Theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod adopted a decision on a number of theological seminaries. Seminaries of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

On March 9, 2017, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church was held in the meeting room of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the Danilov Monastery in Moscow under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the official website Patriarchia.ru reports.

At the meeting of the Synod, the report of Archbishop Eugene of Vereya, Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church, on the rating of the highest spiritual educational institutions Russian Orthodox Church as of December 2016. The Educational Committee conducts regular scheduled inspections of higher theological educational institutions (academies and seminaries) located on the territory Russian Federation. Based on the results of inspections, the results are analyzed and a rating is compiled, within which educational institutions are divided into four groups:

The first group includes theological educational institutions, which, according to the inspection commissions, have reached the level of a magistracy or are potentially capable of opening it;

The second group included theological seminaries that function stably at the bachelor's or specialist's level and have minor shortcomings;

The third group includes theological seminaries that function stably at the bachelor's or specialist's level and have shortcomings in the provision of the educational and / or educational process;

The fourth group consists of seminaries that do not meet most of the criteria for a modern institution of higher theological education.

The fourth rating group currently includes the Vladimir, Voronezh, Kostroma and Tomsk theological seminaries. The Vladimir and Kostroma Theological Seminaries were included in the fourth group even earlier. Kursk Seminary is included in the third group.

In 2013, the Holy Synod, considering the rating of higher theological educational institutions, in particular determined: “Higher theological educational institutions belonging to the fourth rating group according to the results of the inspection by the Educational Committee should be given a three-year period to correct the situation, warning that in the absence of a correction, the question of depriving them of the status of independent higher spiritual educational institutions” (magazine No. 79).

The Holy Synod decided:

1. To express gratitude to the rectors and administration of the following theological educational institutions belonging to the first rating group: St. Petersburg and Moscow Theological Academies, Saratov, Kolomna, Penza, Orenburg, Smolensk, Kazan, Sretenskaya and Kuzbass Theological Seminaries.

2. To especially note the efforts of the leadership of the following theological seminaries, which led to a significant improvement in their educational activities in the latter and increasing their rating: Orenburg, Kuzbass, Stavropol, Barnaul, Yekaterinodar and Perervinsk theological seminaries.

3. Suspend student enrollment for correspondence form training for a period of two years at the Vladimir and Kostroma theological seminaries, about which send appropriate notifications to their administrations, accompanied by a list of instructions from the Educational Committee.

4. Indicate the administration of theological educational institutions to the need, when considering the issue of enrolling a student expelled earlier from any theological educational institution, to take into account the opinion of the theological educational institution in which this student previously studied, and in case of disagreement, contact the Educational Committee, for which establishes the right of the final decision regarding the possibility of further education of such a student in religious educational institutions.

The rating of church educational institutions has been compiled. Which of the theological schools was in the first place, what is the secret of their success and what will happen to the seminaries that are in the lowest positions of the rating, says the First Deputy Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church Archpriest Maxim Kozlov.

The idea of rating church educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church arose in the second half of 2012 - early 2013, when, in four months, a virtually one-time inspection of all theological seminaries and academies on the territory of the Russian Federation was carried out.

Today, the rating of church educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church includes 35 seminaries and 2 academies. All 37 educational institutions correspond to the level of bachelor's degree, while 29 out of 37 have preparatory departments, 10 have educational programs master's level. At 37 educational institutions there are 2 postgraduate schools, 19 regency departments and 8 icon-painting departments.

There are 9.5 thousand students studying in church educational institutions, of which more than 7 thousand students are at the bachelor's level, about 1 thousand students are at the master's level, more than 500 people are at the regency departments, and more than 250 people are at the icon painting departments.

The rating takes into account various parameters of the life of theological schools. The Study Committee gets acquainted with a part of them on the basis of self-examination sheets - documentation that is sent by educational institutions to the Uchkom with a certain frequency in a regular or extraordinary manner upon request. Control over other parameters is carried out during scheduled inspections - on average, each educational institution will be visited by an inspection of the Educational Committee once every three years.

The main parameters that are taken into account in the rating:

- regulatory support, that is, the availability of all necessary documentation - licenses, state certificate etc.;

- material support, that is, parameters for the number of classrooms, the quality of equipment in the classrooms, the living conditions of students - food, gyms, etc .;

— quality and learning outcomes.

- the results of testing graduate students to check the result of knowledge during the inspection;

- availability of additional programs at the educational institution;

- indicators of educational work, the work of the institute of individual mentors;

— degree of communication between students and administration;

— information and library support;

— teaching staff;

– educational and methodological support;

- research activities - the presence of a website, a collection of teaching works, holding conferences, cooperation with secular universities.

