On Wednesday, September 24, 2014, St. Vladimir's associate professor of Systematic Theology Dr. Peter Bouteneff, and Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music Dr. Nicholas Reeves, lectured at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, speaking on the spiritual foundations of composer Arvo Pärt’s music. The two faculty members have been developing The Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir's Seminary since 2011, in an effort to explore the Orthodox roots of the famed Estonian maestro's music.
The seminary's professors were invited to Westminster by senior faculty member Dr. James Jordan, who led the Williamson Voices choir in recording a Grammy-nominated CD, “Annelies.” (The Grammy went instead to the Arvo Pärt CD, "Adam’s Lament.") As his choir is currently drawing on Arvo Pärt’s repertoire, Dr. Jordan invited Dr. Reeves (a Westminster alumnus) and Dr. Bouteneff to enrich the singers’ understanding of Pärt’s Orthodox Christian roots. A 90-minute presentation, accompanied by video presentations, was warmly received.
The choir then performed several short segments for the visiting professors. Dr. Reeves commented, “I was of course moved by the response of the students to the lecture, but I was also deeply impressed by the emotional capacity and control of such a young choir. The Williamson Voices are coming into their own in the America choral scene both here and abroad.”
Collaborative efforts with Mr. Pärt have already resulted in a groundbreaking concert and lecture series in May and June of this year, which included a sold-out concert in Carnegie Hall. Also planned are publications devoted to Mr. Pärt's personal spiritual narrative, and a long-term academic partnership between the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia and St. Vladimir's. Dr. Bouteneff says, “It is a joy to continue the work that we have been so deeply engaged in, with the Arvo Pärt Project. I’m delighted to see it finding its place in the seminary’s expanding efforts to engage culture, through the Institute for Sacred Arts that we are currently developing as a key component of the 2020 Strategic Plan.”
Father Seraphim Solof (SVOTS Class of 1985) is a native of Pittsburgh and a graduate of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At St. Vladimir’s, he met and married a fellow seminarian, Marta (SVOTS Class of 1984), the daughter of the late Very Reverend and Mrs. Michael Stupar, also of Pittsburgh.
Ordained to the holy diaconate at Three Hierarchs Chapel on December 6, 1984 by the late Archbishop Job of Chicago (OCA), Fr. Seraphim served for five years as a deacon at Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Boston (OCA), and since 1990 at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester. Deacon Seraphim was elevated to the rank of archdeacon by the late Metropolitan Philip on December 14, 2008. On October 22, 2017, he was ordained to the holy priesthood by His Grace Bishop John of Worcester, and assigned as assistant pastor of the Cathedral.
In the corporate world, Fr. Seraphim works for Bank of America as a Senior Vice President in Corporate Communications. He and Marta are the parents of two grown children, Elizabeth and Joseph, and they have one grandchild. Father Seraphim and Matushka Marta have been loyal donors and supporters of St. Vladimir’s Seminary for years; recently he was on campus as a guest speaker for the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative conference, co-sponsored by SVOTS.
Father Seraphim, there is growing concern about the scarcity of priests to serve parishes in the U.S. and Canada. What are you seeing “on the ground?”
In our diocese, a number of our priests are nearing retirement and experiencing health-related challenges. I am often called to substitute in different parishes in our own and in other jurisdictions, and I am keenly aware that we have a pressing need for priests. Churches are desperate for competent, well-educated clergy. A crisis due to the shortage of priests isn’t coming … it is already HERE.
People sometimes suggest that we ought to make the M.Div. degree available online, through virtual classrooms. What are your thoughts on this?
At St. Vladimir’s, I was formed in our Holy Tradition by extraordinary fathers and teachers. But the most powerful part of my seminary education didn’t happen in the classroom, as critical as the academics were to my formation; even more important was the time I spent on campus as a member of the community, living the liturgical life throughout the year, fasting and praying with the community—even carrying out my work assignment. (I was a fair assistant ecclesiarch, but took top marks for running the dishwasher in the refectory.) For this, there is NO substitute or shortcut.
Why do you continue to give your time and treasure to St. Vladimir’s?
On a personal level, the Seminary means a lot to me! I spent three of my first four years as an Orthodox Christian there, I met my wife there, we were married in Three Hierarchs Chapel (which was consecrated at the end of my first year), I was ordained to the diaconate there, and my entire liturgical foundation comes from there. The Seminary feels and always will feel like home to me.
What are your concerns for the Seminary and the Church at this juncture?
There was a time when people had great hope that we would achieve administrative unity among the various Orthodox jurisdictions in North America, and that we would finally be able to realize St. Tikhon’s vision for the church on this continent. St. Vladimir’s was at the center of this work—the beating heart of the liturgical revival in North America, promoter of the use of English in the services, trainer of generations of American-born clergy from almost every jurisdiction, publisher of a wealth of theological and spiritual material in English, and in the chapel, an exemplar of solid liturgical practice.
Sadly, in recent years it seems that the Church is suffering from much of the same splintering and fragmentation that are afflicting the world at large. We are being torn apart along geopolitical lines at the international level, and that’s on top of the longstanding ethnic and jurisdictional divisions in this country. Yet there’s one place that still holds the vision of Orthodox unity and works to strengthen it in the face of so much pressure and so many temptations, and that is St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The Seminary’s vocation—baked into its DNA from the very beginning—is to teach us everything we need to know to be the Orthodox Church our own time and place, while keeping us from getting so lost in church politics and the externals of Orthodoxy that we lose sight of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
St. Vladimir’s has stayed true to this vision, resisting the temptation to idolize certain aspects of Church life such as jurisdiction, ethnicity, liturgical practice or language. Outstanding SVOTS teachers and pastors, both alumni and those on campus now, continue to be leading lights for our Church.
Tell us a little about your background.
I grew up agnostic in a reformed Jewish family. We went to synagogue occasionally but weren’t especially observant. (My taste for bacon is life-long.) My first exposure to Christianity was through two high school friends who were Greek Orthodox and Presbyterian, respectively. I was curious about their faith and didn’t understand how two Christians could hold such different perspectives on God and Christ and sin and salvation. Over the course of many long walks and late evenings, we held intense conversations about Christianity.
I went off to college in Boston, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I earned a degree in Management. Throughout my first couple of years, I continued to think about the claims of Christ and Christianity, and tried to figure out what I believed and could believe in. In January of my sophomore year, I participated in an exchange program at Wellesley College, where I lived side by side with faculty and fellow students and enjoyed many late-night conversations on “deep things.” I also spent a lot of time in the library, where I first encountered Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s books, including his great classics For the Life and the World and Of Water and the Spirit. What he wrote about the church and the sacraments reinforced and complemented what I had learned from my Greek Orthodox friend in Pittsburgh. At the end of the month-long program, I decided that I wanted to become a Christian; one of the faculty members, a Methodist minister, baptized me in the college chapel. Interestingly enough, one of the participants in my baptism was a Greek Orthodox student from Wellesley. She gave me her cross, which I wear to this day; of course she knew I needed one if I was going to be baptized!
How did you first encounter Orthodoxy after your conversion to Christianity?
After my baptism, I had no idea how I was going to I tell my parents what I had done. As I prepared to go home for spring break, I wrote them a letter to let them know, and we all agreed we’d talk when I got home. During my visit, I went to the local Greek Orthodox parish for the Sunday service, expecting to see what Fr. Alexander had described so eloquently—but there was much more Greek in the Liturgy than I was prepared to deal with, and I didn’t feel quite like I belonged there. (My issue, not my hosts’!) I returned from the service somewhat discouraged and confused.
Reeling from my announcement that I was a Christian, my parents implored me not to make any other big decisions, so rather than immediately seeking to become Orthodox, I returned to Boston and started visiting a number of other churches. Ultimately, I joined a “high church” Episcopalian parish, which was a mission parish run by a nearby Anglican monastic community. I thought that this was perhaps as close as I could get to Orthodoxy in a form amenable to an English-speaking, non-ethnic American.
But the seed of Orthodoxy had been planted. A couple of years later, at the start of the second semester of my senior year, my Greek Orthodox friend from Pittsburgh came to Boston to start his seminary studies mid-year at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. I visited him in February, during Lent as it turned out, and the students on campus told me that Fr. Schmemann was in town and would be speaking that evening at “the Russian Cathedral” in Boston. So that night, I made my way to Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (OCA) to hear him speak. Something about the atmosphere of the place overcame me at once. The darkened church, lit only by purple votive lamps, the lack of pews, the icons—I was just floored. And then Fr. Alexander began speaking, talking specifically about all the barriers to Orthodoxy I had encountered on my journey. It was as if he was speaking directly to me! In that moment, I knew I wanted to become Orthodox, and—shockingly by present standards—I was received into the church just a few weeks later, on Holy Saturday. And just over a year after that, I entered St. Vladimir’s as a first-year seminarian.
You were a deacon for almost 33 years before your ordination to the Holy Priesthood. Tell us about that journey, and how it is to serve as a priest and a bank senior vice president simultaneously!
In my third year of seminary, I asked to have a parish assignment. I was in the OCA, and all my Antiochian friends had one, and it seemed like such an excellent idea. I asked Fr. Meyendorff about it, and he said that only ordained (OCA) students were permitted to be away from the chapel on Sunday mornings—so for that less-than-profound reason, I petitioned for ordination to the diaconate and was ordained in the seminary chapel on the Feast of St. Nicholas by my bishop, Archbishop Job. I graduated the following spring, but didn’t feel called at that time to take on full-time parish ministry—so when we returned to Boston, I went back to work at MIT, where I had worked for the year between college and St. Vlad’s. And the years passed!
Over the course of my 35-year career in business, I’ve worked at MIT, Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and since 2006, at Bank of America. God has been very good to me, and it’s been a wonderful experience. And finally, after many years of pondering the question of my calling to the priesthood, with the support of Marta and my kids and my priest and my bishop and my metropolitan (and a dear priestmonk friend on Athos), “No” and “Not yet” became “YES!,” and I petitioned for ordination. I was ordained by Bishop John in Worcester just about two years ago, on October 22, 2017.
Over most of those years, I seemed to me I had separate personas that I put on and took off as needed: my work persona (Jeff), my Church persona (Dn. Seraphim), even my family persona (Dad). When I hit my 50s, somehow I lost interest in keeping all of those identities compartmentalized and separate. It took too much work to maintain the partitions, and I had, over the years, became comfortable enough in my own skin that I could just be me, wherever I went and in whichever context. Besides, I found that each part of my life could inform each of the other parts in unexpected and beneficial ways.
For instance, I’ve benefited from lots of management training and leadership development courses over the years, and have experience in carrying out the responsibilities that come with leading teams—both difficult ones (laying people off) and satisfying ones (coaching them to help them grow and improve). This kind of experience can help in pastoral situations, when either compassionate firmness or firm support are required. Conversely, there are many pastoral skills that can be helpful to anyone who manages other people or works closely with peers and partners. Throughout, I’ve always felt that my ministry was to my colleagues and co-workers as well as to my parishioners. That I go by different names, and even wear different clothes while carrying out that ministry, became less and less important as time went on.
The Very Rev. Dr. Alexander Rentel wears several hats at St. Vladimir’s Seminary as the assistant professor of Canon Law and Byzantine Studies, The John and Paraskeva Skvir Lecturer in Practical Theology, and the director of the Master of Divinity Program. Yet one of his most important duties in recent years has been performed away from the Yonkers, NY campus, as he has served the wider church as Consultant for Canonical Affairs for the Orthodox Church inA member of the OCA's Statute Revision Task Force, Fr. Alexander and other canon law experts have been conducting a painstaking review and revision of the current text of the OCA Statute, under the leadership of The Most Rev. Nathaniel, archbishop of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate.
"This job is important at both a theoretical and a practical level,” says Fr. Alexander. “Our work must conform to the rigors of the canonical tradition and the day-to-day practice of the Church. While a challenge, it is also exhilarating.”
In addition to Archbishop Nathaniel and Fr. Alexander, other task force members include Igumen Daniel (Brum), The Very Rev. Dimitri Cozby and The Very Rev. Dr. John Erickson (former St. Vladimir’s dean), the Task Force Secretary Fr. Ioan Cozma, Judge E.R. Lanier, and OCA Archivist Alexis Liberovsky. The results of their review and revision process will be vetted by the clergy and faithful of the OCA, with final approval to come at the July 2015 18th All American Council.
In his role as the OCA’s Consultant for Canonical Affairs, Fr. Alexander also taught a class at the Diocese of New York and New Jersey’s Clergy Conference in early September. Held at the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Church in Clifton, NJ, the conference offered courses towards continuing education hours for clergy, one of which was Fr. Alexander’s class,”Questions of Canon Law.” The diocese Website noted that Professor Rentel offered “specific examples and thought-provoking examinations of consistencies and ‘gray areas’ of canonical understanding and practice, all focusing on the essential integrity and ultimate unity of faith represented in the fullness of the Body of Christ.”
Read about the first and second Task Force meetings.
OCF student leaders meet in Dallas, August 2014From August 13–16, 2014, I traveled to Dallas, TX, to meet with the student leaders for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). At their Student Leadership Institute (SLI), I offered a presentation on Conflict Resolution. Fifteen collegians, three administrators with the Fellowship, His Grace Bishop Gregory, primate of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., and Managing Director of Holy Trinity Publications Nicholas Chapman, joined this outstanding group for a time of prayer and discussion, as they prepared to face the challenges of the coming 2014–2015 academic year.
Bishop Gregory, the liaison between OCF and the Assembly of Bishops, offered a wonderful talk and celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and Nicholas gave a presentation on the history of Orthodoxy in the United States.
During the Institute, the students discussed at length how they would cooperate, plan, network and strengthen the OCF chapters in their area. There are about 200 OCF Chapters, and thus the 15 student leaders each have a sizable group of chapters to coordinate. Despite the daunting task ahead of them, the student leaders are clearly committed to Christ and to spreading His Word on college campuses, and are energetically working to strengthen OCF. They have planned a myriad of activities for the upcoming year, including three geographically separate College Conferences over Christmas break, many Real Break ministry trips to varied countries, and other regional retreats.
I was deeply moved by my interactions with them; they inspired me to work harder to do all I can for collegians, and I certainly am stronger in my faith after my time with them.
Dr. Al Rossi teaches courses in pastoral theology at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and is the Director of Field Education. He was a member of the SCOBA Commission on Contemporary Social and Moral Issues. He has written numerous articles on psychology and religion and published a book through Paulist Press entitled, Can I Make a Difference: Christian Family Life Today. After teaching at Pace University for 24 years, he retired as Associate Professor of Psychology, and is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York. His podcast on Ancient Faith Radio is titled Becoming a Healing Presence.
A homily delivered in the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary on the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple and Zacchaeus Sunday (Sunday, February 2, 2014).
Today, as we celebrate the meeting of Christ and the righteous Simeon and Anna, in the temple, we come to an end of a series of feasts that have taken us through the darkness of the long and cold winter nights: a series of feasts bringing out different aspects of God's search or outreach to us: the Word becoming flesh in the small dark cavern, in the depths of the earth, the manifestation of God to us, through the passage through the waters.
And now, in obedience to the Mosaic Law, forty days after his birth, Christ, the first-born son, is brought to the temple so that he might complete the law, and the law might be completed by him.
Being brought to the temple, he is met by the righteous elder Simeon and the prophetess Anna: the old now passes, and the new has come, and the place where they meet, where the old meets the new and the new is revealed, is in the Temple, the place to which Jesus is brought as a sacrifice.
