The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article is devoted to the issues of public education in the Russian Empire at the end of the XIX — beginning of the XX century in connection with the missionary development of the north-western suburbs. One of the directions of this mission was the creation of a number of active type nunneries, origina­ting from the Lesninsky Holy Mother of God Monastery, whose abbess was Abbess Ekaterina (Efimovskaya), in the world Countess Evgenia Borisovna Efimovskaya (1850–1925). The article discusses the main milestones in the formation of pedagogical principles and approaches of Abbess Ekaterina (Efimovskaya) in the context of her practical activities — secular and ecclesiastical, including spiritual continuity in principles and approaches with S. A. Rachinsky’s pedagogical system. The main problem is also revealed — the split of the church and secular educational paradigms in the field of public education in Russia in the late XIX — early XX century. The solution to this problem was the activity of educational and educational institutions of the Lesninsky monastery and the Olga community of Sisters of Enlighten­ment of the Krasnostok monastery, which succeeded it. The structure of these institutions, the main approaches and principles of their organization are described and analyzed: a practice-oriented approach to education, the family nature of the relationship between the teachers and the students, a combination of secular and religious-church education inscribed in the general structure of monastic life. The author also considers the problem of training teachers for public schools in the described monastic institutions. The conclusion is made about a special missionary way of solving it, when pedagogical and educational activities in monasteries were carried out as church and public service in the image of ancient deaconesses who embodied the ideals of enlightenment of the Russian people.