All these factors correspond to a certain kind of coefficients and are compared with paper data and data of remote monitoring of the protection. qualifying works and final exams, which has been introduced since last year.

Rating: wake up call

— Father Maxim, is it possible to say that the rating is primarily a purely bureaucratic criterion?

- No, the rating is a criterion showing a certain kind of dynamics in the development of a church educational institution - up, down, stability. If the rating of an educational institution has changed by one or two places in relation to the initial parameters, this is one, and if by ten, this is already an important change. And it's good if ten up. Therefore, the rating is a kind of notification system. Either a wake-up call, or confirmation that everything is done right in the educational institution.

- Who are the leaders of spiritual education today according to the rating?

In general, church educational institutions that are historically central - SPbPDA and MTA - are traditionally in the top. Also at the top of the ranking are the seminaries that already have state accreditation - these are Smolensk, Saratov and Penza. There are also seminaries that have master's programs: Sretenskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, etc. As well as consistently strong seminaries, with a well-formed teaching corps and an attentive archpastoral attitude. This is, for example, the Kolomna Seminary, where, among other things, there is a wonderful material base and the best seminary building for today, not so long ago built on the territory of the Holy Trinity Novo-Golutvin Monastery, which is ideally suited for educational process and student accommodation.

The second group is seminaries that show stable performance, but have certain shortcomings.

The third group is seminaries with more significant shortcomings, which are under control.

The fourth rating group is the lowest. Here are seminaries, which today do not testify to the confirmation of the status of a higher educational institution. I will not name these seminaries, but they are aware of their situation and the decision of the Synod of July 2013 to give them three years to correct the situation. If the level is not raised, then these seminaries can be transformed into educational institutions of a different profile. For example, in one of the centers for the training of parish specialists.

As I already pointed out, the publication of the rating is not expected by the nature of the document, but with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, the interim document has already been sent to the rectors of theological educational institutions, and everyone in the field already knows where they are.

- Why do we need parish training centers?

— Today there are more than 15 such centers. They have four profiles: youth, missionary, social and catechetical. The Interdepartmental Commission under the Educational Committee evaluates the organization of these centers and grants them the right to issue students with a document of a general church standard upon graduation. The demand for this kind of personnel in parishes is great, and so far only a small part of the potential is being used, so this area of church education will develop intensively.

It will be possible to increase the number of such centers at the expense of the religious schools that are ending their historical existence. An example is the Chita religious school, which is currently in the process of being transformed into the Center for the Training of Parish Specialists. But the Vologda Seminary, on the contrary, after the decision of the Synod in 2013, raised its status and is developing very dynamically with the help of the rector, the Vologda Metropolitan.

Autonomous-between-slaughter existence is not useful to us

- Should church educational institutions correspond to the parameters of secular universities?

- Undoubtedly. This is the requirement of the time. All church educational institutions are licensed, and His Holiness the Patriarch has set the task of carrying out state accreditation of at least the best part of the seminaries. Accordingly, seminaries are subject to licensing and accreditation checks by Rosobrnadzor. And the task of the Academic Committee is to help prepare church educational institutions for state accreditation.

Of course, this work adds a lot of trouble to us: government requirements change all the time. For example, there was a requirement that a university needs an agreement with a polyclinic, but at the same time, a polyclinic needs to change its license in order to carry out medical activities on the territory of the seminary. You can imagine how much effort it takes for the management of the polyclinic to agree to renew their license! The same applies to the requirements for the teaching staff, for educational and regulatory support - the norms, unfortunately, are extremely unstable.

On the other hand, the process of obtaining state accreditation is a stimulating factor. Autonomous-between-slaughter existence is very unprofitable for us. And the church educational institution as a kind of abstract provincial theological school with the issuance of its own diplomas has now come to an end.

How painful was the transition to the Bologna system for church educational institutions?

— There was a lot of useful things in this transition. Yes, master’s programs have become specialized in their direction, but these are obvious requirements of the time, it is clear that it is necessary to move on to specialization of the faculty type, this is what is being done in the master’s program - biblical, theological, historical, church-practical disciplines are taught to choose from.

Obviously, the transition from the lesson-survey system, which was recommended in theological schools in the Soviet and post-Soviet period, to the lecture-seminar system was also necessary. Teaching in higher educational institutions is not lessons with surveys, but lectures, seminars, practical exercises.

