The Department of Theology has opened at the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI), according to the website of the Moscow Patriarchate. The beginning of theological education among physicists was laid by the chairman of the department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Previously, he took part in a meeting of the university’s academic council, where he stated that the introduction of theology into the program of a technical university will, first of all, ensure students’ comprehensive development. Metropolitan Hilarion recalled that during the Soviet era, “the religious component was artificially removed from the secular education system.” “The purpose of teaching theology as part of a general university course is precisely to provide students with the opportunity to gain knowledge in an area that continues to play a significant role in people's lives, that is, in the field of religion,” he said. In addition, the priest recalled that in everyday life, “a brilliantly erudite person who has a wide variety of knowledge in different fields, has a perfect knowledge of Russian and world literature and is versed in other areas of knowledge, shows amazing incompetence as soon as it comes to religion.”

“This incompetence makes us professional religious leaders laugh,” he added.

But in addition to overcoming the “ignorance and incompetence” of Russian society, the Department of Theology at MEPhI is called upon to help physicists answer the question “how did all this come about.” “Very often young people have great competence in certain areas of knowledge, but do not know why they need all this: they do not know why they study, why they should work, why they need to observe certain moral standards “, the clergyman clarified.

“I am inclined to think that the department of theology within the walls of MEPhI can play a very significant innovative role in the sense that it will promote dialogue between religion and natural science knowledge, and such dialogue is now very necessary both for bearers of natural science knowledge and for bearers of religious traditions,” said Metropolitan Hilarion.

Towards the end, he announced that attendance at lectures on theology would be optional.

The Academic Council unanimously approved the opening of the department, as well as Metropolitan Hilarion as head of theology at MEPhI. And the rector of the university, Professor Mikhail Strikhanov, expressed hope that the new department could become a leading department in the system of secular higher education in Russia.

Nevertheless, graduates, university teachers and their fellow scientists were not so unequivocal about the innovations at MEPhI. MEPhI professor Sergei Bogovalov believes that the department is not needed. “I don’t know what the rector of the institute was guided by, but in general we don’t care much about it. We have real concerns and matters, not virtual problems,” he told Gazeta.Ru.

Head of the Department for Processing Astrophysical Observations of the Physical Institute named after. P. N. Lebedeva Sergei Likhachev is also sure that theology is completely unnecessary for science:

“You can study other areas of human knowledge with the same success. I think that the opening of such a department is a political situation in connection with the current situation in the country, when we all must respect different ideological concepts.”

MEPhI graduate, employee of the Institute of Theoretical Physics named after. Landau Sergei Parkhomenko is also against theology at the university. “This goes against the spirit of the institute. Not all people consider themselves believers, and they have the right to this point of view. The very essence of science is not to believe in something and then test it. Students are taught differently. They are taught to test nature - to try to explain what came out of the experiment. No one has yet been able to carry out an experiment on the presence of God,” Parkhomenko explained to Gazeta.Ru. “The idea of ​​God is not needed for the development of science,” he added.

In addition, Parkhomenko condemned the actions of the university rector: “Strikhanov should deal with the problem of educating scientists. And the opening of the department of theology does not suit him. This is a complete disgrace, discrediting science and the loss of its complete prestige.”

He also recalled a story from a year ago: “There was a monument to a student on the territory of MEPhI. They removed it and put up an Orthodox cross. This is both funny and shameful.”

MEPhI graduate Konstantin Rupasov criticized the arguments of Metropolitan Hilarion. “He gives rather slippery justifications, and what is actually hidden behind them is unclear,” says Rupasov. In addition, he does not understand why theology was taught at a physics university, but natural sciences are not taught at the seminary. “This is a terribly funny phrase about the need for a union of science and theology. He doesn’t understand that these things lie on different planes and they are diametrically opposed,” Rupasov was indignant.

Rupasov recalled that in Soviet times, MEPhI had a department of scientific communism and it was a compulsory subject. “Scientific communism, unlike theology, has some relation to science, and theology is anti-science,” he believes.

“The fact that an anti-scientific discipline appears among scientific subjects cannot be called anything other than subversive activity,” Rupasov said.

In turn, biblical scholar Andrei Desnitsky said that “the opening of theological departments is more good than bad.” Nevertheless, he admitted: “Many people rightly fear that there will be a new history of the CPSU and other Marxism that we had under Soviet rule, when a certain ideology was imposed on everyone under the guise of science. It’s very possible that this will happen: Orthodox ideology will be implanted, and then, of course, it’s better not to do this.” At the same time, in his opinion, theology can help shape a person’s views on the world around him. “Many of the problems that have now emerged in our church are not due to an excess of theological education, but, on the contrary, due to its lack,” says Desnitsky. “This will benefit both the church, because there will be less illiterate rudeness, and society, because there will be space for conversation.”

The priests, in turn, say that the opening of the department of theology at MEPhI is completely within the framework of the European educational tradition.

“Such a department exists at the Sorbonne and other universities around the world,” says Alexei Uminsky, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Khokhly. “It is visited by agnostics, atheists, and believers. It has the same practical application as any other discipline.”

In September, the Department of Theology at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI was fully operational: the head of the department, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (who also holds many other positions), gave the first lecture of the course “History of Christian Thought,” talking about the meaning of Orthodoxy and the life of Christ. “Several hundred students” came to the first lecture - however, most of them were forced to listen to the Metropolitan by the university administration. But at the department of theology, lectures are not only given by the metropolitan; There are also two general humanities courses - “History of Art” and “Language as a Cultural Phenomenon”. Lenta.ru tried to figure out what the MEPhI department, which has caused so much controversy, is doing.

The opening of the Department of Theology became known in October 2012, and at the same time Lenta.ru reported on what led MEPhI to such a step. Until the beginning of the new academic year, little was known about the department, namely that it would be headed by Metropolitan Hilarion and that classes would be optional for students. At the end of August, the independent website Mythist published a preliminary schedule for the theology department: there were three courses, and indeed, all of them - at least formally - were elective courses.

Christian thought

The course of lectures “The History of Christian Thought” is read, according to the schedule, by Grigory Alfeev - this is Metropolitan Hilarion, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Rector of the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies named after Cyril and Methodius, Rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” on Bolshaya Ordynka and, concurrently, head of the department of theology. The Metropolitan’s lectures are listed as an elective course for several second-year groups of the Faculty of Management and High-Tech Economics (formerly the Faculty of Humanities; now designated as the Faculty “U”). At the same time, judging by the schedule, students don’t have much to choose from; however, according to students at MEPhI, “History of Christian Thought” is not a required course, and those who have it on their schedule may not take it. It is still unknown whether missing lectures will have any consequences during the session: there are no roll calls during classes. At the end of the course, students are expected to take a test (which they learned about in the third lecture), but in what form it will take is unclear.

