Neither sleet, nor snow, nor tornadoes touching down in Queens near the airport, could keep the St. Vladimir's Seminary delegation from traveling to the Oklahoma City area over the weekend of September 8—10, to visit with the clergy and faithful of St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church.
“St. Elijah has been home to three priests from different eras of time at SVOTS," explained The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor/CEO. "Fr. John Salem is the current pastor and Fr. Jeremy Davis is his assisting priest. Fr. Constantine Nasr is the pastor emeritus and the author of our new SVS Press book, Antony Bashir—Metropolitan & Missionary. This visit provided the first book signing for our new author—and we look forward to other events around the country.”
The St. Vladimir's team, consisting of Fr. Chad, Marketing and Operations Manager for the SVS Press and Bookstore Dn. Gregory Hatrak, and Major Gifts Officer Tim Nieuwsma, arrived late at night after ten hours of travel and storm delays. "Despite the hour, we were met and graciously hosted by Fr. John Salem, the new priest of St. Elijah," noted Nieuwsma. "He insisted on finding a place for us to eat and subsequently treated us to a Saturday midnight tour of their spacious parish campus with beautiful sanctuary and parish hall, extensive Sunday School facility, 'Mom's Day Out' Pre-school, and a fully-equipped gym."
The next morning, Fr. Chad and Dn. Gregory joined the clergy of St. Elijah in serving Matins and the Divine Liturgy, and Fr. Chad offered the homily. The St. Vladimir's visitors were warmly welcomed by the community, which is rooted in one hundred years of history and is still vibrant and growing. St. Elijah emphasizes teaching and outreach, and the seminary guests were able to witness over one hundred Sunday School parish children receive a blessing for the start of the new church year.
In that same spirit of generosity and ministry, the clergy at St. Elijah presented Fr. Chad with a generous gift in support of the seminary's new scholarship initiative to end tuition debt for seminarians.
A key purpose for the visit was the Metropolitan Antony Bashir book signing with the author, Fr. Constantine Nasr. Dn. Gregory managed the event, as a long line of buyers waited patiently for a personally written message. Later that evening, Fr. Constantine and Kh. Sharon hosted the seminary delegation and updated the visitors on the progress of his foundation, which benefits the Palestinian people in his ancestral homeland.
One year ago at a seminary event, faculty members Dr. Nicholas Reeves and Dr. Peter Bouteneff got serious about a longstanding dream: they drew out plans to approach Arvo Pärt—and the seminary’s administration—about an ambitious collaboration. Three months later, they were on a plane to Tallinn with Chancellor/CEO The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, to meet with Arvo and Nora Pärt. That meeting, and the collaboration that it launched, is vividly described by the staff of the International Arvo Pärt Centre, on a page that is now a permanent feature of the Centre’s official website.
As a sign of their goodwill, the Arvo Pärt Centre has given the seminary a set of 18 CD recordings of Pärt’s music, as well as a special anniversary re-issue of Tabula Rasa and the authorized Pärt documentary DVD “24 Preludes for a Fugue” by Dorian Supin. These materials were received and deposited in the Father Georges Florovsky Library by seminary librarian Eleana Silk.
For its part, St Vladimir’s Seminary has begun a series of book donations to the Arvo Pärt Centre’s collection, beginning with its Popular Patristics Series and its Foundations Series both published by the St. Vladimir's Seminary press.
Subsequent meetings with the Pärts have occurred in England and are planned for Tallinn in the coming months. Concert venues are being explored and booked for May 2014; plans continue for lectures, publications, and a filmed documentary. And so the collaboration continues to grow.
Dr. Peter Bouteneff explains, "The Orthodox Christian tradition, in which Arvo Pärt is steeped, carries the essence of his music’s spiritual force. Pärt himself has said, 'If anybody wishes to know my philosophy, then they can read any of the Church Fathers.' Reading the Church Fathers is the life’s work of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The Arvo Pärt Project is about tracing those connections and making them available to a wide audience."
From September 5—8, The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, dean and professor of Patristics of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, journeyed to the Monastero di Bose in the province of Biella, Italy, to participate in the XX International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality. The monastery at Bose is a traditional community founded in the mid-1960's, and is composed of about eighty men and women from all major Christian traditions. The Orthodox Spirituality conferences have been hosted at Bose since the early 1990's, and have featured a variety of themes from missions to Holy Scripture.
