Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary has begun concluding its special year of celebration in honor of former dean and renowned theologian Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann (September 13, 1921–December 13, 1983). The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of Fr. Alexander's birth.
On December 13, 2021, the date of Fr. Alexander's remembrance in the Church, the Seminary released another powerful, timeless message resurrected from archived recordings of Schmemann. In it, Fr. Alexander speaks of two fundamental reductions of Christianity, which endure in our day, that obscure what is "horribly difficult"—but truly life-giving—about following Jesus Christ.
The "Year of Schmemann" celebrations kicked off Tuesday, January 26, 2021 with the release of an unearthed recording of Schmemann (embedded below). His words, captured decades ago—on a recording that had recently come into the Seminary's possession—are anything but dated. They are further proof that Fr. Alexander remains "A Voice for Our Time."
Celebrations continued Saturday, January 30, 2021 with The 38th Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture. The online event coincided with the release of the book, A Voice for Our Time: Radio Liberty Talks, Vol. 1, featuring an English translation of Schmemann’s broadcasts into the Soviet Union. New York Times bestselling author Rod Dreher, who wrote the foreword for the book, delivered this year’s lecture. The second volume from St. Vladimir's Seminary (SVS) Press is forthcoming.
On March 17, 2021 St. Vladimir's launched the new podcast, Schmemann Speaks, featuring the words and wisdom of Fr. Alexander from the archives of the Seminary. Listen to the latest episodes below, or subscribe and download Schmemann Speaks on your favorite platforms (Spotify, iTunes, Google Music, and more to come).
May the memory of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann be eternal!
A lot of people have been talking about the new book, Science and the Christian Faith(SVS Press), since its release in January. Later this month, have a chat with the author of the popular book himself, Fr. Christopher C. Knight, as he tackles the question, “are science and Christianity in conflict?”
Join The Rev. Dr. Christopher C. Knight and SVS Press Foundations Series Editor Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff online Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. EST for the virtual book launch of Science and the Christian Faith: A Guide for the Perplexed. They’ll host a discussion about the book and its implications for Christians.
There is no cost to attend the webinar, but you must sign up before the registration period ends February 22 at 11 p.m.
About the Author
Christopher C. Knight holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics and serves as a priest of the Orthodox Church. He is a senior research associate of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, England.
About the Foundations Series
Testifying to the faith and creativity of the Orthodox Christian Church, the Foundations Series draws upon the riches of its tradition to address the modern world. The series’ survey texts are suitable both for preliminary inquiry and deeper investigation, in the classroom and for personal study. Foundations Series Editor Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff is an internationally recognized professor of Orthodox theology who teaches at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY.
---
Registration to attend the Virtual Book Launch of Science and the Christian Faith is now closed. A recording of the event is available here.
To stand for the sanctity of human life, St. Vladimir’s Seminary will participate in a virtual March for Life January 28 with the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).
Saint Vladimir’s and sister seminary St. Tikhon’s join His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon each year at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. This year, due to pandemic, the seminaries will instead join the OCA at an online rally for the lives of the unborn.
His Beatitude will lead a prayer service and deliver a message at St. Vladimir’s Three Hierarchs Chapel to begin the virtual march. That will be followed by a talk from Dr. Ana Iltis, professor and director of the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society at Wake Forest University and professor of philosophy at St. Vladimir's Seminary. Three more speakers will then offer reflections.
The event will be hosted by St. Vladimir’s Alumnus Fr. Thomas Soroka starting at 7:30 p.m. EST. The livestream will be available at OCA.org/live as well as the OCA Facebook and YouTube pages.
On-campus Gathering • By Deborah (Malacky) Belonick
Logan Johnson and Sarah Johnson, future hospital chaplains.Fellow students honored two senior seminarians this past Sunday with a small reception that recognized their recent great accomplishments. Seniors Logan Johnson and Sarah Johnson (no family relation!), who will graduate this spring with Master of Divinity degrees, have been accepted into highly competitive and prestigious full-time CPE (i.e., Clinical Pastoral Education) programs, starting in August 2012. The programs will prepare them to be certified hospital and institutional chaplains.
