Expanded Meeting Of The Academic Council Held

On June 25, 2026, an expanded meeting of the Academic Council of the Moscow Theological Academy took place in the Elizabethan Hall. 

At the beginning of the meeting, Candidate of Theology diplomas were presented to Priest Alexander Bykanov, Rector of the Tambov Theological Seminary, and Ivan Vyacheslavovich Padyukin, an assistant at the MThA Department of Church-Practical Disciplines, who defended their dissertations at MThA dissertation councils.

A competition to fill staff positions for pedagogical workers was held during the meeting.

The competition considered documents from 72 applicants for pedagogical positions:

• Department of Biblical Studies - 18 people; 
• Department of Theology - 14 people; 
• Department of Church History - 7 people;
• Department of Church-Practical Disciplines - 15 people; 
• Department of Philology - 10 people; 
• Department of History and Theory of Church Art - 8 people. 

The Academic Council supported the proposal of the Department of Church-Practical Disciplines to nominate Hieromonk Dalmat (Yudin) for the academic title of Associate Professor. 

Vladimir Mikhailovich Kirillin, Head of the Department of Philology, was nominated for the honorary title of Merited Professor of the Academy. 

The results of the competition will be sent to the Nomination Commission of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church and for approval by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. 

The Academic Council also heard the annual reports from the Rector, Vice-Rectors, deans of faculties, and heads of departments. 

The Academic Council elected former professors of the Academy as Honorary Members of the Moscow Theological Academy: 

1. Metropolitan Aristarch of Kemerovo and Prokopyevsk; 
2. Bishop Theodorit of Venev;
3. Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev). 

Additionally, the Academic Council awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of the Moscow Theological Academy (honoris causa) to long-term Academy teachers:

1. Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov; 
2. Metropolitan Veniamin (Pushkar); 
3. Archbishop Theodosius (Bilchenko). 

A decision was made to hold the next meeting of the Academic Council on August 31, 2026.

MThA Press Office