The theological sciences at St. Petersburg Theological Academy (on occasion of the 295th anniversary of its founding and 70th anniversary of its reopening)

The present article is a slightly revised and expanded version of the Patronal Feast Address delivered by the author on October 9, 2016, in the Assembly Hall of St. Petersburg Theological Academy. The address is connected to the occasion of the 295th anniversary of the founding and 70th th anniversary of the reopening of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary and Academy. The author presents a picture of the scholarly research of the professors and instructors of the Academy based on statistical data on the number of academic degrees of Master and Doctor of Theology conferred between 1869 and 2010. The author identifies three historical periods: the Synodal (1869-1918), the Soviet (1946-1991) and the modern (1991-2011). The raw numbers demonstrate that the largest number of defended dissertations occurred during the Synodal Period and the smallest - during the modern period. At the same time, with the help of concrete examples, the author demonstrates that some respected scholars of theologyat the beginning of the 20th century considered theological scholarship in the Churchto be unimportant and some members of the hierarchy had reservations aboutthe research activities and results of the professors of the Theological Academy.The author thus raises the question as to the degree to which the theologicalscholarship of the Academy’s graduates is in demand today.