On Tuesday His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon spoke to the seminarians at St. Vladimir’s Seminary via Zoom. As the seminarians gathered in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium on campus, His Beatitude spoke on seminary life and the spiritual life, with reference to the current pandemic situation.
“The impact on your seminary studies has been quite significant and has disrupted the manner in which more or less everything has traditionally been done….” said His Beatitude. “However, I commend [Seminary President] Fr. Chad, [Academic Dean] Dr. Tudorie, and [Spiritual Formation Director] Fr. Nicholas [Roth] for the excellent and detailed protocols that they have established for the proper and safe functioning of the Seminary for the upcoming semester.”
His Beatitude continued, “I am sure that, like me, all of you had moments of sorrow and feeling the impact of the isolation, but also moments when you were energized and inspired by the grace of God. It is not easy to bear both of these realities in ourselves at the same time, but I encourage you to continue to make this effort and to support one another as fellow citizens of this seminary community.”
Read His Beatitude’s full address to the seminarians here.
As Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude is the ruling hierarch of both stavropegial seminaries, St. Tikhon’s in South Canaan, PA, and St. Vladimir’s, as well as the president and chairman, respectively, of those seminaries’ Boards of Trustees. His Beatitude plans to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at both seminaries later this semester.
