Church Administrative Activities of Metropolitan Sergius (Tikhomirov) During His Tenure as Rector of St. Petersburg Theological Academy (1905–1908)

Metropolitan Sergius (Tikhomirov) headed St. Petersburg Theological Academy in the rank of bishop from October 1905 to March 1908. In Russian scholarship, when studying the biography of Vladyka Sergius during this period, traditionally attention is paid to two episodes, the first of which is associated with the scandalous funeral service for Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt, and the second with the financial expenditures of the Academy’s purser M.V. Uspensky. At the same time, it is very important to identify a number of other issues that need serious consideration and study. The article indicates that the period of the tenure as rector of Bishop Sergius fell on one of the most difficult – if not the most difficult – periods in the history of the theological academy in the imperial capital. First, it is connected with the First Russian Revolution of 1905– 1907 and the accompanying student unrest, which affected the theological school as well. Second, the atmosphere of unrest affected, among other things, the Academy’s faculty. This is especially clearly manifested in the changing of the professorships of Russian church history, pastoral theology, and other disciplines. All this, as well as a number of other challenges, quite clearly characterizes this period in the history of the Academy as a difficult and tense one. The numerous problems that arose had to be solved by the still quite young, by the standards of the Synodal Period, bishop. A more careful study of the academic period of the life of Bishop Sergius provides a different look at his personality and the hardships that he had to overcome before traveling to Japan, where he spent the rest of his life.