About author
The article analyzes the internal life of religious educational institutions in Russia in the 1830–1850s, focusing on the influence of teachers on the formation of the personalities of students. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the incompleteness of the picture presented in «Essays on the Bursa» by N.G. Pomyalovsky, to show positive examples of mentors using materials from the Tver diocese. The relevance of the topic is due to the similarity in a number of aspects of pre-revolutionary and modern theological schools, the presence of crisis phenomena in the Russian
Orthodox Church of both periods due to personnel problems. Information for comparative analysis is drawn from personal sources and journalistic works by V.F. Vladislavlev, I.S. Belyustin, I.M. Malein, and from materials on the history of the Tver Theological Seminary by V.I. Kolosov. A comparison of these sources with the «Essays of the Bursa» shows the similarity of the problems, while some rectors of Tver theological schools were extremely negative examples, exerting a destructive influence on students. Rectors Afanasy (Sokolov) and Seraphim (Protopopov) left behind a positive legacy; the works of Innocent (Borisov) had a great influence on the young men. Many teachers were engaged in research work, which speaks of their horizons and intelligence. Among the graduates of Tver schools there are a number of people who have gained all-Russian fame, which would have been impossible without good mentors and high-quality basic training. However, scattered «rays of light» without the active support of the authorities could not ensure the dominance of new trends in theological schools, and in the absence of reforms this threatened the empire with collapse