Professor M.N. Skaballanovich and his contribution to Orthodox Theological Science

Based on materials from the candidate's work of Archpriest Rostislav Lozinsky "M. N. Skaballanovich and his liturgical works." Moscow Theological Academy, 1961. (Typescript). Doctor of Church History, Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Mikhail Nikolaevich Skaballanovich († 1931) was an outstanding publicist, theologian, organizer and editor of several magazines, publisher, teacher; and his works on biblical history, exegesis, dogmatics, moral theology, liturgics, and philosophy have retained scientific and educational value to this day. Mikhail Nikolaevich Skaballanovich was born in 1871 in the village of Saturday, Grodno province, where his father looked after the parish in which the Skaballanovich pastors had served since the 17th century. Mikhail studied very diligently at the Grodno Theological School, graduated with honors from the Vilna Theological Seminary, and in 1896 he was among the first to graduate from the Kyiv Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree for the essay “Expository Exposition of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel.” In 1898–1907, being an assistant inspector of the Kamenets-Podolsk Theological Seminary, an assistant superintendent of the Mariupol Theological School, M. N. Skaballanovich published a significant number of articles in the Podolsk Diocesan Gazette, the magazines Faith and Reason, Russian Pilgrim, Rural Shepherd, and in the Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. In 1904, his monograph “The First Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel” was published in Mariupol. 28 verses of this chapter, the text of which Mikhail Nikolaevich gives in Hebrew, Greek and Church Slavonic, are commented on by him on 317 pages with links to publications in Latin, German, English, French and Russian. In 1905, for this work, the Council of the Kyiv Theological Academy awarded M. N. Skaballanovich the academic degree of Master of Theology. From 1906 to 1918, M. N. Skaballanovich at the Kyiv Theological Academy - first as a teacher in the Old Testament department, then as a professor in the department of dogmatic theology and Latin language. According to the testimony of his colleagues and students, Mikhail Nikolaevich taught with talent, freshness, and originality. But the true calling of Mikhail Nikolaevich, who from childhood knew with his heart and mind and joyfully absorbed the spiritual beauty of the church service, was Orthodox worship: his thoughts and scientific interests were directed here. Prof. V. Ivanitsky, who knew Mikhail Nikolaevich well at the academy, writes in his memoirs: “I have never met a person in my life who loved church services so deeply, so selflessly.” Therefore, M. N. Skaballanovich is best known as an outstanding expert and zealot for church statutory services, as evidenced by his numerous works on liturgics, although he did not have a direct relationship at the academy to the department of liturgics and church archeology, where A. A. Dmitrievsky reigned supreme in those days. In 1905–4918, M. N. Skaballanovich published an extensive series of articles and monographs on liturgics. The central place in this cycle is occupied by the first issue (volume) of the Explanatory Typikon, published in 1910. "Explanatory Typikon" was conceived as a practical guide for clergy. But, captivated by the breadth of the topic, its enormous scientific and utilitarian significance, M. N. Skaballanovich created a book that became an event in theology and in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church. For this work, the Council of the Kyiv Theological Academy awarded in April 1912 to Mikhail Nikolaevich Skaballanovich the academic degree of Doctor of Church History and a cash prize. The publication of the first issue of the “Explanatory Typikon” (the author called this volume an introductory chapter to the history of the liturgical charter) realized only the first, preliminary part of Mikhail Nikolaevich’s plan: in the following issues he intended to comment in detail on the further chapters of the Typikon. In 1913 and 1915, the second and third editions of the Explanatory Typikon were published as a supplement to the journal of the Kyiv Theological Seminary “Guide for Rural Shepherds”. The attentive and respectful attitude towards the “Explanatory Typikon” by a wide range of readers, and above all the clergy, was due to the authority of its author, and moreover, to the desire of pastors to get closer to the sources of spiritual riches and church beauty, which are most expressively revealed in worship, to see more clearly the architectonics of worship, to more subtly feel church music and poetry, which presupposes meaningful knowledge of the original source - Typicon. The first issue of the “Explanatory Typikon” is propaedeutic: according to the author, knowledge of the history of the formation of the liturgical Rule, the phased aspects of its development is necessary for a meaningful penetration into its depths. Therefore, the first issue provides an account of the process of formation of the liturgical order from the time of Old Testament worship to the appearance of complete lists of the Typikon (IX century) and from the appearance of such lists to the 16th–17th centuries. M. N. Skaballanovich divides the first part into five periods: 1) I century - apostolic worship; 2) II century - the century of apostolic men, when the transition from apostolic freedom and pioneer formation to firm norms and stable ranks began; 3) III century – canonization of the wording of prayers and chants; 4) IV-V centuries - when the most famous theologians, priests, ascetics, and ascetics labored in the bosom of the Church; 5) The author characterizes the