Our alumna, Dr. Stefanie Yova Yazge, (M.A., Class of 1986), fell asleep in the Lord at her home in Greensburg, PA, on the morning of the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, Thursday, June 29. Wife of our alumnus Priest Anthony Yazge, who is Chair of Department of Camping for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese and the Director of the Antiochian Village Camp, she is the mother of three children, Matthew, Mark, and Alexis.
Dr. Yazge contributed her time and talent to our seminary by serving as Secretary on the St. Vladimir’s Alumni Association Board from 2011–2016. She was a champion for women seminarians, publically advocating for both their theological education and their adequate campus housing. “She was a driving force, and the Alumni Board’s lead for the Women’s Dorm renovation project on campus,” said Alumnus Gregory Abdalah, who served as Chair of the Alumni Association Board during Dr. Yazge’s tenure on the board. Additionally, Dr. Yazge served on the Initiative Committee for Educational Outreach, a part of the Seminary’s 2010 Strategic Plan.
Dr. Yazge earned her Ph.D. from Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, OH, and a B.S. in Communications (Television/Communications) from Miami University, Oxford, OH. She most recently taught theology part-time at Seton Hill University, near Pittsburgh, and at St. Vincent College, after serving ten years on the faculty of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, IN, as an Assistant Professor in the Theology Department. Additionally, she was a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American Academy of Religion.
A published author, she wrote a number of articles, including a chapter on “St. Paula and the order of Widows” in SCV Vol. 2 of Encountering Women of Faith (2010), and gave a presentation on that same topic at the Virginia Festival of the Book, at the University of Virginia. She was a popular retreat leader as well, and among the venues at which she spoke was the “Mother Alexandra Memorial Lecture at Holy Transfiguration Monastery,” Ellwood City, PA (2012), presenting the topic: "Building Relationships or Building Walls?—Making our Communities a Haven of Salvation."
Dr. Yazge also participated in international theological meetings, for example, the conference at the Theological Academy of Volos, Greece, sponsored by the World Council of Churches, at which 44 Orthodox women from 16 countries gathered (2008). Nationally, she served as Committee Coordinator for the annual Pan-Orthodox Clergy Wives Weekend held at the Antiochian Village, and locally, she was the choir director at St. Michael's parish in Greensburg.
A native of Akron, Ohio, she was the daughter of the late Protodeacon Paul and Silvia Yova. Her sister, Valerie, is now the Parish Administrator and Director of Music at St. Athanasius Orthodox Church in Goleta, California, and her brother, Gregory, is the founder of Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Khouriya Stefanie’s husband, Fr. Anthony, and her children, Matthew, Mark, and Alexis, and her siblings, Valerie and Gregory. Memory Eternal.
Seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield met with the Faculties of Orthodox Theology in the cities of Sibiu and Bucharest, Romania, in an effort to encourage future student and faculty exchanges and co-publications between St. Vladimir’s Seminary and those two major theological centers. Father Chad, who traveled throughout Romania June 9–21 with the blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, formed both personal and institutional ties with educational leaders in that country. Father Chad was accompanied in his travels by Alexandru Popovici, a native Romanian, who completed his Master of Arts degree in 2016 at St. Vladimir’s, and who now is employed as Director of Web Services at the Seminary.
“Archbishop Laurentiu,” said Fr. Chad, “is devoted to the works of Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, our seminary’s former longtime and globally influential Dean. “His Eminence, in fact, used to teach liturgics, and he is anxious to renew the bond between St. Vladimir’s liturgical legacy and the professors of theology in Sibiu,” explained Fr. Chad, “especially placing emphasis on the relationship between liturgical life and pastoral care.”
In speaking of that meeting, Fr. Chad reported, “Fr. Nicolae’s fields of expertise include Theology, Church History, History of Byzantium, and Ecumenical Relations, while Fr. Aurel is renowned for his work in the fields of Missiology, Ecumenical Relations, and the study of the Old Testament.
“As well, both the Dean and Vice-Dean showed tremendous interest in our Theological Quarterly—(We exchanged copies of our academic quarterlies!)—all of which demonstrates the possibility of future faculty reciprocity,” Fr. Chad continued.“Our conversations were deeply and mutually enriching, and we’ve already begun to envision a future symposium on Missiology, as well as co-publications through our St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.”
