Faculty, staff, and seminarians gathered Monday to say goodbye to Archpriest David Mezynski, who is stepping down as St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s director of formation. Father David has accepted a counseling position in Rochester, NY, where he will be closer to family.
Father David is a graduate of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (’04), and served as the dean of students there from 2005 to 2009. He has worked at St. Vladimir’s since 2009 as dean of students, assistant professor of Orthodox spirituality, and director of formation. He holds a Ph.D. and MSW from Fordham University in New York.
“Fr. David spent more than a decade at St. Vladimir’s, and we are incredibly thankful for his faithful service here,” said Archpriest Chad Hatfield, president of the Seminary. “His kindness and calming presence will be missed!”
The community of St. Vladimir’s Seminary wishes Archpriest David many years!
Registration is now open for the 2020 Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium, which will take place Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14, 2020 on the campus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS).
The event, co-hosted by SVOTS and the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM), will explore the theme of “Music as Liturgy,” with masterclasses, keynote presentations, and workshops. The event is designed for choir directors, singers, chanters, composers, musicologists, church school teachers, clergy, youth leaders, readers, and those interested in developing their liturgical music skill sets.
“This Symposium, hosted in collaboration with St. Vladimir’s, represents an exciting new development for both ISOCM and the Seminary in the promotion and understanding of Orthodox church music in the English-speaking world,” said Protopresbyter Ivan Moody, chair of the ISOCM board.
Masterclass topics include:
Vocal Techniques
Choral Leadership
Introduction to Liturgical Conducting
Advanced Liturgical Conducting
Byzantine Chant for Beginners
Advance Byzantine Chant
Composing in the Orthodox Context
Engaging Young People with Music
Each masterclass will provide participants with more than six hours of concentrated learning over three days, taught by experts in the field of liturgical music.
Workshop sessions will explore other themes for application in parish life:
Introduction to liturgical theology
Training for reading and chanting
Arranging settings for voices
Achieving a unified choral sound
Para-liturgical activities
Choosing the repertoire for your choir
Key Note Presentations include:
Music as Liturgy
Liturgy as Music
Liturgy, Music, and the Cathedra
“What’s unique about this gathering, among the many other church-music events, is the range of offerings,” said Dr. Peter Bouteneff, professor of Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. “I can hardly think of anyone involved in church music at any level or from any chant tradition who will not gain from our time together. That said, perhaps the people who will benefit the most are singers, choir directors, and composers seeking to ‘up their game.’”
Find the full schedule, presentation abstracts, speaker biographies, and information about registration fees and hotel reservations at orthodoxmusicsymposium.org.
Seating is limited for some of the masterclasses, so early registration is encouraged. Participants who complete their registration before March 15, 2020 will receive a discounted rate.
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.
Update: 5/21/20 - Registration for the Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium is now closed.
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Discover “Music as Liturgy” this summer—from home! Plans for the 2020 Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium have been reconfigured to a global online format on Thursday, June 11 through Saturday, June 13, 2020.
The event, cohosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) and the International Society for Orthodox Church Music (ISOCM), will explore the theme of “Music as Liturgy” with masterclasses, keynote presentations, and workshops.
The Symposium, centered this year on the theme of “Music as Liturgy,” is designed for choir directors, singers, chanters, composers, musicologists, church school teachers, clergy, youth leaders, readers, and anyone interested in developing their liturgical music skill sets.
Masterclass topics include:
Vocal Techniques
Choral Leadership
Introduction to Liturgical Conducting
Advanced Liturgical Conducting
Byzantine Chant for Beginners
Advanced Byzantine Chant
Composing in the Orthodox Context
Engaging Young People with Music
Workshop sessions will explore other themes for application in parish life:
Introduction to liturgical theology
Training for reading and chanting
Arranging settings for voices
Achieving a unified choral sound
Para-liturgical activities
The spiritual dimensions of the Church musician
Keynote Presentations include:
Music as Liturgy: Models from Ancient Syriac Christianity
The organizers at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and ISOCM look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be an incredible Pan-Orthodox Music Symposium this summer!
The Nativity season was once again made a little brighter this year for families at St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) thanks to The Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America (FOCA). In the Spirit of St. Nicholas, FOCA helped fulfill wish lists for married seminarians and their children in the month of December.
FOCA has sponsored the St. Nicholas Wish List Project since 2000, matching chapters and parishes from all over the country with seminary families from both St. Vladimir's and St. Tikhon's Seminary. Items from wish lists range from gift cards to local grocery, gas stations, and other stores to clothing and household goods, school supplies for the seminarians, and gifts for the children.
