Branko Radovanović

On the Study of Ecclesiastical Law in Russian Theological Academies and the Significance of Russian Schools of Theology in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries through the Lens of an Interbellum Polemic

pages: 343-358

Abstract

The significance of this dispute is reflected in the fact that ten years after the October revolution, we had a clear overview of the impact of Russian seminaries on the development of Serbian theology and the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is an indisputable fact that from the middle of the 19th century, until the October revolution, the theological education of Serbians was associated with Russian seminaries and that a large number of graduated students returned from these schools, students who were outstanding connoisseurs of ecclesiastical law and other theological disciplines. Additionally, professors from Russian seminaries, traveling to our country after the October revolution, built good foundations for the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, and with their competence, knowledge, and effort, they breathed new life into theological education in Serbia. When speaking on the subject of ecclesiastical law, first and foremost we must mention Sergey Viktorovich Troitsky, who has been an irreplaceable authority for Serbians within that theological discipline for around a hundred years. In this dispute, we can examine how ecclesiastical law was taught and learned in Russian theological academies, but within a wider context — which is of importance to us — and how Russian theological academies were organized in all of their areas of work. The education earned by Sergey Troitsky, both as a student and as a teacher, testifies to how ecclesiastical law was studied to a great extent — elaborately, and through his work and competence, we can draw the conclusion that ecclesiastical law was one of the most highly-esteemed disciplines in Russian academic theology, in which Ljubomir Rajić and Radovan Kazimirović also took part.

UDC:

050.482ВЕСНИК СРПСКЕ ЦРКВЕ:271.2-74(497.11)"1928"(049.2)

271.222(470)-74"18/19"

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