History of the development of theological schools in Russia at the beginning of the XVIII century (projects of theological schools and the influence of scholasticism)

Barinova Svetlana Gennad'evna PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University 660049, Russia, Krasnoyarskii krai, g. Krasnoyarsk, peace Avenue, 90 svetabar2014@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The opening of theological schools in Russia is traditionally associated with the name of Peter I, his ideas of planting European enlightenment and the influence of Kiev scientists who Latinized the learning process. Peter I's attempt to rebuild the system of spiritual education did not succeed immediately, but by the 30s of the XVIII century, a full Latin course was introduced in theological schools on the model of the Kiev Academy. It took a lot of time and effort to study Latin and Latin grammar, but it played a positive role, because Latin at that time was the international language of European theological and secular science. 

In Russia in the XVIII century, the Church reform of Peter I personified the imperious experience of state secularization (the transfer of state and domestic hereticism from the West). Moscow Rus appealed to the West before, but the novelty of Peter's reform is not so much in Westernism as in secularization. The state rejects the independence of church rights and powers, as a result, the Church does not have an independent and independent circle of affairs, since the state considers all affairs "its own". Peter I in Russia intended to organize church administration by analogy with the organization in Protestant countries. And his faithful associate in this matter, Feofan Prokopovich, professed the characteristic doctrine of the century, following the ideas of Puffendorf, Hobbes, Grotius. The Reformation was a shock to the Russian Church, and the clergy in Peter's era became a "frightened estate". Feofan Prokopovich was familiar with the philosophy of Modern Times (he read Descartes, Bacon, Spinoza, Leibniz, Wolf), but ideologically he was closer to Suarez, who was followed by many Protestant successors.

The economic and military transformations of Peter I were supported by the first Russian theoretical economist of that era, Ivan Tikhonovich Pososhkov. He was worried about the decline of the Orthodox faith, about the unbelief of the people and the illiteracy of the clergy. In his opinion, the clergy did not know the basics of faith and could not read a sermon. I. T. Pososhkov was worried about the question - how does the divine service go at random, and the clergy are in drunkenness and greed? His concern for the Orthodox faith is explained by the fact that it could split into "pernicious heresies." Illiterate peasants from serfs could get into the ranks of priests, and the highest church hierarchy did not know what was happening on the ground. The strictness of morals disappeared in monasteries and they imperceptibly turned from the former centers of enlightenment into shelters of laziness and ignorance. Wishing to revive the sacred rank, I. T. Pososhkov implied the opening of schools for the children of the clergy, otherwise not to allow them to such positions. The hope of enlightenment of the clergy belonged not only to the economist I. T. Pososhkov. This goal was also inherent in the best minds of the era – Feofan Prokopovich, Stefan Yavorsky, Dimitri of Rostov, Job of Novgorod, Gabriel (Buzhinsky) and other priests of that time. Under the patronage of Peter I, a common goal was formed – to raise the level of religious and moral development of the clergy. It was from the time of Peter the Great in the second half of the XVII century that scientists from Kiev appeared. "At first they were received unfavorably in the capital, which was partly caused by themselves, and partly by the indiscriminate suspicion of their opponents, who saw obvious traces of Catholicism in the Southern Russian spiritual education."^[1]

Professor A. S. Arkhangelsky in his work "Spiritual education and spiritual literature in Russia under Peter the Great" identified three categories of scientists who cared about the establishment of theological schools. Among the first, he attributed self-taught people from the North of the country, who gained knowledge through reading and foreign foreign ideas. The second category included persons who received education at the Kiev Collegium and absorbed the love of scholastic science. The third category is those who are familiar with scholasticism, but do not approve of its primacy. And although the spiritual government tried to establish general standards of education for future ministers of the church, prescribed subjects for study and recommendations.  Nevertheless, representatives of the different three branches of scholarship influenced those schools that were under their supervision. The simplest project of a spiritual school and elementary education was left by I. T. Pososhkov. Knowing the clergy, as well as the needs of the common people, he handed over his project for the development of theological schools to Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky. It is worth noting that it was I. T. Pososhkov's ideas that were clear and accessible. He advised making the grammar publicly available so that everyone could figure it out on their own. Then, he advised to introduce the position of a "spiritual teacher", who was supposed to teach future pastors the basics of Christian truth through the interpretation of Holy Scripture, religious and moral principles. And also to know the liturgy, to develop a polemical ability to reflect heretical false teachings. A spiritual teacher is obliged to monitor the behavior of his students, to single out the best, purposefully preparing them for ordination. I. T. Pososhkov advised only the most outstanding students of the school to study philosophy and rhetoric. A mandatory item is the presence of a library with books of spiritual content. No less important, he considers practical parting words in communicating with the future flock. The author of the project even thinks about the life of the clergy. Unfortunately, this understandable project did not find support due to the lack of originality and novelty. The era of Peter I assumed steep reforms and innovations, which were directly followed by the spirit of the Kiev Collegium, and its students brought the modern ideal of education. Peter Grave transformed the Kiev Collegium following the example of Western collegiums, borrowing a scholastic teaching method with a predominance of Latin. The purpose of education was to bring up excellent disputants and polemicists in students to protect Orthodoxy from Catholicism. To do this, the students studied rhetoric, philosophy and theology. Until the XVIII century, the Kiev Collegium was the only model school in Russia, whose graduates were the most literate representatives of the clergy. In view of this, Peter I in 1701 ordered Stefan Yavorsky to establish an academy with Latin teachings in Moscow. Teachers and trained students arrived from Kiev to Moscow, and with them the Kiev curriculum and school administration. However, the introduction of Latin and Greek studies in theological schools (Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Chernihiv) at that time did not benefit, but only reduced the time for learning Russian. Unnecessary and excessive fascination with Latin deprived students of theological schools of the opportunity to fully study special spiritual disciplines that were more necessary for the training of church ministers. Nevertheless, modern reformers of spiritual life, namely Feofan Prokopovich, the compiler of the "Spiritual Regulations", insisted on studying Latin in theological schools. His project of setting up schools was ahead of both the project of I. T. Pososhkov and the project of the Kiev colleges. Surprisingly, it turns out that along with the patronage of the introduction of Latin, Prokopovich tried to go against completely scholastic teaching. Assuming an eight-year course of study, during which in the third year students study logic and dialectics (the influence of the ideas of Aristotelianism), in the fifth year they study physics with a brief metaphysics, and in the seventh and eighth years of study students comprehend theology, yet the program of Feofan Prokopovich is directed against the scholasticism of the previous education. He accused the students of the Kiev colleges of sophisms instead of knowledge. Feofan Prokopovich wanted to lower the reputation of scholasticism, he criticized the shortcomings of scholastic education, finding them in lectures on rhetoric and dogmatic theology given at the Kiev collegium.

