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On 23 December 2011, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in his report to the Diocesan Assembly of the city of Moscow touched upon the problems concerning the sphere of religious education.

According to His Holiness, a key institute for study, which prepares first-class qualified specialists, is the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School. At present there are twenty-four students studying for a master’s degree, eighty-five post-graduates and forty-one doctoral students, including five bishops, at the School.

In June of this year His Holiness affirmed a document for the awarding of academic degrees which regulates the preparation and defense of dissertations submitted for the academic degrees of Candidate and Doctor of Theology, as well as the PhD degree awarded jointly with foreign academic institutions.

On 9 November 2011, a resolution was adopted by the Patriarch to institute a Church Council for the defense of dissertations submitted for the degree of Doctor of Theology. The present council will bring together the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanitarian University, and the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies.

At present the Russian Orthodox Church has five theological academies, two Orthodox universities, two theological institutes, forty-eight theological seminaries (three of which are located abroad in Jordanville, Paris and Tokyo), thirty-six theological schools, as well as pastoral courses in one diocese. There are choir directors’ and icon-painting schools opened at several of the academies and seminaries.

The training of candidates for the priesthood and other church workers for Moscow is undertaken by the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, the seminaries at Sretensky Monastery and Monastery of St. Nicholas at Ugreshi, as well as St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanitarian University.