The first lecture in the course took place on September 3. It began with a general introduction, followed by a screening of a film about the person of Christ - the first in the series “ Church in history» by Hilarion himself, created with the financial support of Rospechat. The film was followed by applause - and the main part of the lecture. Metropolitan Hilarion spoke about the emergence of Christianity, about the personality of Christ and its significance, about the basic dogmas and meaning of Christian teaching, about Leo Tolstoy and the Bible. The full text can be found on the DECR website of the Moscow Patriarchate, and video recording lectures posted on YouTube.

At the first lecture, as the DECR reported, there were “several hundred people”: students whose course was on their schedule, the rector, teachers and students from various faculties who wanted to listen to the metropolitan. The video shows that the assembly hall in which the lesson took place was completely filled. However, it soon became clear that most of those present were not at the lecture of their own free will.

For example, a significant number of students at the lecture were students from the military department. As the “Mythist” writes, at 15:45 (Metropolitan Hilarion’s lecture began at 16:15) the entire staff of the department was supposed to appear on the parade ground in civilian clothes. From there, the students - regardless of whether they had any classes on their schedule or not - were taken to the assembly hall, at the entrance to which there were already a number of first-year students with teachers (lectures on the history of Christian thought, we recall, are in schedule only for the second year). The day before, a message appeared on VKontakte that on September 3 at 16:15 a number of first-year groups from the Faculty of Physics and Technology (Faculty “F”) should come to the assembly hall to listen to “an interesting and unfortunately (or fortunately) mandatory » a lecture that will be taken as an elective for students. Called Several first-year groups of the Faculty of Automation and Electronics (Faculty “A”) also came, and the call came from the deputy dean of the faculty, Vladimir Shurenkov. It was not reported what sanctions could be applied to those who do not come (whether they are from the military department, from faculty “A” or from faculty “F”).

As a student who wished to remain anonymous told Lenta.ru, on September 3, students at the military department were promised that there would be no more forced “corralling” at Metropolitan Hilarion’s lecture. However, a week later, on September 10, the situation repeated itself: at 15:45 everyone was again gathered on the parade ground, without specifying the purpose of the meeting, and taken to the assembly hall. When the students entered the classroom, there did not have almost no one. After some time, the lecture began come students: among them were first-year students who were removed from the ongoing lecture on economics. At the entrance to the auditorium, meanwhile, there were about 200 religious books, including the Gospel, with a sign “a gift from the Metropolitan.” At the end of the lecture, the teacher asked to read something (what exactly, Lenta.ru’s interlocutors found it difficult to say) based on these books for the next time.

The third lecture was completely different from the first two. Firstly, it took place in the auditorium indicated in the schedule, and not in the assembly hall. Secondly, neither students of the military department nor first-year students were forced to come there. Thirdly, the lecture was not given by the Metropolitan, but by one of his assistants.

At the very beginning of the semester, at a meeting of the prefects, it was announced that it was necessary to gather 20 people from each course who would want to voluntarily attend the “History of Christian Thought.” These students, upon completion of the course, will be able to add it to their personal account as an achievement, but what this will ultimately affect is unclear. At the same time, a second-year student at the Faculty of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (Faculty “T”), who wished to remain anonymous, told Lenta.ru that students were offered to attend an optional lecture on theology on Tuesday, October 1, in the assembly hall at 16:00: 15 and then submit a report about it, for which the author will be given 15 points in philosophy (to receive an automatic credit, you need to score 50 points). The student emphasized that this is a purely voluntary matter. According to him, the lecture on October 1 was the second in a number of voluntary lectures on theology, but he and his classmates were not told about the first in time (if we count from the beginning of the semester, then this lecture was already the fifth in the “History of Christian Thought” since the beginning of the course) .

At the lecture on October 1, the assembly hall was again packed to capacity, and the talk was about the reasons for the schism of the Christian church and the differences between the different branches of Christianity. According to the student, it was read by some priest (the lecturer did not introduce himself), but not by the metropolitan.

Without a doubt, it is useful for an educated person (whether a technician or a humanist) to know the history of Christianity, to be able to understand the peculiarities of the religious worldview and to have an understanding of church life. And MEPhI provided a platform for people with theological education to share their knowledge with students. However - judging by the same first lecture by Metropolitan Hilarion - from the university department, second-year students are addressed as if they were Sunday school students, not with information based on facts and sources, but with a fatherly exhortation about the importance of a personal meeting with Christ. What is happening, in fact, cannot be called theology - due to the elementary unpreparedness of the audience to pose any complex theological problems. If critics of the very idea of ​​​​opening a department of theology at MEPhI feared that priests would begin to conduct cartoonish religious propaganda and make anti-scientific statements, then this, of course, is not happening; and yet Metropolitan Hilarion and his assistants do not give university lectures, but sermons, albeit taking into account the fact that their listeners are not parishioners of the church. But preaching has no place in a secular educational institution.

Art

However, the Department of Theology teaches not only the course “History of Christian Thought,” which caused a mixed reaction due to attempts by the leadership of MEPhI to fill the assembly hall for the sake of the Metropolitan. There are two more courses on the schedule. The first of these, “History of Art,” takes place on Fridays at 12:45. It - together with "Cultural Science" - is an elective course for five second-year groups of the Faculty of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Faculty "T"). Professor Stepan Vaneyan, or, in other words, Father Stefan, talks about art to MEPhI students. Vaneyan graduated from the department of history and theory of art of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University in 1989, and ten years later he completed graduate school at the same faculty. In 1999, he was ordained a priest and began serving in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kapotnya, where he still serves. In 2007, Vaneyan defended his doctoral dissertation in art history. In addition to Moscow State University, the professor teaches courses at the Orthodox St. Tikhon's University for the Humanities, heads the department of history and theory of Christian art at PSTGU and the department of church arts and archeology in the All-Church graduate and doctoral studies (the same one headed by Metropolitan Hilarion).

To teach a course on art at MEPhI, Vaneyan’s candidacy, as he himself told Lenta.ru, was suggested by Irina Novokhatko. Novokhatko herself has been working at the Department of Sociology and Humanitarian Culture at MEPhI since 1979, teaching students courses in political science and sociology. “It sounded and died down, and this spring I already received an offer on behalf of the rector of the All-Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies [Metropolitan Hilarion] - “wouldn’t you like it?” It sounded like “I want it, I may not want it.” But this is an offer that cannot be refused, especially since I myself found it interesting, because it could look not like theology, where I do not have the right to claim full and legitimate competence, but rather as speculative art criticism, to which I am very inclined "- says Vaneyan. At the same time, he positions himself not so much as a representative of the All-Church Postgraduate School or the Department of Theology of MEPhI, but rather as a professor in the Department of Theory and History of Art of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, a representative of university science and relevant traditions.