As for the holidays, yes, we began to study more, but if not in my heart, then in my head, I understand that the inadequate number of days off and vacation days that we had before the Bologna system was harmful to the educational process. The liturgical cycle is one thing, but academic year- another, it cannot be connected directly with Easter, for example.

If there is anything painful, then in the incomprehensible variability of the external forms of our state higher education which we must take into account. There is a constant flickering of criteria and requirements - for example, the issue of the status of theology in the system of higher education has not been fully resolved. Today it is impossible to defend dissertations in theology, there is no appropriate advice. There is discipline, but there is no corresponding dissertation council - an absurdity.

Components of success

- ABOUT what determines the success and failure of a spiritual university, you can give examples of the right strategy or common mistakes based on the results of the inspection?

- As good example, of course, you can call the Saratov Theological Seminary. What are the parameters for success?

First, from unconditional interest of the ruling bishop. When a ruling bishop sees that having a good seminary in his diocese is not just prestigious, but in itself forging a cadre of educated clergy and church workers in a quality institution of higher education is one of the cornerstones of positive development for the diocese, then this is a kind of depth, sobriety and correct vision of the situation.

Second, the key to success is formation of a qualified teaching staff. The teaching corps should not consist mainly of part-time workers! The backbone should be people for whom the place of work is in educational field is the main one. Of course, it is good to attract well-known teachers from secular universities, but even at the church educational institution itself there should be a strong backbone of “their own” qualified teachers.

Third, good pay for teachers. “A slave is not a pilgrim” is a church saying, or “Slave labor is unproductive” are the words of a non-church economist. Work should be adequately paid!

Fourth, important work with applicants. Nowadays, this work can be carried out in different forms. As a debatable example, but undoubtedly meeting the challenges of the time, I will name the well-known video of the Kazan Theological Seminary, prepared by its new leadership. Such a vital, positive creativity testifies to the processes of renewal and development that are taking place in the theological school, which was once one of the four academies of the Russian Church and is now dynamically developing again.

Seminaries should be provided and normal conditions for the life and work of students. On this great attention draws His Holiness the Patriarch - students have come to study, and all additional obediences and duties should be strictly measured.

Fifth, the key to success is normal atmosphere in relations between the educational part of the administration and students. For example, the community system in seminaries is a very important educational principle: can I live with other people together, not the way I want, as I used to with mom and dad, but build relationships on my own for 4-5 years of study? Seminarians are students living in a dormitory, performing a certain kind of duties, but at the same time open to modern society.

- Can you tell us more about the educational component in a church educational institution, what is its significance?

– Church educational institutions are called to give not only education, but also upbringing. No matter how lofty these words sound, we all understand that the priesthood is not a job, but a whole-life service. Of course, there are comparable vocations in society: a doctor, a teacher, a military man. We all want to see in the doctor not only a specialist, but also a sympathetic person; in the teacher not only a teacher, but also an educator; in the priest is not only a person who can serve the demand, but also a mentor, a comforter. And such a skill in a priest is impossible without acquiring a certain inner experience of the Christian life, the upbringing of the soul.

And here we come to the most delicate sphere of education in theological schools, which, on the one hand, is necessary, because how will one educate who has not been educated himself, and on the other hand, is easily replaced by purely disciplinary principles.

It cannot be said that all approaches have already been found here, but it is also impossible to refuse this part of the work in church educational institutions. A new and good example of the educational principle in church educational institutions is the institution of individual mentors. In the system of the Educational Committee and in the MTA, this work is headed by Oleg Sukhanov, a man with a higher military education, a former sailor, who is exceptionally loved by students and who knows how to get along with them. mutual language. The most interesting materials on the specially created website of individual mentors, the programs on the Bogoslov and the live communication that takes place between him and other mentors within the framework of this portal show how much this institution is in demand.

A mentor is a person who occupies a boundary position between students and administration. Most often, this is a young teacher or a recent graduate who can help students in practical life, and in learning activities, and in solving some problems that arise in the course of study with high-ranking members of the administration.

This form has already been introduced everywhere, now it is important that it be filled with content everywhere. Close attention is paid to those cases when representatives of the administration, including educators, turn out to be inappropriate for their calling. When the relevant signals are confirmed by the facts, such people will definitely stop working in church educational institutions.

MDA: statistics

— Do you have statistics specifically for the Moscow Theological Academy? To compare over the years and identify trends.

- Several times more young people than usual entered the MDA this year - more than 150 people for undergraduate studies. Moreover, this year there are more stringent requirements and mandatory availability passing the exam. Of these 150 people, more than 80 were taken to the preparatory department, and about 10 people immediately entered the first course.

The new unified curriculum implies four years of bachelor's degree obligatory for all and the presence of a preparatory department. On preparatory department church disciplines are taught that are absent in high school, there is also a normalization of the situation with ordinary subjects - the Russian language, foreign language, general humanitarian disciplines, historical disciplines. But the best students high school, and especially young people with a higher secular education, can immediately enter the first course.

There are usually about 60 people at the graduation course at the MTA: about 30% of students do not reach graduation for various reasons. First, it is difficult to study in a theological school. Secondly, someone goes to extramural due to various life circumstances. Thirdly, someone himself understands that he was in the wrong place, he chose the wrong path. And it happens that the administration understands this in relation to someone.

Most students who graduate from the MDA are ordained. The task of the seminary is, first of all, the training of clerics. But here there can be no formal mechanistic approach: “Please, after graduation, decide whether you accept monasticism or get married. And if you don’t decide, you won’t get a diploma.” If this kind of thing once happened, now we are monitoring this kind of pressure and suppressing it in every possible way.

There are courses at the MTA where 60% of students become clerics by the time they graduate. But there should be no competition in which seminary will have more clerics by the end of the training. The main thing is that later the graduates remain in the field of church work, in dignity or as church workers. And such graduates today are the decisive majority. And in this sense, most seminaries realize their task - they prepare people who then go to the service of the Church.

- Father Maxim, what are your feelings, intermediate conclusions from observing the development of MDA during your work at the Academic Committee?

– MTA is a unique institution, an ancient spiritual training school. The forced "Soviet" break in the MTA and SPbPDA was minimal; the Moscow and Leningrad theological schools, resumed in the mid-1940s, could rely on the teaching staff and graduates of pre-revolutionary theological educational institutions that had survived during the years of persecution. Therefore, these academies are not comparable in scale to other church educational institutions. These are institutions that have a very large margin of safety, which depend little on the personality of the leader or a particular teacher. This is in the best sense of stability and conservatism.

On the other hand, it is precisely this conservatism that can lead to a certain kind of inertia processes. The scale of activity within the framework of a huge teaching and student corporation is such that the solution of some practical issues is carried out more slowly than in small seminaries. Perhaps that is why today neither the Moscow nor the St. Petersburg academies have state accreditation.

But I think that the current MDA problems can be overcome. Some areas are developing dynamically, for example, the library, which is equipped not only externally, but also internally - by attracting modern technologies. In the institute of individual mentors, the MDA also became the flagship. Distance learning, when lectures were broadcast for provincial seminaries, also relied primarily on MDA staff.

When development was required curricula according to a new uniform curriculum, it was MDA who first posted them on their website for others to use. And there are many such examples of the successful implementation of various tasks of our alma mater.

Crisis or no crisis?

— One of the main problems of provincial seminaries is the crisis of personnel. How is this problem solved?

— I would not call the current situation a crisis: the problem is not so much with the lack of personnel, but rather with meeting the necessary parameters for staff positions - teachers, for whom work in the seminary is the main one. And here, indeed, the local diocesan authorities are often faced with the task of combining moral and material factors so that the teacher agrees to make the seminary the main place of work.

Over the past 3-4 years, there has been tremendous progress. The situation of so-called volunteer contracts for the provision of charitable services by teachers is almost completely a thing of the past. The level of remuneration of teachers is not yet satisfactory, but we hope that the situation will improve. Namely, because of the low level wages teachers are forced to work simultaneously in several universities and cannot give students the necessary time, attention and effort.

Graduates of central academies and master's programs are also replenishing the staff in those regions where the self-reproduction of teaching forces is still impossible. Another form of support for teachers in last years professional development courses are becoming, which are both legally required and, in fact, important for keeping teachers in good shape. In general, I see a clear trend towards improvement in the situation with the teaching corps.

— Are remote lectures for provincial seminaries in demand?

- Time has shown that simply broadcasting lectures or classes from central theological educational institutions as a form of education is of little demand.

A full-fledged distance education, which implies the relevant faculties, the assessment of students' knowledge, is a task that is not so easy to implement. Such a system exists today in the Orthodox St. Tikhon humanitarian university. But we still need to gradually move towards distance learning replaced the current sectors distance learning. Form distance education- this is the requirement of the time, and we will inevitably come to it.

In conclusion, I would like to express my firm belief that the current responsible academic year, when for the first time in our recent history religious universities will work according to a single curriculum approved by the Supreme Church Council and the Holy Synod, milestone in lifting them general level and approaching the solution of the problem of creating a unified educational field of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church established in 1867, recreated in 1945. It is a department under the Holy Synod, designed to provide general guidance and coordinate the activities of theological schools, provide them with methodological assistance, and, together with the ruling bishops, perform administrative functions. Under the committee, there is a permanent group for the development new concept education. Over the past 10 years, the committee has been holding rector meetings, seminars for teachers of theological schools in certain disciplines, and has been cooperating with secular institutions and organizations. Chairman of the Academic Committee: Eugene, Archbishop of Vereya, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese.

First Deputy Chairman: Archpriest Maxim Kozlov. Appointed to the position by the decision of the Holy Synod of March 15, 2012. Also, by the decision of the Holy Synod of June 6, 2012, he was appointed secretary of the commission of the Inter-Council Presence on issues of spiritual education and religious education. Rector of the Patriarchal Metochion - the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow.

Catholic seminaries

Seminaries in the Catholic Church are divided into small seminaries (eng. Minor seminary) for teenagers and large seminaries (eng. Major seminary) for older people, including also seminary colleges (although in the USA they are often called small seminaries) for undergraduate and graduate students for those who already have a bachelor's degree. There are also seminaries for adults who have done well in school, such as the National Seminary of St. John XXIII in Massachusetts, and for other more specialized purposes.

All seminaries are run either by religious orders or by dioceses or other similar structures. Often the seminary trains both the priests of that particular order or diocese and the priests of other orders or dioceses who choose that particular seminary for their priests. For example, St. John's Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts trains priests for many other dioceses in New England, which are suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of Boston. In any case, a person who aspires to enter a seminary to become a priest must be sponsored by either a diocese or a religious order.

Often a seminary may be affiliated with or affiliated with a larger Catholic college or university, so that the larger college provides more general education in the field of history or theology, while the seminary focuses on topics specific to the needs of future priests, such as teaching canon law, the sacraments, and preaching, or specific to a particular order or diocese. For example, the Theological College in Washington DC is part of the Catholic University of America.

In addition, there are several seminaries in Rome that train seminarians or already ordained priests and bishops and are supported by orders or dioceses from outside Italy. For example, the Pontifical North American College, which trains priests from the United States and other countries, is supported by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church

The forerunners of modern theological seminaries were fraternal schools that appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In Russia, the first theological educational institution of the modern European type was the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, originally located in the Zaikonospassky Monastery in Moscow.

In the 18th century, a full course, which was far from available everywhere, could take 8 years in the following steps ("classes"): fara (or analogy), infima, grammar, syntax, piitika, rhetoric, philosophy, theology. The whole system of education was based on perfect mastery of the Latin language; all other knowledge was given in passing, from reading Latin texts. The gradual introduction of Greek began at the end of the 18th century, under Metropolitan Platon (Levshin) of Moscow.

In 1814-1818, a reform of theological schools was undertaken in Russian Empire, as a result of which seminaries in their status became equal to gymnasiums, while the academies were the highest spiritual institutions. Until the end of the 1870s, those who completed the seminary course had free access to higher educational institutions on an equal footing with gymnasium students; then this access was closed. Under the influence of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), in the 19th century there was a gradual departure from Latin scholasticism.

The seminaries were under the general control of the Holy Synod, were directly administered by the diocesan bishops, who had the highest supervision over the direction of teaching, the education of students and the implementation of the rules of the charter in general. The seminaries were maintained at the expense of the Holy Synod and with allowances issued from the state treasury. The direct management of the seminary belonged to the rector, the inspector and the board, which had pedagogical and administrative meetings.

Education in seminaries was free, and orphans and children of poor parents were accepted for government support. The course of study was six years. The seminary accepted young people of the Orthodox confession from all classes, both those who had already studied in other educational institutions, and those who received home education; for admission to the 1st grade, the age was set from 14 to 18 years. The predominant value in training course Seminaries were occupied by theological sciences, but general education sciences, which were part of the course of classical gymnasiums, were also taught to a significant extent. To assess knowledge, we used point system: "5" - excellent, "4" - very good, "3" - good, "2" - mediocre, "1" - weak. Pupils of the first three classes who showed poor results could be left once for the second year in the same class. The best pupils continued their education in theological academies; most of the pupils were appointed by the diocesan authorities to the places of clergy and clergy or to the positions of teachers and overseers in theological and educational institutions.

All seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2010 have been teaching students according to the program Undergraduate in full compliance with all state standards, and have a state license to carry out educational activities in the specialty "Theology" (031900) higher vocational education. Upon graduation from the seminary, graduates receive state diplomas with a degree "Bachelor of Theology". In accordance with regulations high school, seminaries of the Russian Orthodox Church are equipped with modern computers and means of communication .