The Andrei Saguna Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu is the oldest institution of its kind in Romania, and its founding marked the beginning of higher education in Sibiu. Founded in 1786 as a Theological School and restructured in 1811 under the leadership of Gheorghe Lazar, it has continually operated up to the present time. Between 1948 and 1990, it functioned under the name of “The Theological Institute of Higher Education,” being one of the two Orthodox theological schools of higher education in Romania that trained Orthodox priests. Since 1991 it has been part of the “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu. Faculty members are known for their preservation of Transylvanian Orthodox traditions, while having the ability to adapt to the demands and needs of contemporary society. Furthermore, the Faculty of Theology is actively engaged in ecumenical work, both at a national and European level.
On June 19, Fr. Chad visited the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of Patriarch Justinian at the University of Bucharest, to review a formal agreement first signed between the Seminary and the Romanian faculty in 2013. In revisiting that original agreement, the two parties appraised existing protocols regarding student and faculty exchanges, and refined them to make their cooperative efforts more mutually efficient and productive.
Priest and Professor Ştefan Buchiu, faculty dean, noted that in recent years two graduates of the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest had pursued further studies at St. Vladimir’s, “with brilliant results.” (The two students referred to are Mr. Popovici and Bogdan Neacsiu, Class of 2015.) He also noted that in 2018, the collaborative efforts outlined in the 2013 agreement will have reached a five-year anniversary mark, and that with the blessing of Patriarch Daniel, the original agreement would be renewed during a formal ceremony in that anniversary year.
The legal status and structure of the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest mirrors the political history of the country of Romania. Following the Union of the Romanian Principalities under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the grand opening of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Bucharest took place November 12, 1881. In 1948, the Faculty was reorganized into the Theological Institute, and removed from the university, but in Academic Year 1991–1992, the Institute was returned to its initial status as a specialized Faculty of the University of Bucharest.
In Academic Year of 2005–2006, the educational structure of the Faculty of Theology was realigned in accordance with the provisions of the Bologna Charter, to which Romania adhered as part of its integration into the European Union. Consequently, under the general umbrella of Orthodox Theology were placed four specializations: Pastoral Theology, Didactic Theology, Social Theology, and Sacred Art; and Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral degrees were offered.
The Faculty of Orthodox Theology operates under the University of Bucharest and functions under the supervision of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Education. His Beatitude Daniel, as Archbishop of Bucharest, is the spiritual head of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology; the leadership of the Faculty, as well as the teaching staff, act with the Patriarch’s blessing. The Patriarch also places special emphasis on required participation in liturgical worship, for all students.
Bent Tree Country Club,5201 West Grove Drive,75248,Dallas,TX,US
On Friday, February 2, 2018 friends in the Lone Star state will host a banquet to support St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The dinner will be held at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas, an exclusive venue with superb dining.
Alumni Archimandrite Gerasim, dean of the St. Seraphim Cathedral in Dallas, Orthodox Church in America, and Lijin Hannah Raju, general secretary of the Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Movement of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, both are speaking at the banquet. Seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield will be offering remarks as well.
Tickets for the banquet meal, which begins at 7 p.m., are priced at $35, with an additional donation requested.
Please support your next priest or lay leader.
For more information, contact 914.961.8313, x330 or events@svots.edu.
St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary,575 Scarsdale Road,10707,Yonkers,NY,US
Come, see St. Vladimir’s Seminary
We warmly welcome you to our campus Open House October 5–8, 2017, for an immersion into seminary life:
Attend classroom sessions and chapel services.
Meet the President and select faculty, share community meals, and spend time with seminarians and their families.
Explore our Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, and Doctor of Ministry degree programs.
Meet our diverse student body: last year we had 76 students from 13 countries, 12 Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions, 5 Oriental Orthodox jurisdictions, and 2 non-Orthodox faith communities (and, 9% of the student body were women).
Experience the hustle and bustle of one of our busiest weekends of the year: Orthodox Education Day, October 7.
Come and see what’s it like to study and live at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Share a slice of our life.
REGISTRATION
Register here by September 20th email: rhatrak@svots.edu, phone: 914.961.8313 x330
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DAILY SCHEDULE
Arrive Wednesday afternoon, October 4th and leave Sunday afternoon, October 8th A full schedule will be posted soon.
RESOURCES
“Are you called to study at St. Vladimir’s Seminary?” 1st-year seminarian Dn. Larry Soper talks about the decision-making process that led him to St. Vladimir’s and tells about his first semester at St. Vladimir’s.
“What’s it like to study at SVOTS?” Subdeacon Shawn Thomas engages in a discussion about the priesthood, with his professor, Archpriest Alexander Rentel, in his Canon Law class.