Vaneyan agreed to teach a course in art history at MEPhI, hoping “not to strain too much,” since he has been teaching art theory and art history methodology at Moscow State University for almost 15 years. “At the history department of Moscow State University, with all the traditions of historicism, there may be problems with general art history. It seemed to me that here my hands were a little more free just in front of the physicists, who were presented to me as, for the most part, completely immaculate positivists (but this, in fact, of course, is a myth),” he says. As a result, the art critic became a teacher at MEPhI.

As part of his course, Vaneyan talks about the theory of art with the addition of “necessary and inevitable general conversations” about psychology, sociology, and cultural studies. “In my course, theology is only planned at the end as some kind of outcome,” he says. In particular, the professor talks not only about the nature of active-constructive visual perception, but also introduces students to the names of Karl Popper, Paul Feyerabend, Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos. “I just hope to expand their epistemological horizon,” Vaneyan concludes.

Based on the results of the lectures, which are attended by about 50 people, there will be a test. “There is a group of those who believe that you need to walk in order to pass the test; there is a group of those who find it funny; and there is a group of those who are interested,” Vaneyan says about the students.

Students taking Art History vary in their opinions. Thus, a student named Leonid says that Vaneyan tells interesting things not only about art, but also about worldview in general. “He reads, in my opinion, not so much about the history of art, [but] about the life perception of everything around, be it art or everyday life. After the first lecture, I began to understand some things differently,” he says. Leonid adds that Vaneyan knows how to interest the public and that his lectures are more interesting than those of other teachers from the theology department.

However, there are also opposing opinions. “They [the lectures] are given terribly, there is a lot of water, there is little sense, almost all students fall asleep during the lecture, many do not attend it,” a second-year student at the Faculty of T, who wished to remain anonymous, told Lenta.ru. From the second lecture, he himself began to take a cultural studies course, where “the teacher is young, adequate, and says interesting things that you just wouldn’t learn about (from school lessons or non-scientific literature)” - for example, facts from ancient and modern history and sociological phenomena (taught “Cultural Studies” by a graduate sociologist named Tsarkov).

Every time, says the second-year student, 3-4 more students come to cultural studies who previously attended art history. Leonid clarifies that Vaneyan’s first lecture actually had the largest audience; and from the second onwards the course is attended by a permanent composition - no more than 40 people, while many of them are not at all those who have “History of Art” on their schedule: Vaneyan is listened to by both senior students and students of faculties other than “T” .

“Professor Novokhatko attended the second lecture, she was satisfied and even quite pleased,” says Vaneyan about her colleague’s reaction to her course. “I’m just afraid that this may be too speculative, I need to think more about illustrative things,” he notes, clarifying that as the course progresses, he plans to involve visual material, and most importantly, take students to museums - “to living works "

Both according to the students’ reviews and according to Vaneyan himself, there is no special religiosity in his course, “although without faith - at least in one’s own possibility of knowledge and one’s own axiomatics - there can be no science, although not every science is ready to talk about who is the source of all faith,” he adds. Vaneyan, in the end, is simply trying to captivate students with a different area of ​​scientific knowledge and a different way of acquiring it. “I’m not attacking their beliefs; they can easily remain orthodox natural scientists,” he adds.

Language

Another course in the Department of Theology is called “Language as a Cultural Phenomenon.” It, like “History of Art,” is on the schedule of second-year students of the “T” faculty - those who were not offered to take Vaneyan’s course. These students can choose between “Language” and “Russian Language and Speech Culture” (the latter is taught by senior teacher Olga Arbatskaya). “Language as a Cultural Phenomenon” is read by Doctor of Philology Alexander Volkov, a specialist in rhetoric, head of the Department of General and Comparative Historical Linguistics at the Faculty of Philology of Lomonosov Moscow State University and who reads lectures on the course “Introduction to Linguistics” to all first-year students of the Faculty of Philology. He refused to talk to Lenta.ru about his work at MEPhI, citing being busy.

In addition to Moscow State University, Volkov - like Vaneyan and Metropolitan Hilarion - teaches at a religious institution. True, not in the All-Church graduate school and doctoral studies, but at the Moscow Theological Academy, where he teaches courses in rhetoric and introduction to linguistics. In addition, Volkov is the editor of the “Philology” section on the Orthodox educational portal “Slovo”. Volkov’s son, also Alexander, serves as a deacon in the home church of Moscow State University - the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana - and heads the press service of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'.

Students of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University know about the religiosity of Volkov Sr. (there are even rumors in the faculty that it is easier for Volkov to pass the test if he was at work in the morning), however, this knowledge is from the category of faculty legends that are passed on by word of mouth - Volkov’s lectures do not come out at all beyond the boundaries of linguistics and do not deviate into theology.

At MEPhI, as a second-year student of the Faculty of T, attending the course “Language as a Cultural Phenomenon,” told Lenta.ru, Volkov “quite interestingly” talks about the origin of words, the sounds in words and how you can guess from them where native speaker lives. “Nothing is forced on us during lectures, you just sit and listen,” says the student. According to him, nothing is known yet about how certification will take place at the end of the course; it is possible that listeners will simply be given a grade based on attendance. In total, about 30 people attend the lectures, but some of them do not listen to the lecturer, but do mathematics.

***

An introduction to general linguistics and an introduction to art history, which Volkov and Vaneyan essentially read, are a completely logical expansion of MEPhI’s humanities block, which already includes philosophy, cultural studies, speech culture, and sociology. However, these subjects have nothing to do with theology, except perhaps the church affiliation of the lecturers themselves (which, in general, is their personal business and should not affect the quality of the courses they teach). After a year of anxious anticipation, it turned out that the mountain had given birth to a mouse: a new administrative unit within MEPhI, catchily named the Department of Theology, in fact offered students either completely traditional humanities subjects, or pastoral instruction (relying on soft coercive measures on the part of the administration), for which modern Moscow physics students will certainly find an adequate place in their list of interests. The question inevitably arises: was it really necessary to make all this fuss solely so that the famous nuclear university would receive approval in the eyes of the patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church? But science knows nothing about this yet.

In heated discussions about the department of theology at MEPhI, a number of fundamentally important points are overlooked. Let's pay attention to them.