"The CPE residency program I am joining is at Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast in Concord, North Carolina—part of the medical system in the Charlotte area," noted Sarah. "It is in a community-oriented hospital that really impressed me as a positive atmosphere in which pastoral care is recognized and respected by the whole staff. This residency will help me prepare for board certification as a chaplain. I am really excited about this opportunity and look forward to starting the program in August."
And Logan, commenting on his upcoming residency at Cleveland Clinic (ranked fourth in the nation by US News and World Report), explained, "The CPE residency at Cleveland Clinic is within the Center for Ethics, Humanities and Spiritual Care, and residents minister to over 1,400 patients, their families, and the hospital staff. Patients come across the world for treatment, and I am excited to be part of a team that cares for such a culturally and religiously diverse population.
At the reception, students congratulated Sarah and Logan, offering a hearty "Axios" and "Axia" in recognition of their hard work, and offering encouragement for their upcoming challenges.
Icon of St. Panteleimon, the Unmercenary HealerThis coming fall semester, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) will become a requirement for all new students enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at the seminary. This means that beginning in academic year 2012–2013, incoming seminarians who are M.Div. candidates will be required to complete 400 hours of hospital visitation and related self-reflection under the watchful eye and direction of a certified CPE supervisor.
“And that’s great news,” says Dr. Albert S. Rossi, adjunct professor of Pastoral Theology and supervisor of Hospital Field Ministry at St. Vladimir’s. “Our students will be receiving training that’s ‘off-the-charts’ enlightening: CPE will not only challenge our seminarians to face their own fears and demons regarding providing pastoral care and their own prejudices, but it also will provide them with skills that are transferable to their future pastoral ministries.
“This new requirement will benefit our seminarians greatly,” Dr. Rossi continued. “Besides earning 1 full CPE unit from an accredited CPE program, they will be simultaneously earning 3 academic credits counted toward their M.Div. degree.
“More importantly,” Dr. Rossi noted, “they will hone their listening skills and discover the value of being ‘present’ to hurting people. I always claim that ‘listening is love delivered’—whether that’s in a hospital setting or at a church coffee hour—and learning to listen is exactly what CPE will train our students to do.”
Clinical Pastoral Education began in 1925 as a form of theological education that takes place in clinical settings where ministry is being practiced: hospitals and health care facilities; hospices; psychiatric and community care facilities; geriatric and rehabilitation centers; and even parish-based settings. In the case of St. Vladimir’s seminarians, all CPE learning will take place in hospital settings, either during their Middler academic year or during their summer recesses.
“For many years,” noted Dr. Rossi, “our seminarians were required to do 100 hours of hospital field work under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Fogg, director of Pastoral Care at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, which was very beneficial to them.
“During the past couple of years, however” he continued, “we have slowly begun to allow our students to substitute 1 unit of CPE in lieu of their hospital field work.
“Surprisingly, we found that most of our seminarians preferred to do more work—400 hours of hospital work and self-reflection instead of the required 100 hours of fieldwork—in order to earn the 1 CPE unit,” he said.
“This showed that they recognized the value of the skills they were learning in CPE, in particular the value of skills ‘transferable’ to their future pastoral ministry, such as knocking on a hospital door while not knowing what they may face when they open it; or, being challenged regarding their mannerisms, expressions, and conversations with patients as they discuss their experiences in debriefing sessions with their CPE peers and supervisor,” he explained.
Dr. Rossi himself is an integral part of the new CPE requirement, in that he conducts both “intake” and “exit” interviews for participating seminarians. At their intake interviews, students receive an overview about the Orthodox Christian perspective of suffering, an understanding of a basic pastoral counseling model, and a fundamental orientation about the CPE program. At their exit interviews, students review their CPE supervisor’s report, discuss their experience with the program, and constructively create guidelines for the future. Their CPE unit certificate goes into their permanent student record, with the option of also including their CPE supervisor’s report.
Students who complete their first CPE unit often go on to fulfill three more units, in order to be certified as “institutional chaplains,” Dr. Rossi noted. He also remarked on the “extraordinary success” that SVOTS graduates have in being accepted to CPE residency programs, which have included such venues as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; Veteran’s Administration Hospitals in the Bronx; Westchester County Medical Center; and St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers.
