Library

The Library of the Moscow Theological Academy, one of the leading educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church, is one of the largest repositories of theological and church-historical literature in Russia and the CIS countries.

The Library’s collections contain and preserve over 350,000 items, including books, graduate qualification works, journals, newspapers, maps, visual materials, photographs, electronic copies of books and manuscripts, as well as media resources.

Collection

1300 manuscripts;
10,000 books published before 1826;
more than 350,000 books in 130 languages.

In accordance with the Academy's principles of educational and research activities, the main acquisitions of the Library focus on theology, biblical studies, philology, church history, philosophy, church art and applied church disciplines. In addition, the Library's collections include publications, archives, and documents that meet the needs of current educational programs, as well as contribute to the comprehensive development and education of MThA students and the professional development of members of the teaching and learning corps.

Digital Catalogue and Digital Library

The library has created and continues to develop three electronic catalogues: ABIS "IRBIS64" and ABIS "OPAC-Global".

Most of the library's collection shows up on IRBIS64, including MThA graduation works, video and audio materials. Work on cataloguing foreign literature, archives and maps into the electronic catalogue is in progress. Catalogues are also being created for some of the manuscript collections of the Russian State Library Manuscript Collection, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and Central Historical Archive of Moscow, which are related to the MThA, Trinity-Sergius Lavra and individual church personas.

Work continues on expanding the Electronic Library. Access to the electronic catalog and the electronic library is available on the premises of the Moscow Theological Academy. The main book catalog and 5,000 electronic copies of books from the electronic library are also accessible on the Library of the Moscow Theological Academy’s website.

Outside digital resources

The MThA library has subscriptions to the following electronic databases:

Electronic Library System “University Library Online,” http://biblioclub.ru. Access is available from any point within the Moscow Theological Academy’s local network without registration; with authorization, access is available from any internet connection point across Russia.
The Presidential Library, https://www.prlib.ru/. Access is provided from the computers in the Reading Room.
National Digital Library, https://нэб.рф/. Access is provided from the computers in the Reading Room.

Work Space

The library has a modern Reading Room with 36 workstations, including 8 workstations equipped with computers with access to the Electronic Catalogue, electronic databases and Internet access.

In the subscription department there is a collection of all necessary texbooks and literature, which may be requested without prior order. There are 8 workstations in the Subscription hall.

In the Subscription hall there is a systematic and alphabetical card catalogue, a catalogue of foreign literature, a catalogue of journals and a systematic card catalogues of articles.

Literature from the main book collection may be ordered in the Reading Room and the Subscription hall. Materials are issuedin the Reading Room.

The rules of use, categories of readers, list of services provided by the Library, and its operating schedule are available on the Library’s website in the “Services” menu section.

Residential students, teachers and staff of the Moscow Theological Academy, students of the School of Iconography and the Choir Director's School have free access to all the literature available in the collections and to all the resources provided by the MThA Library.