Seminaries of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

From 1872 until the first years after the liberation, the Peter and Paul Theological Seminary, subordinate to the Bulgarian Exarchate, functioned in the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul near Tarnovo. From 1892 to 1912 in Constantinople acted Tsarigrad Bulgarian Theological Seminary. Since 1944, a number of measures taken by the communist government were aimed at reducing the number of students in religious educational institutions and at creating various obstacles to the normal educational process. Persons who graduated from theological seminaries or theological faculty were deprived of the possibility of any social realization outside the church sphere, which led to their isolation in society. By 1951, only the Sofia Theological Seminary was functioning, the theological faculty was withdrawn from the Sofia University and transformed into a theological academy. At present, there are 2 Orthodox seminaries in Bulgaria - Plovdiv and Sofia, subordinate to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. They teach seminarians a regular five-year course (for students who have completed 7th or 8th grade) and a two-year parallel course (for candidates who have completed secondary education).

The idea of rating the church educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church arose in the second half of 2012 - early 2013, when, in four months, a virtually one-time inspection of all theological seminaries and academies on the territory of the Russian Federation was carried out.

Today, the rating of church educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church includes 35 seminaries and 2 academies. All 37 educational institutions correspond to the bachelor's level, while 29 out of 37 have preparatory departments, 10 have educational programs at the master's level. At 37 educational institutions there are 2 postgraduate schools, 19 regency departments and 8 icon-painting departments.

There are 9.5 thousand students studying in church educational institutions, of which more than 7 thousand students are at the bachelor's level, about 1 thousand students are at the master's level, more than 500 people at the regency departments, more than 250 people at the icon-painting departments.

The rating takes into account various parameters of the life of theological schools. The Study Committee gets acquainted with a part of them on the basis of self-examination sheets - documentation that is sent by educational institutions to the Academic Committee with a certain frequency in a regular or extraordinary manner upon request. Control over other parameters is carried out during scheduled inspections - on average, each educational institution will be visited by an inspection of the Educational Committee once every three years.

The main parameters that are taken into account in the rating:

regulatory support, that is, the availability of all necessary documentation - licenses, state certificates, etc.;

material support, that is, parameters for the number of classrooms, the quality of equipment in the classrooms, the living conditions of students - food, gyms, etc.;

quality and learning outcomes.

test results of graduate students to check the result of knowledge during the inspection;

availability of additional programs at the educational institution;

indicators of educational work, the work of the institute of individual mentors;

degree of communication between students and administration;

information and library support;

teaching staff;

educational and methodological support;

research activities - the presence of a website, a collection of teaching works, holding conferences, cooperation with secular universities.

All these factors correspond to a certain kind of coefficients and are compared with paper data and remote control data for the defense of qualification papers and final exams, which was introduced from last year.

Seminary and its rating: a wake-up call

- No, the rating is a criterion that shows a certain kind of dynamics in the development of a church educational institution - up, down, stability. If the rating of an educational institution has changed by one or two places in relation to the initial parameters, this is one, and if by ten, this is already an important change. And it's good if ten up. Therefore, the rating is a certain kind of warning system. Either a wake-up call, or confirmation that everything is done right in the educational institution.

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov

–Who are the leaders of spiritual education today according to the rating?

In general, church educational institutions that are historically central - SPbPDA and MTA - are traditionally in the top. Also at the top of the ranking are the seminaries that already have state accreditation - these are Smolensk, Saratov and Penza. There are also seminaries that have master's programs: Sretenskaya, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, etc. As well as consistently strong seminaries, with a well-formed teaching corps and an attentive archpastoral attitude. This is, for example, the Kolomna Seminary, where, among other things, there is an excellent material base and the best seminary building today, recently built on the territory of the Epiphany Staro-Golutvin Monastery, which is ideally suited for the educational process and student accommodation.

The second group is seminaries that show stable performance, but have certain shortcomings.

The third group is seminaries with more significant shortcomings, which are under control.

–Why are we needed parish training centers?

– Today there are more than 15 such centers. They have four profiles: youth, missionary, social and catechetical. The Interdepartmental Commission under the Educational Committee evaluates the organization of these centers and grants them the right to issue students with a document of a general church standard upon graduation. The demand for this kind of personnel in parishes is great, and so far only a small part of the potential is being used - so this area of church education will develop intensively.

It will be possible to increase the number of such centers at the expense of the religious schools that are ending their historical existence. An example is the Chita Theological School, which is currently in the process of being transformed into a Center for the Training of Parish Specialists. But the Vologda Seminary, on the contrary, after the decision of the Synod in 2013, raised its status and is developing very dynamically with the help of the rector, the Vologda Metropolitan.

