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REGISTRATION FOR THIS WORKSHOP IS CLOSED!

6th Annual Diaconal Liturgical Practicum— Full Description & Faculty
June 10–13, 2012

Intense liturgical training is the focus of this 4-day program to be held from Sunday, June 10–Wednesday, June 13, 2012 on the campus of St. Vladimir's Seminary. Participants are asked to arrive after 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 10th; the last day of the practicum, June 13th, includes morning Divine Liturgy, a closing discussion, and brunch. Participants may leave campus at noon for 3:00 p.m. and later flights from area airports.

Practical liturgical training for deacons and lay diaconal candidates will be supported by celebration of the Divine Liturgy and other services. Intensive workshops aim to provide participants with the skills needed to serve effectively in the Orthodox Church as an attentive server, deacon, or priest. Attention will be given to the liturgical patterns of movement that inform the entire rite of the Church. Participants will also receive guidance on concelebrations and hierarchical celebrations so that they can effectively prepare for such occasions. In addition to practicums, focused presentations by faculty will augment the deacon's understanding of his place in the liturgical life of the Church and the deacon's broader vocation as a symbol to the faithful of the diakonia of Christ our Lord. Instruction in public speaking and vocal technique will also be offered.

This practicum, which is being offered for the fourth consecutive summer, is held in conjunction with the Orthodox Church in America's Diaconal Vocations Program (DVP) and is highly recommended for participants in the Church's program by the Holy Synod. "Diakonia is at the center of the vocation of every Christian," explains His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). "The hierarchs thank God for the growth in diaconal vocations throughout our Church and this annual program that gives deacons a strong context for their service at the holy altar."

Liturgical workshops led by Archdeacon Kirill Sokolov, director of the Diaconal Vocations Program for the OCA, will aim to provide participants with the skills needed to serve effectively in the Orthodox Church as an attentive server, deacon, or priest. Particular focus will be given to the typical celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by one priest and one deacon.

Priest Sergius Halvorsen will lead sessions on public speaking, teaching, and preaching, as well as church reading and vocal technique. Fr. Sergius holds an M.Div. from St. Vladimir's Seminary and a Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from Drew University. He is the Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric at St. Vladimir's Seminary.

Lectures by other seminary faculty will supplement the concentrated liturgical training for deacons and diaconal students.

"The seminary's former dean, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, taught that everything in worship concerns us as the Church of God, making us the living body of Christ," says Archdeacon Kirill. "Thus, everything in worship concerns me, as a living member of that body. The deacon's prominent role in worship requires that he studies and learns the rubrics of the services. The training we provide offers just such an opportunity for learning."

Last Updated: June 7, 2012. Subject to change, so please check this web page for the latest revision.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED!  For further queries, e-mail diaconal2012@svots.edu.

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Pastoral Counseling Skills Workshop: “Becoming a Healing Presence”—Overview

Thursday, June 7 – Saturday, June 9, 2012

NOTE: The workshop begins with Registration at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 7th, and the first session is at 7 p.m. that evening. The workshop ends on Saturday, June 9th, at 1 p.m.

This workshop is designed for anyone interested in continuing to develop pastoral counseling skills. The emphasis will be on a counseling model to help participants “Become a Healing Presence,” beginning with one’s own inner healing. The counseling model to be taught pivots on “active listening as love delivered," that is, giving others strength and hope. The referent point of the workshop is Jesus Christ as our Healer who wants us to be His humanity on earth, His healing presence to others.

The interactive workshop will explore ways to empower participants to go beyond themselves, to transcend themselves, and in so doing, to transform others. “Healing” refers to psychological and spiritual healing; physical healing is beyond the scope of the short workshop.

Workshop leaders are Dr. Albert S. Rossi, Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Theology at the seminary and licensed clinical psychologist in the state of New York; and Priest David Mezynski, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.

 REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Click here.

DOORS OPEN AT 7 P.M.! GENERAL SEATING!

