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In 1918, following the October Revolution of 1917, the Academy at Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra was closed by the new Bolshevik government. A few of the professors from the academy, including the former [[rector]] [[Archbishop]] Feodor Pozdeevsky, I.V. Popov, and Fr Pavel Florensky, attempted to continue the school informally in Moscow, but attendance was sparse.
In September 1943, at the height of World War II and during negotiations by the leader of the Soviet government, Joseph Stalin, to enlist the support of the Orthodox Church in opposing the Nazi invaders, Stalin agreed to reopen the Higher Theological School. On [[June 14]], 1944, Stalin fulfilled his promise as the '''Theological Institute''' was opened in the [[Novodevichy Monastery (Moscow)|Novodevichy Convent]] in Moscow. This was the first official theological school allowed by the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union. The curriculum was prepared by by Grigory (Chukov), Archbishop of Saratov. The first rector of the reopened school was I. V. Savinsky.
In 1946, the Theological Institute was transformed into the Moscow Seminary and '''Moscow Theological Academy'''. The Academy was granted, in 1947, the right to award the theological degrees of Kandidat, Doctor. and Professor.