With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Archpriest James Bernstein, an alumnus of St Vladimir’s Seminary. Fr James fell asleep in the Lord in the morning hours of June 17, 2024, surrounded by his family.

The Very Rev. A. James Bernstein was born in Lansing, MI on May 6, 1946, and was raised in a conservative Jewish family in Queens, NY. A teenage chess champion, Fr James had a dramatic conversion experience at the age of sixteen after reading the New Testament. His spiritual journey included a number of twists and turns: he was chapter president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship at Queens College, helped found the Jews for Jesus ministry in San Francisco, was a staff member of the Christian World Liberation Front in Berkeley, served as a pastor of an Evangelical Orthodox Church near Silicon Valley, and in the 1980s was received into the Eastern Orthodox Church. Fr James went on to attend St Vladimir’s Seminary and graduated with a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 1989. He was ordained to the holy priesthood the year prior.

Fr James’ priestly ministry took him to the state of Washington, where he was assigned pastor of St Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Brier. He served there for more than twenty-five years before retiring in 2017. During his parish ministry he also authored numerous works through Ancient Faith Publishing and was a contributor to the Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms (Thomas Nelson, 1993).

Fr James is survived by his wife, Kh. Martha (Bonnie); children Kh. Heather (Fr David) Sommer, Holly Bernstein, Peter Bernstein, and Mary (James) Curry; grandchildren John (Audrey), Nicholas, Ephramia, Elizabeth, and Irene Sommer; Violet Bernstein; and Noah, Levi, Lina, and Sarah Curry.

Funeral information may be found on the Antiochian Archdiocese website, here.

May the memory of Archpriest James be eternal!

A section of this article was adapted from Ancient Faith Ministries’ website.

Photo: St Paul’s Antiochian Orthodox Church

By the grace of God, two members of the St Vladimir’s Seminary community were ordained as the most recent academic year came to a close.

On April 13, Dn Giorgi Lomsadze was ordained to the holy priesthood by His Eminence The Most Reverend Alexander, archbishop of the Diocese of the Dallas, the South, and the Bulgarian Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), at St Athanasius Orthodox Church in Nicholasville, KY. Fr Giorgi, who graduated from the seminary’s M.Div. program just a few weeks later, will now serve St Athanasius as associate priest.

The day following St Vladimir’s Seminary’s 2024 Commencement, OCA seminarian Justin Taylor joined the ranks of the holy diaconate. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon ordained Dn Justin at the seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel on May 19. Dn Justin will begin his third year of studies in the M.Div. program next fall.

Fr Giorgi, who hails from the Republic of Georgia, holds a bachelor’s degree in Georgian philology from Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in medieval studies from Ilia State University. He worked as a literature teacher in Tbilisi and at the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia before completing his studies at St Vladimir’s Seminary. Fr Giorgi and his wife Popodia Barbare are parents of a son, Gabriel, and two daughters, Eugenia and Dorothea.

Before joining the seminary, Dn Justin worked in the medical supply and logistics industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, with a minor in history, from Liberty University. Dn Justin and his wife Matushka Rachel have three sons: Theodore, Nikolai, and Rafael.

May God grant Fr Giorgi, Dn Justin, and their families many years!

Clean, safe water is finally on its way to a community suffering from severe drought in Gulu, Uganda, thanks to an initiative organized by St Vladimir’s seminarians this past spring.

Back in April, over 100 community members and friends of St Vladimir’s Seminary attended an in-person rendition of Patriarch Abraham, a theatrical performance staged by seminarians and faculty on campus. The seminarians directed proceeds from the performance toward the construction of a new well in Gulu, the hometown of their seminary classmate Dn Richard Okello (M.Div., ‘24) and his family. Dn Richard’s wife, young children, and his entire community had been suffering from severe water shortages and accompanying health hazards due to recent regional droughts. The seminarians also set up a GoFundMe page, and in total more than $6,000 was raised, ensuring immediate construction of the much-needed new well in Gulu could begin.

In June, and back in Uganda following his graduation from St Vladimir’s Seminary, Dn Richard shared updates with the seminary community about the well’s progress.

“Finally, we reached clean and safe water from deep underground after a long labor of three days,” wrote Dn Richard, who added that well installation was completed shortly after.

“My own words are not enough to appreciate all of you from [my] heart for this life-saving initiative and the discussions we had together with my fellow seminarians, faculty, brothers, and sisters, who worked and put extra effort to make this possible!” he continued. “May our Heavenly Father, the Almighty God, yield the desires of your heart. Your action has touched people thousands of miles from you. Your love has reached them!”

May God preserve and protect Dn Richard, his family, and his community, and may the Lord abundantly bless all those whose generosity and love brought much-needed help to them!

Update

June 24, 2024—We are no longer accepting applications for the online certification program for catechists. Available spots for the 2024–2025 cohort have been filled.

If you are interested in joining a future cohort, please fill out the questionnaire at this link.

Sign Up for Info about Future Cohorts

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St Vladimir’s Online School of Theology is now accepting applications for its online certification program for catechists, Laying Foundations for Teaching the Faith. The new program is launching for the 2024–2025 academic year.    

Orthodox parishes across North America are experiencing a surge of interest in the Holy Orthodox Christian faith, leading to more opportunities to teach and learn in parish life. The parish priest is the center of the teaching ministry in parish life, but having trained, certified, and knowledgeable lay catechists to support the work of the pastor scales up the kind of welcome, education, and integration newcomers receive when coming to our communities.

In this “teach the teacher”-style certification program lay catechist candidates will engage topics including:

• management of group dynamics;
• key biblical, church history, theological, and liturgical subjects, especially how to teach them;
• awareness of various resources for catechetical training;
• guidance in approaching contemporary and contentious questions;
• encouragement of stewardship and devotion to the local parish; and
• matters of worldview and self-knowledge in our complex time.

Guest instructors will bring a depth of experience and expertise for concrete learning that will build up to the catechist candidate designing and leading learning opportunities in their own parish. Throughout the twenty-six (26) synchronous and asynchronous sessions, spaced over the course of one academic year (September 2024–May 2025), the lay catechist candidate will also work closely with their priest. The candidate’s priest will even join the program at certain appropriate moments to keep the learning in this program rooted in parish life.

St Vladimir’s Online School of Theology is able to run the space-limited first cohort of this certification program for $900; this certification is scheduled to cost $2,400 after this first offering. Parishes are encouraged to invest in their talent and their own growth by funding a trained catechist in their communities. Priests and interested lay catechist candidates are invited to email the facilitating instructor, Archpriest Kirill Sokolov, Ed.D., at online@svots.edu to ask questions or express interest.