Suma Parish School and its role in educating the Kola deanery clerics in the first quarter of the XIX century

This article presents the first-of-its-kind analysis of the Suma Parish School, which was established in Sumsky Posad village in the Kemsky Uyezd of the Arkhangelsk Province during the ecclesiastical school reform initiated by Alexander I. It assesses the role played by this institution in educating clerics from the parishes in the Kola Deanery. The primary sources for this study were the documents from the National Archives of the Republic of Karelia, specifically, decrees issued by the Arkhangelsk Ecclesiastical Consistory and the official correspondence exchanged between the caretaker of the Suma Parish School and the rector of the Arkhangelsk Uyezd School. The national regulations for organizing the educational process, formulated by a special Synod commission, were adjusted to suit the circumstances of the sparsely populated northern province. Notably, the Suma school provided primary theological education to the children of clerics both from the Kem and Kola uyezds, as the intended educational institution in Kola city was not opened due to the limited number of local parishes. Since the Suma school existed only for a short period from 1809 to 1814, it was unable to fully address the pressing issue of training literate clergy for rural parishes in the Kola Deanery. Nevertheless, the knowledge acquired at this school enabled its students to assume clerical positions. Eventually, the institution was closed due to a decline in student enrollment. Through the case study of the Suma school, this article sheds light on the prevailing challenges in primary theological education within the Arkhangelsk Eparchy during the first quarter of the XIX century.