View the Concert Program by clicking here!

Listen to details about the concert on Ancient Faith Radio by clicking here.

Join us for an exquisite evening of liturgical music sung in the traditional styles of Orthodox Christian churches worldwide. In a multi-media program that interweaves luminous icons, sacred texts, and a rich a cappella sound, the St. Vladimir's Seminary Chorale will perform ORIENT: Sacred Song and Image at the famous St. Malachy's,"The Actors' Chapel," in the heart of Manhattan, at 239 West 49th Street, New York City. This stirring concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.

 The concert program will include pieces from the broader Orthodox tradition sung in their original languages— Greek, Georgian, Estonian, Slavonic—as well as choral music by Orthodox composers written for the concert hall. Two visual projections—one of images of Orthodox icons and the other of translations of musical texts—will run simultaneously as the chorale sings. Icons, music, and text will expound one another, just as they do within the Orthodox liturgy. The concert will combine the best elements of a professional choral performance with the depth and authenticity of the Orthodox liturgical experience, resulting in a truly beautiful multimedia artistic performance, and a full, authentic vision of the Orthodox Christian faith.

The chorale will be directed by Hierodeacon Herman, Lecturer in Liturgical Music and Chapel Choir Director at the seminary, and Matushka Robin Freeman, who created the concert format and conducted in its premiere at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in 2010. Seminary Chancellor and CEO, Archpriest Chad Hatfield, will deliver a homily about the Resurrection of Christ, following the concert.

Spread the word to your friends, family, and church family! Download a PDF or a JPEG of the concert flier.

Tickets are $25, and may be purchased online here. Your printed registration form will serve as your admission ticket.

Bus seating is available! The cost of round-trip bus transport from St. Vladimir's Seminary to the concert is $10 per person (what a deal!). Concert goers can pay for a bus ticket online via the event registration link, here. The bus will depart the seminary campus promptly at 5:45 p.m. (individuals may park anywhere they like for FREE on the seminary campus that evening), and the bus will leave the city at 9:00 p.m. 

Limited seating will be available at the door (cash only) the evening of the concert.

I am greatly honored that you have invited me to give this lecture in memory of Father Alexander Schmemann...When I began to read the work of Father Alexander, I was able to glimpse, in a small way, what the liturgy meant from the inside, and reading his Journals, I caught something of the Orthodox world view. I managed to find again a couple of sentences in his 1965 book Sacraments and Orthodoxy,  which link closely to what I have prepared for today: "The liturgy of the Eucharist is...the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom...'Dimension'...seems the best way to indicated the manner of our sacramental entrance into the risen life of Christ."

With these words, our guest speaker Dr. Margaret Barker commenced the 29th annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture, transporting her audience into the liturgical world of the first Jewish Temple—a world remarkably familiar to Orthodox Christian worshipers. Her lecture was titled "Our Great High Priest: The Church as the New Temple." The audience listened with intense interest as Dr. Barker described with vivid imagery the furnishings, appointments, and keepers of that temple—the anointing oil, cherubim, bread of the presence, seven-branched lampstand, Melchizedek priest-king, and so forth—as they were drawn deeper and deeper into its ancient liturgical life.

As Dr. Barker focused on the structure of the first temple and on the figure of the high priest within that temple, she led her audience along "the trail that leads from Solomon's Temple to the Christian Church," her premise being that both the first temple and its high priest were restored by the coming of Jesus Christ. "The Christian community was the temple of the Messiah," she noted, "the original temple restored, and it was a living temple." Further on, she stated, "There is good evidence in the gospels that Jesus did see himself as the great high priest, and that his ministry was shaped by that ideal."

Upon her closing words, "Christians are the anointed ones of the restored temple, and our covenant is the eternal covenan," the audience exploded with sustained applause in gratitude for her presentation. At the close of her talk, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), presented Dr. Barker with a beautiful icon of "Christ the High Priest."

