Church Rebels: From The History Of The Kazan Theological Seminary

Resumen

The article deals with the issue of rebelliousness and protest activity of the Kazan Theological Seminary students in the late XIXth - early XXth centuries. For a long time, this topic was not touched upon in the context of church historical research. The reason for this was both the weakness of the church-historical science that was defeated in the Soviet period, and the specifics of the ideological paradigm that dominates in Russian Orthodox Church. The author, using the example of the Kazan Theological Seminary, describes the psychological atmosphere that reigned in the educational institution during 1892 - 1907, and tries to identify the distinctive features of the protest movement of seminarians, as well as to determine its forms, dynamics and direction. A particular importance is given to the problem of Christian morality crisis, which has embraced not only church youth, but also the hierarchy, and the leadership of the educational institution. The assessment is given concerning the influence on the seminary by the external revolutionary atmosphere and urban students. Among the most significant moments is the answer to the question: why those who were preparing for spiritual pastor career adopted the deviant forms of behavior actively, participated in murders and armed clashes with government troops. The work is based on original sources.