The letter by 10 academicians or Academicians' letter (short names of "Open letter from ten Members of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

to the President"; ) is an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to the President of the Russian Federation in which ten notable scientists expressed their concern about rapid clericalization of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n society. It was published on July 22, 2007.

Main issues

The letter was intended to warn both the society and the government about the growing influence of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

and its expansion into many fields of social life, particularly into the state education system, which is strictly prohibited under the

Russian Constitution The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 and enacted on 25 December 1993. The latest significant reform occurred in 2020, marked by extensive amendments that altered various sections ...

Theology in VAK list

The letter addresses the inadmissibility of "

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

" being added to the science fields list of the

Higher Attestation Commission Higher Attestation Commission (, , abbreviated Cyrillic: ВАК, Latin: VAK) is a name of a national government agency in Russia, Ukraine and some other post-Soviet states that oversees awarding of advanced academic degrees. Due to translation diff ...

(VAK). Such an idea was proposed in the resolution of the 11th Russian national

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

().

Religion in schools

The Russian orthodox church tried to introduce the basics of religious education into the public education system. Church leaders proposed to include a corresponding discipline into school curriculum. The Eleventh Russian national assembly took a resolution, expressing a hope that the basics of Christian teaching would be obligatory in schools. Authors mention an order (letter) by

Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

, Alexey the Second in which he states "if we have difficulty introducing 'Basics of Russian Orthodox Faith', we can simply call it 'Basics of Russian Orthodox Culture'. In this case the course certainly won't meet any objections from teachers and principals, raised under atheistic rule."

Response

The letter lead to a nationwide discussion on church and state interaction. Previously, corresponding issues drew little public attention.

Official response of the Church

The Russian Orthodox Church stated that it "always appreciated science and continues to appreciate and respect science nowadays". The

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

, commenting on the letter said that "the church strictly abides to the Constitution. Neither the Church interferes into the state matters, nor the state interferes with religious affairs". Both the letter and its signatories were criticised by various orthodox activists. The religious movement "Natsyonalny Sobor" () accused

Vitaly Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS (; – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett for their "pioneering contributions to the theory ...

of hate speech.

Results

Before the letter, these issues were actively and publicly discussed only between the government of the Russian Federation and representatives of

. After the letter, these issues have begun to be discussed by the general public. In this sense, an open letter to the President of the Russian Federation became an “information event” for discussing these and other issues related to the relationship between the church and society. However, since 2012, in accordance with the order of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, the subject of "" has been included in school curriculum as a federal component. Since 2015, the Higher Certification Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation has approved Theology as a new scientific specialty. Thus, the opinion of the academicians could not affect the decision-making on these issues. In 2019, school headmaster Eugene Yamburg shared his opinion on the results of state religious education: "Not so long ago a fourth-grader from another city was transferred to my school. She studied at the gymnasium, where she introduced elective courses: Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism, secular ethics. And the girl says to me: “Eugene Sanych, you can’t imagine how fortunate it is that we are Orthodox.” I say: "No objection." “But you can’t imagine how much do I hate the Catholics!” I wonder: “For what?” “So, they pray to the Primadonna!” - the girl is indignant. Of course, I explained that the

Primadonna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...

is Alla Borisovna Pugacheva, and the Catholics are praying Madonna, the Orthodox Mother of God. The girl was amazed". In 2020

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

initiated the inclusion of God and "traditional" (patriarchal nationalistic) values, including the priority of national laws over international agreements, in the

Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 and enacted on 25 December 1993. The latest significant reform occurred in 2020, marked by extensive amendments that altered various sections ...

Signatories

* Eugene Alexandrov (), *

Zhores Alferov Zhores Ivanovich Alferov ( rus, Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, , ʐɐˈrɛs ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐlˈfʲɵrəf}; ; 15 March 19301 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the cr ...

(), * Garry Abelev (), * Lev Barkov (), * Andrey Vorobyev (), *

(), * Sergey Inge-Vechtomov (), *

Eduard Kruglyakov Eduard Model Accessories is a Czech manufacturer of plastic models and finescale model accessories. History Formed in 1989 in the city of Most, Eduard began in a rented cellar as a manufacturer of photoetched brass model components. Follow ...

(), * Mikhail Vissarionovich Sadovsky (), * Anatoliy Cherepaschuk ()

External links

Academicians' letter translation (English)

Academicians' letter (Russian)

Appeal of 1700 scientists to the President of the Russian Federation on the introduction of Orthodoxy in schools and Theology in universities (Russian)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Academicians' Letter Open letters 2007 in Russia Politics of Russia Russian Academy of Sciences Russian Orthodox Church in Russia 2007 documents History of the Russian Orthodox Church