conclusion, the opponent expressed the desire that in the second edition the book would be freed from what makes it difficult to read for many, for example. from abundant Latin quotations, left without translation (see introduction), so that it is presented in a more accessible, popular language, supplemented with explanations, illustrated with examples and observations, and generally presented in such a form that it can find wide circulation among the masses of the reading public. Then, he told the author, he would have earned not only an academic theological degree, but also the deep gratitude of many Orthodox believers. After the official opponents, Prof. made one more remark. M. D. Muretov. To all the opponents' comments, Fr. Sergius gave calm and thorough explanations, and therefore the Council of the Academy recognized his defense as satisfactory and decided to apply in accordance with the established procedure for confirmation of his Master of Theology degree. The academic year ended with the usual graduation of students who had completed their academic course. These turned out to be: 13 undergraduates, 51 candidates, and 10 full-time students. During the past academic year, the Academy was fortunate to see the following bishops in its house church and living quarters: His Eminence Sergius Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, Arseny Bishop of Sukhumi, Agathodorus Bishop of Stavropol, Tikhon Bishop of Mozhaisk, Nicholas Bishop of Aleutia, Sergius Archbishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, Clement Metropolitan of Bulgaria, Alexei Bishop of Vologda. Thus, the year-long circle of working academic life, which took place in the friendly joint work of professors and students, ended safely and peacefully. This work is not noisy; on the contrary, she loves silence and solitude. For an external observer, it is almost hidden: is it possible that by chance a belated pilgrim entering the Lavra on a winter evening will involuntarily direct his gaze to the brightly lit windows of the busy student premises in the surrounding darkness, while the inhabitants of the Lavra of Sergius the Great have already indulged in peaceful sleep 3, and through these windows he will notice the awake young men at large tables quietly working on books and notebooks. Here that spiritual power grows and strengthens, which then, upon leaving the Academy, will rush across the entire face of the Russian land to spread religious knowledge in the fields of spiritual-educational, missionary, pastoral and scientific-literary 4. And while this active and quiet life was flowing within the walls of the Academy, far from it there were trials and gossip of its inhabitants, breaking out at times with noisy newspaper abuse. I don’t remember a time when such abuse was allowed in print against any existing institution. The Academy responded to this abuse with complete silence, tirelessly continuing its normal activities. And we think that every prudent and honest person will admit that by doing this, she chose the best means to curb the foolish people of ignorance (1 Peter 2:15). Now, when this battle has passed into eternity, as a transferred fact, it is fitting to tell about it with a simple chronicle purpose: For young people to learn, At the very beginning of the school year, the newspaper Citizen attacked the Academy. The newspaper immediately attacked prof. A.P. Lebedev for his articles on the Greek hierarchy after the fall of the K-field, published in the Theological Bulletin (1894 February, May, June, August). Having completely unfoundedly condemned them for their quasi Bulgarian tendentious tendency, the unknown author (N.D.) did not hesitate to throw the following insinuation at the Academy professor: “Imbued with Protestant ideas, Mr. Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, of course, does not recognize the holiness and incorruptibility of St. relics, and his heart (?) lies more in Protestantism than in Orthodoxy 5 , and then he dared to throw the following accusation in the face of the entire Academy: “It’s no wonder after this,” he says, “that the Moscow Theological Academy has been instilling in the hearts of its students hatred of the Greeks and the Mother Church for many (probably so many) years, and that the Bulgarian clerics raised in this academy: hierodeacons and Hieromonks who are in schism are still freely active in the church of the Academy 6.” Calmly pondering and weighing these words, you involuntarily ask: why did the author who published them need to disgrace both himself and the entire newspaper? In fact, what sane person would dare to shout in the newspapers about another completely unknown person (the author speaks about A.P. Lebedev: “a certain Prof. A.P. Lebedev”), that he does not recognize the incorruption of relics and that his heart lies more with this than with that? It’s clear that only someone who has fallen into a state of mind can scream like that. Don't you wonder further what the author's goal was to slander the learned professor in such a way? Convict him of insufficient knowledge of the subject, of an incorrect or inaccurate presentation of facts, etc., scientific shortcomings - there will be a meaning and an imaginary or real wound to the professor’s pride, but to reveal someone else’s soul, faith, heart is ..... something extraordinarily absurd, wild ..... “The Moscow Theological Academy has been instilling in the hearts of its students hatred of sins and the Mother Church for so many years,” further states Mr. N.D. It inspires so many years! – The unfortunate writer N.D., who spewed out this blasphemy against the highest Orthodox theological school for so many