“Seminarians Speak”: Read about our students’ rich experiences during their training: women and men, clergy and lay, scholars, pastors, iconographers, musicians, missionaries, diplomats, and educators included!
The Seminary’s annual open house and fall festival—Orthodox Education Day—will address one of the most painful realities of the 21st century: “Modern Martyrs: Christians of the Middle East and North Africa.” The Reverend Dr. George L. Parsenios, associate professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary, and sessional professor of New Testament, St. Vladimir's Seminary, will present the Keynote: "Dying, and Behold, We Live: Martyrdom in the New Testament." Father George will focus on sections of Scripture in 2 Corinthians and in the Gospel of John, chapter 9 (the healing of the Blind Man), where suffering is connected to assimilation to Christ and being "in Christ."
Although Christians have lived in the Middle East—the birthplace of Christianity—for nearly two thousand years, as a result of war, and years of persecution and discrimination, especially in the past 15 years, they now constitute no more than 3–4% of the region’s population, down from 20% a century ago. And all of us are aware of the recent horrific murders of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the daily bigotry and discrimination they suffer.
On Saturday, October 7, 2017, we invite the public both to learn about the history of Christianity in the Middle East and North Africa, and to reflect upon what it means to witness to Christ in the face of persecution. In Greek, the word witness is mártyras, and we will be praying for faithful Christians for whom this word holds immediate import and exacts real consequence as they profess their faith.
The day will begin with Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m., and other chapel services will include an Akathist service to the New Martyrs and Great Vespers. Three Hierarchs Chapel and the SVS Bookstore will be open to the public throughout the day, and children’s activities and lectures centered on the day’s theme will be offered. And, we will be providing special hospitality to our guests with tables of ethnic food and poured-over coffee.
Please join us as we remember and stand in solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East and North Africa.
St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary,575 Scarsdale Road,10707,Yonkers,NY,US
Celebrate the Feast of the Great and Holy Prince Vladimir, Our Patron
We invite all our alumni and friends to join us in celebrating the feast of our patron, the Holy and Great Prince Vladimir, on Saturday, July 15th from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., a day beginning with the Divine Liturgy, coffee hour, a brief talk by Fr. Alexander Rentel, followed by a scrumptious BBQ and ending with an Akathist to St. Vladimir in Three Hierarchs Chapel in the presence of his relics. All of our alumni are invited to serve or sing.
Come celebrate with us.
RSVP by July 7: Please note if you would like to serve or sing
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*Rain location: John G. Rangos Family Building **Event sponsorships are always welcome
Seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield is traveling throughout Romania June 9–21, meeting with key figures instrumental in renewing collaborative efforts between educational institutions of the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Seminary. Cooperative ventures began in 2013, when the Seminary and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest signed a formal agreement allowing for student and faculty exchanges, dialogue, and co-publications.
Of particular importance was the reception of Fr. Chad by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, at the patriarchal residence on June 12, a meeting that centered on the topic of mission and evangelism.
“The Romanian Church,” reported Fr. Chad, “has a strong interest in missionary outreach, and is particularly interested in the dynamism of American evangelism and how it might be ‘translated’ into catechetical work in Romania.”
Father Chad, who teaches both Pastoral Theology and Missiology courses at St. Vladimir’s, further noted, “I have greatly admired the theological, pastoral, and missionary spirit of Patriarch Daniel, and so I sought His Beatitude’s blessing and counsel as we reconnect in our mutual efforts in these areas, both on the American continent and in Romania.”
Patriarch Daniel also thanked Fr. Chad for supporting young Romanian Orthodox theologians studying at St. Vladimir’s, and as an expression of gratitude, he presented Fr. Chad with the “St. John Chrysostom Cross and Award for Theological Education,” the highest honor in that field bestowed by the Patriarch.
During his time abroad, Fr. Chad has scheduled several other activities. He already has offered the homily for All Saints Sunday in the Church of St. Paraskeva in Bucharest, pastored by Fr. Michael Tita, who also is personal counselor to Patriarch Daniel regarding foreign affairs and inter-church relations. And, he has visited the construction site for the new cathedral scheduled to be built and named after the Apostle Andrew, which will be the seat of the Patriarch’s throne.
Additionally, he will visit several renowned monasteries, as well as an orphanage that has been supported by members of the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel for the past nine years. He will also formally renew the 2013 agreement between St. Vladimir’s Seminary and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, headed by Dean Archpriest Stefan Buchiu; and he will visit with the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu.
“As I travel around this country, I am amazed,” said Fr. Chad, “at the quality and volume of the media coverage in Romania, as regards church news."
“It is remarkable that Orthodox Christians receive such heightened professional publicity—compared to their U.S. counterparts!—and I am gratified that this, too, is a means to spread the gospel,” he concluded. “I hope to learn from our Romanian friends how to better use the media in our own evangelical efforts.”
Father Chad is being accompanied during his travels by Alexandru Popovici, a native Romanian, who completed his Master of Arts degree in 2016 at St. Vladimir’s, and who now is employed as Director of Web Services at the Seminary.
Five of our seminarians—among them a recent graduate—ministered in Guatemala the last two weeks in May, as part of an OCMC mission teaching team. Deacon Christopher Moore, Anthony Davis, Simon Menya, Hans Vomend, and Christopher Stoops (M.Div. Class of 2017) offered religious education, catechism, and encouragement to church leaders, seminarians, and young adults, as they wound their way through the provinces of Huehuetenango and Escuintla, culminating at Lake Amatitlán.
After landing in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, they were met by seminary alumnus Jesse Brandow—an already established missionary working in the Mayan Orthodox Christian communities under the Ecumenical Patriarch. Together they traveled down into Guatemala and first stopped in Aguacate, at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, where a customary explosion of confetti greeted them! Deacon Christopher had the privilege of serving with the parish rector, Fr. Evangelios, during a Divine Liturgy, as the others seminarians helped to sing the service.
The team's next stop was a two-day catechetical retreat for all lay leaders from across the Guatemalan parishes. Around 80 people came, and the seminarians taught all the lessons during the two-day retreat, using Mr. Brandow as their translator. Anticipating the coming of the Feast of Pentecost, their teaching centered around the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church. Additionally Seminarian Hans Vomend recounted the story of St. Moses the Black, which captured people's imagination and inspired them. The seminarians also presented parish leaders with beautiful icons of the Feast of Pentecost, for them to take back to their parishes. (And, Dn. Christopher, during retreat breaks, enhanced the friendly atmosphere by playing his saxophone, to the delight of the participants!) They also met Fr. Daniel, another one of the priests under the Ecumenical Patriarch, and visited his parish in Pebilpam.
After teaching the catechetical retreat, the team then visited an Orthodox parish community in the mountainous area of Tajumulco, Guatemala, sharing in fellowship with the lay parish leaders and the rector, Fr. Alexios Sosa. Following this visit, the seminarians wound their way down narrow mountain roads to reach the low-lying coastal province of Escuintla. They met Fr. Blas and Fr. Mihail, the vicar of the Greek Orthodox parishes in Guatemala, and spoke with the students at the Centro Pedagógico, an Orthodox-run school that was founded by Fr. Andrés Girón of blessed memory who brought thousands of Mayan Christians into the Orthodox Church.
Finally, the team culminated their travels with a visit to the location where Orthodoxy first blossomed in Guatemala: the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on Lake Amatitlán. They spent time with Igumeni Madre Inés, abbess of the monastery and spiritual mother of the Hogar Rafael Ayau orphanage. Mother Inés prepared and presented a formal class to increase the team’s knowledge about the history of her country, and she also introduced them to her monastery’s work with orphans as well as the online university IEIRA that she founded.
“This team’s journey through Guatemala,” said Mr. Jesse Brandow, “was a fantastic success. We are so thankful to the seminarians, to St. Vladimir's Seminary, and to OCMC, for making this team possible.“It was such a joy to see the seminarians both learn from and teach the faithful in Guatemala,” he went on, “I simply loved having this team!”
Krista Tippett, host of “On Being”—a Peabody Award-winning radio show that explores some of humanity’s oldest philosophical questions—recently presented a public lecture on our campus, titled, “Mystery and the Art of Living.” The lecture, funded by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, was arranged by Professor Peter C. Bouteneff, director of the Sacred Arts Initiative at St. Vladimir’s, in an effort to explore ways to engage the wider culture in conversations about faith and spirituality.
In her presentation, Ms. Tippett focused on a phrase coined by physicist Albert Einstein: “spiritual genius.” She paraphrased a startling quote from that great scientist, saying, “Spiritual genius is more necessary to the dignity, security, and joy of humanity than the purveyors of objective knowledge.”
Ms. Tippett then went on to define the recurring qualities of “spiritual genius,” as detected among the “wisest people” she’s ever interviewed—and this graduate of Yale Divinity School and former political journalist for The New York Times and Newsweek has interviewed many. A bevy of larger-than-life theologians, poets, scientists, writers, academics, politicians, and artists have opened the depths of their souls to her: from astrophysicist Mario Livio to Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; and from Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors to founder of the media network TheBlaze, Glenn Beck. Among their seemingly polarized beliefs and dogmas, Ms. Tippett has managed to hear echoes of common human experience, while honoring the complexities and perplexities that mark their unique spiritual paths.
During her campus lecture, which was based on her newly published volume, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, Ms. Tippett outlined three broad areas that denote “spiritual genius”—embodiment of spirituality, acceptance and integration of failure, and the practice of virtues. She then deftly expanded upon each point, while emphasizing what she terms the “reality-based nature of spirituality.”
“‘Spiritual genius,’” she began, “is not merely spiritual; it is embodied, experiential, sensate, rooted and flesh and blood and time and space…body, mind, and spirit are more entangled than we guessed…more interactive in every direction. For most of history, religion was a full-body experience, which the Orthodox never forgot; rituals tether emotion in flesh and blood and bone, and they help to release it, and they embody memory in communal time.”
Further, she noted, “Failure and imperfection are the very element of human vitality and wisdom…saints wrestled with darkness in themselves and in the world all of their days. How we carry what has gone wrong for us, integrating it as part of our wholeness, and not merely overcoming it, is essential to being at home in ourselves and to be meaningfully present and compassionate to others, and to the world, in its flaws and failings. What has gone wrong for us, in fact, becomes part of our gift to the world.”
Lastly, she likened virtues to ‘spiritual technologies,’ particularly naming the qualities of listening, beauty, joy and humor, gratitude, and goodness as capable of uplifting not only a person’s soul but also the collective spirit of the surrounding community, if they are practiced as a spiritual discipline. She observed the depressing effects of 24/7 media news cycles on human beings, and offered a remedy to the dour outlook created by them, saying, “Virtues are at the heart of ‘spiritual genius.’ Our world is abundant with often quiet, hidden lives of beauty and courage and goodness; there are millions of people at any given moment, young and old, giving themselves over to service, risking hope, and all the while ennobling us all. And, you know some of these people, and you are some of these people.
“We live in an intensely wondrous, stressful, mysterious age,” she concluded. “These qualities of wise living that I’ve discovered in others are accessible to each and every one of us. They can be pursued with the certainly imperfect, often perplexing, raw materials of each of our lives. And if we pursue these things, in ourselves and in our families and communities, we will begin to move through the world differently; we might know what the Apostle Paul calls the peace of God (Philippians 4.7), and share that in the world that we can see and touch.”
At the end of her lecture, Dr. Bouteneff thanked Ms. Tippett, saying, “As a seminary our work is in about talking about God, about joy and goodness, and the virtues, and you have shown us that we can talk about that in ways that are far more accessible and far more universally understandable. We have so much to learn from what you do.”
Our Seminary’s 2017 Commencement ceremonies, held May 20, included several distinguishing moments, in addition to the granting of degrees to 16 graduates in three academic programs. Among the exceptional highlights were remarks to graduates by His Beatitude the Most Blessed Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and chair of the Seminary’s Board of Trustees; the Commencement Address by His Grace the Right Reverend John (Abdalah) of the Diocese of Worcester and New England, of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA); and the recognition and commendation by the Seminary’s Board of Trustees of Archpriest John Behr for his 10 years of service to the school as Dean, as well as the announcement of Fr. John’s appointment to the newly established “Father Georges Florovsky Distinguished Professorship of Patristics.” (View a video of the entire Commencement on our Facebook page, here.) Moreover, the Class of 2017 was the 75th class to commence from St. Vladimir's, the first graduates in 1943 being part of a cooperative program between Columbia University and the Seminary when it was located in New York City.
A Molieben (Service of Thanksgiving) in Three Hierarchs Chapel, with Metropolitan Tikhon presiding, and a procession of hierarchs, faculty, and students from the chapel to the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium immediately preceded the Commencement, which was formally opened by His Beatitude. Seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield then offered a summary of highlights from Academic Year 2016–2017 to the large audience and introduced the Commencement Speaker, Bishop John, who is an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s.
