Online ticket sales have finished.  In order to purchase a ticket for this event, please show up at Will Call at the concert location, The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Columbus Avenue between 59th & 60th Streets,  starting at 6:15 PM.

In 1727, J. S. Bach drew church congregations into the drama of Christ’s suffering and death through his monumental composition, the St. Matthew Passion. Today, Russian Orthodox Christian composer and churchman Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev is offering the post-modern world a corresponding experience with his fresh and original St. Matthew Passion, a profound piece of sacred concert music that combines Gospel narrative with liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church.

Concert lovers in Moscow, Rome, Melbourne, and Toronto have already greeted performances of the work with standing ovations. Eternal Word Televisio n Network (EWTN), a Roman Catholic television station that reviewed the performance in Rome, characterized the opus as “unique in the history of contemporary music, in its musicality, its variety and coherence, and its emotional and spiritual depth.” 

Now, a New York City audience will have the same opportunity to hear this moving composition, which describes the Passion of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of St. Matthew through an exquisite interplay of soloists, choir, and orchestra. On Monday, February 7, 2011, St. Vladimir’s Seminary will present the U.S. English-language premiere of the piece at 7:30 p.m. at The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Columbus Avenue, between 59th and 60th Streets, New York City.

Dr. Greg Hobbs, director of music at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, will conduct the performance, as well as the Dallas premiere of the work, one week following the NYC premiere. He holds a Doctor of Music in conducting from Northwestern University, where he specialized in large scale choral-orchestral repertoire.

Performers will include The Salomé Chamber Orchestra, famed soloists soprano Mary Mackenzie, mezzo-soprano Ana Mihanovic, tenor Blake Friedman, and bass Aaron Theno, and the New York Virtuoso Singers prepared by Harold Rosenbaum. The principal baritone part of the "Evangelist" will be sung by Protodeacon Vadim Gan. As a prelude to the season of Great Lent, the composition will convey the Gospel account—using scriptural texts interspersed with texts of the liturgical services of the Orthodox Church that are normally sung during Holy Week—in the forms of music recitative, choruses, fugues, and arias.

The composer, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations and an episcopal member of Board of Trustees of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, will also be present at the premiere. His musical expertise and reputation are renowned; he studied composition at Moscow Gnessins School of Music and subsequently at the Moscow State Conservatory. In 1987 he was ordained priest, and since 2002 he has been a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church.

A polyglot and exceptionally gifted, Metropolitan Hilarion has authored more than 600 publications, including twenty books that have been translated into major European languages. Two of his books, Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective (2009) and Christian Orthodoxy (upcoming 2011) have been published under the auspices of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. His musical compositions include the Divine Liturgy (2006) and All-Night Vigil (2006) for a cappella choir; the Christmas Oratorio for soloists, boys choir, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra (2007); and A Song of the Ascent, a choral symphony on the Psalms (2008).

The inspiration for his St. Matthew Passion came to Metropolitan Hilarion “out of the blue” as he was driving from Vienna to Budapest on August 19, 2006, the Feast of the Transfiguration according to the Julian calendar. His vivid account of the origination of the work is remarkable and may be read in an interview conducted by Zenit.

 Tickets for The St. Matthew Passion are in tiered prices:

• $250 for a VIP pre-concert reception (5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.) at the New York Athletic Club and preferred concert seating; 
• $45 for preferred concert seating only; 
• $20 for general concert seating only; and
• $15 for students and senior citizens, general concert seating only.

Total seating is limited to 700. Overflow general seating may be available on the night of the performance, but it will be limited. Please continue to check our Website for ticket availability. NOTE: VIP concertgoers may pick up their pre-paid tickets at the New York Athletic Club. Other concertgoers may pick up their pre-paid tickets at the Church of the Apostle Paul up to one hour prior to the performance. Please bring your ticket purchase confirmation, sent to you via e-mail upon registration, when you pick up your tickets. Ticket purchases are not refundable.

If you have reserved a seat on the bus it will be leaving from the seminary campus February 7th promptly at 6:15 p.m.

Enjoy an excerpt from the Russian-language version of Metropolitan Hilarion's St. Matthew Passion online,  and join us at the U.S. English-language premiere!

St. Vladimir’s Seminary is pleased to acknowledge the generous funding of this event by The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and The St. Gregory the Theologian Charity Foundation, and also thanks the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for its cooperative efforts in presenting this concert.

