Fr John Behr The Cathedral of All Saints,62 S. Swan St.,12210,Albany,NY,US
On Saturday, September 24, 2016, 9 am–2 pm, our Dean, Fr. John Behr, will deliver public lectures on the topic "Finding Christ in the Scriptures," as part of The Bible Symposium and Ecumenical Festival of Our Lady of Walsingham, at The Cathedral of All Saints, 62 S. Swan St., Albany, NY.
St. Vladimir's Seminary,575 Scarsdale Rd.,10707,Yonkers,NY,US
On Saturday, September 17, 2016, at 7 p.m., St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary will host a panel discussion titled, “Rethinking Sacred Arts.” The event, which is open to the public, will feature 11 renowned international scholars and artists, drawing on their expertise in the study, practice, and interpretation of the visual arts, music, rhetoric, and aesthetics.
The panel discussion will top off a weekend-long “Sacred Arts Symposium,” which is the first in a series of events planned between Fall 2016 and Spring 2018 by the Seminary, all of which are a part of the Seminary’s Sacred Arts Initiative (SAI). These SAI events are funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, and are designed to explore the Seminary’s contribution to the study and practice of the Sacred Arts.
The prestigious panel will be made up of Fr. Ivan Moody, Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Gordon Graham, Princeton Theological Seminary; Helen Evans, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Vasileios Marinis, Yale Divinity School; George Kordis, University of Athens; Christina Maranci, Tufts University; Annemarie Weyl Carr, Southern Methodist University (Emerita); Peter Jeffery and Margot Fassler, University of Notre Dame; Judith Wolfe, St. Andrews, Scotland; and Mary Carruthers, New York University (Emerita). Peter C. Bouteneff, professor of Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir’s and director of the SAI, will introduce the discussion.
The event will be held in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building on the seminary campus. Admission is free.
Meet St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s #GivingTuesday Partner 2016: IEIRA, an online, virtual university in Guatemala, which gives hope and a future to children at Hogar Rafael and San Miguel del Lago, Orthodox Christian orphanages. The university was founded by Igumeni Madre Inés, abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Trinity (Monasterio Ortodoxo de la Santa Trinidad) in Guatemala.
Madre Inés realized that children who had to leave these orphanages under her care at age 18 (in accordance with the civil law) needed higher education to prepare them to be productive citizens in society. So, with the blessing of Metropolitan Archbishop Antonio Chedraoui and the academic cooperation of the University of Balamand (specifically related to courses in Holy Scripture), she founded IEIRA, which offers these children hope and a future. The new online university is made by an international core team of 22 committed members and about 50 international professors preparing the online courses as eBooks.
An incoming class of 38 students brings our Seminary’s total student count for Academic Year 2016–2017 to 77. Our amazingly diverse student body represents 13 Eastern Orthodox and 5 Oriental Orthodox churches. Most seminarians are from the USA, but they also hail from Australia, Canada, Albania, Finland, Serbia, Sweden, Lebanon, Greece, Israel, Germany, Uganda, and New Zealand.
“From its inception,” said Archpriest Chad Hatfield, CEO of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, “our school has made incarnate its vision for Orthodox Christian unity in North America by accepting seminarians from all Eastern and Oriental Orthodox jurisdictions.
“It also has accepted Orthodox students from around the globe, and non-Orthodox students who want to take advantage of the unique coursework it offers,” he continued, “and this year, our student body especially illustrates the vision of the Seminary’s founders.”
Students will be studying in four degree programs: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, and Doctor of Ministry. Thirty-seven students are enrolled in the ordination track Master of Divinity program, and 20 are enrolled in the Doctor of Ministry program, which focuses on applied pastoral practice. All new students attended Orientation during the weekend of August 26–28, and new and returning students attended an Opening Molieben service on Friday, August 26. Fall semester classes began Monday, August 29.
For four summers (2010, 2013, 2015, 2016), Fr. Eugen has been working assiduously on his contribution—the Book of Hosea—to the first digital Study Bible, launched in 2008 and titled “La Bible en ses traditions” (B.E.S.T.) / “The Bible in Its Traditions.” By the end of 2016, Fr. Eugen’s work will be embedded into a pre-designed template on the official B.E.S.T website (www.bibest.org).
The Very Reverend Chad Hatfield, CEO of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, remarked, "This significant project reflects the high energy and biblical scholarship that Fr. Eugene’s students admire and his peers respect.”
