Scientific and Educational Activity of Russian Monasteries of the ХIХ-ХХth Centuries: Contribution to Russian and World Culture

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleНаучно-просветительская и педагогическая деятельность русского монашества ХIХ—ХХ вв: вклад в отечественную и мировую культуру
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Ecumenism and dialogue > Education - Key thinkers - Complementarity - Education, Science and Orthodoxy
6. Publication date 30-07-2018
7. lemma work Шафажинская, Наталья Евгеньевна [Author]. Научно-просветительская и педагогическая деятельность русского монашества XIX-XX вв. : вклад в отечественную и мировую культуру
8. lemma manifestations Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия 4: Педагогика. Психология.
9. Keywords History of the Russian Orthodox Church - Russian history - monasticism - Russian Orthodox Church - missionary activity - culture - Scientific research
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Шафажинская, Н. Е. (2010). Научно-просветительская и педагогическая деятельность русского монашества XIX-XX вв. : вклад в отечественную и мировую культуру. <em>Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета. Серия 4: Педагогика. Психология</em>, (17), 82-95.</p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The article studies and catalogues the various scientific and educational activities of Russian monks. One of the outstanding representatives of the scholarly monasticism of the 19th century was the historian and theologian Bishop Eugene (Bolkhovitinov, 1767-1840), who later became Metropolitan of Kiev, famous for his histories of different Russian regions. He was also a brilliant teacher of philosophy, eloquence, and church history at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. The archbishop of Chernigov Filaret (Gumilevsky, 1805-1866), a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy, and subsequently its professor and rector, is also considered to be a great church historian. Archbishop Filaret wrote a five-volume History of the Russian Church, which had a significant influence on the formation of the Russian church and historical school. Another important church historian is Moscow Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov, 1816-1882), whose fundamental work The History of Christianity in Russia before Prince Vladimir became (together with Soloviev’s History of Russia from Ancient Times) “a bright event in the scholarly life of Russia and had a profound creative impact on historical science.” Archbishop Makarii later also wrote twelve volumes of the History of the Russian Church and was an important public figure who advocated judicial reform and the need for the rapprochement of people of all classes.

       Bishop Porphirii (Uspensky) was a talented Orientalist, ethnographer, archaeologist, historian and historian of art. He travelled extensively in Italy, met the Roman Pope and headed the Palestinian Spiritual Mission in late 1840s. From his travels he brought to Russia a rich collection of archaeological antiquities he collected in Athos, in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Ethiopia. Prelate Innokentii of Kherson (Ivan Borisov, 1800-1857), graduate of the Kiev Theological Academy, was a talented teacher named “extraordinary professor” of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He cared for the fundamental philosophical education of students and encouraged his students to read books in natural and social sciences. His contemporaries were amazed by the vastness and depth of his own knowledge: “the military claimed that he was a wonderful tactician; the doctors were surprised to hear about his knowledge in the field of physiology and pathology, and natural scientists and physicists - about his knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, geography, statistics, chemistry and other sciences.”

       Russian scholarly monasticism was also reflected in its missionary activity. The article mentions the outstanding service of Father Joann (Popov-Veniaminov, 1797-1879), future Metropolitan of Moscow Innokentii and saint, who headed the Orthodox mission in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Head of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China Archimandrite Iakinf (Bichurin, 1777-1853) also became a Russian specialist on China and an academician, who compiled the first Chinese-Russian dictionary and wrote fundamental works on the history and economy of China, Mongolia and Tibet. Archbishop Nikolai of Japan (Kasatkin, 1836-1912), made similar contributions into studies on Japan. In the 20th century, Metropolitan of Petrograd Seraphim (Chichagov, 1856-1937) and archbishop Luka of Crimea (Voino-Yasenetsky, 1877-1961) were also prominent medical doctors and scientists. The latter was awarded Stalin’s prize of the First Degree in 1946.