ИСТИНА

After Peter the Great's reforms there was a complex and radical change in Russian orthodox church. In my presentation I will speak about widespread of new type of sermons - "scholastics" or "European", based on new rhetoric tradition and - that is more important - on a modern language. Main source of this process was new "post-petrine" seminaries, where the course of rhetoric was studied on manuals, used all across the Europe. But the most interesting processes began in the second half of 18th century, then the teaching of French and German languages spread in orthodox seminaries. Collections of the most popular European preachers such as G.J.Zollikofer, Saurin, Bossuet, Fléchier were widely used as a texts for rhetoric analysis in classes and as "home reading" for students. Some of these sermons were translated by teachers and students of seminaries and published. But the question of ideological influences of these texts is still opened and even the precise list of the European preachers whose books were used in seminaries and kept in libraries has not been composed. My research bases on the archive and published materials of Slavic Greek Latin Academy, Troitskaya theological seminary and some provincial seminaries: lists of books in their libraries, reports of the teachers of French and German, some private documents. I also analyse lists of translations, made and published in 18th century, and educational background of their authors. So we can maintain a base for the further study of cultural influences through the sermons.