Themed “Man—Custodian of Creation,” this year's conference gathered senior Orthodox theologians, who were joined by Protestant and Catholic brethren from around the world, to participate in a packed schedule of presentations and discussions about today’s pressing ecological concerns.
“It was good to reflect together on all the different aspects of creation and man's role within it,” noted Fr. John, who offered the patristic perspective in his lecture “Nature, Wounded and Healed, in Early Patristic Thought.” Additionally, “as with all conferences, the discussions that went on alongside the formal sessions were just as important, often lasting till late into the night.”
Prior to the conference, the Vatican Insider reported: "In four days of debates open to the public, the speakers will delve into the theological and spiritual dimension of man's relationship with the environment that surrounds him, questioning the values that can inspire us to make responsible decisions in the face of ecological crisis, caused by man himself, that is causing irreversible injury to life on our planet."
The stellar line up of Orthodox speakers included Metropolitan Ioannis (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, Fr. John Chryssavgis of Boston, and Bishop Amvrosij of Gatčina, Rector of the Theological Academy of St. Petersburg. Several Catholic dignitaries and representatives of the Church of England, the World Council of Churches, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity attended and spoke as well.
“The goodness of creation according to the Bible, the relationship between nature and (the) wound healed, and the history of salvation, the understanding of the relationship between man and creation in the early church fathers...are central to the ideas proposed by John Behr of New York,” wrote the Insider.
Participants also explored a variety of other topics central to the theological understanding of man and the creation, including: monasticism and creation, creation in the Orthodox liturgy, man's relationship to and responsibility for the created world, creation and iconography,and the Church and ecologicalissues.
In his final remarks, Bose's Prior Enzo Bianchi summarized, "The ecological crisis, as Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum said, is not only the consequence of individualism, of opulence, of consumerism, but is above all a consequence of a pathology of man’s identity, who risks forgetting who he is and to what he is called. Our conferences, which from the very beginning have had the blessing of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and of the Patriarchate of Moscow, which have always supported and encouraged us, and now also the blessing of the other Orthodox Churches, would like to be an antidote in this direction, a humble possibility of encounter, a seed of hope!"
In his first visit to campus as a hierarch, His Grace The Right Rev. John Abdalah, auxiliary bishop for the Antiochian Archdiocese's Diocese of Worcester and New England, presided over the liturgy for the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos at Three Hierarchs Chapel on campus.
Bishop John received his Master of Divinity degree with the Class of 1984. For 33 years, he served as a priest of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, before being consecrated as Auxiliary of the Diocese of Worcester and New England on December 11, 2011. He also holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Care from Pittsburgh Theological School, a Master's equivalency certificate in Pastoral Counseling from Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.
As a late summer storm blew through the Westchester County campus, bringing wind and rain that relentlessly pounded the chapel, His Grace calmly and joyfully served alongside other Antiochian and seminary clergy. Afterwards, he joined the community for brunch and then held a special meeting for the Antiochian seminarians and their families.
"We gather today for the first major feast of the New Year and we celebrate a brand new beginning, a new opportunity for saying 'yes' to God," began Bishop John in his homily. "These have been emotional days for me; thirty-eight years ago, I was a new student on campus, away from home for the first time. I can't help but think of those who have gone on to their rest who were once here, and yet God has raised up new people, new faculty and students."
Bishop John encouraged his audience. "People are looking to understand what the Church is about. We should not be ashamed to offer people chances to give, because in giving and loving, we are being like God."
Touching on a topic on the minds of many gathered for the feast, he also noted, "We mourn the loss of Ann Zinzel. I remember how she sat at the end of Fr. Schmemann's desk as he dictated his books to her. She wrote them all out in shorthand and then typed them up! She knew everything about every student and was loyal to all the faculty and students. We ask God to give His reward to His faithful servant."
Concluded Bishop John, "Every day, I use what I learned here. I learned most of all, that we need to take care of each other, we need to hold each other up as the world works against us."
Chancellor/CEO The Rt. Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield greeted Bishop John, noting that it was a joy to have him at the seminary for the first feast of the new liturgical year, and that the community anticipated his return visit for the Feast of the Three Hierarchs in January 2013. Fr. Chad concluded by presenting two seminarians with the 2012 St. Basil the Great Award for Academic Achievement.
