Bishop Sylvester Malevansky as a Theology Lecturer: An Archival Research of Memoirs of Kiev Theological Academy Graduates

Abstract

The article tells about the rector and professor of the Kiev Theological Academy (KThA) Bishop Sylvester Malevansky (1828–1908), who was a lecturer on comparative Christian theology and dogmatic theology at KThA for over 40 years. He wrote several scholarly works including the five-volume Essay of the Orthodox Dogmatic Theology with an Historical Exposition of the Dogmas. In his teaching of dogmatic theology Bishop Sylvester applied the historical method, which presented church dogmas in their historical development. This approach is fundamentally different from the one used in Metropolitan Macarius Bulgakov’s Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. The article aims to describe the Bishop Sylvester’s manner of teaching theology based on archival research. In the Institute of Manuscripts of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine there has been preserved the corpus of unpublished memoirs about Bishop Sylvester by some graduates of the KThA over the years. In those records considerable attention is paid to Bishop Sylvester’s educational work. Bishop Sylvester’s teaching was marked by polemical controversy with the trends in Western theology and philosophy of his time. Just as his books on theology, his lectures followed the historical method. The contemporaries noted the deep enthusiasm, with which Bishop Sylvester lectured, seeking to bring the divine truths closer to his student’s hearts as well as minds.