“I’m joyful and humbled (but proud of our students) to say that being a SVOTS seminarian is known as a ‘credential of integrity’ among CPE supervisors nationwide,” Dr. Rossi concluded. “Many of our students, after earning their M.Div., are going on to some of the most prestigious programs in the country.”
With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Trustee Emeritus Anthony Kasmer. Kasmer, of Newtown, PA, passed away Sunday, October 11 at the age of 90.
Kasmer was a faithful supporter and great friend of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. His twelve years of service on the Seminary’s Board of Trustees included three years as board treasurer and four years as the head of the Audit Committee. He also served as chair of the Finance Committee and advised the committee after he retired from the Board in 2016. Kasmer had said his most “memorable moment” as a trustee was co-chairing the Seminary’s 75th Anniversary Gala with Trustee Emeritus Alex Machaskee.
Kasmer (third from right) and fellow committee members for St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s 75th Anniversary Gala, November 7, 2013.
“I am so saddened by his passing,” said Seminary Chief Financial Officer Melanie Ringa. “Tony was a dedicated supporter of St. Vladimir’s and a good friend and mentor. He will be greatly missed. Memory eternal!”
“He was a man of faith dedicated to the work of the Church,” added Ted Bazil, St. Vladimir’s senior advisor for operations and planned giving. “Tony used his many talents to provide the Seminary with positive advice and direction even up until his repose. His example is a model for all board service. I will remember him for his generosity, quick wit, and wonderful smile."
Anthony Kasmer (center) with his wife, Ann, and Ted Bazil
In addition to his service on St. Vladimir’s Board of Trustees, Kasmer worked for many years as Chairman of LTL Color Compounders, Inc. in the greater Philadelphia area. He was a longtime member of St. Vladimir Orthodox Church, Trenton, NJ and most recently a member of St. Mark’s Orthodox Church, Wrightstown, PA.
A viewing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, October 16 at Joseph A. Fluehr III Funeral Home, Richboro, PA, with a Parastas Service at 7 p.m. Another viewing will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, October 17, at St. Vladimir Orthodox Church, Trenton, NJ. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. at St. Vladimir with burial to follow in the parish cemetery.
With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor), primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) from 1977 until his retirement in 2002. His Beatitude fell asleep in the Lord October 19, 2020 in Canonsburg, PA following an extended illness.
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary planned a Panikhida for His Beatitude on campus Monday evening. Metropolitan Theodosius graduated from St. Vladimir’s with a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 1960 and later served as the Seminary’s board chair.
The schedule of services for His Beatitude is as follows:
Wednesday, October 21 - St. John the Baptist Church, Canonsburg, PA
1 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.: Arrival of body and visitation
7 p.m.: Panikhida
Thursday, October 22 - St. John the Baptist, Canonsburg, PA
1pm-5:45pm: Visitation
6pm: Office of the Burial for a Hierarch
Friday, October 23 - Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration, Ellwood City, PA
10am: Hierarchical Divine Liturgy followed immediately by Interment
Please note that due to COVID restrictions, only invited clergy may serve at the services. For all services, clergy and faithful must maintain all safety protocols and precautionary measures.
Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor) served for many years as board chair of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, his alma mater. Here, His Beatitude and Fr. John Meyendorff accept a donation on behalf of the Seminary.
Metropolitan Theodosius was born in Canonsburg, PA in 1933 to immigrant parents from Galicia, in what is today the southeastern corner of Poland. After completing undergraduate studies at Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA, he enrolled in Saint Vladimir’s Seminary. After his graduation from St. Vladimir’s in 1960, he spent the next year pursuing additional studies at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, touring the Holy Land, and visiting Orthodox Christian centers throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Upon returning to the U.S. in 1961, he took monastic vows and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood. From 1961 through 1966 he served as rector of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary Church, Madison, IL and as an assistant military chaplain.