It was a trinity of firsts: in the first week of August, The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, dean and professor of Patristics, embarked upon his first trip to Alaska where, as the first presenter, he offered a series of lectures at the Eagle River Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies.
The Institute is held each summer in the beginning of the August Dormition Fast, at the Antiochian Archdiocese's Cathedral in Eagle River, Alaska. Sixteen hours of college level instruction in a variety of Orthodox disciplines are offered, and cover a wide range of themes from theology, history, liturgy, spirituality and Scriptural studies.
Fr. John spoke on the topic "Becoming Human." The first and foundational lecture, "It is Finished: The Cross of Christ," set the tone for the series. His other lectures in the track, titled "For This Were We Created," "Male and Female Created He Them," "The Virgin Mother," and "Glorify God in Your Bodies," also centered on how we may become fully human, as God intended.
"I had a wonderful time," Fr. John says. "Not only did the beauty of their community and worship leave an impression on me, but, of course, the beauty of Alaska did as well. It was truly inspiring to see such a community take their life and learning together so seriously."
Sally Eckert, Eagle River parishioner, attended the conference and reflected afterwards, "Fr. John is an energetic lecturer who helps his audience work with him to explore new territory—and to look more deeply into the riches of the familiar. He engages gently with encouraging humor as a father would his children, and he has much to share that really applies to the way we live from day to day. It is good to have a little taste of what the students at SVOTS receive while they're in class, preparing to serve their parishes. And it was an unexpected joy to receive some of the fruits of the seminary's research and prayer directly! We thank you all for sharing from your community to ours."
Fr. Moses Berry, pastor of Theotokos "Unexpected Joy" Mission in Ash Grove, Missouri (OCA) and one of the founders of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black, also participated as a guest lecturer, with a series of addresses titled "Linking Ancient Christianity to the African-American Experience."
During the first week of August, The Very Rev. Fr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor/CEO, also journeyed to the northernmost state where he'd lived and ministered prior to coming to St. Vladimir's Seminary. Fr. Chad preached at the Feast Day Liturgy in Holy Resurrection Cathedral, which was filled with pilgrims who'd arrived to participate in the annual St. Herman of Alaska pilgrimage.
Fr. Chad also assisted with the orientation of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) summer mission team who were preparing to participate in a camp program for children and teenagers in historic Ouzinkie and the surrounding area.
Accompanying Fr. Chad, two seminary staff members—IT Director Georgios Kokonas and Plant Manager Rafael Rivera—offered their expertise as they worked on St. Herman Seminary campus improvement projects. Georgios and Rafael even managed to snag some fish, and will be sharing the bounty with faculty and staff on campus on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
"One of the many valuable contacts from this trip to Kodiak was the connection with the delegation from the Czech Lands and Slovakia," recalls Fr. Chad. "There are some excellent proposals with their seminary and missiological center that began when Metropolitan Kristoff visited SVS this past year."
Listen to Fr. John's Eagle River Institute lectures:
Summer is a busy season for the campus maintenance department. Plant Manager Rafael Rivera and his two assistants, Ramon Contreras and Yuri Shcherbakov, completed a number of major projects on the Seminary's 12 scenic acres. Two part-time summer student employees and several outside contractors assisted in the renovations, enabling the campus to look its best when students returned for the fall term.
Notes Ted Bazil, acting associate chancellor for Systems and Operations, "With the departure of a number of graduation students in May, a good deal of work was required last summer to prepare the facilities for the large incoming class. The challenge was that we had a short window of time to complete these projects and we couldn't start them until the students left and our summer programs and seminars finished in June. We had to complete these major projects in less than two months—not only the maintenance projects but also the capital improvement ones. It takes a significant amount of concentrated time by the staff and local contractors to successfully complete this work for the beginning of the fall semester."
One of the summer projects that isn't quite finished yet promises to aid greatly in the SVOTS student focus on health and wellness. The creation of a new 1,500 sq. ft. exercise facility, housed in the former Annex Dorm, promises to provide residents of the campus easy access to a wide variety of fitness equipment. Crews are hard at work and the center should be finished by the time cooler temperatures arrive.