In an address titled, “What I wish I had known 39 years ago,” Bishop John offered practical advice from his own experience as a lay leader, seminarian, parish priest, and hierarch. “As difficult as my mission was to be, ministering to people of many generations, from varied ethnic and socio-economic strata, from hippies to Babas,” His Grace quipped to the graduating class, “your challenge is greater. In addition to dinosaurs of my generation, you will live among post-modernists who imagine themselves to be the center of the universe, and who believe themselves to be self-contained, needing no ‘other’ for fulfillment. You will minister to people for whom truth is, at best, relative. For many, including baptized Orthodox Christians in our pews, people believe themselves to be self-sufficient, needing no other; and amazingly enough, no ‘other’ includes God.
“I must confess that I came to seminary,” His Grace recalled, “confident that I knew quite a bit about my faith and parish life. After all, I had served in the altar from a very young age, had been an officer of our teen group, and had served as a member of the choir and parish council. Every semester I realized that I knew less and less, and today, I am the least confident in my grasp of theology. I am committed, however, to an understanding that this is indeed the process of education, particularly when encountering the ultimately unknowable. In any case, we serve as best we can, striving to be faithful to God and to the complex people we serve.
“Are you ready to commence your lives as churchmen and women?,” Bishop John asked. “Let me share what I wish I knew when I started my church life some forty years ago.” (Read His Grace’s full address here.)
Bishop John’s address was followed by the conferral of degrees, announced by Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Professor John Barnet, with the endorsement of the hierarchs from each graduate’s respective ecclesial jurisdiction: Metropolitan Tikhon (OCA); Bishop John (AOCANA); His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church; and seminary Trustee His Grace Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nicholovos (Poothiyottu), metropolitan of the Northeast American Diocese, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC). Valedictorian Mark Chenowith offered experiential wisdom to seminarians still completing their studies, while Salutatorian Dimitrios Nikiforos offered sage advice to the graduating class, which included 9 Master of Divinity, 3 Master of Arts, and 4 Master of Theology candidates. (View the Commencement Program here and the Valedictory Address here.)
Between the Salutatory and Valedictory Addresses, Dn. Joseph Wesseler, president of the Student Council, presented the “St. Macrina Award,” an annual honor bestowed by the student body upon the faculty member deemed most valuable to their formation and study. The award this year went to Fr. Chad Hatfield, whose courses at the Seminary have focused on Pastoral Theology and Missiology. (View a video of the Salutatory and Valedictory Addresses and bestowal of the St. Macrina Award here on our Facebook page, and read the text by Dn. Joseph presenting the award here.)
The presence of Metropolitan Tikhon bookended the day’s ceremonies, beginning with his presiding at the Divine Liturgy, during which he elevated Deacon Gregory Hatrak, director of Marketing and Operations at SVS Press & Bookstore at the Seminary, to the rank of Protodeacon. His Beatitude lauded the newly elevated Protodeacon, saying, “It is particularly fitting that this takes place today, on the day of commencement for the Class of 2017, as your service as a deacon is an example of what humble and obedient service to our Lord Jesus Christ looks like, which is the sole purpose for the existence of this seminary.” (Read Metropolitan Tikhon’s full remarks to Pdn. Gregory here, and his homily at the Divine Liturgy here.)
In his closing remarks, His Beatitude first offered wisdom to the graduating class, using pragmatic words taken from a document dated 1888, handed down to his family from his own maternal ancestors. He urged graduates to appropriate and apply the historic advice to their own vocations and situations, putting their newly acquired learning “to work, not for personal gain, but in the fulfilling of the Apostolic Work by which we make ourselves worthy of the name ‘Christian.’” (Read Metropolitan Tikhon’s closing remarks to the graduates here.)
His Beatitude then thanked Fr. John Behr on behalf of the Board for his “spiritual and academic leadership,” and further noted the Seminary’s extensive growth under Fr. John’s deanship, including reaccreditation with the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), re-establishment of the Doctor of Ministry Program, and implementation of a new Master of Divinity curriculum. Metropolitan Tikhon also recognized Fr. John’s “lasting contribution” to the life of St. Vladimir’s Seminary as “the uniting of the pastoral and the academic into a prophetically bold formation of clergy and lay leaders prepared to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Eph 4:15).”
After honoring Fr. John, His Beatitude presented him with a pectoral cross once worn by Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, former dean of St. Vladimir’s, which had, in turn, been handed down to Fr. Thomas from Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, who had originally received it from Archimandrite Cyprian Kern. (Read His Beatitude’s full remarks regarding the professorship here.)
His Beatitude further announced that the Board of Trustees has formed a Search Committee to fill the position of Dean at St. Vladimir’s, and that details would be forthcoming.
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View a performance by theSt. Vladimir’s Women’s Chorale during Commencement ceremonies, here on our Facebook page.
