Sociocultural portrait of professors and lecturers of russian universities and spiritual academies who participated in the Local Council of the Orthodox Church of Russia, 1917–1918

This article is devoted to the compilation of a socio-cultural portrait of professors and lecturers of Russian Universities and Theological Academies – participants of the 1917-1918 Local Council of the Orthodox Church of Russia. The author analyzes the composition of the Pre-Council Commission of 1906, the Pre-Council Commission of 1917 and draws attention to the increasing role of professors in the preparation of Church reform. The professors invited to work on the project of the future Council found a new meaning for their activities, another opportunity to serve the Church. Leading experts in various fields of theological, historical sciences, and law were those who contributed to the discussions of public associations, church-state forums a high scientific level of argumentation and the construction of concepts of Church development. 46 professors and lecturers of Russian Universities and Theological Academies took part in the work of the Council in 1917. In the article, the author analyzes the social composition of the group, education, academic statuses. The author concludes that despite the differences, scholars nevertheless had a lot in common. Origin (36 out of 46 people were born in families belonging to the clergy) and education (35 out of 46 people studied in theological academies) made this group a single scientific community with similar values and ideas. This explains the absence of major conflicts between professors and lecturers of Universities and Theological Academies. The work on the preparation of the Church reform, the non-institutional position in relation to the Church organization made it possible for them to acquire a new corporate identity: at the Council of 1917, scientists felt themselves to be the “Church elite”, which can and should maintain the core of the new ecclesiology – conciliarity (sobornost’).