SVS Press is attending the conference, "Tradition, Secularization, Fundamentalism: Orthodox/Catholic Encounters." Every three years, Fordham's Orthodox Christian Studies Center sponsors and produces the Patterson Conference on Orthodox/Catholic Dialogue.
St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary is still accepting students into its newly forming Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) cohort. Currently, the cohort consists of 7 priests, chaplains, and missionaries from four countries, and it can still accommodate 4 more students.
“Building on the successes of the students in the first D.Min. cohort, who began studies in the fall of 2014 and will graduate in the fall of 2017, our Doctor of Ministry program continues to bring together clergy and laypersons of diverse backgrounds with world-class faculty,” explained the Reverend Dr. J. Sergius Halvorsen, director of the program. “And, within these focused gatherings, we address the critical issues of Orthodox Christian ministry today.”
Students in the new cohort will begin an online orientation program July 18, 2016, and will start taking their first hybrid courses—online—in late August 2016. The fall schedule includes a one-week on-site intensive in October on the Seminary’s campus in Yonkers, NY. The newly formed cohort is scheduled to graduate in the fall of 2019.
Prospective students who have completed a Master of Divinity degree and have at least three years of experience in ministry may apply to be in the new cohort. The Admissions Committee will consider complete applications as late as July 1. For further information, including an Application Packet, information on Tuition and Fees, Financial Aid, and an Academic Calendar, please see the D.Min. Program Page on the seminary website, or contact Program Director Fr. Sergius Halvorsen at shalvorsen@svots.edu. The Danilchick Family Endowment for Pastoral Studies offers need-based financial aid for Doctor of Ministry Students.
CELEBRATE ST. VLADIMIR’S DAY! Please join us in celebrating the feast of our patron, the Holy and Great Prince Vladimir! RSVP by July 5 to events@svots.edu.
VESPERS 5:00pm, with a BBQ TO FOLLOW*
*Rain location: John G. Rangos Family Building
Event sponsorships are always welcome!
On June 13, 2016, the Very Reverend Dr. John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, together with the Reverend Mardiros Chevian, dean of St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, departed for Armenia at the invitation of His Holiness Karekin II, supreme patriarch and catholicos of All Armenians. Fathers John and Mardiros will be visiting the seat of the worldwide Armenian Apostolic Church, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, to discuss the possibilities of inter-seminary collaboration between Gevorgyan Theological, St. Nersess, and St. Vladimir's seminaries.
“I am very excited to visit Armenia, Holy Etchmiadzin, and especially His Holiness Karekin II,” remarked Father John. “Our relationship with the Armenian Church and St. Nersess Seminary goes back almost half a century, yet this is the first time that a Dean of St. Vladimir’s has been given opportunity to visit Armenia. I am very thankful to Fr. Mardiros for making this trip possible, and I am eager to explore various ways of further collaboration.”
During this historic visit, Fr. John will be received by His Holiness, whom he first met in 2010, when His Holiness and St. Vladimir’s Seminary both received awards from the International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations, headquartered in Moscow. Father John will also meet with the Very Reverend Garegin Hambardzumyan, dean of Gevorgyan Theological Seminary—who initially visited St. Vladimir’s Seminary in April 2016—and will address current seminarians and meet other faculty members of that seminary.
“While I am there, I also hope to visit the Matenadaran Library in Yerevan, which has the sole extant manuscript of St. Irenaeus of Lyons in the Armenian language, translated in sixth century from the now lost Greek original” remarked Fr. John, a renowned scholar of the works of Irenaeus. “I will soon begin working, together with our alumnus Paul Saieg, on a new edition of the works of St. Irenaeus for Oxford University Press.”
“The Christian tradition in Armenia is extremely ancient, and very rich in its theological, monastic, and spiritual life, as well as its art and architecture,” continued Fr. John. “Visiting Armenia is sure to be a blessing and enriching experience, as we will be treading the ground upon which two of Christ’s disciples, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew, walked, as well as the great illuminator, St. Gregory the Enlightener, who converted the King of Armenia to Christianity in AD 301.”
More details and photos regarding Father John’s trip will be forthcoming.
SVS Press will be setting up a mobile book store at the Diocese of the South Assembly, Orthodox Church in America, in Wilmington, North Carolina.
This summer our Dean, the Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, will lead an intensive study unit at the St. Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Theological College in Donvale, Australia. More information is available here.
