State and church regulation of theological education in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century

Abstract

This article attempts to analyze the state’s and church’s legal regulation of the establishment of spiritual education in Russia. The article considers normative acts and records which determined the policy of the Sacred Governing Synod in the development of a system of spiritual education in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. At this time, the task of creating a system of theological education was on the agenda. In contrast to Western Europe, in Russia before the beginning of Modernity such a system did not exist, and the acute need for its creation was due to the requirements of an extensive network of church parishes. Therefore, the system of spiritual education had to be built “from scratch” with a sufficiently high inertness of the spiritual caste. The article illustrates that the main purpose of the synodic policy was the realization of the will of the highest secular authority to create a system of spiritual education, primarily, of elementary mathematical and episcopal schools. This practical task implied the implementation of the norms of the “Spiritual Regulations,” but it was complicated by the scale and speed of Peter the Great’s reforms, as well as by a number of purely bureaucratic obstacles. Nevertheless, the basic principles of spiritual education were gradually established in Russia, such as principles of cast limitation, continuity, and obligatory character for the adoption of the sacred ministry. The set of schools created during this period became the basis for further progressive development of spiritual education in Russia.