Archpriest Pavel Svetlov (1861–1941) is the most prominent representative of Orthodox
apologetics in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. He was a distinguished theologian and essay
writer and he paid great attention to the problems of religion, science and education in Russia.
He criticized the Russian unbelieving intelligentsia for “religious ignorance”. In his opinion,
the introduction of theological faculties in secular universities will be useful both for the
University itself, and for the Russian Church and for the Russian state.
In his book “Religion and Science” and other publications archpriest Pavel Svetlov insisted
that there never was and there cannot be any conflict between religion and science. In his opinion
the doctrine of the “conflict” between them was the result of ideologization of science and was
an important part of anti-religious propaganda, while almost all the outstanding scientists were
religious people. According to Fr. Pavel Svetlov “it is not science that is hostile to faith, but bad
philosophy, falsely hiding behind the name of science”.