On Thursday, October 1, 2015, on the feast of the Protection of the Theotokos, the Divine Liturgy in Three Hierarchs Chapel was celebrated according to the rubrics of the Romanian Orthodox Church for the first time in the Chapel's history. Father Eugen Pentiuc, St. Vladimir's professor of Scripture and Semitic Languages, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Hellenic College Holy Cross, presided at the celebration of the liturgy and offered the homily.
Father Eugen served in Romanian and English and was assisted by Fr. Adrian Budica, supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education and director of Field Education, together with two Romanian seminarians, Bogdan Neacsiu and Alexandru Popovici; Bogdan and Alexandru chanted the responses in Romanian and English, using Romanian melodies.
"With the occasion of this feast of the Mother of God, our community enjoyed a special moment: two of our professors, along with two of our students, celebrated the liturgy in Romanian for a historic first. The pan-Orthodox character of our institution was elevated today to a new level," noted the Very Reverend Dr. Chad Hatfield, Chancellor/CEO.
The liturgy is another indication of St. Vladimir's growing relationship with the Romanian Orthodox community; in February of 2013, a cooperative agreement was signed between St. Vladimir's and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest.
Read the article (in Romanian) by the Romanian Patriarchate's Basilica News Agency