We heard last night in the readings from Isaiah that it was in the temple that Isaiah saw the Lord of glory enthroned and prophesied, that this same Lord would be worshipped by none other than the Egyptians—the biblical symbol of the gentiles hostile to Israel and their God. Now these words are fulfilled: Christ is brought into the temple, and he rests in the arms of the elder as on a throne. Israel's glory has dawned in Christ, who is the light of revelation to the Gentiles. And now that Israel has accomplished its task of bringing the Messiah into the world, Simeon can depart in peace: the promises made in the beginning to Abraham about the calling of the nations are now fulfilled, so that in Abraham's seed, all nations of the world are now blessed.
The very age of the righteous elder and the prophetess indicate the passing away of the ancient customs, the rituals and prescriptions, for these were only ever, as the apostle puts it, a shadow of the good things to come whereas the reality belongs to Christ, the one who was received in the arms of the elder, the one who was to cause the fall and rising again of many in Israel, the one who thus bestows upon us the resurrection—the new creation. All this, the righteous elder Simeon sees, and more: he foresees the pain that would wound the one who gave birth painlessly to the Son of God, that he will be a sign spoken against—but a sign that therefore reveals the thoughts of our hearts.
Today then, standing in the temple with Simeon, we do indeed come to the completion of the movement of God towards us, so that we can also say, let us depart in peace: the glory of God is revealed, enlightening those who sat in darkness.
But if the movement of God towards us is completed in this way, our movement now begins. We must begin to set our own sights upon the journey to Jerusalem, something we are reminded about by the second Gospel reading today: that about Zacchaeus—which alerts us to the coming pre-Lenten Sundays. If this movement of God towards us is indeed light coming into the world, enlightening those who sit in darkness, then there are various points of which we should take note.
Firstly, it means that we must recognize that we are indeed the ones who have been sitting in darkness. Only now, in the light of Christ, can we begin to realize how dark indeed has been our supposedly enlightened world and our all-too-human behavior, however decent, civilized, polite, it may seem. And, recognizing that we are the ones sitting in darkness, our response should be as Zacchaeus: not simply waiting around on the off-chance that the Lord will pass by, but, the Gospel says, he eagerly sought the Lord; he demonstrated an intense desire to seek him out, to actively find him.
The second point would be that as we begin to allow his light to shine upon us and in us, we will certainly begin to understand what it means that he is a sign spoken against, revealing the thoughts of our hearts; for as we begin to try to live by this sign, we will assuredly find all our resistances coming to the surface, all the reasons, the thoughts of our hearts which usually remain unconscious, all the reasons why we should do otherwise, or with less enthusiasm or zeal, or perhaps start tomorrow. In other words, the light that we are given enables us to see ourselves as we truly are, a feat that St Isaac says is greater than raising the dead. This is our own path to Golgotha. And, as with Zacchaeus, this requires recognizing how we stand. The Gospel reading places great emphasis on Zacchaeus' small stature. He was short. Zacchaeus knew that he had to be lifted up, up from this earth, to see the Lord, and he does this by ascending the tree, an image of taking up the cross. Our problem, on the other hand, is that we do not know this: we think that we are something, something great and grand, someone important, with our own sense of self-worth.
We are indeed important and valuable in God's eyes: out of love for us, he came to dwell among us, to save, redeem, and recreate us. But it is all too easy for our own sense of well-being and self-worth to get in the way, to prevent us from even realizing that we stand in need of what God has to offer; we spend most of our lives in delusion, not knowing that we are, in fact, small, needy, sinful, before him: it is for the sinners that he has come, to call them to repentance, not those who imagine themselves to be basically alright, needing Christ only for an extra religious element to their lives.
And finally, although we have been given so much more to see than was Simeon (we have repeatedly been present at his birth, his baptism, his passion and his resurrection), we have not yet really begun to see the Lord as did Simeon: to know that he is indeed our rest, our eternal rest, to find in him the peace that keeps us in peace throughout the storms of the sea of life, rather than being blown about from one crisis to the next, from one emotional bruise to another, or from one preoccupying thought to yet another habituated action that we will regret. Rather, what is required of us, to find this peace, is the repentance shown by Zacchaeus: a ready repentance, a change of mind, manifest not only in how we feel about things, but how we act: "half my goods I give to the poor; and will restore fourfold what I have defrauded."
It is in these ways that we move from sitting in darkness to being enlightened by the light of God—the light that is also the peace of God. So let us pray that we may also learn to meet Jesus in the temple, so that we might also find in him the completion of our heart's desire, and so ourselves come to know his mercy and peace; for this, as we will sing shortly, is the true sacrifice of praise.
Although originally hailing from Washington state and Chicago, respectively, Fr. William and Matushka Jillian Rettig have counted the Upper Midwest as home for over fifteen years. They met and married in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul and were parishioners of Holy Trinity, St. Paul before being prodded to consider seminary in 2013. After graduating from St. Vladimir's in 2016, Fr. William was assigned to Holy Resurrection Mission (now Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church) in Fargo, ND. The Rettigs make their home just across the Red River of the North in Minnesota, where they keep busy caring for their two children, Adelheid and Eben, and their sprawling garden.
During The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield’s Parish Administration class at seminary, Fr. Chad issued a challenge that stayed with Fr. William Rettig when he assumed the leadership of Holy Resurrection Church in Fargo, North Dakota.
