Saint Vladimir's Seminary Alumnus Basil Mathai and Seminarian Alexander Earl were both ordained to the rank of deacon in recent days.

The Rev. Dn. Basil Puthukkunnathu Mathai was ordained for the Malankara Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in North America on March 19, 2022 by the hand of His Eminence, Archbishop Mor Titus Yeldho. The ordination took place at St. Ephrem Cathedral at the Malankara Archdiocesan Headquarters in Old Tappan, NJ. Several other St. Vladimir's graduates and current seminarians from the Syriac Orthodox Church served at the Divine Liturgy and ordination.

Deacon Basil serves at St. Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church of White Plains, NY (Bronxville, NY) and is regional clergy advisor for the archdiocesan youth association. He also teaches history at a high school in Newark, NJ. He graduated from St. Vladimir's Seminary with an M.Div. degree in 2020, and also holds a B.A. in history & international affairs from the University of Georgia and an M.A. in Middle Eastern studies from Boston College.

The Rev. Dn. Alexander Earl was ordained at St. Vladimir's Seminary's Three Hierarchs Chapel on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 2022. His Grace, Bishop Gerasim presided over the festal Divine Liturgy and ordination, assisted by clergy of the Seminary's student body and faculty.

Deacon Alexander is a seminarian of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and is in his second year studying in St. Vladimir's M.Div. program. Additionally, he continues to serve as director of the Center for Philosophy & Theology, as well as instructor, at Pacifica Christian High School in Santa Monica, CA, where he worked for several years prior to coming to the Seminary. Deacon Alexander holds an M.A. in religion with a concentration in philosophical theology from Yale Divinity School and a B.A. in religious studies and philosophy from Rollins College, Winter Park, FL.

Deacon Alexander's wife, Danielle Earl, is librarian at St. Vladimir's Seminary's Fr. Georges Florovsky Library.

The community of St. Vladimir's wishes newly ordained Deacons Alexander and Basil and their families many years! AXIOS, dear deacons!

Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is pleased to announce a part-time, hybrid degree program in Orthodox Christian Leadership Studies to launch in the fall semester of 2022. The new offering, developed in collaboration with the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative (OCLI), becomes the fourth concentration option for the Seminary’s Master of Arts (M.A) degree.

The concentration in Orthodox Christian Leadership Studies is intended for those seeking to better serve their local parish or larger church community, as well as exercise Christian leadership in the workplace. The program offers distance-learning, rather than the traditional, in-person education provided in the other M.A. concentrations (General Theological Studies, Theological Scholarship and Research, and Sacred Arts). The Leadership Studies program is normally completed in four years by part-time students taking two courses per semester. Students in this concentration will complete most of their studies remotely through online learning, and will gather on campus in Yonkers, NY for onsite intensives for one week each semester.

In response to inquiries about the position of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) regarding the tragic war in Ukraine, we direct members of the public to the official statement issued by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America (to which the Seminary belongs as a stavropegial institution).

Additionally, St. Vladimir's Seminary wholeheartedly supports, and encourages donations to, the OCA's appeal for Ukrainian refugee relief (now ended) and the Ukraine Crisis Response organized by International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).

Using the words of Metropolitan Tikhon, "May we fervently offer our petition to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to have mercy on us 'for the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of the holy churches of God, and for the union of all.'"

The audiobook version of How to Be a Sinner may be purchased at Amazon.com.

If you are interested in sponsoring an audiobook of your favorite SVS Press title, please contact us at media@svots.edu.

About How to Be a Sinner
We call ourselves “sinners” in much of our church life. Yet the sinner identity—when done right—brings peace of mind, a clear conscience, and love for others. Addressing topics like guilt, shame, and self-care, this compassionate guide will help you reflect on your life in surrender to God’s mercy. Written by an internationally recognized professor of Orthodox theology, this book will speak to you wherever you find yourself. This book is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook, narrated by the author, Peter Bouteneff.

About the Orthodox Vision Foundation

The Orthodox Vision Foundation (OVF) continues the nearly five decades of the philanthropic vision begun by Charles and Marilee Ajalat in 1971. As a newly married couple, Charles and Marilee were driven by an unshakable belief in the power that the Historic, Orthodox Christian Church has to transform people’s lives, and indeed the world. It was then that they committed to a lifelong pursuit to do what they could to implement that belief. The Orthodox Vision Foundation was created at the beginning of this century to formalize and maximize their ability to continue to scale that belief and create real impact on a national and international level.

OVF funds a broad range of issues and organizations that tackle everything from feeding and equipping the homeless and working poor, to spreading the Orthodox Church’s worldview, to church governance and policy issues, to ongoing education for our clergy and lay leaders, and launching new ministries.

The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program at St. Vladimir's Seminary is recruiting a new batch of ordained and lay ministers to complete the degree program together, starting in the summer of 2022. 

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon has made an urgent financial appeal for Ukrainian refugee relief.

Read His Beatitude's message below. Please give as you are able, and continue to pray for all who are suffering.

Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is pleased to announce the hiring of noted scholar Dr. Michael C. Legaspi.

“Dr. Legaspi is a biblical scholar of worldwide renown, a gifted teacher, thoughtful mentor, and dedicated servant of Christ and His Church,” said SVOTS Academic Dean Dr. Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie.