Autonomous-between-slaughter existence is not useful to us

–Should ecclesiastical educational institutions meet the parameters of secular universities?

–How painful was the transition to the Bologna system for church educational institutions?

– There was a lot of usefulness in this transition. Yes, master's programs have become specialized in their direction, but these are obvious requirements of the time, it is clear that it is necessary to move on to specialization of the faculty type, this is what is being done in the master's program - biblical, theological, historical, church-practical disciplines are taught to choose from.

As for the holidays, yes, we began to study more, but if not in my heart, then in my head, I understand that the inadequate number of days off and vacation days that we had before the Bologna system was harmful to the educational process. The liturgical cycle is one thing, and the academic year is another, it cannot be directly connected with Paschalia, for example.

If there is anything painful, it is in the incomprehensible variability of the external forms of our state higher education, which we must take into account. There is a constant flickering of criteria and requirements - for example, the issue of the status of theology in the system of higher education has not been fully resolved. Today it is impossible to defend dissertations in theology, there is no appropriate advice. There is discipline, but there is no corresponding dissertation council - an absurdity.

Photo by Anna Galperina

Components of success

–ABOUT What determines the success and failure of a spiritual university, can you give examples of the right strategy or typical mistakes based on the results of the inspection?

– As a positive example, of course, we can name the Saratov Theological Seminary. What are the parameters for success?

First, from unconditional interest of the ruling bishop. When the ruling bishop sees that having a good seminary in his diocese is not just prestigious, but in itself forging a cadre of educated clergy and church workers in a quality institution of higher education is one of the cornerstones of positive development for the diocese, then this is a kind of depth, sobriety and correct vision of the situation.

Second, the key to success is formation of a qualified teaching staff. The teaching corps should not consist mainly of part-time workers! The backbone should be people for whom the place of work in the educational field is the main one. Of course, it is good to attract well-known teachers from secular universities, but even at the church educational institution itself there should be a strong backbone of “their own” qualified teachers.

Third, good pay for teachers. “A slave is not a pilgrim” is a church saying, or “Slave labor is unproductive” - the words of one non-church economist. Work should be adequately paid!

Fourth, important work with applicants. Nowadays, this work can be carried out in different forms. As a debatable, but undoubtedly meeting the challenges of the time, example, I will name the well-known Kazan Theological Seminary, prepared by its new leadership. Such a vital, positive creativity testifies to the processes of renewal and development that are taking place in the theological school, which was once one of the four academies of the Russian Church and is now dynamically developing again.

Seminaries should also provide normal conditions for the life and work of students. His Holiness the Patriarch pays great attention to this - students came to study, and all kinds of additional obediences and duties should be strictly dosed.

Fifth, the key to success is normal atmosphere in relations between the educational part of the administration and students. For example, the community system in seminaries is a very important educational principle: can I live with other people together, not the way I want, as I used to with mom and dad, but build relationships on my own for 4-5 years of study? Seminarians are students who live in a hostel, perform a certain kind of duties, but at the same time are open to modern society.

–Can you elaborate on the educational component in a church educational institution, what is its significance?

It cannot be said that all approaches have already been found here, but it is also impossible to refuse this part of the work in church educational institutions. A new and good example of the educational principle in church educational institutions is the institution of individual mentors. In the system of the Educational Committee and in the MTA, this work is headed by Oleg Sukhanov, a man with a higher military education, a former sailor who is extremely beloved by students and who knows how to find a common language with them. The most interesting materials on the specially created website of individual mentors, the programs on the Bogoslov and the live communication that takes place between him and other mentors within the framework of this portal show how much this institution is in demand.

A mentor is a person who occupies a boundary position between students and administration. Most often, this is a young teacher or a recent graduate who can help students in practical life, and in educational activities, and in solving some problems that arise in the course of studying with high-ranking members of the administration.

MDA: statistics

– Do you have statistics specifically for the Moscow Theological Academy? To compare over the years and identify trends.

- Several times more young people entered the MDA this year than usual - more than 150 people in the bachelor's program. Moreover, this year there are more stringent requirements and it is mandatory to pass the exam. Of these 150 people, more than 80 were taken to the preparatory department, and about 10 people immediately entered the first course.

The new unified curriculum implies four years of bachelor's degree obligatory for all and the presence of a preparatory department. At the preparatory department, church disciplines are taught that are absent in high school, and the situation with ordinary subjects is also normalizing - Russian, a foreign language, general humanitarian disciplines, and historical disciplines. But the best students from the secondary school, and especially young people with a higher secular education, can immediately enter the first year.