On June 13, 2016, with the blessing of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, the Reverend Mardiros Chevian, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Dean, will accompany SVOTS Dean, the Very Reverend Dr. John Behr to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the worldwide Armenian Church. The purpose of the visit is for Fr. John to better understand the academic program offered at Gevorgyan Seminary and to further discuss the possibilities of inter-seminary collaboration between Gevorgyan, St. Nersess, and St. Vladimir's seminaries, including an exchange of faculty and students, courses of study, and library books.
While in Etchmiadzin, Fr. Behr will also have the opportunity to meet with the Vehapar, the dean and faculty of the seminary, and address the seminarians. Read more about the visit on the St. Nersess website.
His Grace the Right Reverend Irinej (Dobrijevic), a graduate of both St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, was recently elected to serve as bishop of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Currently, His Grace is bishop of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand, a diocese that, like the diocese to which he is newly elected, is under the authority of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate.
The announcement of the election was made in an official communiqué that recounted the proceedings of the regular meeting of the Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, held in Belgrade, May 14-25, 2016. The communiqué further announced that the current bishop of the Eastern American Diocese, His Grace Dr. Mitrophan (Kodic) had been, at that same meeting, elected bishop of the vacant Diocese of Canada; and that Protosindjel Siluan (Mrakic), of the Pustinje Monastery in the Diocese of Valjevo in Serbia, had been elected to replace Bishop Irinej in Australia.
Both the CEO and Dean of St Vladimir’s Seminary, the Very Reverend Dr. Chad Hatfield and the Very Reverend Dr. John Behr, respectively, expressed their pleasure at hearing the announcement.
“His Grace has maintained his contact with, and support for, our seminary while serving in Australia and New Zealand,” noted Fr. Chad. “Now that he will be geographically close once again, I anticipate that our historically close ties to the Serbian Orthodox Church will become even stronger.”
Father John added, “I am thrilled to hear of Bishop Irinej’s election to the Eastern American Diocese, and look forward to welcoming him to his alma mater and working closely with him in the formation of our Serbian students."
The election of Bishop Irinej amounts to a “homecoming” for him, both as a U.S. citizen and as a native of Cleveland. Alex Machaskee, Executive Chair of the Board at St Vladimir’s Seminary and retired president and publisher of Cleveland’s major newspaper, The Plain Dealer, recalled his personal history with the new bishop, saying, “I have known Bishop Irinej for many years and see him every time he returns to Cleveland, as well as visiting him with my wife in Sydney several years ago.
“I was very impressed with the work Bishop Irinej did as the External Affairs Officer for the Serbian Church in Washington D.C. years ago,” he further noted. “I had recommended to the Patriarchate in Belgrade several times that Bishop Irinej should return to the United States, and I am delighted that that is now going to happen.”
“I consider His Grace a wonderful spiritual leader, my dear friend, and an outstanding leader of the Serbian faithful,” Machaskee remarked.
Born in 1955, Bishop Irinej completed his elementary and secondary education in his hometown, and after attending the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1973–1975, he enrolled in St Tikhon's Seminary in South Canaan, PA, where he graduated with a Licentiate in Theology, with the academic distinction maxima cum laude. In 1980 he enrolled in St Vladimir's Seminary in Yonkers, NY, and graduated in 1982 with a Master of Divinity degree, with an Honorable Mention for his master's thesis, “Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich: A 1921 Mission to America.” Afterward, he studied at the Athens Center in 2000 and 2003, and received levels I and II certificates in contemporary Greek language.
He spent most of his professional career in the field of education, lecturing at Loyola University in Chicago, and as a member of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade, under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church. For many years he was the co-editor of The Path of Orthodoxy, the official publication of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada.
The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, St. Vladimir's Seminary CEO, and the Reverend Dn. Gregory Hatrak, Director of Marketing and Operations for SVS Press and Bookstore, will be attending the Parish Life Conference of the Dioceses of Los Angeles & the West, and Eagle River, for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. A book launch will be hosted for the new Press release, The Ways of Childhood. Additionally, Fr. Chad is serving as a keynote speaker, and his topic will be "The Three Ways to Know the Lord."
The Very Reverend Dr. Chad Hatfield, CEO of St. Vladimir's Seminary, will be a featured speaker at "Walk Through the Door to Holiness," an ecumenical conference that will explore the nature of Christian character in a post-Christian culture. The Most Reverend George Carey, 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, and The Right Reverend Edward B. Scharfenberger, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, are also guest presenters as well.
