Higher theological school in the education system of Russia in 1869 (the reform of the academies)

The article is devoted to the reform of the higher theological school in Russia. This reform plays a special role in the history of Russian religious education and organically fits the overall context of the transformation era of Alexander II. The author underlines the special influence of the reform on the development of the theological and educational projects of archbishop Makariy (Bulgakov). The special attention is paid to the fact that reform of the higher theological school system was preceded by the reformation of the system of the secondary religious schools. Transformations in the Russian universities in post-reform Russia in the second half of the 19 thcentury inevitably involved higher spiritual education in the process of the reform. Some changes in the system of the primary and middle spiritual education started in the late 1850s and continued until 1867. The reform of the theological academies in 1869 was the general result of these changes.