For further information, email events@svots.edu, or call 914-961-8313 X323.

Download the attached high resolution flyer for this upcoming event and share it with your family, church family, and friends! Or, send the low res flyer electronically through your social networks!

By Sarah Bracey-Johnson

Thanksgiving is a classic example of how time flows here St. Vladimir’s. Other institutions may experience it in a roughly linear fashion. Here it pools and eddies, and occasionally it seems to be going backward. Thus it is only natural that we celebrate Thanksgiving well in advance of the fourth Thursday of November—2 weeks early to be specific—so as to avoid the dilemma faced by many Orthodox Christians in America, i.e. how to smile convincingly and say “Pass the Tofurky” while your second cousin is gnawing on a drumstick and your great aunt is daintily downing gravy-drowned mashed potatoes. The whole community piles into the Metropolitan Phillip Auditorium, transformed from a lecture hall to a giant dining room, to celebrate and give thanks with feasting and fellowship. This year I gained a new appreciation for what it takes to prepare one of these yearly extravaganzas when I went from being a member of Meal Crew #3 (go Wolverines!) to being the assistant to the Special Events Coordinator.

My first assignment was to procure the decorations. Simple, I thought, I’ll just run over to the dollar tree and pick up a few festive table cloths and napkins and we’ll be all set. Of course I put this off as assignments piled up. I’ve got plenty of time, I told myself. About a week before SVOTS Thanksgiving (Election Day, to be specific), I was given my first test of the Thanksgiving spirit when I got a call from my husband Charlie—the car broke down while he was out on assignment, the transmission had to be replaced, and you know Westchester prices. Had this been an animated film a cartoon angel would have flown across the top of the screen with a banner reading: “In every thing give thanks…”

A week and several borrowed rides later we had a working vehicle and I was all set to go on my mini-shopping spree. I should mention that I hate shopping. Thankfully my friend Mandy, one of the SVOTS spouses, was willing to come along and prevent me from melting into a pool of indecision, or simply choosing the ugliest thing I found simply because it was closest to the checkout line. Little did we suspect that the dollar stores in Yonkers were also experiencing time warps—they were already celebrating Christmas.

After failing to find anything non-green, red, and tinsel related, we moved on, ironically enough, to the Christmas Tree Shops (one store, not many) where we found the discount autumnal ware in a ssorted patterns for just $1 each. I picked up one of the plastic-wrapped table cloths.

“What size do we need?” Mandy asked.

“Um...Chef said 'banquet sized,' whatever that means.”

We stared at the packet. There were some dimensions, but no helpful captions like “This is the size you’re looking for” or “Buy me.” Then a total stranger paused while fishing napkins out of the bin and said, “Oh, banquet size, that’s…” she gave us some numbers. “These aren’t the right size.” We stared at them some more.

“Well,” I said, “we could just use two per table and overlap them.” So we bought out the most abundant pattern and some napkins to match (most of them were buried beneath the Turkey-patterned dessert plates) and moved on to table decorations. Our options were as follows: straw men on sharp stakes, cardboard pumpkins covered in orange glitter and flat-as-pancakes potpourri bags. Needless to say, we moved on. Here I’ll put in a plug for Trader Joe’s grocery store which had 69¢ gourds that looked to me to be only mildly cancerous.

Thus armed, and with the help of many other students and assorted kids, the stage was set, and during the Akathist “Glory to God for All Things” my crew and I assembled the main attractions: "Ladies and Gentlemen, starting from the door we have the food table with its rice, turkey, yams, cranberry sauce, salad bowl, salad dressing, where are the croutons?? more cranberry sauce, yams, turkey, rice, and the drink bar. 'Yes'—to all of you who asked, 'Is there wine at this event?'."

But it didn’t look complete until chapel let out and the room was filled by the members of the community—students and spouses talking, laughing, kids playing tea party under the appetizer table, faculty members donning aprons to serve the meal. That’s when it really felt like the family gathering that it was, and I finally remembered to be thankful for being a part of it.

Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of the writings of the church fathers and modern theologians, our seminary Dean, Archpriest John Behr, presented a paper titled "Personhood and Freedom: The Grounding of Both in Ascesis," at an international conference hosted by the Russian Orthodox Church. Fr. John was the first presenter on the second day of the "VI International Scientific Theological Conference," which has as its theme this year "Life in Christ: Christian Morality, Church Ascetic Tradition, and Challenges of the Modern Age."

