Bishop Ioann Smolenskij and Dorogobuzhskiy (Sokolov) as a church publicist and editor of the magazine “Pravoslavnyj sobesednik”

The article presents an analytical review of the ideological position of Bishop Smolenskij Ioann (Sokolov) as a publicist, church scientist and intellectual in the 2nd half of the XIX century. It describes the beginning of his church ministry, areas of personal and pastoral interest and activity as an editor of Kazan Theological Academy’s journal in the late 1850s and early 1860s. It is shown that the central line of his work as a publicist was the connection of the Russian Church with public life, its leading role in solving any issues of our time, the same line passed through the question of the state of the spiritual schools and education in the 2nd half of the XIX century. And this concentration of Ioann (Sokolov)’s thought affected his attitude to the state reforms of Emperor Alexander II. It is noted that it was during the heyday of his work that a publicist sermon was born and displaced the traditional pastoral preaching in churches. The author concludes that it was not by chance that Bishop Smolenskij Ioann (Sokolov) was considered the father of Russian Church journalism at the beginning of the ХХ century, his work gave direction, means of expression and the start of its rapid development.