“With this addition of a new full-time professor of Old Testament, following similarly successful searches in liturgical theology and patristics, the process of rejuvenating and strengthening the faculty of St. Vladimir’s Seminary has passed a decisive milestone. We are now in a better position to serve the Church by teaching and forming our seminarians.”

After a long and labor-intensive search process, the Seminary received applications from a large number of well-qualified candidates for the biblical studies position. A search committee comprised of Seminary faculty invited three of the candidates, including Legaspi, to campus for a full round of interviews and public lectures. The on-campus visits yielded valuable information about their suitability for the faculty position, and the qualifications of the candidates were also evaluated by an external advisory board of three exceptional scholars in the field of biblical studies from the United States and Europe. Important feedback was also sought from the Seminary’s student body and staff before the search committee recommended, and the SVOTS Board of Trustees confirmed, Dr. Legaspi as professor of Biblical Studies (Old Testament).

“I am deeply grateful and excited to begin, as opportunities to serve the Orthodox churches in an academic capacity do not come along often,” said Legaspi.

“At St. Vladimir’s, I hope to play a useful role in preparing clergy and church leaders for ministry in a world that, by and large, remains ignorant of Orthodoxy. I am eager to help seminarians understand how Orthodoxy relates to the study of the Bible in the wider academic world. As a member of SVOTS faculty, I will enjoy learning from colleagues at the Seminary, and I will work hard to produce and promote scholarship that is both faithful to the Tradition and consequential within the broader world of biblical studies.”

Michael Legaspi, Ph.D., joins the Seminary from Phillips Academy in Andover, MA where he has been teaching philosophy and religious studies. He also taught from 2014–2021 at Penn State University, where he was tenured as associate professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies. Legaspi taught at Creighton University as assistant professor of theology from 2006-2010. A biblical scholar by training, Dr. Legaspi holds a master’s and doctoral degree in the Hebrew Bible from Harvard University and a B.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Legaspi has given talks at several national and international conferences, has been invited as a keynote speaker, and his published works have been widely cited by other scholars. He has authored The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies (Oxford University Press, 2010), Wisdom in Classical and Biblical Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2018), a commentary on the Book of Job (forthcoming from Eerdmans), and a number of academic articles.

Due to his most recent positions teaching in two states, Legaspi calls two parishes home: St. George Orthodox Church (Antiochian Archdiocese) in Altoona, PA, pastored by SVOTS Alumnus Fr. Isaac Danevicius, and St. Xenia Orthodox Church (ROCOR) in Methuen, MA.

Dr. Legaspi will begin teaching at St. Vladimir’s as a tenured associate professor in the fall semester of 2022.

The St. Vladimir's community celebrated a beautiful blessing this month as Eugenia, the daughter of Seminarian Giorgi Lomsadze and his wife Barbara Mindiashvili, was baptized in Three Hierarchs Chapel.

Giorgi, a seminarian from the Republic of Georgia, is in his first year studying in the Master of Arts program. He and Barbara are also parents of a son, Gabriel.

Seminary President Fr. Chad Hatfield presided over the baptism Thursday, February 3. Presbytera Nino Tskitishvili, whose husband Fr. Giorgi Tskitishvili graduated from St. Vladimir's Seminary in 2021, is Eugenia's godmother along with Hannah Vazquez. Hannah's husband William is a classmate of Giorgi's at St. Vladimir's.

May God grant the newly illumined Eugenia and her family many years!

Archbishop Elpidophoros with Archimandrite Nektarios (right). Photo: goarch.org

Saint Vladimir's Seminary Alumnus The Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Papazafiropoulos has been appointed chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA). His Eminence, Elpidophoros, the archbishop of America, announced that Fr. Nektarios would assume the position of chancellor March 1.

Archimandrite Nektarios was born in Jersey City, NJ and grew up in Astoria, NY, raised by devout Christian immigrant parents who emphasized his Orthodox faith. Upon completing Long Island City High School, he enrolled at Polytechnic University to study electrical engineering, completed his Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering in 1985, and subsequently his Master’s Degree in the same field. He spent the next ten years in the industry.

Having received the calling to serve the Church, he enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Upon completing those studies in 1999, he went to Greece to prepare for ordination in 2001.

In June of 2002 he was tonsured a monk and given the name Nektarios, and immediately after was ordained to the diaconate by Metropolitan Daniel of Kaissariani, Byronos and Ymittou, in Athens. He was made archdeacon and served in the position for a year. On January 18, 2004, he was ordained to the priesthood, bestowed the offikion of archimandrite, and was assigned to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Byrona. Upon the election of Metropolitan Pavlos of the Metropolis of Kozani in 2004 (the Metropolitan was a former proïstamenos of his parish in Astoria), Archimandrite Nektarios asked permission to go and serve with him. He was then assigned as proïstamenos to the Church of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Kozani. In 2005, he was assigned the position of vicar general of the Metropolis and served in Kozani up to 2008.

At the direction of Archbishop of America Demetrios, Fr. Nektarios was invited to return to the United States in 2008 and served at St. Nicholas Church Greek Orthodox in West Babylon, NY until 2012. He was then assigned as the proïstamenos of St. Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria, where he has served since. In 2019, Archimandrite Nektarios was appointed by His Eminence, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America as one of the five vicars in the Archdiocesan District, and he also serves as the spiritual advisor to the Archdiocesan District Philoptochos.

May God grant Archimandrite Nektarios many years!