Theology is an optional discipline

Studying at the Department of Theology is not compulsory for students of the institute; theological subjects are not included in the compulsory program. Those who want to, those who are interested, can attend, those who are not interested, those who believe that physicists do not need philosophy and theology, do not attend. Actually, the argument can end here.

By the way, many physicists, chemists and mathematicians have always attended the optional theological lectures of Father Andrei Kuraev at Moscow State University - of their own free will, and not under compulsion.

I don't want to be like Newton!

Many great physicists were very interested in theological issues - Newton considered his theological treatises more valuable than research in physics, for example. Gauss, Edison, Joule, and Einstein had many interesting theological reflections.

Here are just some quotes from them: .

And Academician Bogolyubov believed that. Where else - on what other platform to discuss these issues? Who can truly understand and appreciate the theological legacy of the great physicists? Not philologists or lawyers, right?

Temple in MEPhI...

The idea of ​​​​creating a temple-chapel in memory of the founders of the institute, teachers and comrades who passed away, has been maturing at MEPhI since 1994 and was supported by honorary professor V.G. Kirillov-Ugryumov, that is, long before the arrival of the current leadership.

Yes, mythists treated believers with distrust. But not always. MEPhI graduate Archpriest Maxim Pervozvansky says: “Ten years ago, most students and teachers believed that a physicist could not be a believer. When I accepted holy orders, it was met with complete misunderstanding. They told me to my face that I was a Judas. The fact is that the fact that the physicist became a believer and even decided to accept the priesthood seemed so incredible that everyone suspected some kind of selfish motive in my ordination. They called me Judas to my face, it’s hard to imagine what they said about me behind my back. Today I know eight MEPhI graduates in holy orders.”

Here are a few stories of mythical priests:

Scientist vs. Theologian

Russia today lacks a serious polemical platform, the opportunity to regularly participate in debates between scientists and theologians. How we miss discussions similar to those that Oxford and Cambridge constantly have.

There, such minds as Dawkins and Archbishop Williams fight to the death; thousands of spectators watch the intellectual battle.

Attempts at dialogue were made as part of classes at the Church-wide Graduate School, where secular scholars read short introductions to their courses to priests. For example, .

Why not organize such a permanent platform at the Department of Theology?

Didn't you teach Marxism-Leninism?

The authors of the protest letter write that “Nuclear safety cannot be ensured with the help of theology, and nuclear technology does not require faith, but a purely scientific approach.” However, it is strange that the Marxism-Leninism-Scientific Atheism taught at MEPhI - which has absolutely nothing to do with nuclear technology - has never met with protest or open letters against it.

seonizer October 19, 2012 | 13:48

///So have you read Alexander Me? read "Son of Man".
I have 99 percent confidence that you are fighting against the image of the enemy instilled in you from childhood, while the essence of Christianity itself remains unknown to you. ///

I not only read it, I was familiar with it. So, I don’t deny the charm of his personality, and, it seems to me, he was sincere, that is, a believer in all this enchanting nonsense.

He was a charming man, I repeat, but he had the same logical and epistemological stupidity as any believer. A normally developed high school student will demolish this nonsense of his without any problems. A set of the same scholastic techniques and nonsense.
Why is this nonsense in the university?
Understand that they are weaving one of two things: either education or theology, that is, a medieval picture of the world, which is simply obscene in our time.
Talking now about the nature of the Trinity is like discussing recipes for getting worms from dirty laundry and slops. That is, wildness is your theology. Disgrace and savagery!

It is clear: the Department of Theology at MEPhI will explain the meaning of life to students who have lost it or have not found it, and will also put a logical point at the end of each study - it is pointless and even harmful to explore further, because God is above all this, and His ways are inscrutable.. .

A logical materialist question: why does the liberal public consider the department of theology at MEPhI to be obscurantist, but exactly the same departments in Cambridge, Oxford, and the Sorbonne do not? Double standards?

andry58 October 20, 2012 | 13:56

I think they will attack me now, but I must note that a person who understands what the second law of thermodynamics is, has heard about the principle of minimum energy dissipation (N.N. Moiseev) and the phenomena of self-organization cannot help but understand that many postulates of faith , regardless of denomination, correspond to many postulates of science down to their names.
Unfortunately, there are not enough educated people on this forum...

By the way, from a formal point of view, how can this priest head a department at a university without having a higher education? They are all hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, without higher education, and in fact, without education at all.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk - Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University (1995); Professor, Faculty of Theology, University of Friborg (Switzerland, 2011); member of the Union of Composers of Russia

Information: Illarion - Grigory Valerievich Alfeev, no higher education, studied at the composition department of the Moscow State Conservatory, but did not graduate... In 1993, he was sent for an internship at Oxford University, where, under the guidance of Bishop Callistos of Diocleia, he worked on his doctoral dissertation in topic “Reverend Simeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition”, studied the Syriac language under the guidance of Professor Sebastian Broca. In 1995, he graduated from Oxford University with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree - do you consider this education equivalent to higher education in Russia?

The Composers' Union didn't ask you...
And the MEPhI academic council didn’t ask you...
And the University of Friborg didn’t ask you...
And Oxford didn’t ask you...
Humble yourself and get used to democracy and liberalism. No one is interested in your opinion - neither in the UK, nor in Switzerland, nor even in the Union of Composers at MEPhI...))
No one will ever know about you((

20 years ago, my children gave me a large badge and hung it above my desk: “Idiocy is eternal.” But somehow I don’t want to come to terms with it... And don’t talk about all of Great Britain, and all of Switzerland, and all of Oxford - there’s not only idiocy, although there’s plenty of that... And don’t worry about my fame - it’s at least on Wikipedia...

By the way, what did he do at the Faculty of CATHOLIC Theology - refute the “Romanesque heresy”, or is he an infiltrated “popist”? Judging by his age, Mr. Alfeev may become the next patriarch. Where is the FSB looking?

Liberals and intellectuals slept through the arrival of Hitler.
Political correctness has also taken on some ugly forms.

Grigory Valerievich Alfeev - Hilarion - is aiming for Patriarchy for sure.

It’s good, of course, that unlike his brothers in the industry, he doesn’t collect expensive cars, but all kinds of titles. At first glance it’s safe...

In fact, he has no education! MDA - studies the Bible!

//In 1989 he graduated in absentia from the Moscow Theological Seminary, and in 1991 from the Moscow Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree. In 1993 he graduated from the MDA graduate school.//

Now, if only he could become a doctorate in linguistics, based on the Syriac language!

Anatoly
P.S. The Syriac language (࠯परार मेंर्ट्र मेंर पर्टे मे मेंर्टन) is a now dead language, a descendant of the Aramaic language.