In his training program, Feofan Prokopovich paid special attention to the study of theology (two years), since he himself possessed great theological erudition and knowledge in many fields. Peter I, recognizing Feofan Prokopovich as a very educated man, relied on him in the matter of the organization of spiritual education. His extensive system of Russian theology dominated for more than half a century. The system of Theophan Prokopovich was aimed at destroying the authority of Roman Catholic theologians who were revered in the Kiev collegium. He put the love of science at the forefront of the pupils, spoke about the importance and accessibility of a large library for students. In Russia, the extremes of scholasticism in education did not have time to spread like in the West. Feofan Prokopovich felt the need for a new ideal of education for the Russian pastor. If in the project of I. T. Pososhkov the emphasis in the training of the priest was placed on the protection of Orthodoxy from schism and Protestantism, then in the concept of Theophanes the role of the priest was not only this. The main point was to educate a critical view of science, to develop independent thinking, to educate a reasonable connoisseur and defender of the affairs of Peter I. Prokopovich's idea was correct, as he wanted to see the priest as an enlightened, learned, educated member of society. Such a priest would be able to defend his views not with the help of a quirky mind and sophistry techniques, but with the power of knowledge. He also paid considerable attention to the physical form of the future priest – gymnastic exercises were mandatory. And it is also necessary to develop aesthetic abilities.

However, these projects have not found full proper implementation in real life. I. T. Pososhkov's project remained only in the book, only Stefan Yavorsky got acquainted with it. The program of the Kiev Collegium has found its application only in the Moscow Academy and in the Novgorod school. Other diocesan schools adhered to the above program, but it did not have its positive effect. The prescriptions of the "Spiritual Regulations" on school houses could not be fully implemented either, since the harsh reality of life limited church and civil authority. Under Peter I, the professional development of the estates began. In such realities, the clergy are more closely closed in their circle, with the predominance of worries about purely their own interests. In the words of historian S. M. Solovyov, Peter I was "a revolutionary on the throne."^[2] Being an adherent of the ideas of Western cameralism, Peter I actually created a bureaucratic state. However, in Peter's decrees concerning the formation of the clergy, he was not so decisive. The conscription of soldiers, which began in 1705, served as an incentive for the clergy to send children to schools in which the children of the clergy should be brought up. The decrees of 1710-1711 ordered the children of all priests to study in such schools without fail. In 1718, it became not only compulsory for the children of the clergy to study, but also to complete the entire training course. Since 1721, these educational institutions have come under the authority of the Holy Synod, which acted according to the rules of the "Spiritual Regulations". The regulations also told about school houses, as an exemplary school with an academic program. Feofan Prokopovich tried to implement such a project with the help of significant capital and personal acquaintances, but he did not fit the requirements of the Regulations. The publishers of the Regulations came closer to reality when they reduced the requirements to a minimum. In some dioceses there was not even a minimum of material resources for the establishment of at least a modest school, and the number of students was small. Decrees of 1721-1722 the children of the clergy were freed from digital schools in favor of spiritual schools. In order to monitor the progress of educational affairs, the Synod in 1721 created a special office, which receives all reports on the state of diocesan schools twice a year. The problem was to attract good teachers. The specifics of the Petrine era with large requests and small means to meet them, with feverish haste to fix everything in a short time. The Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was established on the initiative of Simeon Polotsky, a graduate of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and teaching in it at first was strictly scholastic in nature.

The process of Romanization covered all the theological schools of that time. The history of the development of theological schools of that period was subjected to Romanization, the influence of scholasticism and the formation of a new standard of "scholarship".

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