On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon (OCA) raised Seminary faculty member, Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology, the Rev. Dn Dr Vitaly Permiakov, to the Holy Priesthood. His Beatitude arrived on Friday, September 13, and presided over the Festal Vigil that evening and the Divine Liturgy on the following day. The Vigil was sung by antiphonal choirs; a male ensemble led by the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Russin, and the mixed choir led by Zachariah Mandell. Several smaller student ensembles sang select pieces prepared for the feast. At the conclusion of the Great Vigil, His Beatitude performed the solemn rite of the Exaltation of the Cross, as the choir sang 500 repetitions of the petition “Lord have mercy.”
Concelebrating at the Divine Liturgy with His Beatitude were the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield, Skvir Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Very Rev. Dr Alexander Rentel, OCA Chancellor, the Very Rev. Alessandro Margheritino, OCA Secretary, the Very Rev. Dr Kirill Sokolov, Chancellor of the Diocese of the West, the Rev. Alexis Torrance (University of Notre Dame, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne), the Rev. Demetrios Harper (St Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary), and chancery, seminary, and visiting clergy.
In his homily during the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude spoke of the Cross as central to our Christian worship and path to salvation; through the Cross, “Christ has made death a passage way into life, life everlasting, life abundant and overflowing, life incomparable to this fleeting life, life not as the world knows or gives.”
Read His Beatitude’s Homily
At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Interim President and Academic Dean, Dr Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, welcomed His Beatitude and the visiting clergy warmly, and expressed his joy and gratitude for the ordination of his fellow faculty member. Seminary students, staff, and faculty congratulated Fr Vitaly heartily, at the service and via the Seminary Whatsapp group, with one student saying, “Axios to the man who taught me the Liturgy!”
Fr Vitaly celebrated his first Divine Liturgy as a priest the following day, Sunday, September 15, in Three Hierarchs Chapel.
About the Rev. Dr Vitaly Permiakov
Born to a Russian family in Riga, Latvia, Fr Vitaly Permiakov, Ph.D. relocated to the United States in 1999 after completing his undergraduate studies. He entered St Vladimir’s Seminary with the blessing of the late Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas (OCA) (d. 2011). After finishing seminary, Fr Vitaly enrolled in a doctoral program in Liturgical Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where in 2012 he defended his dissertation on the history and origins of the Byzantine rite for the consecration of churches. Fr Vitaly taught at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, NY) from 2011 to 2020, and joined the full-time faculty at St Vladimir's Seminary in August 2020.
Fr Vitaly's ordination to the priesthood marked the next milestone in his 22-year journey through the ecclesiastical ranks of the Church, all of which took place at Three Hierarchs Chapel at St Vladimir’s Seminary. He was tonsured to the rank of reader as a seminarian in 2002. In 2021, on the Feast of the Annunciation, he was ordained subdeacon. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 2021, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate through the hand of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon. Three years later, His Beatitude ordained Fr Vitaly to the priesthood on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 2024.
May God grant the newly ordained Fr Vitaly Permiakov many blessed years!
Photo credits: Scott Strickland, Ksenia Lin, Glen Mules
