The MThA Teachers took part in a conference "The Orthodox View of the Modern World: Problems and Prospects"

On October 5, the Tambov Theological Seminary hosted a plenary session of the III International Scientific and Practical Conference "The Orthodox View of the Modern World: Problems and Prospects". Some of the participants performed remotely on the Zoom platform.

Hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov), Director of the Library of the Moscow Theological Academy, made a presentation on “Interpretation of the verse“ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1: 7) in a Greek patristic tradition”. The speaker briefly presented the main understandings of the passage from the book of Proverbs “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction”, gave a historical and philological analysis of three basic terms like “fear”, “wisdom” and “beginning”. The patristic understanding of fear is an act and wisdom is a contemplation. Hegumen Dionisy also explained the relationship between the fear of God and love as well as the formation of ideas about the fear of God as a key virtue. His presentation gave an account of both the holy fathers thoughts and modern Christian writers views. At the end of the report, Hegumen Dionysius proposed a formula "Let us arm ourselves with the fear of God so that we do not be defeated by human fear", which could be a summary of the whole spiritual life of the Christian. «Начало мудрости — страх Господень; глупцы только презирают мудрость и наставление» — с историко-филологическим анализом трех основных терминов: страх, мудрость, начало. Особое внимание докладчик уделил пониманию страха как деяния, а мудрости как созерцания, а также соотношению страха Божия и любви и формированию представлений о страхе Божием как об особой и ключевой добродетели. Мысли святых отцов и христианских писателей были представлены в актуальном виде для современности. Доклад сопровождался показом презентации. В завершение доклада отец Дионисий озвучил формулу «Да вооружимся страхом Божиим, чтобы нас не победил страх человеческий», которая особо важна для максимального сосредоточения на вопросах духовной жизни вопреки расслабленному духу времени.

R.M. Kon, Associate Professor of the Department of Church Practical Disciplines, made a presentation on the "Conceptual-terminological and methodological problems in Russian sectology in historical retrospect."

Deacon Sergiy Panteleev, Associate Arofessor of the Department of Philology, made a presentation on the "Disciplina arcani and the reflection of the life of the Church on the Internet."