Met Onuphry opens conference dedicated to 410th anniversary of theological schools

His Beatitude Onufriy. Photo: UOC press service

The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, addressed the participants of the annual student conference with a welcoming speech, the KDA website reports.

This year, the student conference is dedicated to a significant date - the 410th anniversary of the Kyiv Theological Schools, whose history began in 1615 with the founding of the Brotherhood School on Podil in Kyiv.

In his speech, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy noted that the original Kiev theological educational tradition originated precisely from the Brotherhood School, which in 1632, after merging with the Lavra School, was transformed into the Kiev Collegium. The main patron of this educational institution was Saint Peter Mogila.

“By initiating the transformation of the Brotherhood School into a college, Saint Peter sought to find the optimal form of combining the Orthodox Church tradition with the best achievements of Western science of that time,” the Primate of the UOC emphasized.

This combination was later called by historians the "Mohyla synthesis", which became a powerful creative impulse for all Orthodox theological thought. The educational model formed in Kyiv by Saint Peter Mohyla determined the development of Orthodox theology for several centuries to come.

The annual student conference brought together teachers and students from theological educational institutions of the UOC, as well as representatives of secular science studying the history of church education.

Earlier, the Union of Orthodox Christians of Russia wrote that His Beatitude donated ancient liturgical books to the KDAiS museum.

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