Almaty Seminary Co-Organized an International Conference in Saratov

On February 21–22, 2025, the III International Scientific and Practical Conference “Theology, Society, and State: A Space for Dialogue”, dedicated to the memory of Archbishop Alexander (Timofeev), was held at the Saratov Theological Seminary.

The event was jointly organized by the Saratov and Almaty Theological Seminaries, as well as Saratov State University, with the support of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Scientific and Educational Theological Association.

From the Almaty Theological Seminary, the organizing committee included the seminary’s rector, Protopriest Yevgeny Ivanov, and the vice-rector for scientific research, Artem Pavlovich Solovyov.

The conference opened with a plenary session, during which welcome addresses were delivered by Metropolitan Ignaty of Saratov and Volsk, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, Bishop Kirill of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov, and Protopriest Maksim Kozlov, head of the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church. Greetings were also extended by Protopriest Sergey Shturbabin, rector of the Saratov Seminary; Protopriest Yevgeny Ivanov, rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary; Mikhail Olegovich Orlov, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at Saratov State University; and Valeriya Ruslanovna Yakovleva, curator of the Saratov branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.

The speakers emphasized the importance of studying church-state and church-society relations. Special tribute was paid to the memory of Archbishop Alexander (Timofeev), as well as to the New Martyrs, common to both the lands of Saratov and Kazakhstan.

During the plenary session, Dmitry Viktorovich Shmonin, Director of the Institute of Theology at Saint Petersburg State University, Doctor of Philosophy, and Professor, presented a report on the pressing issues of theological education in the modern context. Following this, Protopriest Dimitry Polokhov, vice-rector for academic and theological work at the Saratov Seminary, spoke on the theological reflection of military service. Protopriest Alexander Gaichenya, head of the Church History Department at the Almaty Seminary, delivered a presentation on the experience of church-state relations in Kazakhstan during the time of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov). Concluding the plenary session, Mikhail Alexandrovich Bogatov, Doctor of Philosophy and Associate Professor at Saratov State University, analyzed the concept of “wholeness” in the philosophical thought of V. Bibikhin.

In the second half of the day, the conference continued with sectional discussions.

The forum brought together both secular and ecclesiastical scholars from various theological institutions and regions. In addition to representatives from the Saratov and Almaty Seminaries, participants included scholars from the Voronezh Seminary, Minsk Theological Academy, Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, the Saints Cyril and Methodius General Church Postgraduate and Doctoral School, and the Orthodox Saint Tikhon Humanitarian University. The event also hosted researchers from Moscow State Linguistic University, the Russian State University for the Humanities, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, Saint Petersburg State University, the Saint Petersburg University of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don), and various Saratov universities, including Saratov State University and Saratov State Medical University.

The total number of participants exceeded 120 people.