Kiev Theological Academy

History

Preceding institutions

The Kiev Theological Academy traces its history back to 1615, when Yelisey Pletenetsky founded a school at the Brotherhood Monastery in Kiev. Several decades later, Peter Mohyla, from 1632 an Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, merged it with a newly established Lavra school into the Mohyla Collegium (Latin: Collegium Kijovense Mohileanum). The Collegium alumni include Innokentiy Gizel, Lazar Baranovych, Dmitry Tuptalo, Stephen Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich and many other state activists and Orthodox clerics who helped reform the Russian Orthodox Church under the auspices of Patriarch Nikon and Peter the Great. In 1658 under the terms of the Treaty of Hadiach the Collegium obtained the status of an Academy, similar to Kraków Academy. This was recognized in 1694 by the Russian tsar Ivan V, then reaffirmed by Peter I in 1701, when it became the Mohyla Academy.

Theological Academy

The Mohyla Academy was closed in 1817 by the decree of Alexander I of Russia. In 1819, the Kiev Theological Academy, an ecclesiastical educational institution, was opened in the Brotherhood Monastery. In contrast to its predecessor, the Mohyla Academy, like all similar establishments in Russia at the time the Kiev Theological Academy admitted sons of clergy only. According to its original statute, the academy was headed by a rector and supervised by a special commission; in 1839 the supervisory functions were transferred to the Most Holy Synod. A new statute, approved in 1869, provision of scientific degrees was delegated to academic councils, and students were divided in three specialized groups. In 1884 that statute was replaced by another one, which delegated supervision over the academy to the Metropolitan of Kyiv. In 1906 temporary rules were adopted, abolishing that supervision and restoring the rights of academic councils.

The Kiev Theological Academy served as the only Orthodox high school of theology in Ukrainian lands. Throughout its existence, the number of students in the establishment stood at around 200. Many of the academy's alumni continued their careers in secular spheres. The academy published a popular magazine and a scientific periodical, and was renowned for its library containing numerous valuable manuscripts and printed works. In 1872 an archaeological society and a museum were established by the academy, headed by Nikolay Petrov. The academy was closed by the Soviet regime in 1920. Upon the closure of the Kiev Theological Academy, its quarters were passed to the Soviet's Red Army Dnieper Flotilla staff headquarters. The main cathedral of the Brotherhood Monastery was destroyed in 1935 by the Soviet authorities.

Successors

Unofficial courses were organized by the academy following its formal closure. An attempt to open the Kiev Orthodox Theological Academy within the walls of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra was made after the Second World War in 1947. It was situated in Golden-Domed Monastery (1947–1949) and in the stylobate of St Andrew's Church (1949–1960). The academy was revived in 1992 and is currently based on the grounds of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Current successors

Since the 1990s, there have been three educational establishments in Ukraine that claim to be successors to the Kyiv Mohyla Academy:

the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church operates the Kiev Theological Academy in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra;

the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy in the Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv;

the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy is a secular educational institution.