Ted, Rafael, and the crew's summer 2012 "To Do" list included:
Preparation and cleaning for all the summer programs and seminars in June
Creation of a new 1,500 sq. ft. exercise facility
Cleaning, repair, and painting of 15 vacated apartments and building exteriors
General cleaning and repair of all single student rooms, baths and facilities
Deep cleaning of the kitchen and attendant rooms
Special outdoor projects, including faculty property
Active attention to all emergencies
Complete renovation of 3 women's suites and bathrooms in the North Dorm
Normal daily cleaning and maintenance of main buildings and facilities
Renovation and preparation of a new seminar room in the Annex Dorm
Installation of an exterior canopy on the chapel facade to preserve and protect the new mahogany exterior and icon mosaic
St. Vladimir’s Seminary welcomes the members of the Class of 2015! Over the course of eleven hectic days, new and returning students and their families: participated in a full schedule of services, registered for classes, auditioned for choir, picked up ID cards, congregated for cookouts, attended the first gathering for the St. Juliana Society serving the spouses of seminarians, and attended multiple seminars and orientation sessions.
“It was the best orientation I can recall during my time here,” noted The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, dean and professor of Patristics. “We are continuing to work out ways to make sure that the students begin on the right foot, and are set up for success. It’s a great crowd of students, and I am looking forward very much to working with them over the coming years.”
“We have welcomed 31 new full-time students in three different degree programs,” said The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, Chancellor/CEO. The men and women of the Class of 2015 come from all over the United States and beyond, and represent over ten Orthodox jurisdictions and Christian affiliations.
“These new arrivals and returning seminarians—the first to participate in our Fully Paid Tuition Plan—total 65 for the 2012–2013 Academic Year,” explained Fr. Chad.
“We are most thankful for this robust new class. During our Orientation sessions, Frs. John Behr, Alexander Rentel, David Mezynski, and I addressed the topic: ‘Orthodox Spirituality and Vocation.’ Responses from the students were overwhelmingly positive, and they wanted to continue the discussion. It was interesting to me to see how we four priests spoke with one voice, with presentations in complete harmony."
At the first Student Council meeting President Dn. James Parnell greeted the new and returning students, reminding them that the Council offers a place where students may address issues. “The SVS faculty really does listen to student input and recommendations,” he said.
Secretary Nicholas Roth introduced the various student special interest groups and themes, and encouraged participation. These run the gamut, from interseminary dialogue, prolife outreach, health and wellness, and environmental responsibility.
Reflected new student Ashli Moore of Oregon, “Orientation week left me in no doubt that this is a very demanding program! Yet I’ve experienced such warm hospitality here since I arrived, and I’m confident that this is a safe environment in which to meet the challenges of the program.” Ashli expressed appreciation for the personal touches, such as the welcome gifts from Board members and their wives.
Added Joshua McCoy of Arizona, “To see Christ from a decidedly Orthodox view is to truly see Him, and towards this end the professors and chapel services have encouraged me.”
Whenever someone speaks of “American Orthodoxy,” there is usually an unspoken understanding that the term refers to North American Orthodoxy: the United States, Canada, and sometimes Mexico. This way of speaking is indeed convenient, considering that the majority of Orthodox parishes in the Western Hemisphere are still located in North America. However, in the past few years a great change has occurred in Latin America that makes it increasingly inaccurate to focus on North America as the western outpost of Orthodoxy. Just two years ago, in 2010, the Orthodox Church received a large group of Guatemalan converts numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Now Guatemala, and possibly all of Latin America, holds tremendous promise of becoming fertile ground for the Orthodox Christian Church.
The seed of Orthodoxy in Guatemala was planted by the nuns of the Hogar Rafael Ayau, an Orthodox orphanage in Guatemala City. Many people are familiar with the incredible work of Mother Inés, Mother Ivonne, and Mother María. In fact, just this year a group of seminarians from St. Vladimir's Seminary traveled with the seminary Chancellor/CEO Archpriest Chad Hatfield to see the work of the nuns and to assist at the orphanage. It is through these nuns that the Guatemalan soil was first prepared for the Orthodox Church.
Now, with the recent chrismation of a new group of Guatemalan converts that numbers between 100,000 and 200,000, the Orthodox Church is ready to blossom in Guatemala. The magnitude of the event cannot be overstated. Almost overnight, Guatemala has become the most Orthodox country in the Western Hemisphere (by percentage of national population). Furthermore, the Orthodox communities in Guatemala continue to grow rapidly and attract attention throughout Guatemala. There is still, however, little information available to the broader Orthodox world on the history and character of these new communities. For this reason, I traveled to Guatemala this summer, spending two months visiting many of the Orthodox parishes, meeting the leaders of the communities, and accompanying the bishop of the Guatemalan Church—His Eminence, Metropolitan Athenagoras—as he made his historic first visit to the new parishes in Guatemala. I returned to the United States with the desire to share what I saw and the conviction that the Holy Spirit is at work with power in Latin America.
The new Orthodox communities are in touch with the nuns of the Hogar, but they are an independent movement with a unique history. These communities are mostly made up of native Mayans and have roots in the Roman Catholic Church. They first began in the 1970s and 1980s as a Roman Catholic renewal movement called the “Charismatic Renewal in the Holy Spirit.” For various reasons, including the movement's charismatic prayer practices and emphasis on music in church services, the parishes of the Charismatic Renewal became estranged from the Roman Catholic Church. Many communities went decades without sacraments until, in the 1990s, a former Roman Catholic priest named Fr. Andrés Girón took the movement under his wing. A very prominent figure in Guatemala, Fr. Andrés had served in the Guatemalan senate, acted as an ambassador to the United Nations, and led a large movement for land reform among the rural poor of Guatemala. These activities were part of what caused Fr. Andrés to come into tension with the Roman Catholic Church, eventually leaving the Church before taking leadership of the parishes of the Charismatic Renewal.
It was through Fr. Andrés that the communities of the Charismatic Renewal began to move towards the Orthodox Church. Fr. Andrés first joined a non-canonical Orthodox group called the Society of Secular Clerics, and he was soon ordained a bishop in this group. However, as he became more familiar with broader Orthodox Christianity, Fr. Andrés sought out the canonical Orthodox Church. A number of priests from other countries came to evaluate the situation in Guatemala, and then in April of 2010, Fr. Andrés was received into the canonical Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
After Fr. Andrés entered the Orthodox Church, then began the process of ordaining priests, chrismating the faithful, and educating the hundreds of thousands of new Orthodox. Over the last two years, a total of eight priests who were originally ordained non-canoncially have now been ordained as priests in the Orthodox Church. One of those priests spent a year in Greece to learn about Orthodoxy and become an iconographer, and there are plans for other priests to spend time abroad growing in Orthodoxy. The priests have begun to train a large team of catechists to go into all the villages to teach the people about Orthodoxy. In addition, a missionary priest from Pennsylvania, Fr. John Chakos, has begun working in Guatemala to assist the Guatemalan leaders and teach the faithful.
While the eight priests of the Guatemalan Orthodox Church are familiar with Orthodox theology and history, the majority of the Orthodox faithful still have much to learn and need time to grow. Many parishes lack basic iconography and essential liturgical supplies, and the communities are still relatively unfamiliar with the Divine Liturgy and other Orthodox services. Nevertheless, the communities have the seed of powerful faith: parishes are always packed on Sundays, sometimes with close to a thousand people; lay leaders are well-versed in Scripture and deliver convicting sermons to the congregations; and many communities center all of their activities around the Church, with some villages faithfully tithing ten percent of their crops and money. The Guatemalan Orthodox are indeed still newborns in the Church, but they are already growing in the Orthodox Church and have reacted well to the changes that are being made to bring them closer to the fulness of the faith. These “little ones” of Guatemala, the newborn Mayan Orthodox, will not be turned away by the Lord.
As we continue to discuss the future of “American Orthodoxy,” we must not forget that the providence of God often guides the Church in unexpected ways, and His providence is now calling our attention to Latin America. When, in 1867, St. Innocent reflected on the sale of Alaska to the United States, he said, “I see in this event one of the ways of Providence whereby Orthodoxy will penetrate the United States.” These words are often recalled in discussions of American Orthodoxy, along with the stories of the rapid conversion of native Alaskans to the Orthodox Church. Now, in our lifetime, as many as 200,000 native Guatemalans have turned to the Orthodox Church—is this not the continuation of God's Providence in the Western Hemisphere? The Holy Spirit has opened a door for the faith to penetrate Latin America through Guatemala, and this event calls us to recognize and believe in the tremendous potential for the Orthodox Church to flourish in this hemisphere. We are called to stand with the Orthodox Christians of Guatemala: through prayer, through donations of liturgical supplies and monetary support, and through missionaries and teachers who will go to Guatemala to help the people learn and grow.
