Sklyarova Tatiana

Educational activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in religious and state-municipal education in 1990–2015

Abstract

The article describes the development of processes in religious education as well as educational initiatives, organisational and pedagogical conditions and administrative and managerial solutions of the Russian Orthodox Church in the sphere of education during the period of 1990–2015. The revitalisation of educational activity of the largest religious organisation in post-Soviet Russia is examined in the unity of the three directions, i.e. the religious education itself, established and implemented by church institutions as well as their interaction with state-run and municipal educational systems and institutions. The use of the method of longitudinal inclusive observation, analysis of offi cial records, the method of “oral history”, the method of historical reconstruction applied in the humanities-related studies was aimed at testing the hypothesis about the specifi city of development of educational activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. The results obtained have led to the following conclusions. The educational activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the studied period was determined by the style of management of the ruling patriarch, which has conditioned the two stages in its study, i.e. from 1990 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2015. Religious education of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 to 2008 was arranged and implemented mostly on the level of parishes, while on the level of dioceses and on the church-wide level the existing attampts were mostly supported and, more rarely, not supported due to their non-conformity with the ideas about traditions of Orthodox education; from 2009 to 2015, the arrangement of the religious education of the Russian Orthodox Church developed in the direction from the church-wide to diocesan and parochial levels of administration. Educational initiatives of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 to 2008 were primarily implemented on the level of parishes, while on the diocesan and church-wide levels the educational initiatives of the Russian Orthodox Church were addressed to employees of the system of state and municipal administration; from 2009 to 2015, the educational initiatives of the Russian Orthodox Church prevailed over those parish-oriented, which was refl ected in making a package of church-wide documents that regulate the educational activity of the Russian Orthodox Church. Administrative and pedagogical conditions of education in 1990–2008 are characterised by strategies of “reconstructing” the preceding attempts in Orthodox education, in 2009–2015 they came to be accompanied by strategies of “state-driven” regulation in the sphere of education expressed in the organisationof processes of developing educational standards, church-wide publishing of study materials, church-based licensing and authentication of educational institutions and programmes. The development and adoption of administrative-managerial recisions in 1990–2008 was carried out in the process of interaction between the church-driven and state-municipal systems of administration, in 2009–2015 in running the educational activity of the Russian Orthodox Church prevailed decisions taken in the process of interaction of the church-wide and state systems of managing education.

Keywords

religious education, state-municipal education, history of pedagogy, educational initiatives, educational activities of Russian Orthodox Church

References

1. Andreia Fursenko osvistali v Kremle. Tserkovnosluzhiteli obvinili ministra v bezbozhii [Andrei Fursenko got booed in the Kremlin. Members of the clergy accused the minister of atheism], available at https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/645044 (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
2. Vorob'ev V. (2006) “Vstupitel'noe slovo na otkrytii konferentsii «Problemy razvitiia religioznogo obrazovaniia v vysshei shkole v svete ee reformirovaniia»” [Opening remarks at the conference “Problems of development of religious education in higher education in the light of its reform”]. Vestnik PSTGU. Ser. IV: Pedagogika. Psikhologiia, 2006, vol. 3, pp. 7–19 (in Russian).
3. Dokumenty po voprosam religioznogo obrazovaniia i katekhizatsii [Documents in the sphere of religious education], available at https://pravobraz.ru/dokumenty/ (14.12.2020).
4. Znakom'tes', gimnaziia “Radonezh”!, available at: http://gymnasia-radonezh.ru/about/ (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
5. Znamenskaia gimnaziia. O gimnazii [Znamenskaya Gymnasium. About the gymnasium], available at http://znamgimn.ru/ (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
6. Negosudarstvennoe obrazovatel'noe chastnoe uchrezhdenie sredniaia obshcheobrazovatel'naia shkola “Zhivonosnyi Istochnik”. Istoriia uchrezhdeniia [Non-state private educational insitution secondary school “Zhivonosny istochnik”. History of the institution], available at https:// zchivonosniy-istochnik.mskobr.ru/info_add/history/ (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
7. Obshchetserkovnaia aspirantura i doktorantura im. sviatykh ravnoapostol'nykh Kirilla i Mefodiia. Obshchaia informatsiia [SS Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Post-Graduate Studies. General information], available at http://www.doctorantura.ru/o-nas/common (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
8. Obshchie svedeniia o Sinodal'nom OROiK, available at: https://pravobraz.ru/informaciya-obotdele/obshhaya-informaciya/ (14.12.2020).
9. “Pod shifrom 26.00.01. VAK priniala pod svoe krylo novuiu spetsial'nost' — teologiia” [Under the code 26.00.01. The Higher Attestation Committee has taken under its wing the new subject, theology]. Rossiiskaia gazeta, № 230 (6801) ot 12.10.2015, available at https://rg.ru/2015/10/13/teologiya.html (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
10. Pravoslavnaia klassicheskaia gimnaziia Ioanna Bogoslova. Istoriia [John the Theologian’s Orthodox Classical Gymnasium. An history], available at: https://orthoschool.ru/company/history/ (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
11. Pravoslavnaia Sviato-Petrovskaia Shkola — traditsionnaia gimnaziia. Istoriia shkoly [Orthodox Saint-Peter School — traditional gymnasium. History of the school], available at http://tgym.ru/istoriya#razdel2 (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
12. Pravoslavnyi Sviato-Tikhonovskii Pravoslavnyi universitet. Ob universitete [St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities. About the university], available at: https://pstgu.ru/history/(14.12.2020) (in Russian).
13. Rezoliutsiia konferentsii «Gosudarstvennye obrazovatel'nye standarty v kontekste formirovaniia nravstvennykh i dukhovnykh tsennostei obuchaiushchikhsia» [Decisions of the conference “State-related educational standards in the context of shaping moral and spiritual values of the student], available at: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/342017.html (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
14. Rossiiskii pravoslavnyi universitet. Istoriia [Russian Orthodox University. An history], available at: https://rpu-rf.ru/index.php/informatsiya/istoriya.html (14.12.2020) (in Russian).
15. Skliarova T. V. (2016) “Pravoslavnoe obrazovanie v sovremennoi Rossii: struktura i soderzhanie” [Orthodox education in modern Russia: the structure and content]. Vestnik PSTGU. Ser. IV: Pedagogika. Psikhologiia, 2016, vol. 1 (40), pp. 9–16.

Information about the author

Sklyarova Tatiana

Academic Degree: Doctor of Sciences* in Education;
Academic Rank: Professor;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities; 407, 9/2, Jlovaiskaya str., 109651, Moscow, Russian Federation;
Post: Senior Lecturer;
ORCID: 0000-0002-1169-5624;
Email: tsklyarova@mail.ru.

*According to ISCED 2011, a post-doctoral degree called Doctor of Sciences (D.Sc.) is given to reflect second advanced research qualifications or higher doctorates.

Acknowledgments

The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 19-013-00228.