№ 3. Замечания Преосвященного Филарета на неоконченные сочинения студентов Московской духовной Академии, готовящихся к испытанию

Proposal to the Board of the Moscow Theological Academy This May 30th in the evening, with a letter from Fr. From the 28th day, Rector Archimandrite Polycarp received two arguments from students of the Academy of the highest department, unfinished, and one from a student of the lower department. Since the time of testing for which they are preparing is approaching, without missing the next postal day, I hasten to tell the Academic Board what is needed and what I will have time for. 1) Essays for testing, after private reminders about them, are officially required by my resolution dated the 8th day of this May, No. 174. O. The rector responds to this with a letter about various subjects. Whether this is decent, I leave it to him to judge. But the board has to explain to him that this is inconvenient, because what he writes about these arguments may need to be presented in the original at the discretion of the higher authorities. How can one mix items of private correspondence with official business? 2) The letter says: “The reasoning of Hierodeacon Philaret will certainly be completed and its completion will be delivered at the beginning of June, and to Ivan Smirnov in half of the same month. Accordingly, the board has to announce Fr. The rector said that it is not decent to present essays that have been prepared for two years without finishing them and that it is inconvenient to censor unfinished ones. 3) The discourse on martyrdom occupies 124 pages in a quarter of a sheet, besides the fact that it is still missing a fifth part according to the proposed plan; the introduction ends on page 16, and the first part of the study is five pages long. This material account already proves that the writer sins against the most well-known rules of composition. Who has heard the introduction of the Academic Speech of more than 15 pages? The listener will be exhausted by the introduction and will lose attention at the beginning of an endless discussion. O. The rector allowed this to happen in clear contradiction to both the rules of science and the special proposal 1 given by me at the end of the last Academic course, so that those who are not established in the power and art of consideration should not be allowed to indulge in extensive works, but occupy them with brief considerations, to the best of their strength. 4) Such expressions as are found on the first page of the discussion about martyrdom: he considers it an honor to boast; the most brilliant receive titles and honors - and in the essay of a student of rhetoric they would demand correction from a teacher of rhetoric. It is not for the Rector of the Academy to omit this in an essay assigned to the public; It is not for the Bishop to correct this. 5) The discussion about prophecies on 176 pages and, at that, unfinished, is subject to the same comments that were made above in paragraphs 2 and 3. 6) At the beginning of this reasoning there is an objection expressed in the following words: that he (the Evangelist) distorts the meaning of the prophecy. And neologists speak more modestly. It was possible to resolve the objection without uttering an abusive and contemptuous word on the Holy Evangelist. Or, if the writer certainly wanted to utter this curse because it was written by some neological writer, then at least it was necessary to pronounce it with the meaning of the name of the writer, so that the indignation of the listener of the Academic discourse would not turn on the student or the Rector of the Academy. In these brief comments, I hope there are sufficient reasons for the fact that, returning the works presented to me, which I have bound, I propose that the Academic Board give them to Fr. The rector and demand that he immediately present to me, although not for publication, at least for preparation for reading at the test, one or several works that have a decent amount of space, carefully revised and cleared of errors. 1830 April 22 No. 3404. You might be interested in: