With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Archpriest Michael Keiser, an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Father Michael, 73, reposed in the Lord on August 15, 2020, the Dormition of our Most Holy Theotokos.

The Very Rev. Michael Keiser served in the holy priesthood for forty-four years before he retired to Eustis, FL. He was proistamenos at St. Antony Orthodox Church in Tulsa, OK and chair of the Department of Missions and Evangelism of the Antiochian Archdiocese (AOCANA). Father Michael spent almost all of his years of ministry working primarily in small congregations, planting or restoring them. He studied at Nashotah House Seminary and St. Vladimir's Seminary (1974-1976) and mentored seminary students at Oral Roberts Unviersity. He was also responsible for overseeing the planting and preparing of new congregations of non-Orthodox Christians in the United Kingdom for the Patriarchate of Antioch. He authored several books including A Beginners Guide to Prayer.​

He is survived by Kh. Angelina and their children and grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to the family at AMKeiser@aol.com​, and funeral service information will be posted as it becomes available.

May the memory of Archpriest Michael be eternal!

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Read Fr. Michael's article, "Why Should I Pray?"

(This article has been adapted from Antiochian.org)

Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is collecting funds to be donated toward recovery efforts in Lebanon, following the deadly explosion in Beirut August 4.

Anyone donating to St. Vladimir’s Seminary should write “Beirut” in the memo line if writing a check or in the comment section if donating online. Checks may be sent to the Seminary at 575 Scardsdale Road, Yonkers, NY 10707. Funds raised will be added to the Antiochian Archdiocese relief fund for Beirut. You may also donate to the relief fund directly by visiting the Archdiocese website.

The blast Tuesday resulted in dozens of deaths, thousands of injuries, and catastrophic damage to many homes, businesses, and churches. Orthodox churches including St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut and St. Nicholas Church in Ashrafiyah suffered severe damage. The explosion also badly damaged the Beirut archdiocese headquarters, where St. Vladimir’s Alumnus Metropolitan Elias (Audi; Class of ’69) resides, as well as St. George Hospital. His Eminence was reported safe.

The Seminary community extends its prayers to all those affected by the explosion.

With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of two members of the Seminary’s extended family: Protopresbyter Boris Bobrinskoy, 95, and Archpriest Joseph Allen, 77. Father Boris fell asleep in the Lord Thursday, August 6 and Fr. Joseph the following day, on August 7. 

The Very Rev. Joseph Allen, Th.D., was an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary and SVS Press author. In 1966, he had the distinction of being the first man ordained by His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip of thrice-blessed memory. For several years, Fr. Joseph guided the pastoral theology programs at St. Vladimir's and Holy Cross School of Theology, while serving as director of Theological and Pastoral Education of the Antiochian Archdiocese. He also founded the Antiochian House of Studies. Father Joseph retired from all of his ministries in 2019.

The Very Rev. Boris Bobrinskoy, a fellow SVS Press author, was one of the towering figures of twentieth-century Orthodox theology. He was also a frequent visitor and lecturer at St. Vladimir’s, received an honorary doctorate from the Seminary in 2003, and delivered a Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture. Born in 1925 to Russian parents who migrated to France after the 1917 Revolution, Fr. Boris was one of the last of the generation of great Russian émigré theologians—of the era of Frs. Georges Florovsky, John Meyendorff, and Alexander Schmemann. He served as dean and professor at his alma mater, St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. Father Boris was also rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris for many years before retiring from active ministry.

Funeral and burial information for Frs. Boris and Joseph have not yet been announced.

May their memories be eternal!

Videos featuring the keynote presentations, a dedication honoring the Archpriest Sergei Glagolev, and Symposium highlights are now available to watch from this summer’s successful 2020 Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium.

• “Music as Liturgy: Ancient Models from Ancient Syriac Christianity”

Keynote Presentation by Dr. Susan Ashbrook Harvey

• “Liturgy as Music”

Keynote Presentation by Protopresbyter Ivan Moody

• “Engaging the Liturgy through Music”

Dedication to the Archpriest Sergei Glagolev

• “Beautiful Noise”

Highlights from the 2020 Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium

The event, co-hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS), its Institute of Sacred Arts (ISA), and the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM), represents the results of a creative collaboration during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was one of only a handful of global musical events which took place, in an online format. The Symposium gathered over 210 participants from twelve countries June 11-13, 2020.

Additional resources and presentations from this year’s Symposium will be featured in an upcoming volume of the ISOCM’s online journal. Plans are being explored for future music gatherings hosted by St. Vladimir’s Seminary and the ISOCM, including next year’s ISOCM conference in Joensuu, Finland, June 7-13, 2021. The Seminary is also hosting its own music conference June 4-6, 2021.

About the International Society for Orthodox Church Music

Founded in 2005, the ISOCM seeks to provide an open platform for musicians, musicologists, singers, and composers that encourages dialogue, the exchange of information and ideas, and inspires cooperation. The Society sees the promotion of communication between East and West as one of its priorities and hosts biannual conferences, at the University of Eastern Finland on its Joensuu campus. The Society also hosts regional symposia and gatherings elsewhere throughout the world to help create opportunities for collaboration and the sharing of knowledge in the field of Orthodox liturgical music.

For more information about the ISOCM, visit: www.isocm.com

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the repose of Archpriest Steven Belonick, former dean of students and chaplain at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Father Steven fell asleep in the Lord on August 7, 2019, after a long battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

A number of memorial services will be held this Friday, August 7 for Fr. Steven, some of which will be livestreamed:

• St. Vladimir’s Spiritual Formation Director Fr. Nicholas Roth will serve a Panikhida at the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel at 8 a.m. Friday (the service is not open to the public).

• The community of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, PA, will livestream a Panikhida at noon. Click HERE to join.

• Also at noon Friday, a gravesite memorial service will be held at St. Tikhon's Monastery, in accordance with their COVID-19 protocol; it will be served by Hieromonk Herman (Majkrzak), a friend of Fr. Steven's from their days together at St. Vladimir’s.

• Fr. James Dutko, a close friend of Fr. Steven and Mat. Deborah Belonick, will livestream a Parastas from St. Michael's Carpatho-Russian Church, Binghamton, NY, at 9 a.m. Click HERE to watch on Facebook or HERE to watch on the parish website.

• Fr. Steven Voytovich, Fr. Steven's confessor who cared for him in his last days, will livestream a Panikhida at 5 p.m. as part of those being remembered at Holy Transfiguration Church, New Haven, CT. Click HERE to join.

• St. Vladimir’s Associate Professor Fr. John Jillions, pastor at Holy Ghost Church, who also cared for Fr. Steven during his last days, will serve a memorial service after Divine Liturgy (beginning at 9 a.m.) at Holy Ghost Park, 70 Nells Rock Road, Shelton, CT, on Sunday, August 9.

May Fr. Steven’s memory be eternal!

Protodeacon Peter Danilchick remembers exactly when he became convinced that the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative (OCLI) was meeting a real need among lay Orthodox professionals. “At one of our first conferences held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, I had nurses, doctors, engineers, hedge fund managers all asking the same thing: ‘I am a corporate manager and everyone is trying to climb the corporate ladder. How can I be a good corporate manager and still be a person of faith?’”

The mission of OCLI is “to nurture and empower Orthodox Christian servant leadership. It is a national initiative to increase generosity, servant leadership, and social outreach by clergy and laity of all jurisdictions working together nationally, regionally, and locally.”

Towards that end, OCLI has teamed up with St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) to launch a national survey to gauge interest in a hybrid Master of Arts degree with a focus on leadership training. The degree would allow individuals to obtain a theological education and round out their organizational skills by taking courses in effective leadership—without having to relocate to St. Vladimir’s campus to complete the degree. The survey is meant to identify who might be interested in such a program and what they would want and need from it. The online survey takes approximately five minutes or less to complete.

• Click HERE to take the survey

The kind of leadership training that OCLI aims to offer combines the best of current leadership thought with the tenants of Christian theology.

“An example of this is the notion of servant leadership, which has a popular corporate following,” explained Hollie Benton, executive director of OCLI. “However, our starting point is not just a framework of efficiently run organizations nor an individual’s desire to do the right thing which eventually builds leadership influence. For Christians, servant leadership starts with God’s commandment to love God and neighbor. In a Christian context it is not just your will but your duty to obey the commandment of God that we find in scripture.”

“The mission of St. Vladimir’s fits well with that of OCLI,” said Fr. Chad Hatfield, president of SVOTS. “Both organizations are invested in raising up leaders for the Church, so I am pleased we are able to contribute the Initiative’s efforts.”

Both organizations are also teaming up for the 4th Annual National Advanced Leadership Conference Sept. 18-19, 2020. Find more information and register for the online conference at orthodoxservantleaders.com/national-conference.html.

More information about SVOTS degree programs, including its Master of Arts degree, can be found at SVOTS.edu.

Hone your ability to lead members of the Body of Christ in a struggling world. This fall, St. Vladimir’s Seminary is once again partnering with the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative (OCLI) to co-host the 4th Annual National Advanced Leadership Conference.

The event is designed for lay and ordained and emerging leaders who serve their local parish, diocese, or related non-profits. It will be held Friday, September 18 through Saturday, September 19, 2020.

• Click here to register for the online event

The theme of this year’s Leadership Conference is “United as the Body of Christ to Serve Those Divided by Pandemics, Politics, and Persecutions.” The conference will feature notable Orthodox executives, educators, philanthropists, and clergy, including members of St. Vladimir’s faculty, and hierarchs Metropolitans Tikhon (Orthodox Church in America), Joseph (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America), and Nicolae (Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas); and Archbishop Elpidophoros (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America). This year, OCLI will also showcase the newly-developed Intensive Program in Servant Leadership.

• Click here to learn more about the speakers, topics, and schedule

About OCLI

The Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative exists to nurture and empower Orthodox Christian servant leadership.  It is a national initiative to increase generosity, servant leadership, and social outreach by clergy and laity of all jurisdictions working together nationally, regionally, and locally. 

Originating from the Orthodox Vision Foundation and its annual Orthodox Advanced Leadership Conferences beginning in 2017 and hosted at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in October 2018.

Due to pandemic-related restrictions, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) has cancelled its commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020, which had been scheduled for September 12.

The Seminary is exploring the possibility of a combined graduation ceremony for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 on May 15, 2021, if it is safe to do so. Details will be forthcoming.

With regard to classes, the Seminary plans to begin the 2020-2021 academic year as normal with on-campus classes—but the school has alternate plans if a full reopening is delayed due to further COVID-19 restrictions in New York State. Orientation for the new academic year is scheduled for Friday, August 21 through Sunday, August 23.

A new edition of His Life Is Mine by Elder Sophrony has been published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press to mark his recent glorification as a saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The new edition features an attractive mosaic cover design and new typesetting. 

Having believed that true and eternal life is found in Christ, the Russian Athonite monk Sophrony set about to make that life his own. Best known as the disciple and biographer of St. Silouan the Athonite and compiler of St. Silouan's works, and as the founder of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England, St. Sophrony’s life reflected the turbulent times of the early twentieth century. Born in Czarist Russia, Sophrony achieved success as a painter exhibiting in the great Paris salons after the Russian Revolution via a brief period of study at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. He then departs for Mount Athos, where he spends twenty-two years, first as a monk in the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon and for the final seven years as a hermit in the "desert." 

In His Life is Mine, St. Sophrony writes that “to assimilate the inexhaustible depths of life in Christ requires our whole strength, the unremitting effort of a lifetime.” With a writing style that is simple and straightforward, he delves into such topics as “The Tragedy of Man”, the “Enigma of I Am”, and “Concerning Repentance and Spiritual Warfare.” He ends his work with several chapters devoted to the Jesus Prayer, the prayer that brings us into an encounter with the personal God I Am and demands a change in us.

Buy His Life is Mine at SVSPress.com or by calling 1-800-204-BOOK (2665)

With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Irina Itina, former adjunct Seminary librarian, longtime Three Hierarchs Chapel member, and alumna. She fell asleep in the Lord peacefully Sunday morning, July 12, 2020, in Rockland County, NY.

Irina was born in 1927 in Ljubljana (in the former Yugoslavia) and was raised in Belgrade in a Russian émigré family. She studied in a Serbo-Russian gymnasium in Belgrade, where her teacher was Fr. Georges Florovsky, and later at the University of Munich and Columbia University. She also took classes at St. Vladimir's Seminary in the 1980s and was a spiritual daughter of Fr. Thomas Hopko for over thirty years until his repose.  

Irina eventually moved to Yonkers, NY, where she lived with her widowed mother, and worked at the New York Public Library (Russian and German departments). After her retirement, she began volunteering at St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s Father Georges Florovsky Library and served there from the 1980s until the early 2000s.

For the past four years, Irina lived within the loving family of two other spiritual children of Fr. Thomas.

The funeral and burial services for Irina will be held Wednesday, July 15, at 10 a.m at Novo-Diveevo Convent and Cemetery, 100 Smith Rd, Nanuet, NY 10954. Attendees may be asked to stay outside the church building if the maximum limit of people inside, 56, has already been reached. Speakers, however, will be placed outside for those not allowed to enter. There is no limit on the number of people going to the graveside, but individuals must observe safety guidelines and social distancing.

May the memory of Irina be eternal!