Sretensky Word. Sretensky Theological Academy

Restoration of liturgical activities at Ferapontov Monastery in the late 1980s and early 1990s (based on the materials of the Vologda Diocesan Administration Archive)

2025-09-06T20:28:51+03:00

The article presents a reconstruction of the events that accompanied the revival of liturgical activity in the Ferapontov Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Vologda Diocese. It was restored as an Orthodox parish in the late 1980s. The empirical basis of the study is unpublished documents stored in the Archives of the Vologda Diocesan Administration. The information contained in them and concerning the late Soviet and early post-Soviet periods of the history of the Ferapontov Monastery is introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. It was found that the initiative associated with the opening of an Orthodox parish in the village of Ferapontovo was shown by local residents back in 1986. Based on archival information numerous difficulties encountered by those who made efforts to resume liturgical activities in the Ferapontov Monastery are reflected, including those associated with the joint use of church premises by the Orthodox community and the museum complex. During the period under review, these were very acute, since the experience of such cooperation between a religious and state organization in the country was, in principle, almost absent. As a result of the study, the period of the history of the Ferapontov monastery, coinciding with the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, was reconstructed in detail. A list of rectors of the Epiphany parish in the village of Ferapontovo of
that period is provided. The circumstances accompanying the participation of state authorities in the process of transferring church premises for lease to the Vologda Diocese are reflected. Until 2017, the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery in the village of Ferapontovo functioned as a parish. But the first steps to restore the Orthodox monastery were taken back in the early 1990s.

The sociocultural image of the North Kazakhstan Orthodox clergy in the early 20th century (in the aspect of the biography of priest Alexander Petrovich Chinishlov)

2025-09-06T20:41:14+03:00

The article examines the socio-cultural image of the Orthodox clergy of North Kazakhstan in the early 20th century. From the point of view of civil history, this period for the region was marked by mass migrations of peasants from the central provinces of Russia and Ukraine. The mass migration of the Orthodox faithful raised the issue of large-scale organization of church construction. One of the important aspects of the latter was a significant increase in the number of Orthodox pastors, which was not an easy task in the absence of theological educational institutions in the region. The author concludes that most of the newly appointed pastors of North Kazakhstan were from the settlers and came from the peasant class. A characteristic path to spiritual rank is shown on the basis of a previously unpublished diary of the future priest Alexander Petrovich Chinishlov.

Faithful “even to the point of blood”: His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and the servants of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Moscow’s Spasskaya Sloboda in the 1920s

2025-09-06T20:46:31+03:00

The article describes the personalities of the servants of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Spasskaya Sloboda in the context of their relationship with His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in the 1920s. An analysis of historical documents from the first half of the 20th century has shown that a fatherly bond in the spirit of love and fidelity was maintained between His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and the servants of the Savior Cathedral. In the new hostile political environment, the parish remained alive and active. Despite the prohibitions of the authorities, the chairman of the board and the rector of the Church of the Savior regularly invited Patriarch Tikhon to serve in the Church of the Savior. New historical information from the investigative files of the servants of the Savior Cathedral sheds light on the yet-to-be-described facts of the life and blessed death of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the spiritual feat of his faithful friends and spiritual children, and complement the history of church Moscow associated with the church on Bolshaya Spasskaya Street, which is so lacking in the capital today.

Names of the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Theotokos of Greek origin: Agiosoritissa and Paraklisis

2025-09-06T20:53:10+03:00

Greek names of icons of the Theotokos (Mother of God) are often found in our scientific literature. Below is the material on the names of the Bogolyubskaya icon of the Theotokos, which came from the Greek language. The origin and use of these words in the source language and in the history of the Russian language are studied. The terms Agiosoritissa, Paraklisis, as well as related to this topic (Khalkoprateya, Deisus) or cognate words (Paraclitus, Paraklitus) are considered. Such a comprehensive analysis of this group of terms of Greek origin has not been undertaken in the Russian tradition.

On the origin and development of the Rite of the “Twelve Troparia” in the Jerusalem tradition before the 10th century

2025-09-06T21:05:11+03:00

The article examines the daytime service of Good Friday in the ancient Jerusalem tradition. It reviews the main surviving manuscripts, as well as the relevant scholarly literature on this topic. The issue of attribution of the Great Hours is covered in detail and a conclusion is made regarding the most likely authorship of the rite itself and the text of the “Twelve Troparia”. The continuity of the modern service from the ancient Jerusalem rite is described. The meaning and structure of the “Royal” Hours are determinedby the original content of this service as the ancient “vigil at the Cross” of Our Savior precisely at the time when He was on the Cross, from the sixth to the ninth hour. The core of the service was the singing of psalms, the reading of prophecies, the Apostle and the Gospel associated with the suffering of the Lord. Over time, Christian hymnography was added to this rite, which has reached our time, and eventually all the ancient content was quite organically inserted into the framework of the service of the hours. Good Friday, Great Hours, Royal hours, Jerusalem divine service, Pilgrimage of Egeria, Jerusalem Lectionary, Iadgari, Twelve Troparia.

