His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Appoints Alexandr Mikhailovich Kopirovskij as Rector of SFI

On April 3, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia confirmed Alexander Mikhailovich Kopirovsky in the office of Rector of Saint Philaret’s Institute. Kopirovsky, who holds a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences degree, is an associate professor and head of the Department of Theology. He had previously been appointed rector by the institute’s founder.  This new appointment procedure, involving nomination by the founder with subsequent patriarchal approval, was developed through collaboration between SFI, the Educational Committee, and the Legal Department of the Russian Orthodox Church. It implements the Patriarch’s resolution on incorporating the Institute into the ROC’s system of higher education institutions and has been written into the Institute’s charter.

This decision was the result of a long process that began with an inspection of Saint Philaret’s Institute back in 2012. That commission included representatives from the Moscow Theological Academy, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanitarian University, and other ROC educational institutions, and was headed by the chairmen of the Department for Catechesis and Religious Education and the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church. Subsequent stages included the official approval of the Institute’s theology faculty members, the granting of church accreditation to its core theology programmes in 2022, and the most recent inspection of the Theological Faculty by the Educational Committee, which was conducted on March 3–5, 2026.

These new agreements and decisions open new possibilities for deeper and more extensive cooperation — under the aegis of the Russian Orthodox Church — between theological schools and secular universities offering higher theological education.  They also demonstrate that church leadership now recognizes a greater variety of approaches to theological education in Russia. This includes not only the formation of future clergy and parish workers, but also high-quality theological education for laity who serve the Church in different capacities while continuing their professional careers in secular settings.