It may be smart to establish a department of theology, but this establishment contradicts one of the New Testament provisions.
“And you do not call yourself teachers, for you have one Teacher - Christ, yet you are brothers; and do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; and do not be called mentors, for you have one Teacher - Christ." (Matthew 23:8-10).

The world's leading universities have departments of theology: Cambridge University; Harvard University; Yale university; Oxford University; University of Chicago and many others.

By the way, in all educational institutions in Italy there is always a crucifix hanging above the blackboard. Recently we tried to cancel this rule, but it didn’t work. Well, so do we... And someone, where it’s warm, walks with feathers in... - it’s beautiful. And us too?

Dear Masha, in addition to listing the departments, ask about the year the departments were created, as well as modern facilities and methods of research. Currently, the work of the departments has nothing to do with the propaganda of Christianity among students and professors

Religion is not knowledge, it is faith. Newton's law is Newton's law everywhere, and even in another galaxy it is a law, although not Newton's. And there are more than a thousand religions on Earth alone... The Chinese don’t know anything about Christ, and they think quite diversified...

stranger39 October 17, 2012 | 12:48

Theologians will argue that the biblical legend about the creation of the world and man does not contradict the data of modern science. That the theory of the origin of species through natural selection is incorrect, since there is an alternative point of view. That the principles of morality are of divine origin, and are not a generalization of thousands of years of human experience. And so on. The Department of Theology will be a distributor of obscurantism. Congratulations to MEPhI on such a valuable acquisition!

TO masha_s_uralmasha

But did I claim that in American universities the provision of the New Testament I mentioned is not violated? But in the States they do not condemn people on the basis of the resolution of the Trullo Council...

Leading universities in the world have departments of theology=
Masha, I was going to argue with you... but I changed my mind, if a person doesn’t understand why?... At least rummage through Wikipedia and analyze it.

Masha! Uralmash is a death sentence, at least intellectually.
There is no need to point fingers at Universities. Here's the question: do MIT or Baumanka have a Department of Theology? Hey! I don't hear the answer!!!

Moscow State University or Leningrad State University can open such a department, but a specialized Institute cannot!!!

Unbeliever Anatoly

IMHO, Baumanka is the only place where you can still get an education. Until today, MEPhI was also included here. But... All that remains is for Baumanka to inject the priests - and your education will be over.))

samaryanka7591
“Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19).
Right! you can simply inform. And you can shape your worldview. Well, Jesus spoke out against the latter.

Well, you came from a rib. That is, from the ONLY bone in the body that does not have a brain. And you know, it's VERY noticeable.

Myth is a subjective matter.
The foremother, to whom all types of modern people descend, lived in East Africa at least 200 thousand years ago. Scientists called her "mitochondrial Eve." The analysis showed: the X chromosome is approximately 20-80 thousand years older than the male Y chromosome.
At first there was a community of hermaphrodite women. They could both give birth and fertilize. Reproduction occurred as a result of sexual contact between two hermaphrodite women.
As a result of mutations associated with changes in the environment, one of the two X chromosomes has changed. Each female X chromosome contained 3800-4000 genes, and the male Y chromosome contained only 1500. That is, initially, at the genetic level, their leading role was predetermined. In addition, men, first of all, needed women to continue the family line.
http://www.tihoplav.ru/notallow/note06.html

In Switzerland, all laws passed by parliament can be approved or rejected in a popular referendum. To do this, after the adoption of the law, 50 thousand signatures must be collected within 100 days.
I think in Russia, many “irritating” issues can be easily resolved with a referendum. And in order not to spend extra money, you need to immediately collect a “basket” of issues and submit them to a referendum (pre-publish and discuss them, including on Dozhd).

It could be an interesting discussion about Orthodox nuclear physics)))
The referendum on the curvature of space will most likely be supported by the Central Election Commission after the approval of the Russian Orthodox Church MP)))

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 12:55

The discussion always ends with elementary questions:
1. What is God

3. Which of the many is correct and why?

Here you have to either rave about the Father and the Almighty and about the fact that he is one, only the paths to him are different, or, what is more logical, put him in a corner on peas, as it should be when studying the Law of God. :)))

In short: whoever doesn’t understand is NOT_FOR_CHAT!

seonizer
2. How can it be detected using reproducible methods?
===============================================

It should be added - non-destructive, since every second believer claims that God is in his heart or soul.
In the meantime, we will wait for the appointment of someone from the Orthodox clergy as the head of the Higher Attestation Commission. Most likely Mr. Chaplin.

There is an old Indian proverb: “When death comes, even a dog runs to the temple...”
It would be interesting to see all of us in the next world...)))

Time goes fast))

masha_s_uralmasha
“When death comes, even a dog runs to the temple...”
=================================================

I wonder which Hindu god their dogs run to?
But dogs are not allowed into Orthodox churches; they claim that they do not have souls. Although many dogs treat their owners more sincerely and with more understanding than other people))).

dabbler October 17, 2012 | 14:39

Now it remains to open a discussion about the distinctive features of the construction of Orthodox reactors in comparison with Buddhist ones using the example of Fukushima. And if the conversation turns to Chernobyl, then it will all be the fault of atheists and atheists.
What is divine power? This is divine mass multiplied by divine acceleration.

dabbler
I repeat my comment, which jumped to page 6, apparently by the will of God.

The priests of the Russian Orthodox Church have already attended courses of lectures by the best physicists and biologists in Russia, and from now on, not a single state exam will be taken without the presence of a certified Orthodox scientist on the commission. No thesis will be considered without a review by the rector of the local cathedral. Candidate's and doctoral dissertations before entering the Higher Attestation Commission must be approved by synclites of theologians within the academic councils.
Tremble, you atheists.

dabbler October 17, 2012 | 15:55

After a short break, Marxist-Leninist science is being replaced by Orthodox science. But if Marxist-Leninist ideology is a product of the 19th and 20th centuries, then the foundations of Orthodoxy go back to the time of Aristotle. I am afraid that introducing theology into science will not benefit either science or theology, but will result in an unviable chimera.

Yes, and more. Due to the pull of the Bologna system, even the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky is now called a university (in parentheses for now, though). So it’s time to build a department of theoretical physics there, or, for example, metallurgy. Hooray!

How angry and slow-witted you are... Why swear?
1. No one, anywhere, has ever forced or will force anyone to forcibly study any religious teachings.
2. Everyone should have the right to choose: to study or not to study secular ethics or religious studies.

Question:
What do you see as a violation of the principles of liberalism and democracy?
Let me clarify the question:
Should Matvey Ganapolsky ask you (the Duma, the bloody KGB, Novodvorskaya, the State Department, etc. on the list) for permission for his children to study the foundations of the Talmud?

Should Matvey Ganapolsky ask you (the Duma, the bloody KGB, Novodvorskaya, the State Department, etc. on the list) for permission for his children to study the foundations of the Talmud?
=======================================================================

No you shouldn't. But his children must study the Talmud only at a certified State University. Otherwise, Jehovah will not accept their exams)))

You see, you are again interested in Ganapolsky’s personal affairs... and not only)) what kind of liberals are you... some kind of Bolsheviks))

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 15:13

//Should Matvey Ganapolsky ask you (the Duma, the bloody KGB, Novodvorskaya, the State Department, etc. on the list) for permission for his children to study the foundations of the Talmud? \\

Yes, of course, he shouldn’t let him study, but what’s the deal with state secular educational institutions?

Masha, I'm very strict. All my students knew this.
Maybe you learned something and somehow.
And I take my studies seriously.
Definitely in State Universities. Already explained why.
Talmud, Orthodoxy and even Hinduism, in order to know where the dogs should run - all only through certified departments. And do not take exams and tests for money, but honestly. That's it and no other way))

I don’t want to generalize and offend decent and intelligent atheist people - there are many of you here, but I must admit, you have enviable company:

Joseph Stalin, atheist: more than 20 million corpses
Mao Tse Tung, atheist: more than 40 million corpses
Pol Pot, atheist: 2 million corpses
Kim Il Sung, atheist: 5 million corpses
Fidel Castro, atheist: 1 million corpses
And:
Genghis Khan, Dracula, Napoleon, Hitler.

And Lukashenko to the heap))

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 15:25

//I don’t want to generalize and offend decent and intelligent atheist people - there are many of you here, but I must admit, you have enviable company: //

Oh, just don’t force us to list extremely nice clerics. :))))

Actually, there has never been a more criminal scumbag than Christianity in history.
What the commies did was childish pranks.
The Christs, with their resurrections, are the most cannibalistic ideologeme in the history of mankind.

And then, what if there were bad guys among the atheists, is this evidence of the existence of the Lord, or what?

What kind of logic is it to accept complete nonsense in order to behave well?

Moreover, practice suggests the opposite.

>>And then, what if there were bad guys among the atheists, is this evidence of the existence of the Lord, or what?

Well, they created it from a RIB, huh? from RIB. And he has no brain. Even bone.))))))))))))))

Darling, you have an amazing lack of brain. I don’t know about your dad, but where did you get the rest of the nonsense?
If only they had a brain, they would have realized that there would be a million examples of church examples from Rome to Madrid.

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 19:42

I don't even understand what the argument is about here.
Of course, a man in a sundress and a cap with a parochial school,
who talks in all seriousness about the Creator, the immaculate conception and the miraculous resurrection is the right place to head a department at MEPhI.

Does anyone else have doubts?

antimus
you are illogical.
Evolutionism has long been a compulsory program, and you have no objections to it.
you are sure that theology will be transferred to compulsory subjects only tomorrow, but you are already struggling with it on 10/17/12.

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 23:01

In defense of common sense.
Regarding ignorance:

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 23:01

//jointly stood up to defend the right to ignorance? //

In defense of common sense.
Regarding ignorance:
Theology is exactly the same knowledge as alchemy, astrology, numerology and palmistry.
That is, medieval scholasticism, which has nothing to do with education.

seonizer October 17, 2012 | 23:02

//jointly stood up to defend the right to ignorance? //

In defense of common sense.
Regarding ignorance:
Theology is exactly the same knowledge as alchemy, astrology, numerology and palmistry.
That is, medieval scholasticism, which has nothing to do with education.

seonizer
common sense begins from the same place as knowledge.
-
Have you comprehended everything you have listed and are convinced of the futility of what you have learned?
I would be ready to rely on your judgment, were it not for your final assurance that medieval scholasticism had nothing to do with education.
Wikipedia and I express our distrust in you, because: “scholasticism (Greek σχολαστικός - scholar Scholia - school) is a systematic medieval philosophy concentrated around universities” - that is, this is such a thing that not only “had a relationship”, but was directly included in the education of that time.
-
if you want to say that now is not the Middle Ages, that now is not the same as just now, then, to begin with, to confirm this controversial thesis, try, at least, to reproduce without a dictionary, at least, Ohm’s law, at least for a section of the chain .
Then let’s compare: in the Middle Ages this law was not known, but now...

olga_fra_oeen October 18, 2012 | 04:13

“Why is everyone so up in arms? Together they stood up to defend the right to ignorance?”
Let the library be replenished with literature - whoever needs it will read it, just as they read before. And there’s no point in meddling with MEPhI.

olga_fra_oeen
So. You are making a proposal to transfer the theology course to correspondence education.
I don’t know why the correspondence form is better than the full-time form? Isn't studying by correspondence a form of teaching?
let us suppose.
-
why in such a dissatisfied tone?

olga_fra_oeen
I got it. I was just, sorry, as they say, kidding.
-
objectively, you are not at all against official preaching.
you are against another sermon. you demand to prevent the teaching of another point of view on our world, focusing on the worst bearers of this point of view.
have you read smart and kind? Alexandra Me, who was killed in the 90s, for example?
There is nothing progressive in banning any knowledge.
you and your like-minded people are conscientious continuers of “Ilyich’s work”, which banned Bibles and shot priests.
-
I am not in defense of the Russian Orthodox Church. I don't consider it a real Christian church at all. To a large extent, she herself is to blame for the negative attitude of many towards her. but I do not consider it right, due to the imperfection, infidelity, and even depravity of individual representatives of the human organization (the same Russian Orthodox Church), to prohibit the knowledge of world religions.

olga_fra_oeen October 19, 2012 | 12:19

There is no need to attribute your thoughts to me. You deliberately (perhaps maliciously) mix sermons and knowledge.
Higher mathematics, physics, automatic control theory and even strength of materials are knowledge.
Even a good sermon is just a sermon, and is not knowledge, and at MEPhI it is not worth including in the curriculum.
Not to mention the fact that the department is not declared to be “world religions,” or even “religious studies,” but “theology.” This, combined with the picture of several Orthodox clergy in the absence of representatives of any other faiths, tells me that students will be taught to write “Muslim temple” instead of “Muslim church.”
“You and your like-minded people are conscientious continuers of the “Ilyich case”, which banned Bibles and shot priests.” These are solely your inventions. Don't exaggerate, it's a shame.

