“From the first person”: theological and pastoral courses in Leningrad in the diaries, resolutions and letters of metropolitan Gregory

Even during the Great Patriotic War, in June 1944, in accordance with the project approved by the Holy Synod and authored by Archbishop Gregory of Saratov, “On the establishment of theological educational institutions” in 1943, the Theological Institute and Theological Pastoral Courses were opened in Moscow. Based on the materials of the archive “Historical and Theological Heritage of Metropolitan Gregory (Chukov)”, the Archives of the St. Petersburg Diocese, etc., the article describes in detail all the stages of the organization of the theological school - the Theological and Pastoral Courses in Leningrad, which began in the spring and summer of 1945 - its opening on November 22, 1945, its activities and the first and only graduating class. The participation in this process of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, the Leningrad City Council, the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the entire range of existing “external” problems are shown. The entire scope of the existing “internal” problems that the experienced organizer Vladyka Gregory faced both during the preparation and the beginning of the work of the courses was also highlighted. It is shown how the modern St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary grew out of the modest courses, and not just anywhere, but in the historical building of theological schools. Immediately on the day of the commencement exercises of the courses, the Metropolitan, already the chairman of the Educational Committee of the Holy Synod, began preparations for the opening of the Theological Academy, which took place on October 14, 1946, with the simultaneous transformation of the Theological-Pastoral Courses into a seminary. Many of the archival documents used in the preparation of the article are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.