Ekaterinburg Theological Seminary in 2014–2024: On the 30th Anniversary of the Revival of Religious Education in the Urals

Abstract

This publication reviews the recent history of Ekaterinburg Theological Seminary. The authors focus on the last decade of 2014–2024, since the seminary’s earlier history is covered in other publications. However, the first part of the article provides a historical overview, starting with the opening of the Ekaterinburg Theological School in 1994, with special attention to the appointment and change of its rectors and, in general, the resolutions of the Holy Synod on issues of theological education in the Urals. The second part of the publication considers the educational process organization, including licensing and accreditation of educational activities. The next part is devoted to the teaching corporation of the Seminary, from the day of its foundation (some teachers continue their professional activities to this day). In part 4 a description of the educational process which is of great importance for the theological schools, is given. Part 5 of the article thoroughly examines the experience of inter-university cooperation, to which the administration pays increased attention, especially after the year 2023 when Rector Hieromonk Korniliy (Zaytcev) was appointed Head of the Department of the Ekaterinburg diocese for interaction with higher educational institutions. The next part reveals the scientific potential of the theological school and the main directions of scientific research conducted by its teachers and students. The publications issued by the Seminary in 2014–2024 are presented in the seventh part. A separate part of the article is devoted to the publication of the student newspaper “Your Church” (later referred to as the magazine), which was carried out from 1998 to 2002 and resumed in 2014 on the students’ initiative. Part 9 examines the life of the EThS monastic community, organized in 2019 with an assignment of the rector of the Seminary as Father Superior of the Temple in Honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Parts 10 and 11 present the history and current state of the Seminary male choir, and the Seminary library, respectively. Part 12 highlights the Department of Church Singing at the Choir-Conducting Faculty of the ETS which is one of the flagships of regency education in the Russian Orthodox Church. The next part is devoted to the formation and current state of the Correspondence Education Sector, within the framework of which, since 2018, a master’s program in the profile “Church History” has been implemented. Parts 14 and 15 are devoted to new educational directions in the modern history of theological school: those are the advanced training courses for clergy and basic training in the field of theology for monastics, respectively. The review ends with a summary of general results of the long-term work of the Seminary: the efforts of the administration and the EThS teaching corporation are especially emphasized, which made it possible to obtain state accreditation of bachelor’s and master’s programs, and that has become a direct fulfillment of the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Holy Synod in relation to all theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Keywords

• ekaterinburg theological seminary
• religious education
• ekaterinburg diocese
• inter-university cooperation
• theological education in ural region