The Great Lent preliminary weeks Readings of the stable composition of the Triodion Toržestvennik: materials for research

2025-09-06T21:12:35+03:00

This article is devoted to a problematic review of the works included in the stable composition of the Triodion Toržestvennik and associated with the preparatory period of the Great Lent. The Triodion Toržestvennik is a monument of Old Russian culture and contains panegyric and edifying readings dedicated mainly to Sundays of the Triodion cycle, starting with the Publican and Pharisee Sunday. The work provides a review of the literature that is directly or indirectly related to the study of the stable composition of the collection, points to catalogues of homilies dating back to the works of the Triodion Toržestvennik. Based on the obtained results, we can conclude that most of the homilies of the preparatory weeks of Great Lent are inscribed with the name of St. John Chrysostom, however, they either have nothing to do with his works or are indirectly connected with them. As a rule, the homilies were read at matins after the kafizma. The majority of the works are unstudied or insufficiently studied, which opens up a wide field for further research.

The Antinomy of Distinction and Identity in the Triadic Canons of the Octoechos in Church Slavonic

2025-09-06T21:16:38+03:00

This study explores how the antinomic character of Orthodox theology is expressed linguistically in Church Slavonic hymnography, with reference to the original Greek texts, and how this makes it possible to address the theological problem of human epistemological capacity. The trinitarian antinomy of distinction and identity raises the question of the boundaries of divine knowledge, as well as the verbal means by which the triune nature and unity of the Godhead are expressed in the triadic canons of the Sunday Midnight Office of the Octoechos, composed by Saint Mitrophanes of Smyrna in the 9th century. Accordingly, it is relevant to examine the various dimensions of how this antinomy is understood in the Octoechos, both in the Church Slavonic and the original Greek, within the framework of a theological and philological study that includes a semantic analysis and a theological evaluation of selected troparia, interpreted through the lens of Scripture and the patristic tradition. The analysis demonstrates that antinomy, as a poetic principle in triadic hymnography, reflects the patristic vision of Trinitarian theology. It functions
as a key mode of theological reflection, and emerges as a natural linguistic principle for articulating the mystery that transcends the limits of the human mind. The study concludes with a synthesis of the main lines along which the doctrine of the Trinity developed in the triadic canons of the Octoechos.

Self-love at the intersection of theological and psychological discourses

2025-09-06T20:04:34+03:00

This publication examines and compares interpretations of selflove in well-known psychological literature and in authoritative Christian sources — the Holy Scripture and the patristic heritage of the Orthodox Church. Despite close initial premises and similar terminology, a significant discrepancy is found in the understanding of self-love in Christian and psychological discourses. Within the framework of the Christian approach, the author of the article highlights both the fundamental patristic approach to this phenomenon in human life and special statements that can be harmonized with each other, but not with the dominant psychological interpretation. At the end of the article, the author gives a description of the problematic field that arises with the spread of the secular psychological trend in understanding self-love.

Is there any reason to consider Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) a hesychast?

2025-09-06T20:13:09+03:00

The article is devoted to the involvement of additional resources and methods in the research of the spiritual heritage of Archimandrite John (Krestyankin). New opportunities open up when Fr. John’s ascetic and pastoral experience is put in connection with the Hesychast tradition. The Hesychast contextualization of Fr. John’s experience is carried out through the analysis of the facts of his biography — for a long time he received spiritual care from priests associated with such hesychastic centers as Optina Pustyn’ and Glinskaya Pustyn’ (Hegumen John Sokolov, Venerable Serafim Romantsov). Archimandrite John had personal communication with the hesychastic elders: St. George Kossov the Confessor, Venerable Simeon of Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery, Valaam elder Luke (Zemskov), etc. The candidate dissertation written by Fr. John was dedicated to Hesychast St. Seraphim of Sarov. In his dissertation Fr. John managed to reveal some characteristic features of such a hesychastic phenomenon as Russian eldership (the ability to combine the feat of unceasing prayer and spiritual care of the flock; eldership as cocrucifixion with Christ, the highest form of sacrificial pastoral love). In his sermons and letters, Fr. John often appeals to the hesychasts: St. Anthony the Great, St. John of the Ladder, St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Gregory Palamas. The hesychastic contextualization of Archimandrite John’s legacy allows us to study his personal spiritual experience, so that the fruits of prayer in Fr. John can be interpreted in the context of the teachings of St. Barsanuphius of Optina on the stages of non-distracting, inner and spiritual prayer. This teaching and experience of Fr. John can be put in correspondence with the stages of mental, mental heart-felt, self-moving prayer and, possibly, higher hesychastic stages.

The concept of freedom in the theology of St. Basil the Great

2025-09-06T20:18:31+03:00

For many centuries and up to the present, the concept of freedom has been and remains relevant. St. Basil the Great and his theology represent one of the key foundations in Christian theology. Subsequent generations of theologians rely on or refer to his writings and dogmatic formulations. Based on the analysis of his life and written heritage, it is possible to make a certain conceptualization of his understanding of freedom. On the one hand, everything corresponds to the Holy Scriptures, on the other hand, he analyzes the essence of man, as well as his socio-political existence, in more depth. The result of the research allows us to determine his understanding of freedom as independent choice and actions of the individual, but within the framework of faith in God, fulfillment of the commandments, state and social obligations. Also, variations in the restrictions of freedom allow us to distinguish several of its varieties not only in the generally accepted sociopolitical terms, but also in the ontological and amartological meanings.