In 1967, he was elected and consecrated to the episcopacy as auxiliary to the metropolitan and bishop of Washington DC and as administrator of the Diocese of Alaska effective June 1, 1967. On November 17, 1967 the Great Council of Bishops elected him as the diocesan bishop of Sitka and Alaska. He was consecrated a bishop on May 6, 1967. During his tenure in Alaska he oversaw the rebuilding of historic Archangel Michael Cathedral, Sitka, AK, which had been destroyed by fire. He also initiated regional conferences throughout the diocese and encouraged the establishment of a variety of educational programs and conferences.
In May 1970, as bishop of Alaska, he headed the OCA’s delegation which traveled to Moscow to receive the Tomos, or proclamation, of autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church. The Tomos guaranteed the right of self-governance for the Orthodox Church in America. Shortly thereafter, he hosted ceremonies in Alaska marking the canonization of one of the original Orthodox missionaries to Alaska, the Elder Herman. The event was significant in that it marked the first time a North American had been entered into the Orthodox calendar of saints.
In 1972, he was reassigned by the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America to the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. During his five year tenure in his “home” region, he instituted a highly-successful program to train permanent deacons, fostered educational programs for all ages, and worked diligently to strengthen the life of the diocese on all levels.
On October 25, 1977, he was elected metropolitan of All America and Canada during the 5th All-American Council in Montreal, Quebec. As primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Theodosius assumed leadership of one of the world’s fifteen self-governing, or autocephalous, Orthodox churches.
In 1981, the Holy Synod of Bishops established a new diocese of Washington, DC as the seat of the primate of the Orthodox Church in America. As archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan Theodosius presided over this diocese, in addition to his duties as primate.
Throughout his tenure, Metropolitan Theodosius met with numerous world religious leaders, including the primates of the various autocephalous churches. In 1990 he was the first Orthodox primate to be officially invited by the newly-enthroned Patriarch Aleksy II of Moscow, and in 1992 he was also invited to participate in the 600th Anniversary of the repose of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In 1991 and 1993 he hosted the North American visits of Patriarch Aleksy. He hosted the primate of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia in 1998 and His Beatitude, SAWA Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland in 2000.
As a guest of many national and foreign religious leaders, Metropolitan Theodosius traveled to Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and elsewhere. He took part in official dialogues with His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, at the Patriarchal headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey.
Metropolitan Theodosius played an active role in inter-Orthodox gatherings, consultations, and bodies, including the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas [SCOBA], of which the OCA is a member. He was a strong supporter of various inter-Orthodox ministries, including International Orthodox Christian Charities and the Orthodox Christian Missions Center. He was also a vocal advocate for Orthodox unity in North America. Together with the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, he participated in the December 1994 SCOBA-sponsored gathering of North American hierarchs in Ligonier, PA.
Metropolitan Theodosius was a frequent guest at the White House in Washington, DC, having been called upon by Presidents Bush and Clinton for advice on religious and political affairs in various parts of the world, especially after the fall of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the most recent crisis in Kosovo, he boldly defended the rights of all peoples in the region while calling upon President Clinton to end the NATO air campaign.
On September 28, 1994, Metropolitan Theodosius was the guest of Dr. James Billington at the Library of Congress for the opening of an historic display highlighting the contribution of the Orthodox Church and native Alaskan cultures to North America. During the ceremony Metropolitan Theodosius was greeted by US President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
During Metropolitan Theodosius’ tenure, the OCA’s current ministry units were established and charged with making an impact on Church life on the “grass roots” level.
On May 1, 2001, Metropolitan Theodosius, requested that he be granted a four-month medical leave of absence from his archpastoral and primatial duties by the Holy Synod of Bishops, a request they granted.
However, he continued to suffer the residual effects of strokes he had suffered in late 2000 and early 2001. Despite a four-month medical leave of absence from May 1 until September 1, 2001, which he took at the recommendation of his physicians, he found the ever-increasing burdens of his office too demanding. On April 2, 2002, Metropolitan Theodosius shared with members of the Holy Synod of Bishops his desire to retire from the office of Metropolitan of All America and Canada. The members of the Holy Synod of Bishops granted Metropolitan Theodosius’ request effective July 21, 2002.
On July 21, 2002 His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius opened the 13th All-American Council and presented his report on the last trienium. At the conclusion, he retired as metropolitan of All America and Canada.