olga_fra_oeen
which of us confuses and ascribes?
You connect the pulpit with the sermons. why and why?
I associate the department with teaching /which is natural for the educational institution/ of the subject.
-
You are offended that you were compared to the Bolsheviks.
I apologize for the words about the executions. In terms of prohibitions on a huge layer of religious knowledge, you are a faithful Leninist.
-
So have you read Alexander Me? read "Son of Man".
I have 99 percent confidence that you are fighting against the image of the enemy instilled in you since childhood, while the essence of Christianity itself remains unknown to you.
-
open your eyes and come closer, don't be afraid.

olga_fra_oeen October 19, 2012 | 14:21

I'll explain again.
Clergymen of one religious denomination came to an educational institution of a secular state in order to establish a department for the study of God there. You are talking about world religions, not the new head of the department. The dissemination of information about God within one denomination and through the efforts of ministers of this denomination is preaching.
Why would a public educational institution be afraid to spend money on preaching one religion? Considering that this is my alma mater, I consider it necessary to express my protest.
I don't want to ban "a huge layer of religious knowledge." I just think that priests could carry out their electives within the departments of philosophy or social science, which, I am sure, exist at MEPhI.
With your "99 percent certainty" you hit the mark. Alexandra I read Me. As you may know, being a state church is unexpectedly problematic for the Danish Folkekirke. But the problem was resolved in a way that I really liked - the civilized choice of free people.
As you may have noticed, the Orthodox Church was frightened by this choice to such an extent that they and the Catholics urgently decided to make friends on this basis.
And I just love the queen, she’s wonderful.

olga_fra_oeen
The more you developed your protest, the less clear its reasons became.
-
merging one confession with the state? - but in Denmark this does not bother you.
lack of freedom of choice? – but, it seems, it was announced that training was voluntary.
-
so what's up? just like a girl: “I don’t like you and that’s all!”? – such a position also has the right to exist / the only one that does not require justification and is not subject to criticism /. but then that’s what you need to say.
-
I personally don’t like the merging of the church with the state machine, but for another reason: /no one can serve two masters; to Caesar - what is Caesar's, to God - what is God's / this is to the detriment of the main purpose of the church - serving God.
and I approve of the introduction of teaching theology. it does not force anyone to do anything - 1. any knowledge is better than ignorance /whether you are a Buddhist or an atheist/ - 2.

olga_fra_oeen October 24, 2012 | 02:11

I understand you. “To Caesar what is Caesar’s, to God what is God’s” I agree. If we continue about Denmark, it is still historically a country of one church. At the same time, all other religions, including atheism, are respected. And not just in slogans, but in reality, as I already wrote.
Now let's return to MEPhI.
Doesn't a department without students bother you? Let me tell you that this does not happen. If there is a department, then there will be students there, and, accordingly, there will be no talk of any voluntariness.
I also agree with you about knowledge being better than ignorance.
But this is not about MEPhI. There, even in Soviet times, students gained knowledge about disgraced (non-Soviet) philosophers, and about economic models in addition to official political economy, and about Hindu cosmogony. Not to mention more free time. And now the clergyman comes and tries to leave only a small piece of all this variety.
Yes, at MEPhI they even taught civil defense with integrals. And the new head of the department, judging by his anamnesis, is not able not only to operate with integrals, but even to understand the historical role of integral calculus for the development of humanity’s worldview. There are also imaginary numbers and they have their own role. Entropy. Any and all basic physical theories.
All the theology that he wants to teach students is just one model, which either physicists or programmers can design in a few hours completely with all the parameters, boundary conditions and control functions.
You claim that a group of priests came to the inert physicists at MEPhI to defend the bright ideals of Enlightenment. I find it funny to read this.

olga_fra_oeen
“If there is a department, then there will be students there, and, accordingly, there will be no talk of any voluntariness.”
- is the presence of students a sign of bonded relations? then any university is hard labor.
-
“There and in Soviet times, students gained knowledge about both ... and .... And now the clergyman comes and tries to leave only a small piece of all this variety.”
- is giving a little the same as taking away the rest?
-
“the new head of the department, judging by his anamnesis, is not able ... to understand the historical role of integral calculus for the development of humanity’s worldview.”
- well, it’s not so hopeless: In 1995 he graduated from Oxford University with a PhD.
-
“you claim that a group of priests came to the inert ones... to defend the bright ones...”
- don’t poison yourself. I didn’t say that the teachers are lawyers or border guards. any /regardless of the subject/ teachers are only givers.
-
Do not be sad.

olga_fra_oeen October 30, 2012 | 14:13

Check the meanings of the following words in dictionaries: voluntary, obligatory, bonded.
- “is giving a little the same as taking away the rest?” Can you tell me if the monument there for the worship cross was demolished or maybe they found another place? So for now they are just taking away.
-The doctor's degree you mention was included in the anamnesis. Doesn't bring us even half a step closer to the integrals.
Have a nice weather.

olga_fra_oeen
I completed your task with all care and understood everything.
I report:
1. in Russian, the word “they” usually means all enemies. in this sense, “they” really demolished all the crosses and monuments. if there used to be a monument “there”, but now it’s gone, it’s definitely “their” work. and if there is “another place”, “they” will demolish something there too.
2. voluntary - committed at will, without coercion.
3. obligatory - necessary, unconditional for execution; indispensable.
4. bondage - an agreement or debt obligation that places the debtor in personal or property dependence on the lender, as well as such dependence itself. in the figurative sense of the word: complete, almost slavish dependence.
5. hard labor - forced punitive labor for the benefit of the treasury. -
so, it's a draw.
well. Let us take comfort in the fact that you and I did everything we could.
-
all the best!
come in.

seonizer October 18, 2012 | 09:34

It would be more logical to open a department of astrology at MEPhI, and alchemy at Mendeleevka.

Obscurantism on the march in general.
We have descended into medieval scholastic nonsense at the university.

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption MEPhI - a forge of academicians and laureates

The Department of Theology will be formed at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI), the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church reported.

It is unknown when it will start work. It was not possible to obtain an official comment from the management of MEPhI. However, the head of the department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion, speaking on Monday to students and teachers of MEPhI in the presence of rector Mikhail Strikhanov, spoke about its creation and his appointment as head of the department as accomplished facts.

It is reported that the theology course will be optional for future physicists, and classes will be taught by Orthodox priests.

The importance of the new initiative in the eyes of the Russian Orthodox Church is evidenced by the fact that the department will be headed by person No. 2 in the Moscow Patriarchate.

Departments of theology already exist in more than forty secular universities in Russia.

In this regard, many commentators talk about the continuation of the clericalization of society, and Internet users sarcastically predict a quick defense of a dissertation at MEPhI on the topic “Stochastic fluctuations and their influence on the kinetics of radiation defects in irradiated metals using the example of censer.”

