Hieromartyr Theodore (Pozdeevsky) on spiritual education and upbringing of the pastorate

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, spiritual education in Russia was experiencing a serious crisis. Its manifestation was the growing revolutionary movement among theological schools, a very small percentage of graduates – candidates for the priesthood and the desire for autonomy from the spiritual authority of teaching corporations, consisting mainly of representatives of the white clergy and secular persons. The reason for this can also be called the impoverishment of faith, which was greatly facilitated by the class character of theological schools, scholastic education and at the same time the secularization of spiritual education through persons of non-monastic rank. In this regard, the project of transformation of the theological school is of great interest, which was developed by the rector of the Tambov Theological Seminary, Archimandrite Theodore (Pozdeevsky) and presented in the "Note on the reform of theological educational institutions", and a little later in the article "What can we wish for our theological school?". The main provisions of the project of the Hieromartyr Theodore were included in the "Memorandum" of Bishop Innokenty (Belyaev) of Tambov and Shatsky and sent to the Holy Synod.