Journals of the Theological Academies of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries on the ‘Old Catholic Issue

Abstract

This article analyzes the development of controversy around the “Old Catholic Issue” in the journals of theological academies in the 1870-1900s. The first phase of the controversy (1870s) was characterized by a general optimistic attitude of Orthodox theologians and hopes for the Old Catholics to join the Orthodox Church. Due to the social and political importance of the “Old Catholic Issue” and the peculiarities of the periodicals of theological academies as a kind of means of communication, the perception of Catholicism in journal articles was strikingly different from the general trends of this period. The period of the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th centuries was generally characterized by a decrease in the polemical tone in relation to Catholicism among Orthodox theologians and by an increase of the role of historical analysis that was neutral in relation to worldview. In periodicals, on the contrary, harsh statements about Catholic novelties served as a tool to demonstrate the differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Old Catholics. Such a fundamental opposition made it possible to give an unambiguously positive regard on the Old Catholic movement and pave the way for a dialogue on the practical solution of the “Question of the Unification of the Churches”. Open and covert polemics were auxiliary tools that ensured this opposition. The second phase of the controversy (1890-1900s) regarding the “Old Catholic Issue” differed from the previous one both in the general tone of the texts and thematically. The question of the reasons for the impossibility of a practical solution to the “Old Catholic Issue”, that is, of the union of the Old Catholic movement with the Orthodox Church, was in the focus. Some authors saw the origins of the problem in the peculiarities of Catholicism as such, others saw it in the form in which the “Old Catholic Issue” was posed by the Orthodox Church. The opposition between the Roman Catholic Church and the Old Catholic movement was gradually fading away; the “Old Catholic Issue” was becoming less and less relevant, giving way to other topics and problems.