Fr. John's paper focused on the "language of person" central to much modern theology, tracing the genealogy of the correlation between "person" and the transcendence over nature in a grounding act of freedom to Immanuel Kant and suggesting that its proper analogue is the life in Christ entered into through baptism, dying to the old Adam and being reborn in the new, as a human being in the stature of Christ.

This is the second time this year that Fr. John has visited Russia. In January 2010, His Holiness Kyril, patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, met with Fr. John and Fr. Chad, chancellor of SVOTS, and blessed St. Vladimir's to pursue collaboration with the theological schools in Russia. During his visit this time, Fr. John continued establishing connections with the various schools and universities in Moscow, laying down foundations for future collaboration.

See full story on the Website of the Moscow Patriarchate (Russian language) at www.st-catherine.ru  (English language). Photos: Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr, representation of the Orthodox Church in America to the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“Peace,” “unity,” “togetherness.” This past weekend these recurrent themes permeated the extraordinary visit of the relics of our seminary’s patron saint, the Holy Great Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, to our campus chapel. Orthodox Christians from near and far, and from various ecclesi and ethnic backgrounds, came to bow before the ornate enameled reliquary that held a portion of the skull of the 10th-century saint and to honor the memory of the man credited for bringing Christianity to the nation of Kievan Rus’.

With great reverence, scores of people gathered to view the relics and to sing praises in honor of the former pagan prince who, upon his marriage to a Byzantine princess and conversion to faith in Jesus Christ, dedicated himself to the precepts of the gospel and the furtherance of Christianity. Many were the progeny of the people that St. Vladimir himself had had under his reign.

Though hagiographers have noted St. Vladimir’s blameworthy actions—both as a pagan warrior and also as a Christian prince—they have as well emphasized his love and compassion for his subjects and acknowledged his attempts to provide unity and peace within his kingdom. Certainly, these marks of his personality imbue his relics, and he continues, in his saintly death, to influence believers and parish communities in awe-inspiring ways.

Ever since the relics were transported from Ukraine to Canada on September 6, 2010, their display in churches from Halifax to Vancouver, and, finally, at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in the United States, has evoked remarkably similar sentiments. Protodeacon Nazari Polataiko, who hand carried the relics from Ukraine to North America and who is the episcopal secretary of the Archdiocese of Canada, Orthodox Church in America (OCA), noted the “amazing” effect the relics have had, saying, “People have been brought together by St. Vladimir, in a way that, on a human level, I did not expect. Inner peace and strength have been given to many; and the visits have been peaceful, prayerful.”

Igumen Alexander Pihach, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Canada and guest homilist Sunday in the seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel, similarly observe d, “It’s been a miracle. St. Vladimir brought peace and unity to our communities, building bridges and bringing the faithful together, as his relics traveled from temple to temple.”

Notably, during the weekend hierarchs, clergy, and laity from the OCA were joined in our chapel by bishops, priests, and lay people from the jurisdictions of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) and the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). In particular, His Eminence Justinian, archbishop of Naro-Fominsk and ad ministrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA (MP), presided at the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning; His Eminence Hilarion, metropolitan of Eastern America and New York (ROCOR), presided at the mid-day Akathist on Saturday; and His Grace Tikhon, bishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania (OCA), presided at Vigil on Saturday evening. The choirs of St. Vladimir’s and St. Tikhon’s seminaries sang the responses to the services in antiphonal form, demonstrating in an exceptional manner, unity. 

Archpriest Chad Hatfield, chancellor of St. Vladimir’s, offered a heartfelt observation, saying, “For me, two things were notable. First, it was such a blessing to see three churches with Slavic ancestry—the Moscow Patriarchate, the OCA, and ROCOR—all come together around this relic. And second, it was a joy to see our choir joined by the choir from St. Tikhon’s.”

Seminary Dean Archpriest John Behr concurred, stating, “It was wonderful to see happen what we sang in the Akathist to St. Vladimir, that ‘as a father  with his children he led all to sing alleluia!’.”

The relics will be returned shortly to Ukraine. Protodeacon Nazari, a native of Chernivtsi, Ukraine, will again hand carry them to their home, the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Kiev.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and a St. Vladimir's alumnus (MDiv '85, MTh '88), was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Nashotah House, a seminary of the Episcopal Church, during the school's fall convocation. The academic convocation exhibited, in many respects, the recent cooperative efforts between Nashotah House and St. Vladimir's Seminary.