Other hierarchs in attendance at the lecture were His Grace The Right Rev. Benjamin, bishop of San Francisco and the West (OCA), and His Grace The Right Rev. Maxim, bishop of the Western Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church of North and South America.

To get a sampling of Dr. Barker's research, and to hear her on YouTube, visit her website www.margaretbarker.com.

Read Dr. Barker's 29th annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture, "Our Great High Priest: The Church as the New Temple," here.

Listen to the podcast of Dr. Barker's lecture, "Our Great High Priest: The Church as the New Temple," here.

Priest John E. Parker III, newly appointed chair of the Department of Evangelization for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), will be speaking Tuesday, January 31st, at 7:30 p.m. in the Bashir Auditorium on the seminary campus. A dynamic presenter, he will address the topic, "The Realities of Life in Orthodox Mission Churches."

The talk is free and open to the public, and Father John especially welcomes all SVOTS seminarians who have an interest in inter-jurisdictional cooperation among Orthodox Christians in planting new missions across the U.S.

Note: the Bashir Auditorium is directly across from the SVS Bookstore, on the second floor of the Education Building.

"St. Matthew Orthodox Church was very blessed to have Archpriest Chad Hatfield come to speak to our parish," noted Fr. Maximus Cabey, rector of the parish, and his wife, Matushka Photini, as they recounted the weekend of January 7–8 at their church in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "On Saturday, Father Chad gave a talk about baptism titled 'Putting on Christ,' which greatly edified our congregation."

The following day, Fr. Chad, who is the Chancellor/CEO at St. Vladimir's, celebrated the Divine Liturgy with both Fr. Maximus and Fr. Michael Herrick, who was the first full-time rector at St. Matthew's; Fr. Chad also delivered the homily. After Divine Liturgy he shared a brief presentation about the seminary and conducted a Question & Answer session.

"Father Chad was very well received by our congregation," said Fr. Maximus, a 2011 graduate of St. Vladimir's.

View Fr. Chad's 2012 travel schedule here, to see if he is coming to your locale!

"You've made my day!" exclaimed His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, as our seminary dean, Archpriest John Behr, presented him with a signed copy of his newly translated and published On the Incarnation, the classic 4th-century treatise by St. Athanasius the Great. Father John had dedicated the volume to His Eminence, with the words: "Faithful Guide, True Teacher, Genuine Lover-of-Words"; he presented the work to His Eminence in an informal meeting at the Archbishop's office on Tuesday of this week.

The book, published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press in December 2011, expounds with simplicity the theological vision defended at the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople: that the Son of God himself became "fully human, so that we might become god." Its influence on all Christian theology thereafter, East and West, has ensured its place as one of the few "must read" books for all who want to know more about the Christian faith.

"The book has already experienced quick sales from many professors of introductory Christian religion college courses throughout the United States," noted Dn. Gregory Hatrak, marketing manager of SVS Press and Bookstore. We have received excellent feedback on this title."

Two features especially distinguish the volume: a preface written by C.S. Lewis, and the fact that the book contains English and Greek parallel text.

Father John's volume, which is part of the Press's Popular Patristics Series (PPS, numbers 44a and 44b), has been published in two formats: in English (PPS 44b) or in English with the original Greek text presented in parallel text on the facing page (PPS 44a). The bilingual version (978-0-88141-409-7) is 174 pages, and sells for $22.00; the English-only version (978-0-88141-427-1) is 112 pages, and sells for $16.00.

Order this title here.

During the second week of Great Lent, March 10–11, 2012, which commemorates St. Gregory Palamas, our seminary Men's Choir will be singing at two parishes in Western Pennsylvania: St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Allison Park, Pennsylvania (OCA), at Vespers and Divine Liturgy, and   Holy Trinity Church, State College, Pennsylvania (OCA), at Sunday evening Vespers. The choir is under the direction of Hierodeacon Herman (Majkrzak), lecturer in Liturgical Music and Chapel Music Director at St. Vladimir's Seminary.