Following his retirement, His Beatitude maintained a residence for some time near St.Tikhon's Monastery. He later moved back to his home town in Canonsburg, PA where he resided for most of his retirement.
May the memory of Metropolitan Theodosius be eternal!
--
(Details for this article have been adapted and reprinted from OCA.org)
St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) has announced Seminarian Alexander Earl as the winner of the 2020 St Matthias Merit Scholarship Essay Contest.
The contest was opened to current SVOTS students at the beginning of the fall semester. For his winning entry, titled, “Thou Hast Prepared a Table Before Me…,” Earl will have $3,000 in award money added to his scholarship fund.
The topic of this year’s contest asked seminarians to reference Matthew 7.13-14 and the life of St John Chrysostom to help young Christians approach “speaking the truth in love” when those around us may not be open to—or may even be hostile toward—what the Church teaches. Earl writes:
Etiquette used to advise not talking about politics or religion at the dinner table…. In truth, it is politics and religion that are worth talking about. In classical philosophy, the former was all about how to structure the polis (the city) so as to promote the common good, which was seen as a god-like activity, for it is God who oversees and orders the universe. The latter was an even greater activity; religion was about how we ought to live in this life such that we not only live like God, but dwell with him! There could hardly be topics more important for us to think about and discuss.
Alexander Earl is a 28-year-old Master of Divinity (M.Div.) student in his first year at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS). A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he had been on his way to becoming an Anglican priest when he discovered Orthodoxy reading St Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press books for his patristics classes. He and his wife, Danielle, who is now the librarian at SVOTS, were teaching at a private high school in the Los Angeles area when they attended their first Divine Liturgy in 2017. Feeling like they had come home spiritually, they were received into the Orthodox Church the following year.
The St Matthias Merit Scholarship Essay Contest is offered annually, thanks to the generous contributions of a family of anonymous donors. These donors also selected the topic of the 2020 essay contest and developed thorough and thoughtful criteria to determine the winner.
The contest is one of many offerings by the Seminary to help its seminarians graduate tuition-debt free as they go forth to serve the Church. SVOTS also administers need-based tuition grants, need-based scholarships, merit scholarships, continuing education grants, and matching grant opportunities for seminarians. These are made possible thanks to many benefactors who have graciously given funds to St Vladimir’s Seminary.
On Wednesday, seminarians at St. Vladimir’s tapped into the writing expertise of Professor Peter C. Bouteneff as the “The Lyceum” hosted a writing workshop.
Danielle Earl, librarian at the Seminary’s Father Georges Florovsky Library, started “The Lyceum” as a sort of “marketplace of ideas” at the Library, where students can discuss academic research with other seminarians and faculty members.
Wednesday’s writing workshop catered to first-year seminarians to help improve their grasp of graduate-level research and writing.
Dr. Bouteneff began his introduction to the group by describing how writers should approach their work “pastorally.”
“A good pastor and a good Christian is one who knows his or her audience and has 'heard' the audience, and therefore is speaking to questions the audience actually has, rather than simply spouting forth information only the writer is interested in,” he explained.
Another writing workshop catered to second- and third-year seminarians are planned for the spring semester.
The writing workshop and the activities of “The Lyceum” are part of continued efforts to build up the Library as an even greater academic resource for seminarians as well as outside scholars.
Alumni of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) have a new way to stay connected with the Seminary and their fellow alumni around the world, and they now have access to a host of resources exclusively for graduates.
The Seminary’s new Alumni Portal is live at https://svots.mycampus-app.com. SVOTS alumni are encouraged to sign up for free access. Along with access to resources, an alumni directory, and alumni news, the Portal also allows alumni to update their contact information with the Seminary and submit news about themselves or fellow SVOTS graduates.
The announcement was made during the Online Alumni Gathering October 18, 2020 as the Seminary seeks to ramp up alumni outreach and services. Nearly a hundred SVOTS alumni registered for the event, which also offered alumni updates about the Seminary and a sneak peek at upcoming developments not yet announced to the public.
Kasmer (third from right) and fellow committee members for St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s 75th Anniversary Gala, November 7, 2013.
