St. Petersburg theological academy and the serbs: the historical way and theological heritage

St. Petersburg Theological Academy had a special role in the history of Serbian-Russian Church relations before the Russian Revolution. It was an important center of education for Serbian theologians. Serbs contributed to the development of theological education in the northern Russian capital in the 18th century. Peter (Smelich), Archimandrite of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and Nicholas Kishdobronsky, the prefect of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, were important persons within that context. St. Petersburg Theological Academy became alma mater to many Serbs in the 19th and the early 20th centuries. Patriarch Varnava (Rosić), St. Mardarije (Uskoković), bishops Sergej (Georgijević) and Damascene (Grdanichky), as well as Dušan Jakšić, Pavle Švabić, and Lazar Perović, professors in Serbian seminaries were among them. Saint Nikolai (Velimirović) and Saint Justin (Popović), the greatest Serbian theologians of the twentieth century, were students of St. Petersburg Theological Academy...