Slavic Greek Latin Academy
Slavic Greek Latin Academy (
Славяно-греко-латинская академия in
Russian) was the first
higher education establishment in
Moscow,
Russia. Today, it continues as the
Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, located in the
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra.
The academy's establishment may be viewed as a result of the incorporation of the
Left-Bank Ukraine into
Muscovy after the
Treaty of Pereyaslav. Under
Fyodor Rtishchev's auspices,
Epifany Slavinetsky and other learned monks moved from
Kiev to
Moscow and brought a taste for learning there. The Ukrainian and Polish influence was paramount at the court of the Tsar
Feodor III. In
1682, he signed the academy's
charter (called "priviley"), which had been elaborated by
Sylvestr Medvedev.
The academy was organized in
1687 under the guidance of two
Greek brothers
Joannicus and Sophronius Likhud on the premises of the
Zaikonospassky Monastery with over 70 students. The academy was placed under the care of the
Patriarch Prikaz. The
curriculum was divided into several levels ("schools"), including
Slovenian and
Greek writing, seven
liberal arts (septem artes liberales), and
theology.
The academy itself was named Greek Latin School, or Spassky schools (Спасские школы). After the dismissal of the Likhud brothers in
1694, their students
Feodor Polikarpov-Orlov and N.Semenov (Golovin) became teachers at the academy. By the beginning of the
18th century, there had been more than 200 students at the Slavic Greek Latin Academy. In
1701,
Peter the Great turned it into a state academy. A celibate priest Palladius (Rogovsky), president of the academy, invited the graduates of
Lvov and
Kiev seminaries (so called "brotherhood schools"), familiar with educational practices of
Western Europe, to teach at the Slavic Greek Latin Academy. After that, the
Latin language became the principal teaching language of the establishment.
The curriculum consisted of two major stages, including elementary stage (
grammar,
arithmetics,
geography,
history, languages,
dogma or
theology) and highest stage (theory of
poetry,
rhetorics,
philosophy, theology). The whole educational process lasted for 12 to 15 years. The education itself was similar to that of Western European universities.
The Slavic Greek Latin Academy produced not only theologians, but specialists for
civil service, as well, such as
medical professionals and
translators. During the reign of
Peter the Great, the academy began to gradually turn into a higher theological educational establishment, as opposed to many new
secular professional schools. In
1721, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy was transferred under the care of the
Holy Synod.
Throughout the first half of the 18th century, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy had been considered the center of
Russian culture and
enlightenment. Its graduates turned out to be the most prepared for continuing education at the Academic University within the
St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (founded in
1725), foreign universities, and teaching in general. Among those graduates were the first Russian
academicians
Mikhail Lomonosov and
Vasily Trediakovsky, poet
Antioch Kantemir, architect
Vasili Bazhenov, geographer
Stepan Krasheninnikov, historian
Nikolai Bantysh-Kamensky.
When
Platon II was elected
Metropolitan of Moscow (
1775), new disciplines were introduced into the academic curriculum, such as
law,
ecclesiastic history,
medicine, broadened selection of ancient and new
European languages. Publishing activities were also revived, including popular books on
Orthodox Christianity for children. In 1775, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy became the official name of the academy. It worked together with the Troitskaya theological seminary of the
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. In
1814, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy was transformed into the Ecclesiastical Academy (Theological Academy) and relocated to the
Troitse-Sergieva Lavra.
In the 19th century the Academy continued as the principal theological school of the
Russian Orthodox Church. Among its professors were the famous historian
Vasily Klyuchevsky and the Christian philosopher
Pavel Florensky. Since
1892 the Academy has been publishing the most autorative journal on Russian Orthodoxy -
Bogoslovsky vestnik (formerly edited by Gorsky-Platonov and Pavel Florensky). In
1888 the Academy trained more than 300 theological students.
The
Bolsheviks closed the Academy in Troitse-Sergieva Lavra in
1918. Some professors of the Academy (including its former rector Archbishop Fyodor Pozdeevsky, professors I.V. Popov and
Pavel Florensky) moved to the informal Higher Theological School in
Moscow, but there were only a few students left.
In September
1943, at the peak of the
WWII, the Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin met three archbishops of Russian Orthodox Church and established the new policy of cooperation with the Orthodox Church. He promised to formally recognize and reopen the Higher Theological School. The promised school was opened as the Theological Instutute in the
Novodevichy Convent on
June 14 1944. It was the first official theologian school allowed in the
Soviet Union. The program was prepared by Grigory Chulkov, Archbishop of
Saratov and its first rector was I.V. Savinsky.
In
1946 the Theological Institute was transformed into the Moscow Seminary and Moscow Theological Academy. In
1947 the Academy got the rights to award theological degrees of
Kandidat,
Doctor and
Professor. In
1949 the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy was allowed to reclaim its original buildings at the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, where they teach theological students to the present time. Most of the present bishops and theologians of Russian Orthodox Church have graduated from the Academy.
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Site of Moscow Ecclesiatical Academy