In 2009, the two seminaries signed a concordat, pledging themselves to prayer and mutual fellowship and cooperation. Both seminaries also have been working in recent years to revive the work of the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, an organization founded in 1928 by members of Eastern Orthodox and Western Christians churches, with the explicit purpose of deepening the understanding between the two faith traditions. Archpriest Chad Hatfield, a Nashotah House graduate and Chancellor (CEO) of St. Vladimir's, delivered the convocation address this fall.

The honor bestowed upon Metropolitan Jonah came 105 years after St. Tikhon of Moscow, during his tenure as bishop and archbishop in North America, also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Nashotah House. The citation honoring Metropolitan Jonah pointed to his commitment to the revival of Orthodox and Anglican relations.

Our campus turned into a film set this week, as a Russian TV crew produced a documentary about the history of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). The crew, led by Archpriest Alexey Uminskiy, host of the popular Russian TV program "Orthodox Encyclopedia,"  shot extensive footage around our campus, especially in the library, bookstore, and chapel. Fr. Uminskiy is also rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity on Khokhlovsky Lane in Moscow, where SVOTS alumnus Dr. Alexander Dvorkin is a faithful parishioner and the parish’s reader.

On hand to speak to the camera were Professors Paul Meyendorff and Peter C. Bouteneff, both fluent in the Russian language. "The crew was interested in the mission of St. Vladimir's Seminary, and, particularly, in the roles played by Frs. Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff in its history. These two men are now extremely popular and well known in Russia," said Professor Meyendorff, who is the son of Fr. John.

"Orthodox Encyclopedia" is the major nationally broadcast Orthodox TV program in Russia. As its name indicates, it is an arm of the "Orthodox Encyclopedia Ecclesiastical Scholarly Research Center of the Russian Orthodox Church," which is publishing the huge multi-volume Orthodox Encyclopedia, an endeavor that has been ongoing for a decade and still continues.

The current episode being filmed was conceived to mark the 40th anniversary of the OCA's autocephaly, and to pay tribute to the late Fr. Dmitry Grigorieff, SVOTS alumnus and former faculty member. The film crew's short visit to the United States is limited to Washington D.C., mainly St. Nicholas Cathedral; St. Vladimir's Seminary; interviews with Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and with Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, Sea Cliff, NY; and St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York City.

The TV program will be broadcast in Russia in January or February 2011. Soon after broadcast, the transcript and video will be posted on the Website of "Orthodox Encyclopedia" and the YouTube channel of the Russian Orthodox Church.

SVOTS students are sharing their faith and seminary experience with students from several theological schools—both Orthodox Christians and also adherers of other faiths. This fall, our students renewed their participation in the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM) and the Inter-Seminary Dialogue (ISD), two organizations that enrich and sharpen their theological perspective and witness.

OISM—initially organized in the 1960s to foster closer relationships between students of canonical Orthodox seminaries in the United States and Canada—was revived in 2003. The New York metro area ISD began in the 1950s and includes students from about eight Christian and Jewish seminaries.

OISM

Monk Kilian (Sprecher), third-year student at St. Vladimir’s, has adapted the Pauline phrase, “There is neither Jew nor Greek…” (Gal 3:28) to his new role as President of OISM. “There is neither ‘Slav nor Greek,’ ” he reflects. “This is what we seminarians learn as we interact with each other and learn about each other’s liturgical and cultural traditions.”

Having participated in the group for the past three, years, Fr. Kilian was elected president at the Spring 2010 meeting of the society. “Being president means that I will interface with student representatives from all member seminaries: Holy Cross School of Theology in Boston; Holy Trinity in Jordanville, New York; St. Tikhon’s in South Canaan, Pennsylvania; St. Herman’s in Kodiak, Alaska; Christ the Saviour in Johnston, Pennsylvania; St. Sophia Seminary in South Bound Brook, St. Andrew College in Winnipeg, Canada; and our own St. Vladimir’s.

“I also will oversee and arrange things for our meeting each semester. Each member school of OISM takes a turn hosting the other seminaries, providing an opportunity for fellowship and for learning about each other’s traditions and histories.”