FOCA is an official organization of the Orthodox Church in America. Fulfilling wish lists is one of many ways FOCA supports seminaries and a number of other causes around the country and abroad. Learn more about FOCA and how to get involved on the organization’s website, here.
With faith in Christ and in the hope of resurrection, we share the news of the repose of our alumnus and ardent supporter of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Dr. Frank Kulik. Kulik, of Phoenix, AZ, fell asleep in the Lord Tuesday, December 18, at the age of 81.
Father Thomas once wrote about the important role Dr. Frank played in his own enrollment as a seminarian at St. Vladimir’s:
I heard about St. Vladimir's in 1956 from a friend, Frank Kulik, now a psychiatrist in Jackson, Mississippi and a staunch Seminary supporter. Frank was a freshman at Drew University in New Jersey while I was enrolled at a small college in upstate New York. He phoned to tell me of a seminar he attended at Drew on the theme of Russian Orthodoxy. He was particularly impressed by one of the speakers, a young priest named Fr. Alexander Schmemann, a teacher at St. Vladimir's Seminary in New York City. He suggested that we travel to find out more about St. Vladimir's during our Easter vacation in 1957.
Doctor Frank graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1968, and practiced psychiatry for nearly 50 years in the southern United States.
Details regarding the funeral services and burial of Dr. Frank Kulik are forthcoming, and will be posted as soon as information is available.
For the second year running, the St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) Chorale teamed up with the choir from Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, East Meadow, NY. On Saturday the choirs performed “Lessons & Carols: Music of the Christmas Season from East & West” at Holy Trinity.
Under the direction of SVOTS Director of Music Robin Freeman and former faculty member Dr. Nicholas Reeves, Holy Trinity’s choir director, the combined choirs sang familiar carols and Orthodox liturgical hymns interspersed with readings from the Old and New Testaments. His Eminence, The Most Rev. Michael (Dahulich), archbishop of New York and the Diocese of New York and New Jersey (OCA), read one of the lessons and shared a homily at the event.
“This is a really unique collaboration and a beautiful model that other parishes could adopt as outreach during this time of the year," said Freeman.
“Singing at Lessons and Carols with Church of the Holy Trinity, East Meadow, is a highlight of the Nativity season for me,” said Kh. Cayce-Marie Halsell, who also sang last year. Her husband, Fr. Symeon, is a third-year seminarian.
“This concert is a beautifully poignant way of welcoming the Advent season and contemplating the awesome mystery of the incarnation,” she added. “With a wide variety of hymns and carols, from antique to contemporary, the program ushers us from the Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah and guides us towards the triumphant coming of our Lord as a humble infant. It truly inspires us to sing, ‘Joy to the World, the Lord has come!’”
Singers from St. Vladimir’s Seminary have one more outing before the end of the fall semester. On Thursday, December 12, members of the Seminary community will continue the tradition of Christmas caroling at Sunrise of Crestwood nursing home near campus. The gathering provides the SVOTS’ community a chance to share the joy of the Nativity in song with the residents there and to celebrate the end of the semester together.
Do you feel called to serve the Church, either in ordained ministry or another vocation? Explore the idea of enrolling at St. Vladimir’s Seminary! Come experience community and academic life on campus at the Winter Open House, January 16 and 17.
Plan to arrive Wednesday evening (January 15), join chapel services and classes on Thursday, and enjoy a seminary-wide academic symposium (not open to the public), meals, and fellowship on Friday.
Schedule
Wednesday, Jan 15, 2019
By 4:30 p.m. – Open House guests arrive on campus
5:00 p.m. – Vespers
5:45 p.m. – Dinner
Thursday, Jan 16, 2019
7:30 a.m. – Matins
8:15 a.m. – Breakfast and welcome from the Academic Advisor
9:15 a.m. – Campus and Bookstore Tour
10:30 a.m. – Morning Class
12:15 p.m. – Lunch & group discussion with current seminarians curated by the Academic Dean
1:15 p.m. – Admissions Q&A
2:00 p.m. – Afternoon Class
5:00 p.m. – Vespers
5:45 p.m. – Dinner
7:00 p.m. – Choir Rehearsal
Several seminarians from St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) performed for the Pan-Orthodox Christmas Concert Sunday in Paramus, NJ.
