Attempts to Establish an Orthodox Seminary in the Siberian Dioceses in the 1940s — 1960s

Abstract

The presented research by the team of authors attempts to highlight the reasons for the absence of an Orthodox theological educational institution in the dioceses of Siberia and the Far East in the second half of the twentieth century. Spiritual education is an important element in the training of future clergy. The history of theological schools beyond the Urals begins in the middle of the XVIII century, but in the middle of the XX century. in the vast territory of Siberia and the Far East, there was not a single educational institution engaged in the training of clergy. By analyzing archival sources, it was found out that in the 1940s and 1950s. The Novosibirsk bishops consecutively began with archbishop Bartholomew (Gorodtsov) in 1947, and then metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov) in 1957 made attempts to open a seminary in Novosibirsk or Tomsk, but in the face of opposition from the Soviet government, these attempts were unsuccessful. This state of affairs led to the emergence of an «underground seminary» in Tomsk, which operated in 1965–1975. The data obtained allow us to conclude that the Soviet authorities tried by all means to prevent the appearance of a spiritual educational center in Siberia and the Far East, using the formally low level of education of the clergy as a tool in discrediting the Russian Orthodox Church.