The works of st. Feofan the Recluse as a basis for a modern course in moral theology

The author examines possibilities of applying the 19th century educational resources in pro-grammes on theology using St. Theophan’s moral essays based on his lectures on Moral theology at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (1846−1847). The reasons for choosing St. The-ophan’s works as the main source for the programme on Moral theology are discussed (systematic presentation of the material, its holy bases and practical orientatio). The author provides readers with information about the history of creation of the main St. Theophan’s moral essays and about the sources of his Christian ethics system, as well as with information about those days psycholo-gy. The system of Christian moral teaching of St. Theophanes is characterised. The course outline and its internal logic are described in detail, and the reasons for the inclusion of the saint's peda-gogical texts in the course are explained. It shows what difficulties students may encounter when working with the writings of St. Theophanes the Hermit (detailed detail and special terminology, the presence of a significant number of biblicalisms and neologisms in the texts). The appendix to this article contains the course programme. The author analyses methodological aspects of the de-velopment of the academic discipline based on the works of St. Theophan the Recluse, the analysis being carried out on the personal experience of the author while teaching the discipline Moral The-ology at the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University since 2016.