St. Vladimir's Seminary Press began as a response to the urgent need for English-language books about the Orthodox Christian faith, which arose in the mid-1950s. At that time, our multi-ethnic Orthodox student body were hearing lectures in English, but textbooks were available only in foreign languages, in particular, Russian and Greek. To address this need, lecture notes of the professors were hand typed or mimeographed for student use, and sometimes collated for distribution.
Simultaneously clergy in parishes were clamoring for educational material. To address this need, Fr. Alexander Schmemann (Dean from 1962–1983) produced a series of small pamphlets, including “Clergy and Laity” and “Great Lent." When Fr. Alexander published the full version of his Great Lent in book form in 1969, it sold out within the season of the Great Fast, demonstrating the hunger by clergy and laity for English-language titles about their faith.
Today "SVS Press" is the largest and most active publisher of Orthodox Christian books in the English language, with more than 400 titles in print. It continues its reputation of insisting on works of theological excellence, as evidenced in its 2011 releases, recently showcased in its Spring Brochure.
In addition to its usual scholarly releases, the press welcomes to its collection a children's book, St. George and the Dragon, engagingly written by well-known author Jim Forest and strikingly illustrated by iconographer Vladislav Andreyev. The book will be available in summer 2011, and SVS Bookstore is taking advance orders. Click here to order the book.
"St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press has been really active recently," notes Fr. Benedict Churchill, Associate Director of SVS Press. "In the past few months, we’ve added four books to the Popular Patristics Series, and introduced two new books, with Metropolitan Hilarion's Orthodox Christianity series, vol.1, History and Canonical Structure, and Archbishop Dmitri’s commentary on The Epistle of St. James.
"I’m delighted to have a role in helping these important works see the light of day, and in helping the Press in its mission of making Orthodox materials available in English," he says.
Download a PDF of SVS Press's Spring Brochure.
Browse our seminary's Bookstore.
