A group of scientists sent to the Ministry of Education and Science, as well as to the corresponding dissertation council, an appeal against the decision of the joint dissertation council D 999.073.04 on awarding Pavel Khondzinsky the scientific degree of candidate of theology (according to the council's conclusion), the scientific degree of candidate of philosophical sciences (according to the author's abstract). The text of the appeal is posted in the public domain.
The authors of the document note that the scientific degree declared in the abstract and the text of the dissertation does not correspond to the degree indicated in the documents created after the defense: the list of members of the dissertation council who attended the meeting during the defense of the dissertation, and the conclusion of the dissertation council. On June 1, when the defense took place, there were no regulatory documents suggesting the possibility of obtaining the degree of "candidate of theology", the authors note.
In addition, it is reported that information on the results of the public defense was not published on the Internet within ten days from the date of the meeting of the dissertation council, and the time of creation of the posted documents was indicated falsely. Finally, during the work of the dissertation council, the principle of publicity was violated: not only persons wishing to take part in the discussion, but also journalists were not allowed to the meeting. In the opinion of the appellants, these facts indicate numerous violations of the current Regulation on the Council for the Defense of Dissertation.
The document was signed by Yuri Panchin (Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Vladimir Aleshin (Scientific Research Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology named after A. N. Belozersky, Moscow State University), Alexander Kuznetsov and Dmitry Shcherbakov (Paleontological Institute, RAS).
The Dissertation Council awarded Pavel Khondzinsky with a PhD in Theology on June 1, 2017. Of the 22 councilors, 21 voted in favor (one ballot was invalidated as it was filled in incorrectly). The topic of the dissertation work is "Solving the Problems of Russian Theology of the 18th Century in the Synthesis of St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow." Later, the decision of the council was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science.