The Ways of Russian Theology - Part II

Book excerpt: “Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Science without humanity Knowledge without character Politics without principle Commerce without morality Worship without sacrifice. https://vidjambov.blogspot.com/2023/01/book-inventory-vladimir-djambov-talmach.html How to bring the life and activities of theological students to the Church? They should arouse religious and theological independence in them ... Now, let the guardians of the church, instead of scolding the academy, its professors and students, instead of intensely searching for heresies in their writings and misconduct in their behavior, indicate ways to introduce this condition ... But life is not studied in a theological school! On the contrary, young people, already separated from their estates by life, are even more clogged from it by seminary pedagogy. Naturally, it’s not life’s fighters, zealots of truth, but dry theorists, artificially raised resonators who will leave the school: should they be given the message of life, heal the brokenhearted, release the tormented to freedom! ”(Rev. Anthony Khrapovitsky) ... True, these words were spoken a little later, in 1896, but they could have been spoken earlier ... Here, pastoral jealousy is sharply confronted and diverges from official and official unbelief ... Since the mid-80s, this pastoral awakening, the renewal of the pastoral ideal has already been very noticeable ... This was most evident in the St. Petersburg Academy when Yanyshev was replaced as rector by Arseniy Bryantsev, vposl. Archbishop of Kharkov. The Academy Inspector was transferred from Kazan, then still Archimandrite, Anthony Vadkovsky (1846-1912), afterwards. Metropolitan of St. Petersburg. He was a man of great cordial sympathy and benevolence. Around him there is a circle of zealots of a monastic feat, the so-called. “Squad.” After a twenty-year hiatus, tonsure again begins in the student community. The ascetic ideal at the same time internally merges with the pastoral vocation, this was a new feature.