There are usually about 60 people at the graduation course at the MTA: about 30% of students do not reach graduation for various reasons. First, it is difficult to study in a theological school. Secondly, someone goes to the correspondence department, due to various life circumstances. Thirdly, someone himself understands that he was in the wrong place, he chose the wrong path. And it happens that the administration understands this in relation to someone.

Most students who graduate from the MDA are ordained. The task of the seminary is, first of all, the training of clerics. But here there can be no formal mechanistic approach: “If you please, after graduation, decide whether you accept monasticism or get married. And if you don’t decide, you won’t get a diploma.” If this kind of thing once happened, now we are monitoring this kind of pressure and suppressing it in every possible way.

- Father Maxim, what are your feelings, intermediate conclusions from observing the development of MDA during your work at the Academic Committee?

– MTA is a unique institution, an ancient spiritual educational school. The forced "Soviet" break in the MTA and SPbPDA was minimal; the Moscow and Leningrad theological schools, resumed in the mid-1940s, could rely on the teaching staff and graduates of pre-revolutionary theological educational institutions that had survived during the years of persecution. Therefore, these academies are not comparable in scale to other church educational institutions. These are institutions that have a very large margin of safety, which depend little on the personality of the leader or a particular teacher. This is in the best sense of stability and conservatism.

But I think that the current MDA problems can be overcome. Some areas are developing dynamically, for example, the library, which is being equipped not only externally, but also internally - using modern technologies. In the institute of individual mentors, the MDA also became the flagship. Distance learning, when lectures were broadcast for provincial seminaries, also relied primarily on MDA staff.

When it came to developing curricula for the new unified curriculum, it was MDA who first placed them on its website for others to use. And there are many such examples of the successful implementation of various tasks of our alma mater.

Crisis or no crisis?

–One of the main problems of provincial seminaries is the crisis of personnel. How is this problem solved?

– I would not call the current situation a crisis: the problem is not so much with the lack of personnel, but rather with meeting the necessary parameters for staff positions – teachers, for whom work in the seminary is the main one. And here, indeed, the local diocesan authorities are often faced with the task of combining moral and material factors so that the teacher agrees to make the seminary the main place of work.

Over the past 3-4 years, there has been tremendous progress here. The situation of so-called volunteer contracts for the provision of charitable services by teachers is almost completely a thing of the past. The level of remuneration of teachers is not yet satisfactory, but we hope that the situation will improve. Namely, because of the low level of wages, teachers are forced to work simultaneously in several universities and cannot devote the necessary time, attention and effort to students.

Graduates of central academies and master's programs are also replenishing the staff in those regions where self-reproduction of teaching forces is still impossible. In recent years, another form of support for teachers has become refresher courses, which are both legally required and, in fact, important for keeping teachers in good shape. In general, I see a clear trend towards improvement in the situation with the teaching corps.

–Are remote lectures for provincial seminaries in demand?

- Time has shown that simply broadcasting lectures or classes from central theological educational institutions as a form of education is of little demand.

A full-fledged distance education, which implies the relevant faculties, the assessment of students' knowledge, is a task that is not so easy to implement. Such a system exists today at the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University. But we still need to move gradually towards distance learning replacing the current distance learning sectors. The form of distance education is a requirement of the time, and we will inevitably come to it.

In conclusion, I would like to express my firm belief that the current responsible academic year, when for the first time in our recent history theological universities will work according to a single curriculum approved by the Supreme Church Council and the Holy Synod, will be an important stage in raising their general level and approaching the solution of the problem of creating unified educational field of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church established in 1867, recreated in 1945. It is a department under the Holy Synod, designed to provide general guidance and coordinate the activities of theological schools, provide them with methodological assistance, and, together with the ruling bishops, perform administrative functions. The committee constantly has a group to develop a new concept of education. Over the past 10 years, the committee has been holding rector meetings, seminars for teachers of theological schools in certain disciplines, and has been cooperating with secular institutions and organizations. Chairman of the Academic Committee: Eugene, Archbishop of Vereya, Vicar of the Moscow Diocese.

First Deputy Chairman: Archpriest Maxim Kozlov . Appointed to the position by the decision of the Holy Synod of March 15, 2012. Also, by the decision of the Holy Synod of June 6, 2012, he was appointed secretary of the commission of the Inter-Council Presence on issues of spiritual education and religious education. Rector of the Patriarchal Metochion - the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment in Moscow.

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