The methodological features of the lecture course of dogmatic theology by archpriest A. V. Gorsky

Archpriest Alexander Vasilievich Gorsky is an outstanding representative of Russian academic science and was a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy. During the his years as rector of the Academy from 1863 to 1875, he taught a course in dogmatic theology. Alexander Vasilievich’s students evaluate his lectures on dogmatics in different ways. Gorsky’s synopses on dogmatic theology have not been published. To date, there is no unambiguous idea about the features of his presentation of dogma, and doubts are also expressed about the possibility of restoring this course. In the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library, there are materials entitled as dogmatic lectures of the 60s and 70s in the archive of Alexander Vasilievich, which are practically not studied due to the complexity of decoding the texts. In the archives of his student, professor of Moscow Theological Academy A. D. Belyaev, there is a fragment of the Introduction to Dogmatic Theology, dated 1874. There is an opinion that its author is Alexander Dmitrievich himself. However, this is unlikely, since it was at this time that Belyaev, as a student, listened to Gorsky’s lectures, and this fragment may be a summary of them. This article presents a comparative analysis of the manuscripts of the Introduction to Dogmatic Lectures by Archpriest A. V. Gorsky dated 1870- 1874 and the manuscript of A. D. Belyaev, dated 1874.