Russian Literature of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries in the Infosphere of Theological Academies of the Russian Empire

Abstract

The purpose of the article is an attempt to develop approaches to the reconstruction of the place and role of literature in the intellectual and information sphere of Russian theological academies of the nineteenth — early twentieth centuries. The current publication has been prepared on the basis of sources of various origins: catalogs of libraries of theological academies, periodicals published in the Orthodox theological academies of the Russian Empire (Khristianskoe chtenie (Christian Reading), Trudy Kievskoi Dukhovnoi Akademii (Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy), Pravoslavnyi sobesednik (Orthodox Interlocutor), Bogoslovskii vestnik (Theological Bulletin), for instance), Orthodox autobiographies, proceedings of meetings of councils of theological academies, programs of training courses, teaching manuals (textbooks and anthologies), etc. The analysis of those numerous sources shows that the libraries of four Orthodox theological academies of the Russian Empire had large collections of fiction in various languages, including works of Russian literature. Studying Russian literature was also part of a number of training courses. Initially, it was due not so much to the desire to provide students with a versatile education, but to the desire to develop their artistic taste and literary abilities, which was necessary for composing sermons. But later, literature was interpreted as something of powerful influence at a person’s worldview, something that could compete with religion. The study shows that the influence of contemporary Russian literature was constantly increasing, and, by the early twentieth century, the programs of theological educational institutions included studying works by almost all Russian writers. At the same time, not only ‘spiritual’ writings were studied, but also those which were considered ‘harmful’, and the last one got almost a central place in the ecclesiastic periodicals (L. N. Tolstoy).