Fr. William and Matushka Jillian Rettig and their two children, Adelheid and Eben“When Fr. Chad was talking about a parish budget, he noted that if every church in the OCA gave 1% of their budget to OCA seminaries, all three of them would be fully funded! His point was that with a small amount—if every parish did its part—we could fund a seminary education for every worthy candidate.”
Continues Fr. William, “We are so grateful that our sending parish Holy Trinity in St. Paul gives to the seminaries; between this and the St. Vlad’s debt-free tuition program, Mat. Jillian and I started our ministry unhampered by debt.”
Father William believes that parishes should create an atmosphere of charity. In his very first year at Holy Resurrection, the parish council embraced the challenge to offer a 1% tithe to St. Vladimir’s.
“My experience at St Vladimir’s was stellar and the education, world class—I wanted to make sure that opportunity would be available to other potential clergy.
“The mission of the Church extends way beyond our corner of the world here in Fargo, North Dakota,” he adds. “We are part of the universal Church. Since that first year when we took a leap of faith to give out of our budget, our parish council has increased our donations to organizations. Rather than suffering financially, this practice has encouraged our relationships with others outside the parish and increased our cohesion with other ministries within the Orthodox Church. No longer in ’survival mode,’ our bishop and dean aspire to see us become a missional presence to the whole of North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
“We’ve learned that the gift for us is in the giving and in the sacrifice, when we let go of that thing we realize was never ours to begin with. God has blessed us with this opportunity to be in the place of God, the Giver. We don’t want to be like the ungrateful servant who, when he was released from his giant debt, turned around and demanded money from his debtor; instead, we seek to be generous after the model of Christ.”
Theophany prayers over the Red RiverIn response to the question, “So how is life in North Dakota?” Fr. William laughs.
“Some people make a comment to the effect of, ‘Just what did you do wrong to be sent to the American Siberia?’ But actually, Bishop Paul (OCA Diocese of the Midwest) made a good case for us of why we would fit here and he was right. We both grew up in colder, northern US states so this is our comfort zone; by God’s grace, Mat. Jillian and I both feel at home in the culture and we believe we are meant to be here.”
When the Rettigs arrived at Holy Resurrection, the parish had been without a priest for over a year. However, a small group of committed parishioners had been conducting reader services so that a foundation was laid and the laity felt invested in the parish.
“We were told we would be ‘mission planting’ when we came, but God has blessed us beyond what we expected,” Fr. William says. “That first Sunday we ministered to a hundred souls rather than the forty we were anticipating. We’ve already outgrown our facility and we’re in the process of purchasing a new building.”
Holy Resurrection’s “culture of outreach” also extends to local college students.
“Many college students come through our doors and we’re at a point where we’re hoping to see an Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) started. We’re also a very young parish with as many as 30-40 children on any given Sunday; sometimes Sunday morning liturgy ‘has to be shouted’ but we welcome the awesome responsibility of raising the next generation in the Faith.”
Somewhat unexpectedly, Fr. William says that the largest single ethnic group at Holy Resurrection is Eritrean/Ethiopian.
The growing and pan-Orthodox parish of Holy Resurrection, Fargo, ND“Here in Fargo it’s a happy accident that we get all ethnic groups. Because we're one of the only Orthodox communities in town, everybody comes through our doors. It's such a picture of what Orthodoxy should look like.”
Father credits St. Vladimir’s with modeling ecumenical engagement for him “…in the proper, truest, best, sense of the word. The Seminary doesn’t water down the differences between Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, for instance, yet recognizes the common ground and has formed lasting partnerships with institutions like St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. Now that I’m dealing with various Orthodox ethnic groups in my parish, I’m very grateful for that example.”
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Many St. Vladimir’s Parish Partners give as a result of the resolution passed by the OCA in 2011 encouraging the support of a “seminary of its choice through a sacrificial gift of a 1% minimum of its annual operating budget." Organizations become our Parish Partners, investing in the mission of the Church by providing a monthly, quarterly, or annual contribution to the Seminary. If you would like more information about this program, please contact Maria Kouloumbis at 914-961-8313, ext. 360, for details.
Director of Field Education and Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Theology Dr. Albert Rossi has been a quiet, steady presence at St. Vladimir's Seminary for twenty years. Yet much of his work has also been done in venues around the country where he leads parish and youth retreats. A former Associate Professor of Psychology at Pace University and a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York, Dr. Rossi loves his work both on and off campus, and when he is not speaking in a classroom or at a retreat, he is preparing another podcast for Ancient Faith Radio on "Becoming a Healing Presence."
"Orthodox Christians as healers" is the theme that runs through all of Dr. Rossi's work. "I give about twelve retreats each year," notes Prof. Rossi. "In September 2013, for instance, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology The Rev. Dr. Nicholas Solak and I led an all-day retreat on Conflict Resolution for the Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Three bishops, the OCA's chancellor, and many of the Council members attended." The seminar was an abbreviated version of the class he and Fr. Nick taught during their 2013 SVOTS summer workshop on the same topic.
As is typical for Dr. Rossi, he broke out of the formal lecture format during the Metropolitan Council retreat, allowing for extensive interaction through group discussion. Attendees discussed several guiding principles and Orthodox theological perspectives on resolving conflict. "They talked in a serious and transparent way," notes Dr. Rossi. "Afterwards, the participants expressed much gratitude for the retreat, specifically mentioning the focus on inner stillness, which they felt would be most useful for them in their Council deliberations.