years, which was under the immediate jurisdiction of the highest church authorities, probably “did not know what he was doing” - he was not properly aware of the full grave meaning of the words he was pronouncing and his moral responsibility for them. The validity of such a proposal is also justified by the further words of Mr. N.D. that “the Bulgarian clerics educated in this academy act sacredly in the academic church.” N.D.’s idea of ​​the academy’s hatred of the mother church is obviously in connection with the fact that Bulgarian clergy are active in the academic church: that means the academy is Bulgarian-phile, Mr. N. D. concludes from this, and that means it hates the Greeks and the mother church, he concludes even further. As can be seen from here, Mr. N.D. blasphemed the academy, thinking abnormally under the influence of the so-called. Bulgarianphobia. If this is so, then we sincerely wish to help Mr. N.D. and others like him with the following explanations: Students of different nationalities study at the Academy: in addition to Russians, there are Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Georgians, Arabs, Ethiopians, and Japanese. According to the Academy's charter, all of them must certainly participate, each in their own rank, in the academic Divine service: they do participate, and this participation gives the academic Divine service a special solemnity and makes a deep impression on the pilgrims. It is not for nothing that the academic church, despite its vastness, is always full of worshipers. That nothing like hatred for the mother of the church is instilled from this and at the same time in the hearts of the students of the academy, the proof is that in the academic church, with the participation of these same multinational representatives, the Greek liturgy is celebrated every year and students, both clergy and singers, prepare for it with special care, with great willingness, with pleasure. The Greek students themselves never expressed complaints that professors or students harbored or aroused hatred towards them in their hearts. Quite the opposite: in the Moscow Academy, almost more, and in any case no less than in other academies, from time immemorial was devoted to the study of monuments of Greek literature, exegetical, patriotic, canonical, historical, etc. and for this reason Greek students were always welcome guests at the academy, and the professors of the academy entered into private acquaintance with them for the practical study of their language and for a closer acquaintance with their way of life. And what reason could there be for the Academy to harbor hatred towards the Greeks and towards Mother Church? There are no direct relations, neither political nor ecclesiastical, between the academy and the Patriarchate of Constantinople: the academic and educational sphere, in which alone these relations can be established, forms and creates only relations of peace and mutual respect, and certainly does not harbor feelings of hatred: this is unknown only to Mr. N.D. As for the Bulgarian clergy students, not allowing them to serve in the academic church would be extreme cruelty, and besides, for the academic authorities it would be an act that directly exceeds its canonical competence. The Holy Synod, allowing the Rector of the Academy to accept Bulgarian clergy as full-fledged students of the Academy, does not deliberately prohibit them from serving. Wouldn't the Rector dare to subject them to this prohibition with his own authority? Moreover, according to the Academy’s charter, only persons of the Orthodox confession are accepted among its students: where did Mr. N.D. find Bulgarians “in schism” in the Moscow Theological Academy? Learn to show Mr. N.D. to show due respect to the ruling church authorities and its statutes, and realize that until now you have behaved extremely unreasonably and indecently. Another unknown detractor of the Academy distinguished himself even better, placing Moskov in No. 117. Vedomosti article: about candidates of Theology. Its author hid his own name, indicating only that he acts in the literary field under the banner of “Orthodox.” What is his deed? Most likely, as one would expect from the title of the article, she has in mind candidates of theology, but this is not entirely true: candidates of theology are only an excuse, seizing on which, “Orthodox” expresses his very decisive judgment about students, professors and the whole arrangement of theological teaching in theological academies in general. This is a decisive statement: a) “The two examples given,” he says, “give the basis for an answer to what is required and what is not required from an essay for the author to be recognized as a candidate of theology. When developing a topic, it is not required to have a clear understanding of your subject, or to coordinate your conclusions with the teachings of the Orthodox Church, or even to verify these conclusions with the patristic teachings. In a word, you can, based on your own reason and on your own interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, defend any heresy you like, or carry out anti-church doctrines and flaunt your heterodox sympathies. If only there was a semblance of labor in the composition, i.e. a lot of extracts and footnotes so that the work would be presented clearly; This last one is the most important.” b) “Students write nonsense, professors sharpen their wit on these nonsenses - who cares from this! But in fact, for these nonsenses the student is recognized as worthy of the degree of candidate of theology.” “Isn’t it too easy for us to achieve the responsible title (!) of Candidate of Theology, aren’t