His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and prolific writer and composer, visited St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) Monday. His Eminence met with members of the Seminary community and discussed two of his monumental series published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS Press).
Metropolitan Hilarion has been a great friend of the Seminary for many years. His Eminence has spoken many times before at SVOTS, including at the 28th annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture. He also helped with the Seminary’s 2011 performance of St. Matthew Passion, composed by His Eminence himself, and has authored numerous books published through SVS Press, most recently the five-volume Orthodox Christianity series and the landmark series Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, of which the second of six planned volumes is due out soon.
His Eminence spoke about the two series with members of the Seminary community Monday, and later signed copies of his books for seminarians, faculty, and staff.
“I am grateful for many years of cooperation [with SVS Press], and I look forward to new possibilities.” said His Eminence.
“I will try to offer some shorter books,” the Metropolitan then joked, after pointing out that his best-selling SVS Press book is Prayer: Encounter with the Living God, a relatively small title compared to the sizeable volumes of his two recent series.
At the conclusion of Metropolitan Hilarion’s talk, SVOTS President Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield presented Metropolitan Hilarion with two gifts on behalf of the Seminary community: a set of SVS Press books and an extraordinary hand-written letter from famous Russian Orthodox composer Aleksandr Grechaninov (d. 1956).
