Two PhD dissertations were successfully defended at the Moscow Theological Academy

On February 6, 2025, the regular meeting of the MThA Dissertation Council No. 2 united the departments of Church History, Church Practical Disciplines, Philology, History and Theory of Church Art, took place. As part of the work of the Dissertation Council, two candidate dissertations were successfully defended.

Hieromonk Claudian (Menshikov) presented his dissertation on “The history of the emergence of ideas about royal power and their reflection in the liturgical texts of the Russian Church.”

The work was carried out under the scientific supervision of M.V. Pervushin, Professor at the Department of Church History.  

Official opponents were O.G. Ulyanov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Higher School of Cultural Studies, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and P.V. Kuzenkov, PhD of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Social, Philosophical and Political Sciences of the Sevastopol State University, Senior Researcher at the Historical and Archaeological Laboratory for the Comprehensive Study of the Byzantine Black Sea Region.

Hieromonk Claudian successfully answered the opponent’s comments and questions from members of the Dissertation Council. As a result, the Council decided to write a petition to His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill to award Hieromonk Claudian the degree of PhD in Theology.

Priest Peter Guryanov successfully defended his dissertation “Anti-religious attack on the Church in the Melekes diocese in the context of the religious policy of Bolshevism in the 1930s". 

The work was carried out under the scientific supervision of Professor Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin.

Official opponents of the work were A.V. Apanasenok, Professor, Dr. of historical sciences, a leading researcher at INION RAS, and Hieromonk Paphnutiy (Fokin), PhD in Theology, Dean of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the Patriarchal Metochion in Zvezdnyi City.

During the discussion, Priest Peter answered the opponent’s comments and questions from members of the Dissertation Council. As a result, the Council decided to write a petition to His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill to award Hieromonk Claudian the degree of PhD in Theology.

MThA Press Office