Emergence and development of historical and liturgical studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the Russian Academia: a study of the sacraments
Abstract
Studies in historical liturgics played an important role in the Russian science from the second half of the 19th century up to the period when theological academies were forcibly closed by the Communist revolution. Taking an integrated look on these studies, we can discern the emergence of a new and independent line of research out of which originates a whole new branch of historical science. The studies in question make advances both in terms of detailed research into primary liturgical source material and in terms of overall methodology, as becomes evident in the 20th century. The works of representatives of this Russian school (A. A. Dmitrievsky, A. I. Almazov, I. A. Karabinov, Archbishop Benedikt (Alentov), and others) have been used by well-known specialists of the Pontifi cal Oriental Institute and by followers of the Spanish theologian Juan Mateos. A historical and liturgical analysis into the way how the Church celebrated its mysteries became one of the most important lines of research in these studies. The approaches and methodology of the Russian scholars used in the study of the Sacraments make up the topic of this article. Studies into the liturgical aspect of various rites in the works of these liturgical scholars did not confl ict with the dogmatic content of the Sacraments because the authors assume that a theological development (including that of the Sacraments and the accompanying rites) is directly related to the developing history of the church and society, along with their prevailing theological ideas and concepts. The result of these endeavours is the emergence of a historical-liturgical school in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Russian liturgists, despite their diff ering views on liturgical history and even their mutual criticism, managed to introduce the application of the historical-critical and comparative methods to the study of liturgical artefacts; their work forms a signifi cant contribution to Russia’s intellectual history, and even today their research methods preserve their relevance. The development of the field of historical liturgics within the Russian theological school stimulated historical research; the scholars, while remaining within the scientifi c framework, continued to analyse and discuss historical evidence and the interrelation of various historical data. The work of these scholars provides us with the opportunity to build an integrated vision of the historical development of the Byzantine rite in the church service.
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