Finally, we are called to once again be inspired by the richness of “American Orthodoxy.” From the small wooden churches of Alaska to the large food festivals of Pittsburgh and Chicago, from the Orthodox parishes that dot South America to the Mayan communities that live under the volcanoes of Guatemala—the beauty of God's Church is alive and growing in the Western Hemisphere. Let us embrace the work of God's Providence, supporting the Guatemalan Orthodox Church and tending to the faith throughout all the Americas, so that the seed of American Orthodoxy will grow and blossom.
For more information on the Guatemalan Orthodox Church and my summer travels to the Guatemalan communities, see my blog, which has articles and pictures that give a fuller understanding of Guatemalan Orthodoxy. If you would like to know how you can support the Guatemalan Orthodox Church, please contact Fr. John Chakos, the missionary priest who is serving in Guatemala under the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC). You can also find articles by Fr. John Chakos about the Guatemalan communities on the blog of Pres. Alexandra Chakos.
The Rev. Joel McEachen (SVOTS ’68) has been elected president of the 172 member Retired Clergy Association (RCA) of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA). The election took place at the biennial general meeting of the RCA held in conjunction with the 2012 Clergy–Laity Congress in Phoenix, AZ, in July, and Fr. Joel will take office effective September 1st. Father Joel joined the RCA board in 2008, and most recently has served as its treasurer and co-editor of the monthly newsletter, The EPISTLE.
He attended St. Vladimir's Seminary from 1965–1968, having been received into the Orthodox Christian faith at St. Anthony's Church, Bergenfield, NJ. During his seminary days, he was appointed youth director at St. Demetrios Church, Astoria, NY, and subsequently held the same position at St. Nicholas Church, Flushing, NY. After marriage to Sandra Reshetar, and graduation from St. Vladimir's with an M.Div. in 1968, he left for a year of study at the University of Thessalonica. Upon his return, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Timothy of Rodostolon at St. Andrew's Church, Chicago, IL, and priest by Archbishop Iakovos at St. Nicholas Church, Flushing, NY, September 27, 1970, where he served as assistant pastor until October 1973. He then was appointed pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Ansonia, CT, until his retirement in 2009.
His colorful and active life has included service in the U.S. Naval Reserve, work as an IBM systems programmer, and extensive involvement in The Boy Scouts of America, which he dovetailed with youth work in parishes, and programs for the GOA and the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops (SCOBA), during his priestly ministry. Read Fr. Joel's full bio here.
We congratulate our esteemed alumnus on his new ministry!
His Holiness Abune Paulos, who was Patriarch and Catholicos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Archbishop of Axum and Ichege of the See of St. Teklehaimanot, fell asleep in the Lord in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, early this morning, according to a BBC report. Other news sources, including "The Orthodox Church" OCP Media Network, report that His Holiness had been undergoing treatment for a serious illness for a long time, and that he reposed in Dejazmach Balcha Hospital.
It has been reported that the final resting place of Patriarch Abune Paulos will be at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa. The funeral will be held on Thursday, August 23, 2012. The Divine Liturgy will begin by 6 a.m. and funeral rites are expected to start by 9 a.m. The Cathedral also is the site of the tombs of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Hallie Selassie I, and other members of his royal family. Patriarch Abune Tekle Haimanot is buried in the churchyard of the Cathedral.
Delegations from various Oriental, Eastern Orthodox Churches and ecumenical organizations are expected to attend the funeral ceremony. The Indian Malankara Orthodox church has confirmed that they will send a high level delegation to attend the funeral
The 76-year old Patriarch was an alumnus of St. Vladimir's Seminary; he studied here from 1962 to 1965, and completed his Master of Divinity degree in May 1966. Dr. Sergius Verhovskoy, professor of Dogmatic Theology during that period of time, perceived great potential in the student (and then priest) Abba Gabre Madhin G. Yohannes, who would eventually become the Patriarch of Ethiopia. In seminary archival correspondence, Professor Verhovskoy noted that "Father Gabre was highly intelligent, very capable, and eager to study."
After his graduation from St. Vladimir's, the course of young "Abba" (Father) Gabre's life was determined by dramatic church and political affairs in Ethiopia, which included both his imprisonment and exile. Although his life had begun modestly in the village of Adwa in Tigray Province, its unfolding placed him in the center of many controversies that required from him enormous determination and spiritual strength in their resolution.