VI, VII and VIII centuries as the most decisive period in the history of the formation of Orthodox worship. The scientific apparatus of the “Explanatory Typikon” is very solid: the analysis of the history of the formation of the liturgical Rule is a cycle of 332 articles; they are accompanied by more than one and a half thousand footnotes and notes containing a lot of additional information. The actual interpretation of the Typikon begins in the second issue, where the first and second chapters of the Typikon are commented on: the gospel, the usual beginning, the ninth hour, small vespers, the evening meal, the all-night vigil; it talks about heterodox Vespers and Matins, and in the section “The practical feasibility of the entire Rule of the All-Night Vigil” it talks about the ideal all-night vigil in the church of the Kiev Theological Academy on November 10, 1912. The third issue comments on the service of the first, third, sixth hours, changing parts of the Sunday liturgy, the rite of panagia; an interpretation is given of the third chapter of the Typikon, which sets out the charter for connecting the Sunday service with the memory of the great saint who has a vigil; finally, the rite of blessing the koliv is spoken of. In 1917, in the third issue of the magazine “Pastoral Reading”, fragments of the next, fourth issue were published under the general title “From the continuation of the “Explanatory Typikon” being prepared for publication.” In this publication, which became Mikhail Nikolaevich’s last printed word on this topic, he gives an outline of the contents and history of the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the Typikon. In 1913, after the publication of the second volume of the “Explanatory Typikon”, in the meeting of the Council of the Kyiv Theological Academy, prof. V. Prilutsky and prof. F. Mishchenko expressed their opinion about the “Explanatory Typikon”. The opinion of these scientists, reviews and reviews in newspapers and magazines provide the basis for the following assessment of the “Explanatory Typikon”. The authors of works similar to the “Explanatory Typikon”, explaining liturgical rites and actions, commented only on their symbolic spiritual and mysterious meaning, and, striving for creative originality, each commented in their own way. Therefore, symbolic interpretation, close in spirit and style to poetic improvisations, is extremely subjective: one author gives one meaning to a church rite; the other, perceiving it in his own way, explains it differently. Moreover, even among one interpreter, improvisations are sometimes so layered that one question is answered with answers that are mutually exclusive. In the introduction to the first issue of the Explanatory Typikon, M. N. Skaballanovich wrote: “History is the best teacher, and the deepest interpretation of the Typikon will be a historical interpretation.” Prof. V. Prilutsky confirms the scientific validity of this method of M. N. Skaballanovich: “The most valuable thing in the book under consideration is the historical excursions. Having presented and explained the typicon department in its modern form, the author now gives historical information about this department. There is so much historical and liturgical material in the book that in total it will make up the majority of it. If possible, the author sometimes gives a complete history of the liturgical department, determines the moment of its origin and consistently reports on all the changes that this department has undergone over many centuries... Even such short exclamations as “Amen”, “Lord, have mercy” do not remain without clarification of their historical origin. The author follows every word of the proclamations, finds their prototype in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in the ancient patristic writings. The work is very painstaking, but very useful. It elevates our worship to its most ancient foundations, makes us more vividly feel its connection with the word of God of both Testaments” 1 . Thanks to M. N. Skaballanovich, who consistently applied the historical and archaeological method of interpreting the Typikon, widely using the traditional methods of research, etymology and semantics of words and concepts in comparative linguistics, the Typikon, permeated with ancient symbolism, replete with many specific terms, for many ceased to be a book with seven seals. M. N. Skaballanovich comments on the Typicon with linked articles. Thus, following the commentary on the term “Typikon” there is an article “History of the title”; talking about the meaning of the blagovest, the initial exclamation of the priest, the composition of the usual beginning, the rank of the clock and the history of the services of the hours in general, as well as all other subsequent points of the Typikon, M. N. Skaballanovich parallelly gives their history: “The History of the blagovest”, “The History of the initial exclamation”, “The History of the usual beginning”, “The History of the Ninth Hour” - and so on everywhere. For the first time in the history of Orthodox liturgics, M. N. Skaballanovich drew attention to the musical characteristics of church chants. The author of the “Explanatory Typicon” constantly dwells on the melodies of the chants, gives them characteristics, notes the general musical tone of the services, highlights the main shades of each liturgical part - stichera, troparion, canon melodies - moreover, either ordinary, or “similar and self-consonant.” Mikhail Nikolaevich showed that holiday services represent a complete and highly artistic symphony, with deep theological content. Under the author’s pen, not only the mysterious words of church songs begin to speak clearly, but also the very sounds of the chants, serving an even more clear interpretation of the