The concert took place at St. Mark’s Syriac Orthodox Cathedral, and featured choirs from the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and Greek, Antiochian, Serbian, Coptic, Armenian, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. Representing the OCA were Seminarians Phillip Ritchey and Catherine Alexandres and SVOTS Director of Music Robin Freeman; Seminarians Theodore Werthmuller and Timothy Miller sang in the Antiochian choir; Seminarians Daniel Bein, Daniel Girgis, and Fr. Peter Dimyan represented the Coptic Church; and Seminarian Daniel Hanna sang with the Syriac Orthodox choir. The concert was also attended by His Eminence Mor Dionysius John Kawak (Syriac Orthodox Church), His Eminence The Most Rev. Elpidophoros (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America), His Grace the Right Reverend Irinej (Serbian Orthodox Church), His Grace Bishop David (Coptic Orthodox Church), and other clergy.
“Glory to God for the opportunity to come together with Eastern and Oriental brothers and sisters, continuing to take steps towards Orthodox unity,” said Seminarian Ted Werthmuller.
“It was a historic concert,” added Seminarian Daniel Girgis. “Hopefully, it will be the first of many more.”
St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press has published the first scholarly biography of the desert hermit who became a most unlikely patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Kyrillos VI (1902–1971).
The biography, titled, A Silent Patriarch, by Fr. Daniel Fanous, has been well received among the Coptic community and others, already selling in large quantities during a brief pre-order period leading up to the book’s release.
“Kyrillos VI…is a figure of great spiritual stature who was immersed in the depths of monastic life and in a life of unceasing prayer,” said the current Coptic patriarch, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria. “I commend Rev. Dr. Daniel Fanous for this important study, which I consider a scholarly and outstanding addition to the history of our Coptic Orthodox Church."
Until now, the details of Pope Kyrillos VI’s life have remained largely hidden, despite his enduring popularity among Coptic Christians. As patriarch, Kyrillos inherited a bleeding church, one confronted by political Islamism, an indifferent Muslim president, and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Silent in the face of persecution, mockery, and criticism, Kyrillos stood at the head of a nearly impossible spiritual revolution. But by the time he reposed, everything had changed.
In this lucid biography, Fr. Daniel Fanous traces Kyrillos’ life from childhood, drawing upon hundreds of letters and sources never before seen, detailing Kyrillos’ unusual method of ecclesial reform, which speaks enduringly to the uncertainties of the present age. This is the story of Kyrillos VI, a most unlikely patriarch, a silent urban recluse.
A Silent Patriarch may be purchased at SVSPress.com or by calling 800-204-BOOK (2665).
About the Author
Rev. Dr Daniel Fanous is dean and lecturer in theology & biblical studies at St. Cyril’s Coptic Orthodox Theological College in Sydney, Australia. He is the author of The Person of the Christ and Taught by God: Making Sense of the Difficult Sayings of Jesus (coming soon to SVS Press).
The board of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA)'s Thriving in Ministry program (TIM) held an all-day meeting at St. Vladimir's Seminary on Tuesday, November 19.
Through TIM, the OCA seeks to establish pan-Orthodox learning groups for priests and their wives throughout the United States and Canada.
Tuesday’s work included reviewing current and emerging groups, planning for the 2020 workshop for group facilitators in Jacksonville, FL, and creating a set of guidelines for hybrid groups that need to meet both in person and online.
TIM’s board members include St. Vladimir’s Alumni Priests Nikodhim Preston (M.Div., '07) and TIM program administrator Theophan Whitfield (M.Div., ’10; D.Min. Cohort of 2017); faculty member and Alumnus Archpriest Nicholas Solak (M.Div., ’02; D.Min., ’08); longtime St. Vladimir’s Seminary Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Dr. Albert Rossi; Presbytera Kerry Pappas; and Archpriest Stephen Vernak. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and OCA Chancellor and Seminary Professor Archpriest Alexander Rentel, both ex officio, extended their prayers and support for Tuesday’s gathering.
About the Thriving in Ministry Program
Meeting quarterly for the day and guided by trained facilitators, TIM groups allow participants to gather, share wisdom, and build relationships based on trust, joy, and accountability. Pastoral ministry is hard, but it is also full of priceless insights into the ceaseless work of Christ in our midst. Too often isolation and stress prevent priests from celebrating and protecting their sacred call to serving the Lord, and too often these same challenges keep clergy wives from doing the same. The TIM program offers the chance to learn and to rest, to build skills and explore challenges, and to be gathered by Christ and to be sent out by Him once again for harvest (Mark 3:14).
Sponsored by the OCA’s Department of Pastoral Life and funded by the Lilly Endowment through a generous five-year grant of $470,000, the TIM program is surpassing its goals in 2019. Already, there are eight active clergy groups with members in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Canada and an established group of clergy wives in eastern Pennsylvania. A new clergy group is being formed in Boston, and two new peer groups for wives are forming in Chicago and Connecticut. Early work has also started in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and the Carolinas. And in 2020, the TIM program is ready to move out even more broadly into Orthodox North America.
