Representatives of St. Petersburg Theological Academy and their foreign assignments (1869-1917)

This article studies the foreign assignments of lecturers and scholars of St. Petersburg Theological Academy between 1869 and 1917. Foreign assignments were an important component of the Russian education and research system in the 19th - early 20th centuries as a whole and of the system of higher theological education in particular. The article studies the following characteristics of the foreign assignments of lecturers and candidates: their organization, motivation, documentation, purpose and goals, financial support, geographic and topical direction, and system of control and reporting. We reveal the role of the Holy Governing Synod, the Synod’s Education Department, the Academic Council of the Academy, and the lecturers or scholars themselves in organizing these trips. Finally, we draw attention to the results of these foreign assignments and their significance for theological scholarship and higher theological education.