B.E.S.T. continues a long tradition of EBAF, which created the first Study Bible, La Bible de Jerusalem (1956), also known as The New Jerusalem Bible. The new digital Study Bible offers the modern reader a fresh scriptural translation based on the Greek (Septuagint), Hebrew (Masoretic), Syriac (Peshitta), and Latin (Vulgate) texts, accompanied by a wide array of study notes, which are divided into three sections: text, context, and reception. The translation covers various interpretive aspects: from textual, lexical, and literary notes to Jewish and Christian patristic and liturgical commentaries and theological treatises, and further includes modern and secular forms of scriptural usage (e.g., literature, visual arts, music, dance, cinema, and so forth).
The Very Reverend Dr. John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, commented on the B.E.S.T. project saying, “Father Eugen’s wonderful work shows that he is at the cutting edge of scriptural scholarship worldwide, bringing the best of the Orthodox tradition into dialogue with contemporary scholarship. This project is a blessing for all those who want to engage deeply with the Word of God’.”
Father Olivier-Thomas Venard, OP, B.E.S.T. project executive director, also acknowledged Fr. Eugen’s vital contribution, saying, “We owe Fr. Eugen a great debt of gratitude for his excellent work on Hosea.
“Father Eugen’s contribution will be published by Peeters,” he continued, “and we hope and will do all that is possible for it to be ready for presentation at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in Boston.”
Further commenting on Fr. Pentiuc’s work, Dr. James C. Skedros, dean and Cantonis Professor of Byzantine Studies and Professor of Early Christianity at Holy Cross, noted, “We are very proud of Fr. Eugen’s association with B.E.S.T. As an internationally known Orthodox Biblical scholar, Fr. Eugen’s work on Hosea will not only make an important contribution to biblical scholarship and reception history, but will also bring honor and recognition to Holy Cross and to Orthodox biblical scholarship.”
The Very Reverend Dr. John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS), returned home from a 3-week teaching assignment in Australia with gifts of an Akubra hat, boomerang, and hand-painted icon of St. Athanasius. In turn, he left behind enormously significant “gifts” for local Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christian communities in the Land Down Under.
From June 24–July 10, 2016, Fr. John taught an intensive course in Patristics titled “The School of Alexandria” at St. Athanasius Coptic Theological College (SAC). As well, he served and delivered public lectures in ten parishes affiliated with Greek, Russian, Antiochian, Serbian, and Coptic Orthodox communities; headlined a “Youth in Christ” meeting; led a spiritual retreat for clergy titled, “Life in Christ”; and gave a nationally syndicated interview on ABC Radio’s “The Spirit of Things” program.
Additionally, he delivered a paper at the annual ANZATS (Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools), reporting for the first time in public on the findings from his new edition and translation of and extensive introduction to Origen’s On First Principles (to be published by OUP in December 2017). At the same conference he also participated in book launch of the title, The Life of Repentance and Purity, by Pope Shenouda III, a collaborative publication between St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press (SVS Press) and SAC Press which has become the fastest selling title in SVS Press’s history.
Also included in his schedule were personal meetings with His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos (Harkianakis), primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia and dean and founder of St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney; and His Eminence, Archbishop Paul (Saliba), metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. All told, Fr. John spoke to nearly 1,300 people in the metro areas of Sydney and Melbourne.
Father John’s whirlwind teaching engagements were coordinated by two St. Vladimir’s alumni: His Grace Bishop Dr. Suriel, chancellor and dean of SAC and bishop of the Diocese of Melbourne and Affiliated Regions (Coptic Church); and Christine Jabbour Ayoub (M.A. ’03). Both offered high praise and appreciation for Fr. John’s visit.
In the July 10 and July 17, 2016 editions of Epsajee (The Word), a diocesan publication of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Bishop Suriel stated, "Our visiting lecturer, Father John Behr, has returned to New York, leaving behind a legacy of academic rigor in learning, a love of the church fathers, and a genuine commitment to cultivate service and community in our Christian journey.
“Words could not fully capture the impact that Fr. John’s visit and input has had upon students, staff, clergy and others at SAC,” he continued, “And everyone has been challenged by Fr. John’s dedication to lifelong learning, his love of God, and his generosity in sharing his profound knowledge of church history—especially the early church fathers—in a contemporary, eloquent, and engaging manner.”
Father John himself expressed gratitude for the opportunities given to him to renew and strengthen ties between St. Vladimir’s Seminary and a broad base of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christian communities—ties that in part began with a visit to Australia by Dean Emeritus Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko (+2015) in 1997. He especially remarked on burgeoning possibilities for future student exchange, and joint work between the publication houses of SVOTS and SAC.
“I am expecting more Australian students, at the request of Bishop Suriel, to come to our Seminary in New York to be carefully and highly educated in our Master of Arts and Master of Theology Programs,” said Fr. John, “and then to return to SAC as faculty prepared to influence hundreds and hundreds of future students by instruction in sound theology.
“They, along with many other foreign students we’re expecting—Antiochian, Serbian, Greek—will join our American family here at SVOTS,” he said, “continuing our long history of being the place where Orthodox Christians of all ethnic and jurisdictional backgrounds are praying and studying together in unity.
“Moreover,” he added, “SAC Press will also soon begin acting as a distribution center for SVS Press books in Australia, and this amazing arrangement will allow St. Vladimir’s to continue its mission of spreading the Word of God through the written word.”
The ongoing feedback regarding Fr. John’s recent visit to Australia indicates that his positive predictions will bear out. His teaching assistant at SAC for his summer/winter (Australia) course titled, “The School of Alexandria”—which examined the key figures of Origen, St. Athanasius, and St. Cyril and their influence on the development of theological thought—was Abraam Mikhail, an Australian seminarian who is currently studying at SVOTS and who does indeed plan to return to SAC as faculty after earning his degree.
Mr. Mikhail summed up his learning experience by saying, “Father John is very engaging, and his attention to detail makes us focus and think and re-think—or read and re-read—the text. His famous line is: ‘struggle with the text!’ and I would daresay it’s been not only a valuable but also an enjoyable experience.”
Dr. Lewis Patsavos St. Vladimir's Seminary ,575 Scarsdale Rd.,10707,Yonkers,NY,US
On Monday, January 30, 2017, Dr. Lewis Patsavos, retired professor of Canon Law and director of Field Education at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, will deliver the 34th Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Lecture, titled: “Reflections of a Canonist: Account of a Teaching Ministry Spanning Four Decades."
Dr. Patsavos earned his Doctorate in Theology from the University of Athens, Greece in 1974, and he subsequently taught at Holy Cross for 40 years. His dual responsibilities of teaching Orthodox Canon Law and directing the school’s Field Education Program enabled him to experience the pastoral nature of the canons contextually in ministerial settings.
Currently, he serves as the Consultant on Canonical Affairs to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and other Orthodox Jurisdictions in the United States. His commitment to ecumenical dialogue has allowed him to participate for over twenty-five years in the North American Orthodox–Roman Catholic Bilateral Consultation.
He has edited several volumes of the Greek Orthodox Theological Review, and he has published numerous articles and four books, his latest volume being A Noble Task: Entry into the Clergy in the First Five Centuries (Holy Cross Orthodox Press), which embodies the theory of the canons and patristic texts regarding priesthood and the praxis of ministry.
The Schmemann Lecture, which is open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Building. A reception will follow the presentation.
Seminary Trustee Elsie Skvir Nierle fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, July 17, 2016, just two weeks after her 89th birthday. She had served on St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s Board of Trustees from 1994–2005. Upon her retirement from board service, His Beatitude Metropolitan Herman (then president of the Board) and her fellow trustees honored her with the bestowal of the title, “Trustee Emerita.”
“Elsie was an exceptionally generous woman who understood that the every ‘house’ needs a firm foundation,” said Theodore Bazil, senior advisor for Advancement at the Seminary, “and she funded numerous programs and projects for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and its seminaries.”
In 2002, Mrs. Skvir Nierle founded the “John and Paraskeva Skvir Chair in Practical Theology” at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, an Academic Chair established in honor of her parents. The Chair was held by the Very Reverend Paul Lazor until his retirement, and currently is held by the Very Reverend Dr. Alexander Rentel.
Additionally, in 1986 she established The Mary Skvir Memorial Scholarship Fund, named in honor of her departed sister; interest income from that scholarship fund is distributed equally between students at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. In 1986, she also established "The Father John Skvir Memorial Pastoral Fellowship Endowment of The Orthodox Church in America.”
In her professional life, Mrs. Skvir Nierle was a practicing nurse, having graduated from the Diploma School of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in 1949. As well, she was a nursing instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she served on The Ganister Orthodox Foundation Committee of the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania, a charitable organization that supported the special projects of many Orthodox Christian non-profits, including projects at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
Mrs. Skvir Nierle was a long-time member of Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Williamsport, PA. Family and friends will be received from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, July 20, at Holy Cross Orthodox Church, 1725 Holy Cross Lane, with a brief memorial service at 7 p.m. The funeral service will be held at the church Thursday morning, July 21, at 11 a.m., followed by a luncheon at the church social hall. Burial will be at St. Mary's Holy Assumption Orthodox Church Cemetery in Ganister, at 5 p.m. Thursday evening. Arrangements are being made by Crouse Funeral Home, and a full obituary is available on their website: www.crousefuneralhome.com.
“Our goal is to prepare newly ordained priests for the most challenging circumstances imaginable, and those certainly would include liturgically challenging situations,” remarked the Very Reverend Dr. John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. “That’s why we’re restructuring our music and liturgics courses for our Master of Divinity students—because we’re finding they sometimes end up in parishes with no deacon, no chanter, no choir director, and perhaps even, no choir!”
“To meet such new challenges, the Seminary has hired Robin Freeman as its new Director of Music, Harrison Russin as its new Lecturer in Liturgical Music, and the Very Reverend Dr. Eric Tosi as its new Assistant Professor of Liturgics,” announced Fr. John. “All three will begin teaching at the start of Fall Semester, August 29, 2016.”
A conductor and singer, Matushka Robin Freeman holds a Bachelors of Music in Voice Performance from Gordon College and a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Indiana University. She has worked with a wide range of choirs, including professional chamber choirs, church choirs, children’s choirs, community choirs, college choirs, and opera choruses. As a singer, she has travelled across North America and Europe, and in Asia, performing a wide variety of repertoire that includes opera, chamber music, and jazz.
In addition to her work with the choirs of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, she was engaged by The Princeton Festival, a multi-dimensional performing arts summer festival, for several seasons, as Chorus Master, Assistant Conductor, and Assistant to the Artistic and General Director. In 2015, she served as the Chorus Master for the Festival's production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, to critical acclaim. She has also served as the Director of Music at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Yonkers, NY.
“I consider it a joy and a privilege to be a member of the music faculty at St. Vladimir’s, which has a long and well-known history of musical excellence,” said Mat. Robin. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the seminary community in this new role.
“I want our ordained graduates to have the confidence to sing the liturgical services alone if necessary,” she explained. “And, I want them to be competent enough to organize the music and to direct, for example, a small, struggling choir at a vespers service—feedback from our alumni indicates they often face such circumstances in both mission and established but aging parishes.”
While acting as Lecturer in Liturgical Music as a Dean’s Fellow, Mr. Russin also will be finishing up his Ph.D. in Musicology from Duke University. “Although my doctoral dissertation is typically academic—it’s entitled ‘The Polyphonic Credo, 1350–1500’!—my new assignment at the Seminary will be hands-on and will deal with the nitty-gritty basics of liturgical choral singing,” he said.
“I’ll be teaching one skills course per week and other musicology courses as my part-time ‘Dean’s Fellowship’ position allows,” he explained, “and I’ll be rehearsing the male choir weekly, as well as directing them both in our Chapel and on parish visitations. I’ll also direct other choral ensembles when necessary.”
Mr. Russin was St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s Class Valedictorian in 2013. He earned his Bachelors of Arts in Music at Swarthmore College in 2009, and is the recipient of several scholarly awards, including the J. Fletcher Graduate Fellowship in Music from Duke University in 2015; and “The Promise of the Vatican Library,” a travel grant for Junior Scholars, from Notre Dame University and The Vatican Library in 2016.
"I am honored to return to St. Vladimir's to assist in musical ministry,” continued Mr. Russin. “The Seminary has, since its founding, been a leader in training church musicians and in publishing new and old music for the Church, and I look forward to helping to maintain the high standard that has already been achieved."
Also ensuring those high standards will be the Very Reverend Dr. Eric Tosi, another seminary alumnus (M.Div. ’96), and Corporate Secretary of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) since 2008. Father Eric will be training seminarians how to serve the liturgical services with dignity and grace, and will be imparting to them an understanding of the essential components of the services and the practical application of those components in various church settings.
Father Eric earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, and his doctoral thesis, which centered on his passion for missionary work, was titled: “Koinonic Evangelism: A Case Study of the Theology and Practice of Evangelism in Three Parishes of the Orthodox Church in America.” Father Eric himself has had experience as a pastor in both mission and established parishes: St. Nicholas of South Canaan Orthodox Church in Billings, Montana, and St. Paul the Apostle Church, in Las Vegas, Nevada, respectively. Since 2013 he also has been the manager of the OCA’s Parish Mentorship Program at the Seminary, which places senior seminarians under the mentorship of seasoned priests in local parishes.
"I am so very pleased to be joining the faculty of St. Vladimir's Seminary on a more permanent basis,” Fr. Eric remarked. “The Seminary has been a part of my life since I was a young teen, and every time I am here, I feel I am ‘home.’
“To be appointed to this position and to continue to train future clergy, following the footsteps of the great teachers who have taught here…well, this is an honor,” he said. “I pray we faculty build upon their foundations and continue to provide the Church with quality leaders and clergy."
Note:St. Vladimir’s Seminary thanks Hierodeacon Herman Majkrzak for doing a yeoman’s job as its Director of Chapel Music and Lecturer in Liturgical Music from 2010 to 2016, and wishes him well as he leaves to fulfill his vocation at St. Tikhon’s Monastery. Before his departure, during the school’s 2016 Commencement Exercises, Fr. Herman was presented with the “St. Macrina Award for Excellence in Teaching,” an honor bestowed by the student body.
Over the past decade, the Diaconal Liturgical Practicum has grown from small project designed to quickly train a few sorely needed deacons for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) to an established annual effort that instructs altar servers, subdeacons, and deacons from several Orthodox Christian church jurisdictions. Begun at the initiative of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the OCA and held yearly on the campus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, the Practicum is part of the OCA’s Diaconal Vocations Program, directed by Archdeacon Kirill Sokolov.
This year’s Practicum, held June 26–June 29, 2016, began with an opening Molieben and a talk by the Very Reverend Chad Hatfield, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Seminary, on the topic “Eucharistic Living & The Diaconate.” Father Chad’s engaging presentation and open question-and-answer session set a serious and evangelistic tone for the work of the following days.
Each full day began with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and concluded with Vespers. Archdeacon Kirill led liturgical practice sessions. Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak and Deacon Gregory Hatrak of the Seminary added their expertise to the participants’ experience. The Very Reverend J. Sergius Halvorsen, assistant professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric at the Seminary, taught sessions on liturgical chanting and the way deacons use their voices in divine services.
His Grace, the Right Reverend Paul (Gassios), bishop of Chicago and the Midwest (OCA), prayed and visited with participants throughout the Practicum. His Grace led a moving session with the participants on the diaconate and the expectations of the hierarchy for clergy. His Grace also presided at the concluding Divine Liturgy—this year in celebration of Ss. Peter and Paul—in the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel.
At the end of the liturgy, which is the highlight of each year’s Practicum, Archdeacon Kirill reflected upon the Practicum’s history and future. “The hierarchs of our Church, when they lay hands on a man and ask him to serve in one of their parishes and in one of their communities, expect a certain level of resiliency, a certain level of precision, and a certain level of faithfulness to the received tradition of our Church,” he remarked. “We’ve been really pleased to receive feedback from the hierarchs that their servers, subdeacons, and, especially, deacons, are coming into parish ministry a little more prepared, knowledgeable, and aware of where they can find resources if they need to learn more, as a result of attending these Practica.”
Archdeacon Kirill noted that within one decade, the Practicum has given him “the honor to work and pray with nearly 200 men from across the U.S. and Canada, the majority of whom hailed from parishes within the OCA but who also came from parishes within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Moscow Patriarchate, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, and Ukrainian Orthodox dioceses.”
Commenting further on the burgeoning of diaconal ministry in North America, he said, “As our parishes encounter deacons as a more regular feature of church life—as something that’s not unusual, but as something that is consistent within the worship experience of the local church—we find that parishes that have deacons ‘grow’ more deacons.
“Parishes with two or more deacons begin to use them in a myriad of ways that we couldn’t have anticipated ten years ago,” he explained. “It’s very exciting to develop opportunities for deacons to see themselves as an order, a brotherhood, and to adjust our Practicum to accommodate the experience of the Church.”