Back in 2007, ten full members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, including Nobel Prize laureates in physics Vitaly Ginzburg and Zhores Alferov, in an open letter to Vladimir Putin expressed concerns about the “active penetration of the church into all spheres of public life,” in particular education and science. Well-known recent events have made the topic of clericalization even more relevant.

The Russian Orthodox Church denies the political implications of what is happening and claims that science and religion do not contradict each other.

Cross on the student's seat

Relations between MEPhI and the Russian Orthodox Church have a certain history.

On March 4, 2010, Patriarch Kirill consecrated a house church at the university in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, equipped in the basement of the main building on the site of the former locker room. Since then, divine services have been held there regularly.

Departments of theology should be in relevant educational institutions, but this should not be in the system of state secular education Evgeniy Minchenko, political scientist

The patriarch's visit was accompanied by a scandal. Some students were outraged by the rector’s decision to remove the cult monument to the “MYTHICAL STUDENT” from the campus courtyard and erect a cross in its place. At the same time, the academic council awarded the patriarch the title of honorary doctor of the university, and he awarded Mikhail Strikhanov the church order of St. Daniel of Moscow.

Messages on the MEPhI online forum said that “the voluntary procedure for attending a meeting with the patriarch actually turned into an obligation, since it was not possible to recruit the required number of students to fill the audience,” and the university administration subjected questions to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to a preliminary selection.

Is it voluntary?

“We need to end all this obscurantism,” Evgeniy Minchenko, director of the International Institute of Political Expertise, told the BBC Russian Service.

“There should be departments of theology in the relevant educational institutions, but this should not be in the system of state secular education. Our state is separated from the church. This is obviously an unconstitutional decision,” the political scientist believes.

Orthodox theologian, professor at Moscow State University and the Moscow Theological Academy, Deacon Andrei Kuraev, claims that there is no talk of imposing a religious worldview on MEPhI students.

“MEPhI, of course, will not train theologians. This is simply an acquaintance with the world of Orthodox culture, with the world of Christian thought,” he told the BBC Russian Service.

Metropolitan Hilarion called for the new department to be made “a place of free academic discussion” and emphasized that MEPhI should provide a fundamental university education that includes a broad humanitarian outlook.

According to him, it “causes laughter” when people, “brilliantly erudite in various fields,” at the same time give out pearls like “the Muslim church,” and it is necessary to “overcome this incompetence and ignorance.”

“I would like to emphasize that the department of theology involves the study of theological disciplines on a voluntary basis, that is, no one will force a person who is not interested in theological problems to study and engage in them,” he added.

Why do nuclear scientists need theology?

Answering the BBC's question whether in this case the department would be left without listeners, Andrei Kuraev expressed confidence that this would not happen.

A person who studies the physical laws of existence, the structure of the Universe, at some point inevitably comes to the question of how all this came to be, Metropolitan Hilarion

“I have given lectures at MEPhI several times, and, in my experience, there is keen interest there. These are wonderful guys, smart, prickly, demanding logic and evidence. And for church people it is also useful to be under the close scrutiny of discussions,” he said.

Many believers believe that natural scientific discoveries of recent decades confirm their worldview. Science and religion are not as incompatible as they seemed a hundred years ago, and arguments like “Gagarin flew but did not see God” do not refute religion, but the primitive idea of ​​it.

The most common argument, known even to amateurs, is the theory of the “Big Bang”, which is very similar to the act of creation of the world.

Some scientists who position themselves as agnostics and avoid the word “God” do not exclude the existence, as they say in the West, of an Intelligent Designer of the Universe.

“Among natural scientists there are both believers and non-believers. But this personal choice cannot be completely divorced from professional activity, because, one way or another, these spheres intersect. A person who studies the physical laws of existence, the structure of the Universe, in which “The moment inevitably approaches the question of how all this appeared,” Metropolitan Hilarion said at MEPhI.

“I am inclined to think that the department of theology within the walls of this particular university can play a very significant innovative role in the sense that it will promote dialogue between religion and natural science knowledge, and such a dialogue is now very necessary both for bearers of natural science knowledge and for bearers religious traditions," he added.

Believing physicists

Will the new department engage in similar research, or will it limit itself to educational tasks?

“It would be good if this direction was present,” says Andrey Kuraev.

There is natural scientific knowledge that scientists make available to society, and any public groups, including the Russian Orthodox Church, have the right to interpret it. But this needs to be done outside of state educational institutions and at your own expense Evgeniy Minchenko

The main obstacle is the almost complete absence of people capable of competently discussing such topics.

According to Kuraev, the department does not set itself the task of educating believing physicists.

“It would be nice to educate at least non-believing physicists, but who understand what scientific thinking is and where its boundaries are, and not indulge in occult theories like wave genetics and torsion fields,” he says.

Evgeniy Minchenko, for his part, believes that philosophical reflection at the intersection of physics and theology is a useful matter, but it should not be done under the patronage of the state.

“There is natural scientific knowledge that scientists make available to society, and any public groups, including the Russian Orthodox Church, have the right to interpret it. But this must be done outside of state educational institutions and at their own expense,” he said.

Forge of Nobel laureates

MEPhI is a famous university that traces its lineage back to the Moscow Mechanical Institute of Ammunition, founded in 1942, and for decades has been training elite personnel for the nuclear industry and research centers. Five Nobel laureates and 21 academicians have emerged from its walls.

The institute has its own research reactor. Currently, about 9.5 thousand undergraduate and graduate students study at seven faculties.

In 2008, the university was renamed the National Research Nuclear University, but retained the legendary Soviet brand and is officially called NRNU MEPhI.

Rising star of the Russian Orthodox Church

Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption Metropolitan Hilarion is considered a church intellectual

46-year-old Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Grigory Valerievich Alfeev), elevated to his current rank two years ago, is, according to experts, the right hand and protégé of Patriarch Kirill. He holds the positions of head of the department for external church relations, chairman of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission, rector of the Church-wide graduate and doctoral studies, and vicar of the patriarch.

He was born into an intelligent family in the capital, and, in his own words, came to faith at the age of 15. He studied at the composition department of the Moscow Conservatory, in addition to the Theological Academy, and graduated from Oxford University with a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Author of works on theology and church history, as well as musical works.

He spent many years abroad, served and taught theology in the USA, Britain and Belgium, and headed the Vienna and Hungarian diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He repeatedly advocated the preservation of the Christian foundations of European civilization and the cooperation of Christian churches, which did not prevent him from harshly criticizing the Vatican and the Patriarchate of Constantinople on some issues. He spoke out in support of partial use of the modern Russian language during worship.