The choir will be accompanied by Archpriest Chad Hatfield, chancellor/CEO of the seminary.

The traveling SVS Press & Bookstore will accompany the choir, stocked with CDs, books, and more!

Click here to listen to our Men's Choir!

On Saturday, February 4th at 1 p.m. a prayer service for the sick will be held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Three Hierarchs Chapel. The Paraclesis (or, lesser supplicatory canon) to the Mother of God will be sung by the seminary community choir, as an intercessory service for all those who are ill, and the seminary invites friends and alumni to attend.

The Paraclesis will be sung to a new setting by composer Robert Sirico, who is the founder of the Orthodox Christian Music Project (OCMP), and a private student of our Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music at the seminary, Dr. Nicholas Reeves. 

The Paraclesis has a long historical precedent for being sung in times of pestilence. Its use today is still widespread in the Orthodox Christian Church, and it provides many with solace in times of need through the intercessions of the Mother of God.

This service will be the culmination of a two-day Master Class on chamber group vocal technique, which will be led by Matushka Robin Freeman, who holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to years of working with the choirs at St. Vladimir's Seminary, she has conducted church choirs, children's choirs, community choirs, university choirs, opera choruses, and chamber ensembles. Matushka Robin also holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and has studied with singers Marietta Simpson, Gale Fuller, and Susan Brooks. The Master Class she is teaching at the seminary will emphasize the interpretation of Znamenny Chant in a variety of choral textures.

"One of the primary goals of this Master Class," notes Dr. Reeves, "is to encourage the use the Paraclesis on a regular basis in the parish or in the home, on behalf of those who are ill.

"Moreover," he continues, "the score of this particular arrangement is malleable, and thus allows for an ensemble of any size to sing the service properly and convincingly. Upon request, the music can be made available for liturgical use."

For an arrangement of the music for this particular Paraclesis, please contact Dr. Nicholas Reeves.

Learn about the ministry of the Orthodox Christian Music Project on their Website, Facebook Page,  and YouTube Channel.

More than 120 young preachers from more than 25 states in the U.S. gathered to preach, to learn, and to be inspired by the gospel of Jesus Christ, at the 3rd Annual National Festival of Young Preachers, held from January 2–5, in Louisville, Kentucky. At the event, Jason Ketz, 3rd-year seminarian from St. Vladimir's, preached a sermon entitled “I can’t imagine paradise without you.”

"Seminarian Ketz's sermon was enthusiastically received," said Fr. Sergius Halvorsen, assistant professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric at St. Vladimir’s, who also attended the festival, both as Jason’s preaching mentor and as a sermon evaluator. Father Sergius further remarked on this year’s festival, saying, “The quality of preaching was truly remarkable, and the faith and zeal for the gospel among the participants was inspiring. Jason did a fantastic job with his sermon. Being exposed to a variety of preaching styles is incredibly valuable not only for young preachers, but for preachers of any age.

"St. Vladimir’s Seminary is a National Partner with the Academy of Preachers, and and we look forward to continuing participation and cooperation with the academy as we work to foster excellence in preaching among young Orthodox Christians," he concluded.

The annual festival is sponsored by the Academy of Preachers, a trans-denominational organization whose mission is to identify, network, inspire, and support young people who sense a vocation for preaching the gospel. The Academy of Preachers was launched in 2009 through a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment.

The first Festival of Young Preachers in 2010 was attended by our seminary Chancellor/CEO, Fr. Chad Hatfield, and seminary alumnus Fr. Lucas Rice. The sermon that Fr. Lucas delivered at the festival was included in a published volume of collected sermons, and the title of his sermon also served as the title for the volume: A Beautiful Thing: Sermons from the Inaugural Festival of Young Preachers (Chalice Press, 2010). 

Read about Seminarian Jason Ketz's experience at the Festival of Young Preachers, and the text of his homily, "I can't Imagine paradise without you," here.