Messrs. too formal in their attitude? professors to their right to judge the merits of a candidate, and are our theological academies in this respect not becoming too similar to German theological faculties? Here, dear reader, is the judgment of a private person, published in a large Russian metropolitan newspaper, about Orthodox academies, that is, the highest theological schools of Orthodox Russia. For a long time we stood in thought before this phenomenon, trying to calmly discuss it and record it in our chronicle with the impartiality of a chronicler. But we admit that the depressing impression of this phenomenon resolutely opposed such a calm attitude towards it. In it, we were outraged, firstly, by the fact that a large Russian newspaper, always distinguished by its respect for existing institutions, decided to print a sweeping, sharp condemnation of all Orthodox academies, which stand under the direct supervision and leadership of the highest church authorities and have educated within their walls so many men of hierarchy and theological science. Secondly, we were deeply struck by the truly amazing courage and audacity of a private individual - the anonymous author. The Moscow Theological Academy had no right to expect such an attitude towards itself from this large newspaper, the late editor of which M. N. Katkov, who so raised its prestige, was an honorary member of the Moscow Academy.... As for the anonymous author, we ultimately felt sorry for him and, under the influence of this feeling, we decided to look in his article for circumstances mitigating his terrible guilt. And our searches, it seems, were not unsuccessful. In this regard, the following words of his article seemed important to us: “He who has been crowned with this (i.e., candidate) degree immediately becomes in a privileged position among those who have not been crowned. He immediately receives a place in the spiritual and educational department, therefore, he is entrusted with the education of future shepherds of the church. Doors are open to him everywhere, everywhere he is a welcome guest, everywhere he has a place of honor.” Having carefully weighed these words, we came to the conclusion that the person who wrote them was suffering from the disease of envy. And that envy is a serious mental illness, we were taught this from a highly authoritative spiritual doctor - the Holy Orthodox Church - which preaches that “Envy does not honor what is useful” and through the mouth of one of its famous hierarchs teaches that “envy is the sorrow of the soul for someone else’s well-being.” If our diagnosis is correct, then our attitude to the article by the anonymous author of Moskovskiye Vedomosti will be determined as follows: the unfortunate person wrote it out of envy. After our present chronicle was completed and submitted to the editors of the Theological Bulletin, the Academy received the following decree of the Holy Governing Synod: “By Decree of His Imperial Majesty, the Most Holy Governing Synod had a judgment on the current state of affairs in the theological academies of Moscow and Kazan. They ordered: on the basis of previous discussions, the Holy Synod determines: to appoint the Rector of the Kazan Theological Academy, Archpriest Alexander Vladimirsky, as a member of the educational committee at the Holy Synod with dismissal, according to the petition, from his current position; the order to grant him a pension for spiritual educational service should be given to the Synodal Chief Prosecutor. Transfer the Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Archimandrite Anthony, to the post of Rector of the Kazan Theological Academy; The rector of the Moscow Academy is to appoint the rector of the Moscow Intercession Monastery, Archimandrite Lavrentiy: instead of him, the Rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, Archimandrite Innocent, is to be appointed to the rectoral position in the Intercession Monastery; with his dismissal from spiritual and educational service; about what to send a decree to Your Eminence for the necessary orders, and to transfer an extract from this determination to the Economic Administration for an order to issue money to Archimandrite Anthony. July 21, 1895." “The location of the academy is not in the city, but on the side in a cheerful place, where there is no noise from the people, below frequent occurrences that usually interfere with learning, and it is obvious that it steals the thoughts of young people and does not allow diligent study.” School houses, item 19. 1 Evgeniy Evsigneevich spent only the 1872–1873 academic year abroad for academic purposes. According to the Rules of the Lavra, the monks begin vigil from 2 o'clock until midnight: at 2 ½ the good news for Matins is already heard; That's why they go to bed early in the evening. It is impossible not to note a very encouraging phenomenon recently - an increase in the number of master's theses, the preparation of which begins with students at the academy: this is done through the expansion of coursework or candidate essays; For this purpose, the topic chosen is more extensive and difficult than that required for an ordinary candidate's essay, and the author tries to take advantage of the favorable conditions of the academic environment for a thorough study of the material supplied by the rich academic library. To the writer of these lines only during one Vel. As a reviewer, I had to get acquainted with two excellent master's theses, which probably will not be slow to be published. The existing department of A. I. Snegireva’s printing house in Posad is constantly busy printing scientific dissertations. Citizen 1894, note: Hastily N.D.