The 19th and 20th century books written by church scholars, theologians and historians, who worked both inside and outside Russia, contain many materials needed by researchers and all those interested in theology and church history. These books are not easily available in spite of their repeated reprints covering only in a small part the rich field of this literature. This prevents contemporary researchers from an effective use of the rich traditions of the Russian theological thought. The Synodal library of the Moscow Patriarchate has begun publishing a series of these works on CD-ROM under the common title:

The first issue, which came out this year, is an electronic reprint of the Put''("Way") magazine which was published under the editorship of Nicholas Berdyaev in Paris from 1925 to 1940. The 61st issue of about 7200 pages, a bibliographic rarity, carries articles written in emigration by Russian philosophers, theologians, literary men and church publicists. Among them are Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov, B. Vysheslavtsev, N. Glubokovsky, L. Zander, Protopresbyter Basil Zenkovsky, N. Zernov, V. Ilyin, Archbishop Ioann (Shakhovskoy), L. Karsavin, A. Kartashev, Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov), Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern), N. Lossky, Sister Maria (Skobtseva), Alexis Remizov, I. Smolich, G. Fedotov, Archpriest George Florovsky, S. Frank, Archpriest Sergius Chetvertikov, D. Chizhevsky, Leo Shestov, and many others. The disk is equipped with a search system for facsimile materials. Any text can be copied and printed out. A brochure containing an article devoted to Nicholas Berdyaev and his colleagues as well as a full bibliography of the magazine accompany the edition.

The 2nd issue will be an electronic version of the 12-volume Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia, which came out in 1900-1911 in St. Petersburg. It is a sort of profile of the pre-Revolutionary Russian theological and church-historical scholarship. Today this reference book certainly ranks among rarities.

The issues to follow will contain electronic versions of the journals of the Theological Academies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Kazan, as well as a number of fundamental works on church history and the history of the theological thought in Russia and the Russian Diaspora.

Address for inquiries:
The Synodal Library of the Moscow Patriarchate, Andreyevskaya Embankment 2, Moscow 117334.
Tel.: (095) 137-6942, Fax: 135-7400
E-mail: boris.danilenko@uc.ru

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