service. It should be noted, however, that in the “Explanatory Typikon” by M. N. Skaballanovich there are features that reduce the value of this work. Reviews of the “Explanatory Typikon” note, in particular, the following: the disproportion of the volumes of historical material used to explain the points of the commented section of the Typikon; the interpretation of some church hymns is given in a general, vague way; The characterization of Orthodox osmoglasiya is very poetic, but inaccurate, since it is given from the position of Western music theorists. In the first volume of the “Explanatory Typikon” there is a section where the author talks about the elements of linguistics (!) (gloesolalia) in ancient and modern worship. All reviewers considered the treatise on glossolalia untenable both theologically and linguistically: “In search of echoes of hoary antiquity in contemporary phenomena, the author is often more of a poet than a scientist,” noted Prof. F. Mishchenko. When assessing the literary heritage of M.N. Opinions still differ markedly between Skaballanovich and his scientific method. Thus, B.I. Sove in a study dedicated to prof. A. A. Dmitrievsky (1856–1929), calls M. N. Skaballanovich, a talented scientist, an outstanding representative of the Kiev school of Russian liturgists 2. In the notes to this study, B. I. Sove, a student of A. A. Dmitrievsky, professor of liturgics and Byzantology at the Leningrad Theological Academy, Doctor of Church History N. D. Uspensky, makes his own adjustments to Boris Ivanovich Sove’s assessment of the personality and works of M. Skaballanovich: “Dmitrievsky did not agree with prof. M. N. Skaballanovich and did not approve of his method of work, considering it devoid of historicity. When, due to my inexperience, I allowed myself to refer to the “Explanatory Typikon” by Prof. Skaballanovich, then Alexey Afanasyevich wrote in his review on this matter that prof. Skaballanovich is an unreliable leader for a beginning liturgist" 3 M. N. Skaballanovich also entered the history of Russian theology as the author and editor of the series of books “Christian Holidays.” He intended to tell in 13 books about all the twelve feasts of the Orthodox Church and especially about the feast of the Resurrection of Christ according to the scheme: the event and history of the holiday; presentation of the gospel narrative, historical information about the beginning of the celebration of this event; information about the conditions and circumstances surrounding the formation of the holiday, for example, geographical and topographical data about Palestine, about the living conditions of the Jews; holiday service: presentation of chants in parallel in Church Slavonic and Russian with an explanation of difficult and obscure words and expressions; overview of the pre-celebration and post-celebration services with tables of voices and the like; holiday tunes; the feast day service in the Roman Catholic Church compared to the Orthodox service. M. N. Skaballanovich did not manage to fully implement this plan, like the grandiose plan of the “Explanatory Typikon”. Six books were published, and they came out quickly: in 1915, “The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (134 pp.) and “The Exaltation of the Precious Cross” (173 pp.) were published; in 1916 - “The Entry into the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (115 pp.), “The Nativity of Christ” (200 pp.), “Pentecost” (188 pp.), “The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (114 pp.). All these books were very favorably received in church and secular circles. Assessing the first book of this cycle - “The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Bishop Gabriel (Chepur) of Akkerman, student A. A. Dmitrievsky, wrote: “Here is a scientific book in the full sense of the word about the secrets of the spiritual sky! Here is history, philosophy, philology, exegesis, homiletics, canonology, patristics, and poetry; and above all this is the light of God’s merciful, saving eternal truth. I don’t know what to be surprised in this book: the breadth of the learned author’s knowledge of God, or the greatness of the tenderness of his pure soul, or the beauty of his spiritual contemplations, or the depth of his church-historical wisdom, or his sincere love for Christ and the Church, or his sincere desire that the hearts of his readers would be kindled with the same love...” The energy of M. N. Skaballanovich, the scale of his erudition are very expressively attested by the following facts of his biography: from 1910 to 1920, he taught in (Kyiv) a course on the history of Byzantium and the Latin language at the historical and philological faculty of the Higher Pedagogical Evening Courses of the Society of Professors and Teachers; in 1920, the Council of the Historical and Philological Faculty of Kyiv University elected M. N. Skaballanovich as a teacher in the Department of Classical Philology; in 1924, M. N. Skaballanovich collaborated at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and worked in the library of the former St. Michael’s Monastery in 1928 - 1930. Concluding this brief information about the personality of Mikhail Nikolaevich Skaballanovich and his most significant works, we provide a bibliography of his works, which will significantly complement the description of the creative heritage of this venerable scientist and theologian. Extracts from the journals of the Council of the Kyiv Theological Academy for 1913/1914, p. 155, 156. Russian Gohar and his school. "Theological Works", collection. IV. M., 1968, p. 66. There, p. 66. Limiting ourselves to stating this fact, we note that, as B.I. Sove points out, M.N. Skaballanovich very fundamentally polemicized with A.A. Dmitrievsky on some issues of historical liturgics. – A.N.