"I am heartened by the interaction of people at these retreats," he adds. "I learn from them! Those who come want to interact with one another, and grow closer to Christ—it's an encouragement to me."
While soft spoken, Dr. Rossi doesn't shy away from difficult topics. In addition to specializing in conflict resolution, he also leads retreats on the theme "From Pornography to Purity," such as the recent September pan-Orthodox gathering in Lima, Ohio hosted by St. Stephen the First Martyr Orthodox Mission (pastored by SVOTS alumnus The Very Rev. Mark Hodges). "It was a fine group of people," says Prof. Rossi, "and we engaged in a great deal of discussion. My accent was on solutions, but first it was important for us to have a clear notion of right and wrong, and to understand that the use of pornography really does diminish the viewer's ability to relate and to love."
Addictions are real, emphasizes Dr. Rossi, and healing can only begin when the addict establishes accountability and transparency. As a positive outgrowth of the September retreat, St. Stephen will be hosting a support group for people struggling with sexual addictions.
A former member of a Roman Catholic religious order who later joined the Orthodox Church and raised a family, Dr. Rossi has a keen appreciation for the struggles of Orthodox Christians and communities, whether in a seminary setting or in the local parish. "St. Vladimir's isn't a citadel," he notes. "Whether we live in Crestwood, NY or Lima, OH, our need for spiritual health and healing is the same."
In the last few years, St. Vladimir’s Seminary has seen an increase in students from the Serbian Church. Recently, SVOTS received a generous $25,000 gift earmarked for scholarships to Serbian students, from two recently reposed parishioners who left bequests through Holy Resurrection Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church in Steubenville, OH.
The bequests of the parishioners stipulated that the funds be used for seminary education. It was up to Holy Resurrection’s Executive Board to decide where the funds should be distributed, and they selected St. Vladimir’s Seminary, adding to the amount of the bequests with a contribution from the parish itself.
Holy Resurrection, a parish in the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America, has been pastored by Class of ’18 alumnus Fr. Stefan Djoric since June 2019. Originally from Čačak, Serbia, Fr. Stefan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theology from the University of Belgrade before “crossing the pond” to earn two theological degrees from St. Vladimir’s: the Master of Arts and the Master of Theology. He will shortly begin a remote Ph.D. program under the auspices of Münster University in Germany.
“As I’m starting my doctoral program, I know that because of the Seminary I’m more than prepared to begin working on a doctoral thesis,” he says.
Father Stefan explains why his parish selected St. Vladimir’s as the beneficiary of the two planned gifts. “While I was a student at St. Vladimir’s, two people from the Holy Resurrection board came for a visit. The hospitality extended towards these leaders left a very positive impression on them. Father Chad offered them a tour and gave generously of his time, introducing them to the campus and all aspects of its ministry to Serbian students. They liked what they saw!
“I am glad that the check from Holy Resurrection arrived safely at St. Vladimir’s,” continues Fr. Stefan. “With all the help I received from the Seminary, the least I could do was encourage our parish’s board to direct the scholarship bequest money to St. Vladimir’s. This is my time to repay SVOTS for what I received. Father Chad fought for me like a lion so that I could come to seminary; I had zero money but Fr. Chad said, ‘Come — everything will be covered.’ I think he also joked about needing a shooting guard for the annual basketball matchup with St. Tikhon’s!”
The formative years of seminary are often life-changing for students. Father Stefan explains why he values his St. Vladimir’s education now that he and Popadija Marina are active in ministry. “Becoming acquainted with the American Orthodox culture through St. Vladimir’s gave me a tremendous foundation so that I could better understand the mentality of American Orthodox people.
“In our parish,” he continues, “we have third and fourth generation Serbian members who are more American than Serbian in some ways. Studying at St. Vladimir’s prepared me to be a good shepherd to them. For instance, the Serbian style of preaching is very different; it’s very serious and there is no room for jokes, but in the United States it’s preferable to employ humor in a homily from time to time.”
Father says that the community life at St. Vladimir’s was also foundational for him. “Living in an Orthodox community, you are blessed because you discover that many people are willing to assist you in any way. This leaves a lasting impression on you and gives you a model of humble service.”
“You also learn,” adds Fr. Stefan, “that every community comes with all kinds of people! Some annoy you, some are easy for you to get along with; you have to accept this. Since you know you will see these people every day, you learn to work on yourself to heal the sore spots in your own personality! In this way, just by living alongside people day in and day out, you begin to value humility and patience, and how to be less self-centered.”
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Interested in learning more about including St. Vladimir’s Seminary in your estate planning? Please contact us at (914) 961-8313 ext. 328, or advancement@svots.edu.
“I’ve been associated with St. Vladimir’s Seminary for forty years,” says Dr. Glenn Kubina, Ear, Nose, & Throat specialist, St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) trustee emeritus, and longtime Seminary supporter. “Orthodox Christians often talk about the importance of SVOTS, and yet the Seminary doesn’t always get the sustained attention that it needs. This is one reason why I’ve included St. Vladimir’s in my planned giving portfolio.”
During his tenure as a trustee, Glenn began to understand the foundational role of planned giving in enabling the ministry of the Seminary. “In my twenty-plus years as a trustee, I learned to give at all levels in order to actively participate in supporting the Seminary,” he notes. “Years ago I decided to purchase a life insurance policy that will benefit St. Vladimir’s after I repose.
