State regulation and the role of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the development of spiritual education in Russia in the first half of the XVIII century

Abstract

The first half of the 18th century was a turning point in the history of church education in Russia. Under the influence of the reforms of Peter the Great and his decrees, the principles of church administration and the educational system were radically changed. Education became one of the most important tasks of the Russian Orthodox Church, and its state regulation set a new standard of clergy training. The article examines key aspects of the state-legal regulation of clerical education, including the ‘Spiritual Regulations’ of 1721, and analyses the contribution of the leading church hierarchs - St. Dmitry (Tuptalo), Stefan (Yavorsky), Theophanes (Prokopovich) and St. Philotheus (Leszczynski) - to the establishment of the network of theological schools. Particular attention is paid to their interaction with the state authorities, as well as to the significance of the reforms for the further development of theological thought and church practice. Relying on archival materials and the works of contemporary researchers, the author shows how state support and personal initiative of the hierarchs contributed to the formation of a solid foundation for spiritual education, which determined the vector of evolution of the Russian Orthodox Church for the following decades. Thus, the reforms of the first half of the eighteenth century not only transformed the structure of church administration, but also set a solid foundation for further transformations that influenced the shape of domestic spiritual education in the following eras.