The spiritual and cultural space of Archimandrite Boris (Kholychev) and his “practical psychology”

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleДуховно-культурное пространство архимандрита Бориса (Холычева) и его «практическая психология
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Co-existence - Scientific theories and disciplines > Psychology-Psychoanalysis
6. Publication date 19-08-2018
7. lemma work Грушина, Анна Филипповна [Author]. Духовно-культурное пространство архимандрита Бориса (Холчева) и его «Практическая психология»
8. lemma manifestations Вестник славянских культур
9. Keywords orthodox priests - Soviet Union - anticlerical propaganda - psychology - Philosophy
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Грушина, А. Ф. (2013). Духовно-культурное пространство архимандрита Бориса (Холчева) и его «Практическая психология». <em>Вестник славянских культур</em>, (4 (30)), 18-28.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. This article summarizes the life of archimandrite Boris (Boris Vasilievish Kholychev) – who was both a psychologist and priest. It covers his youth, when he excelled in school and was given a full scholarship to study philosophy in Moscow. It was during this time that he became interested in religion and made a pilgrimage to Optina Pustyn where he met elder Nektary (1853-1928) who became his spiritual teacher. Boris wanted to quit his studies during the Russian Revolution, but was encouraged to continue by Elder Nektary. He graduated in 1920 and was invited to work in the department of psychology at the University of Orel.

       In 1922, Boris became a secretary at the department of philosophy and at the same time taught logic and psychology courses. During the anti-clerical campaign in 1922, Boris was arrested and incarcerated for two months because he also worked as a secretary for the Voskresensk Church in Orel. After this incident he moved back to Moscow. From 1922 to 1927 Boris pursued research in psychology. While writing his PhD dissertation, he collaborated with one of the main specialists in this field in Moscow (Chelpanov) and taught at universities. Just before his thesis defence Boris went to Optina Pustyn for a blessing from elder Nektary. The religious teacher who had been a stronger supporter of Boris’ studies now asked him to quit and become a priest. Boris agreed without hesitation and became a deacon in 1927. 

       Accused of organizing an anti-Soviet group, Boris was arrested and sent to the Gulag for five years in 1931. During the Second World War, there was a pause in anti-clerical policies, which allowed Boris to get a position in a Church in Fergana, Uzbek SSR in 1948. In 1953 Boris became archpriest and was promoted to a Church in Tashkent. In 1956, the Tashkent eparchy started building a new Church, an unimaginable event in Krushev’s USSR. This happened in fact due to the political campaign for establishing Indo-Soviet ties. Father Boris died in 1971 in Tashkent. Nowadays, the Russian pedagogical school founded by Chelpanov in 1922 studies Boris’s legacy and his theories in psychology.