After the consecration of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Life-giving Spring", on July 10, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia attended an educational class of basic training courses in the field of theology for the monastics of the Transfiguration of the Savior Valaam Stavropol Monastery.
Hierodeacon Herman (Murog), assistant to the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, told the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church about the upcoming activities of the courses.
On the eve of the opening of the courses, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill held a meeting with the teachers, addressing them with a lecture on the importance of basic theological education for monastics.
His Holiness donated a number of theological publications to the monastery library. The editions of the Episcopal official prepared at the Valaam Monastery were donated to His Holiness.
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In 2026, according to the plan of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism approved at the meeting of the Holy Synod on December 26, 2025, basic training courses in the field of theology for the monastics of the Russian Orthodox Church will be organized at the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Stavropol Monastery. Their creation is aimed at providing basic theological training to the monastery's brethren.
The courses are designed for three years of full-time study. Hierodeacon Herman (Murog), assistant to the abbot of the Valaam Monastery, has been appointed head of the courses. The first listeners were 20 residents of the Valaam monastery.
Russians Russian Orthodox Church's curriculum includes the main theological disciplines: the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the Orthodox doctrine of the faith and the foundations of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, general church history, the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, the foundations of liturgical rules and liturgics, the Church Slavonic language, the history of monasticism and asceticism.
Classes will be held in a specially equipped classroom located next to the church of the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary "Life-giving Spring" in the outer square of the central estate of the monastery.
From July 13 to 16, a visiting group of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Education of Monastics will visit the monastery to conduct an expert assessment of the readiness for the implementation of basic theological training programs for monastics.