The article focuses on the reform of theological educational institutions in 1867. During the implementation of the new charters, the Educational Committee of the Holy Synod tried to organize extracurricular reading in theological schools and seminaries using circulars and audits. The author considers the main documents regulating the organization of extracurricular reading and analyzes understanding of reading as a tool
for creating a new type of «enlightened clergyman». It is shown on the basis of audits’ materials how the reform was implemented, what difficulties teachers faced. The article deals with fundamental and student libraries as the reading infrastructure. Finally, the author analyzes the case of the Vologda Theological Seminary, which turned over three years from an advanced educational institution that put the organization of reading to an unprecedented height, into a completely dysfunctional one, since its students used the acquired skills reading unacceptable. History of extracurricular reading in religious educational institutions makes it possible to complicate our understanding of the reading
practices of the generation of the 1870s. It shows that the reading and writing skills specific to this cohort of readers could be formed in educational institutions thanks to the efforts of teachers.