Scientific and Teaching Activities of Archpriest Alexander Vasilyevich Gorsky at the Moscow Theological Academy from 1833 to 1875

Abstract

The biography of Professor A. V. Gorsky of the Moscow Theological Academy has been presented in several works, but there is still no scientific study of his legacy. The restoration of the integrity of the works of A. V. Gorsky seems especially relevant in connection with the 150th anniversary of his death. V. Gorsky’s writings seem to be especially urgent in connection with the 150th anniversary of his death. The complexity of this task is due, first of all, to the fact that a significant part of his archival materials remains unreported, including extensive lecture courses on all sections of church history and dogmatic theology. In addition, A. V. Gorsky’s principal position was the anonymity of publishing his works in periodicals. In this regard, there is a possibility that there are still materials that have not yet been attributed to his heritage. And, finally, there are known precedents when the works published under the names of his students were later attributed to the heritage of A.V. Gorsky himself, so we cannot exclude the possibility of such cases. The key to restoring the integrity of Archpriest Alexander’s scientific heritage was the study of his archival materials, the authorship of which is beyond doubt. This made it possible, first, to identify the peculiarities of his church-historical and theological concepts, second, to discover a number of anonymous publications that can be attributed to his heritage, and to reveal, at the very least, his complicity in the scientific research of several students. The proposed publication will present the results of a study of the abstracts of A. V. Gorsky’s notes on church history, the most important of which are the introductory lectures.