Kursk Diocese Holds Final Certification in Theology for Monastics

The visiting accreditation group was formed with the blessing of Archimandrite Stephan, chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Education of Monastics of the Russian Orthodox Church (Tarakanova) in pursuance of the normative requirements of the "Regulations on Church Accreditation of Courses of Basic Training in the Field of Theology for Monastics of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Issuance to Theological Educational Organizations and Monasteries of the Representation of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Education of Monastics of the Russian Orthodox Church for the Right to Implement Them", as well as in connection with the completion of three years of study in the courses of the first intake of monastics of the Kursk Diocese.

Basic theological training courses for monastics of the Kursk Diocese were organized in 2021 with the blessing of Metropolitan German of Kursk and Rylsk on the basis of the Kursk Theological Seminary. The first graduation of courses in 2024 on the basis of the Interdiocesan Center for the Training of Church Specialists of the Kursk Diocese.

The visiting accreditation group included: Chairman – Archimandrite Bartholomew (Petrov), Member of the Collegium of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, a monk of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Stavropegic Monastery; Secretary – Nun Anuviya (Vinogradova), Candidate of Historical Sciences, Secretary of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Education of Monastics, Treasurer of the St. John the Baptist Stauropegic Convent. Moscow; Nun Theonilla (Kharchenko), Assistant Secretary of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Education of Monastics, nun of St. John the Baptist Stavropegic Convent in. Moscow.

25 June the visiting commission in the city of Kursk was met by the head of the courses, PhD in Theology, Director of the Interdiocesan Center for the Training of Church Specialists of the Kursk Diocese, Priest Roman Katsap. In the diocesan administration, the members of the commission met with Metropolitan German of Kursk and Rylsk. The head of the Kursk Metropolia warmly welcomed the visiting accreditation group to the Kursk land and spoke about life in the monasteries of the diocese, which are located in the border areas - Rylsky and Sudzhansky. Archimandrite Bartholomew and the members of the visiting group thanked Bishop German for the meeting and handed over a journal with educational and methodological complexes on the eight main disciplines of the courses for monastics. The CMT was developed by members of the Interdepartmental Commission with the involvement of leading experts and published as a supplement to the journal "Monastyrsky Vestnik".

On the same day, the visiting accreditation group visited the basic training site of the courses – the Interdiocesan Center for the Training of Church Specialists of the Kursk Diocese. Here, the members of the visiting group checked the documentation of the courses, Inspected the classrooms, material and technical equipment and library fund of basic literature for courses.

In the morning 26 June the visiting working group went to the Zolotukhinsky Convent of St. Alexis, of the Man of God, where the attestation of monastics took place in the form of a test in the discipline "History of Monasticism and Asceticism". The commission was met by Abbess Elizabeth (Semenova) with sisters, as well as the abbess of the Kursk Holy Trinity Monastery, Abbess Susanna (Barykina) with sisters.

Together with the members of the accreditation group and the director of the Interdiocesan Center for the Training of Church Specialists of the Kursk Diocese, Priest Roman Katsap, the test was taken by the teacher of the discipline "History of Monasticism and Asceticism", Hieromonk Afanasy (Zimin), a monk of the Znamensky Monastery in. Kursk. The sisters were certified according to the traditional system. It was proposed to choose one of the 35 Tickets, each has two questions. The abbesses of two convents were among the first to pass the test. In total, the test was successfully passed at this training site 36 of course participants.

27 On June 1, the monastics were certified in the form of a test at the Kursk Root Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Hermitage. The members of the commission lived these days in the monastery, therefore, they managed to get acquainted with the monastery and the abbot, Hegumen Seraphim (Kotelnikov). The brethren of the Kursk-Root Hermitage Monastery and the Rylsk Monastery of St. Nicholas also took tickets, prepared and passed the test, trying to show the knowledge gained. At this training site, the test was passed 10 brethren from two monasteries.

Representatives of the commission noted the good knowledge of students, And the desire was expressed to continue the work of the courses in all the monasteries of the diocese, so that all the monks and nuns of the convents, and all monastics of the Kursk Metropolia were able to undergo training and receive a basic theological level.

At the training sites, the members of the commission checked the availability of literature from the main list and equipment for the courses. In the course of the work, the members of the visiting group handed over to the head of the courses and the teacher of the subject "History of Monasticism and Asceticism" educational and methodological complexes in eight subjects, published as a supplement to the journal "Monastyrsky Vestnik". Members of the commission also donated other literature to the monasteries, published by the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism.

In just three days of the work of the mobile accreditation group in the Kursk Diocese, the tests were successfully passed 46 students of the basic training courses in theology for monastics – monks and nuns of two monasteries and two convents of the Kursk Diocese.

The members of the commission also visited the holy places of the Kursk Diocese - the Znamensky Monastery in the city of. Kursk and the Kursk Cathedral of St. Sergius of Kazan – place, related to the memory of the. Seraphim of Sarov, a native of the city of Kursk.

Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism/Patriarchate.ru