As a young boy, Gabre Madhin had entered the Abba Garima Monastery, a place near his hometown with which his family had had a long association. He began his life there as a deacon-trainee, eventually taking monastic vows and being ordained to the Holy Priesthood. He continued his education at the Theological College of the Holy Trinity in Addis Ababa, under the patronage of Patriarch Abune Tewophilos, who then sent him on to St. Vladimir's Seminary for further study.
After graduation from St. Vladimir's, Abba Gabre entered a doctoral program at Princeton University, but in 1974, his studies were interrupted by extraordinary circumstances in Ethiopia: the revolution that toppled Emperor Haile Selassie. Patriarch Abune Tewophilos summoned him back to Ethiopia, and along with four others, anointed him as a bishop. Abba Gabre took the name "Paulos" at his episcopal elevation, and was given the responsibility of ecumenical affairs by the Patriarch.
However, because the Patriarch had anointed the five bishops without the permission of the newly empowered Derg communist junta, all five men were arrested, and the Patriarch was eventually executed. Abune Paulos and his fellow bishops were imprisoned until 1983. After serving his sentence, Abune Paulos returned to Princeton in 1984 to complete his doctoral degree there, and began his life in exile. He was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by Patriarch Abune Takla Haymanot in 1986, while in exile.
Subsequently, following the fall of the Derg in 1991 (replaced by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, or EPRDF) and the dethronement of Patriarch Abune Merkorios, the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church authorized a new Patriarchal election. Abune Paulos was elected in 1992, and amidst ecclesial and political controversies that gripped Ethiopia, his election and enthronement were recognized by the Coptic Patriarchate in Alexandria.
As Patriarch, Abune Paulos took great pride in the history of the Ethiopian Church—noting the continuing 3,000 year-old Jewish and Christian presence in his country—and its astounding size: 45 million faithful; 50,000 church buildings; and 500,000 clergy. During his term of office, much urban property taken from the Church was returned, notably the campus and library of his alma mater, Holy Trinity Theological College. His Holiness also led restoration efforts for Holy Trinity Cathedral. As well, he rebuilt the patriarchal complex and reformed the bureacracy of the Patriarchate. Futher, he regained treasured church artifacts, for example, those that had been plundered by British troops in the 19th century: ten "tabots" containing images of the Ark of the Convenant, which had been held up to that time in a British Museum.
During his tenure, His Holiness became widely recognized as a scholar, peacemaker, and advocate for the suffering and poor. He championed the cause of victims of the Derg regime and presided over their funerals, including that of Haile Selassie in 2000. With great reluctance he acquiesced to the breaking away of the Eritrean Orthodox Church when that country declared independence, and he never ceased to try to bring peace between the Ethiopia and Eritrea and to heal the devastation wrought by their border wars; he initiated peace meetings between religious leaders of the two countries in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
Additionally, Patriarch Abune Paulos continually sought to strengthen ecclesial relations among Oriental Orthodox Churches. In 2007, he visited the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, meeting with His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and re-establishing a relationship with that church body; in 2008, he traveled to India to meet with Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Catholicos of the East. As one of the seven presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC), representing the Oriental Orthodox Churches, he was instrumental in encouraging interfaith dialoue in Ethiopia. In that same capacity, he participated in many international meetings, including the World Economic Forum and the World Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations in New York.
Most notably, he became extensively involved in the support of war-displaced and drought-hit Ethiopians, making the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church one of the major relief organizations in the country. He showed keen interest in providing solutions to problems involving youth, women's issues, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the protection and welfare of refugees, he was awarded the Nansen Medal for Africa by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2000.
In the summer of 2008, Alexander Machaskee, Executive Chair of the Board of Trustees at St. Vladimir's, witnessed first hand Patriarch Abune Paulos's care for the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church and his country. Mr. Machaskee, who at that time chaired the Board of Trustees for International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), met with His Holiness for two hours, discussing such IOCC projects as the multimillion-dollar AIDS campaign, the children's clinic in the city of Waliso, and several agricultural projects and demonstration farms.
The entire seminary community is saddened by the loss of His Holiness Abune Paulos, and we pray for his repose. Memory Eternal!