“That final gift that you give is so important. At the end of our lives, nearly everyone has something to give, whether we’re wealthy or not,” he explains. “If we plan ahead of time to give part of our estate to St. Vladimir’s, it can be an amazing way to leave a lasting legacy. We shouldn't let our fears keep us from making these commitments. What better way is there for people of either modest means or wealth to make a significant gift that will help to bring up new leaders for the Church, than by giving at the end of our lives?"
Dr. Kubina says he also owes his commitment to “giving forward” to the incredible tenure of SVOTS’ Senior Advisor for Advancement Ted Bazil, who manages the Seminary’s Planned Giving program.
“It’s very unusual for a school to enjoy the kind of institutional stability that St. Vladimir’s has experienced, thanks to the commitment of Ted Bazil, who has served in one capacity or another for over fifty years and now manages the Planned Gift program.”
What has motivated a busy Orthodox Christian doctor with many bids for his time to sustain this level of commitment to St. Vladimir’s over four decades? Glenn explains, “The Seminary has had such a seminal influence on the Orthodox Church—certainly in America, but even throughout the world. Every well-trained priest touches the lives of countless parishioners from childhood on up. Helping to educate these priests became very important to me from early in my journey as an Orthodox Christian, because I could see the impact they have on the entire Church.
“The giants in theology have always been at St. Vladimir’s,” he continues. “Every year on that Yonkers campus are young people who would be successful at anything they wanted to do; instead, they are making this huge sacrifice to be a priest, a priest’s wife, a priest’s children. Who is going to pay for them?
“To put it in business terms,” adds Glenn, “the Seminary is turning out a high quality ‘product.’ Yet that ‘product’ isn’t for the benefit of the institution but for the whole Church. Somebody has to pay for the priests, educators, choir directors, and youth leaders who graduate from St. Vladimir’s year after year. That job belongs to us.”
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Interested in learning more about the Seminary’s Planned Giving options? Please contact us at advancement@svots.edu or 914.961.8313, ext. 328.
Bio:
Dr. Glenn Kubina is a board-certified otolaryngologist who has practiced medicine at Mid-Kansas Ear, Nose & Throat Associates in Wichita, Kansas for forty years. An Orthodox Christian who converted from Roman Catholicism forty years ago, Glenn served as a St. Vladimir’s Trustee for over two decades. He credits the Seminary for helping him in his spiritual journey through the books of SVS Press and the priests and hierarchs who are SVOTS alumni. He attends St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, the diocesan home of His Grace Bishop Basil (SVOTS Class of 1973). He and his wife Nancy are the proud parents and grandparents of five children and twelve grandchildren.
Fr. Elias Dorham serves as the Associate Priest at Holy Transfiguration parish in McLean, VA. He and Presvytera Sylvia have been married for twenty-seven years and have ten children and two grandchildren. His professional experience includes active duty military service, federal service, and private sector cybersecurity. He holds a B.S. in Political Science from the United States Naval Academy, an M.S. in Information Systems Technology from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an M.A. in Theological Studies from Christendom College Graduate School of Theology. He is currently a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) candidate at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.
Tell us a little about your background, Father.
I could not have designed my life’s path myself and yet I see God’s hand in all of it!
I was born and raised in San Francisco; my mom was 16, and I was brought up by my grandparents and also enjoyed a warm relationship with my mom. My happiest childhood memories center on the time when there were four generations of our family living in a single city block.
I wasn’t raised in any kind of a religious context. In college at the U.S. Naval Academy, I began to feel that something was missing in my life. Ironically I ended up finding (rather than losing!) my faith in college, and was baptized as a Roman Catholic there.
At some point after this, I discovered those Eastern churches that were in communion with Rome and began attending Eastern liturgies; my wife and I continued in this practice for a while after our marriage, even driving an hour each way with several children to attend. We came to love the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the way the Eastern churches worship! However, due to the distances involved, we eventually went back to attending the Roman Catholic Church for a time, due to practical reasons.
After I left the Navy in the late 2000s, I began to deeply sense the call to ministry, and also began to feel less comfortable worshiping in the [Roman] Catholic Mass. I began to study theology at the master’s level and during this chapter ended up at a Melkite Church. Fortunately for me, while some of the Eastern Catholic bishops are reluctant to ordain married men, our bishop was very committed to making this happen, so this fall I was ordained to the Holy Priesthood and am attached as the associate priest in a vibrant parish, Holy Transfiguration Greek Melkite Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia.
How did you end up at St. Vladimir’s?
Due to my stint in as a Naval officer for fifteen years, I could afford a theological education. The government has paid for the majority of my theological education through the GI Bill, and then the SVOTS Danilchick Foundation has paid for the rest!
I’ve been very moved by the St. Vladimir’s experience—it’s an incredible blessing to be a part of this community. In fact, this is why I’ve actually become a donor to St. Vladimir’s. I identify with the SVOTS vision and it is a vision that has benefitted me tremendously.
Father Sergius Halvorsen, D.Min. [director of the D.Min. program], was very cordial and helpful in the process of my application and acceptance. Coming to pastoral ministry later in life, I realized that on the one hand, I did bring some applicable professional skills from military life—organizational skills and principles, and an understanding how to work with people. I had some of the soft skills that you need in order to work with people. Yet I also recognized that the world we’re living in now is very different than the world we were living in even twenty years ago, and I felt I needed additional tools to be more effective in ministry.
