“The Paris School”: Treasures Old and New

Spring 2025 will mark the 100^th anniversary of the opening of St. Serge Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. In finding themselves abroad, well-known Russian Orthodox church activists set themselves the task of preserving the church’s tradition of theological education which had been practically destroyed in Bolshevik occupied Russia. Amongst the Institute’s founders and teachers were leading theologians and scholars of Patristics and Church History, including Fr Sergius Bulgakov, Fr George Florovsky, Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern), Sergey Bezobrazov (later Bishop Cassian), Vasily Zenkovsky, Anton Kartashev, Georgy Fedotov, and others. As a result of their efforts, a new educational concept aimed at preparing both clerics and laypeople arose, encompassing both ecclesial and broader cultural disciplines. The atmosphere at the Institute ideally stimulated its professors’ theological creativity; this body of creativity is now referred to simply as the “Paris School”. St Serge was the fruit of ecclesial vivacity under the difficult, yet freer, conditions of the emigration. The Institute ended up having a significant effect upon church life and theological thought far beyond the boundaries of the Russian emigration.

The conference pursues both historical and theological goals. The organisers are seeking to reveal as-of-yet unread pages in the Institute’s history, as well as better understand the true degree to which the theological and educational inheritance of the “Paris School” is pertinent today, and if so, exactly how. We seek papers which help to answer any of the following questions: 

• Which traditions of the Russian theological schools and from Russian religious-philosophical thought did St Serge manage to preserve and develop?
• How did the Holy Tradition of the Church determine the tradition of the Institute?
• In what way did conservative and innovative attitudes interplay with each other in the theological thought and/or in the teaching practices of various disciplines at the St Serge?
• In what can we see the influence of leading activists from the emigration in the life of the Institute in different periods of its history?
• How does St Serge’s experience affect theological education and religious thought in Russia and the world, today?

The conference will consist of plenary sessions and a series of round table discussions focussing on various topics.

Theologians, historians, philosophers, teachers, sociologists, and other academics are invited to participate in the conference.

Application for participation is open until 15 March, 2025.

In some cases, long-distance participation will be considered.

Some conference papers will be published in The Quarterly Journal of Saint Philaret’s Institute and The Annual Journal of the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad.

Co-chairmen of the conference organising committee

Yulia Balakshina, Doctor of Philology, Professor, St Philaret’s Institute

Natalia Likvintseva, PhD in Philosophy, Head Research Scholar, Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad

The conference is organised by:
St Philaret’s Institute
The Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad