This unusual ancient religious educational institution has an amazing history and talented, wise mentor teachers who train seminarians ...
Meet - the article is dedicated to the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary!
Description
This is a world filled with deep and rich spiritual and cultural content.
The Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary is a higher educational institution that belongs to the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The patron of the institution is John Damascene, who lived and served God in the 7-8th centuries in the city of Damascus - the capital of Syria ...
The head of the seminary is Metropolitan George, bishop of the Orthodox Church in Russia.
Rector
The birth of the future Metropolitan George (Vasily) took place in the city of Zhlobin (now Belarus).
After graduating from high school, he got a job as a driver. Then he served in the Soviet Army.
And already in 1986 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, which determined his future life. After 3 years he became a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, taking a new name - George.
In 1995, he received a Ph.D. in theological sciences. And from that moment, his teaching activities began at the Moscow Seminary.
In 2012, he was appointed head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis.
The educational process and the teaching staff
There are currently 48 teachers at the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary. Among which:
- 24 - have the holy dignity;
- 6 professors;
- 8 associate professors;
- 5 masters in theological sciences.
In addition, there are teachers from the Theological Academy.
The training units are departments.
Representatives who graduated from a theological seminary or academy in Moscow organize and form the entire educational process. All educational material - textbooks and student manuals - is also provided from the capital.
In the process of training for seminarians, in addition to the main educational process, additional events are organized: general church conferences, exchange of experience with regional seminaries, theological seminars and others, which significantly enriches and broadens the spiritual, cultural and educational worldview of students.
This educational institution has the highest goal: to qualitatively transfer to students-seminaries - future clergymen - the purest, deepest, most lively knowledge and skills, as regards church education, lifestyle, way of thinking.
Historical information
Before the political events of 1917, the seminary already numbered almost a few centuries of its life.
According to the spiritual regulations, written under the direction of Emperor Peter the Great, it was stated that every child of church officials in Russia should receive a spiritual education.
And the bishop from Nizhny Novgorod gave the very first feedback on this call. And thanks to this, three schools were opened in the city in March 1721.
And this very year is considered the moment of the birth of the first theological seminary in Russia - an educational institution that educated and educates outstanding church shepherds, scholars and theologians-educators.
Over time, the school has its own premises, in the walls of which students and seminarians studied.
From this spiritual monastery, many subsequently prominent figures — hierarchs of the Church, active missionaries, pious pastors, and talented learned preachers — grew up.
Some of them:
- Bishop Sergiy Stragorodsky - master of the St. Petersburg Academy, rector of the academy, great scholar-theologian, future Patriarch of Moscow.
- Pyotr Vasilyevich Znamensky, whose literary legacy is still used by students of the seminary and others.
The life of the seminary after the revolution
The political events of 1917 greatly influenced the life of the institution. She ceased to exist until 1993. As much as 75 years of devastation and silence. However, the same as with other similar institutions in Russia at that time ...
And so, in 1993, after the Annunciation Monastery was rebuilt in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, the religious school was reborn again - almost from the ashes, like a Phoenix bird. It was originally located in a room adjacent to the temple.
After 2 years, the educational institution officially received the status of a seminary, having regained its former glory and power.
In 2006, the reconstruction of the building, which was intended for the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, was completed. A dormitory for seminar students was equipped on its third floor. Here she lives to this day.
Address of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary: Pohvalinsky Congress, 5, Nizhny Novgorod.
Seminary today
Modern Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary is a higher non-governmental educational institution. Has a documentary right to educational activities within the framework of the church educational standard.
Something has changed in terms of the program and form of training of the educational institution in recent years.
First, seminary studies now last five years. And secondly, new disciplines appeared, the number of training hours increased. Thirdly, now the thesis of each seminary graduate is the main condition for obtaining a diploma.
In general, spiritual education has fundamental differences compared with the higher secular. This applies not only to academic subjects, but also to the organization of life of seminar students in general. All this is due to the main goal that the spiritual educational institution sets itself - to provide education and spiritual education to the future clergyman, first of all, to the minister of God.
From entrant to seminar
The process of entering the theological seminary is partially the same as when entering any other university. But there are also individual characteristics.
By submitting all the documents necessary for admission, except for a passport, a certificate of complete secondary education, medical documents, and so on, the seminary applicant also provides a certificate of baptism in the church, a wedding certificate (provided that he is married, and for the first time!), In addition , certified recommendation of the parish priest.
At the entrance exams, the applicant checks the degree of his comprehensive training, especially for humanitarian subjects. This knowledge of history, and knowledge of languages (Russian, Church Slavonic), as well as the availability of musical and vocal data.
But the main and decisive thing when entering the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary is the interview of the applicant with the rector.
There are the following advantages for student seminarians of an educational institution: lack of a contracted form of education; upon completion, after receiving a diploma, graduates themselves choose in which diocese to continue their spiritual path.
Still, the student seminar has some differences from the secular student. And the most striking thing that catches your eye from its appearance is a tunic.
Seminarians live and study right within the walls of the educational institution. And they are provided with free food - four times a day.
The daily routine according to which students live is accurate and strict, but it helps to cultivate respect for one's duties, to honor the duties of others, and helps one to be in spiritual wakefulness.
It looks like this:
- rise at 7 in the morning;
- from 9 to 15 hours - training in the seminary;
- from 17 to 20 hours - time for self-training;
- exactly at 23 o'clock - hang up.
Each seminary course has its own spiritual mentor who oversees the children - these are priests with a certain experience in spiritual life, who have behind them the experience of mentoring and pastoral ministry.
An important component of seminary life is also collective work and individual obedience:
- cleaning;
- duty in the refectory;
- assistance in the library;
- assistance in the office;
- watch and more.
All this makes students learn to interact with each other harmoniously and harmoniously, as a single, holistic orchestra.
The quality of education in the seminary in Nizhny Novgorod is quite high, not at all inferior to another, state educational institution.
The seminary has full-time, part-time courses and external studies.
Extramural
The Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary provides all types of training in the building at the Pohvalinsky Congress, 5.
Part-time seminarians have their own mentor and supervisor - Vyacheslav Dozhdev.
Reviews of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary
The atmosphere in the native educational institution remains so close and warm for its graduates that even decades after graduation, they return here, as if they were in their father's house! They communicate with the rector and teachers, conduct services in the temple.