What’s a Christian to do in such a contentious culture?
A lot of the strife we’re seeing in the United States is tied up with the outworking of Western culture. The Eastern churches are not well known and when most people think of Christianity they think of the Latin Rite Catholic or Protestant traditions. Christianity is misunderstood because it’s too tied to the Western framework. So when people reject Western culture they reject the Christian faith too. Yet when we’re able to get people to listen to us, they begin to think that perhaps what they think is Christianity is really a misconception; that perhaps what they think they know, they don’t know. What is being recorded as a loss of religiosity might more accurately be assessed as people stepping away from more traditional, Western formulations of faith.
We can engage seekers in conversation, hear them out, and look for places of commonality, and find the bridges that can be crossed. People often still believe in a higher being, even when they don’t realize that they do—you learn this when you begin to probe a little deeper, asking them, “What do you think and believe personally about God?”
Some of the atheism in our culture is a social veneer in this new emergent “woke” environment. The D.Min. program really equipped us to lean into uncomfortable conversations, to realize that if our faith is true, then we do have the tools and resources to encounter people who say “I’m not very religious.” Well, ok, but then let’s have conversations about other things! Let’s find out where we can find common ground as human beings and then let’s have religious conversations without using religious words.
We need to realize that there are some deeply held American values that are a part of “who we are as Americans,” so to speak, that are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to stop identifying our faith with our citizenship. The early Christians were good citizens as part of their faith, rendering unto Caesar the things which were Caesar’s and to God the things which were God’s. They didn’t confuse the two. We’ve forgotten what belongs to God. If there’s anything left over after Caesar or ourselves, only then do we render unto God.
What was your experience like with the Seminary’s D.Min. program?
The onsite classes really make the program so rich, and at the onsite closed-door sessions we often asked, “How do we practically apply all these concepts in our pastoral work? In this place and time, how do we take this patristic wisdom and apply it?”
We learned that we might have to think differently about uncomfortable situations. Sometimes our theological constructs just don’t map directly to the situation on the ground! Our pastoral realities are rarely neat and simple. Life is messy, and so to be able to sit in a room with other clergy coming from different backgrounds and contexts, and talk openly about things that are troubling all of us and then exploring pastoral solutions, was a rich and formative experience.
Last November we were on campus (pre-COVID) and the trustees asked us to come and address them. One trustee asked me if the D.Min. had equipped me for ministry. My answer referred him to something very close to home. Like many of us, I have several adult children. Some of them are walking the path of the culture right now rather than the path of faith, but I can have conversations with my adult children and bridge distances that I would not have been able to bridge a few years ago.
In Fr. John’s class we read books by modern secular people; now I understand “the other” in a way I wouldn’t have prior to the D.Min. Reading these books I would think, “Oh! I’ve heard this very thing come out of the mouth of a certain adult family member I know. That’s where it came from! How fascinating!” In the D.Min. we were reading books and articles both by Christians and by atheists in parallel, and thus we developed a context for modern objections to the Faith. We learned there are readily accessible answers for those who are truly seeking God. But we don’t take this information and bludgeon someone over the head with it. Instead, we work to internalize the information and when the objections come up, we can say, “That’s interesting, I can see where you’re coming from…but have you ever thought about this, or that?”
One of the greatest tools I’ve been given in the D.Min. program is the facility to communicate the outworking of gospel principles in a pastoral setting. It’s impacted my counseling, it’s impacted my apologetics, it’s impacted my homilies, it’s impacted my writing. Just across the board. Plus I have a great list of books to recommend to people. (laughter)
How is the program structured?
It’s very focused and intense: eight weeks of academics offsite, two classes at a time. The ninth week is reading week, and then the tenth week is an onsite intensive week that runs twelve hours a day as we discuss, critique, present, and defend our courses of study. The capstone of the academic term is when we present to the cohort the topic of our next paper and get and give feedback. Time and again the pastoral approach is applied and emphasized.
It’s an interesting cycle; the D.Min. starts with an orientation term in which you are getting familiar with the program and instructors. By the end of the first term the cohort has interacted directly with each other on multiple occasions and a sense of kinship develops. In my cohort, we came from the Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, OCA, Methodist, and Eritrean Orthodox traditions—all standing on common ground. You don’t often find this outside the context of St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
I would recommend the program 100%. To wrestle with the culture we find ourselves in today, a good number of clergy and laypeople really need to have advanced education in these areas. Our jurisdictions would do well to be putting people through programs like this on a regular basis. Building a cadre of ministers lay and clergy who are properly equipped to advance the mission of the world in the Church today is essential.
Tell us about your final D.Min. project.
The project is meant to shape the focus of the D.Min. candidate’s ministry. You chose a topic directly applicable to your work. I’m planning to research the dynamics of the first five to ten years of marriage. How do you take the experience of conflict in marriage, especially in those early years, and look at that from the perspective of marriage as a path towards holiness and an opportunity for growth? I work with a number of younger couples in my ministry and I can see that Christian marriages desperately need a better approach. We have a high divorce rate partly because we are failing to give couples the tools they need early on. Eastern Christians see the spiritual life as healing and wholeness. In other words: “I’m responding out of my own brokenness, and you’re responding out of your own brokenness; how can we heal together?”