In Fall 2010, Christ the Saviour Seminary hosted the OISM gathering, September 24–26. In addition to students from the host school and St. Vladimir’s, seminarians from Holy Cross, Holy Trinity, St. Sophia, and St. Tikhon's seminaries gathered to reflect on the theme, "Living Out Our Theology." Metropolitan Nicholas, primate of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Archdiocese of the U.S.A., who could not be present at the meeting, sent a message of welcome to the seminarians, which was read by Fr. Nicholas Ferencz.

St. Vladimir’s Seminary will host the next OISM meeting on February 25–27, 2011, and Fr. Kilian is looking forward to holding it on our campus. “ ‘OISM’ is for everyone,” he said. “I am encouraging married students and female students to attend our meetings.”

ISD

Second-year seminarians, Basil (Kevin) Fritts and Sarah Johnson planned the first ISD session of the fall semester, hosted on our campus October 21. Seminarian Basil launched the evening with a Power Point presentation, posing questions meant to spark a discussion about the relationship between faith and science, within the students’ respective faith traditions. The topic was part of the more general theme for this year, “Religious Traditions Encounter Modernity.”

“What is ISD?,” rhetorically asks Seminarian Basil. “It is an opportunity for St. Vladimir's seminarians to learn how other Christians and various bodies of Jews live their faith. Students at seminaries all over New York City come together to discuss topics of interest for the purpose of learning and sharing our unique perspectives with each other.

“Who should come?,” he continues. “Everyone is welcome, obviously! Learning about the perspectives and practices of other faiths is particularly helpful for military chaplains, hospital chaplains, and parish priests in mixed faith communities—and where in America doesn’t that exist? So, ISD is for all of us, really.”

During the current economic downturn, many faithful Christians may be wondering how to keep their contributions flowing to parishes, favorite charities, church agencies, monastic communities, and so on, as they watch the balance in their checkbooks drop steadily. They also may be wondering if they will be able to pass on any wealth to their children or grandchildren. Certainly, the words of Scripture, "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7) present a challenge to most believers nowadays, as they wrestle with the Scriptural admonitions "to give generously" (Ps 37:21, Rom 12:8), while facing job losses, pay cuts, and even home foreclosures.

To address this dilemma, on Thursday, November 4, from 2 p.m.–5 p.m., the seminary will host a free public seminar titled "How to Fulfill Your Financial and Philanthropic Interests to Your Greatest Benefit." James E. Gillespie, President and CEO of CommonWealth, and faculy member at The Fund Raising School, a unit of Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, will lead the seminar. Mr. Gillespie has more than 25 years in the field of fund raising, with an expertise in design and implementation of planned giving, that is, leaving a legacy to one's favorite charities and descendants.

"Almost every time we think of making charitable gifts, we think in terms of giving away our cash," stated Mr. Gillespie, in anticipation of his trip to St. Vladimir's. "My seminar will engage people with ideas and applications for how to make philanthropic gifts while at the same time, in some cases, increasing cash flow and gaining the ability to transfer wealth to the next generation."

Mr. Gillespie also will be meeting with the seminary's Board of Trustees and administrative personnel during the board's annual meeting, scheduled for November 4–6.

If you would like to participate in this event, RSVP Fr. Jason Foster by Tuesday, November 2: 914-961-8313 EXT 317 or jfoster@svots.edu. The seminar will take place in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building. Find us on Google Maps.

St. Vladimir's Seminary is seeking to hire an Assistant Librarian for its campus library, located in the state-of-the-art John G. Rangos Family Building. The seminary library currently holds more than 142,000 volumes and receives over 350 periodicals and serves the needs of faculty, students, and visiting scholars.

The Assistant Librarian will report to the Head Librarian, Ms. Eleana Silk, and will be responsible for managing the seminary's inter-library loan program and teaching information literacy. Applicants will be considered for part-time or possibly full-time appointment, depending upon qualifications.

Duties of the Assistant Librarian include helping the Head Librarian with:

• Managing the circulation desk
• Answering reference questions
• Cataloging materials as assigned
• Other tasks as assigned

Qualifications for the position include:

• MLIS or MLS degree
• Experience in inter-library loan (+2 years)
• Recent cataloging experience in an academic setting, with knowledge of OCLC (+2 years)
• Knowledge of Koha software
• Knowledge of European and Eastern Europe languages

Under brilliant blue skies Sunday, October 17, several members of our SVOTS community "Bridged the Gap" between rich and poor by participating in a walk-a-thon across the Brooklyn Bridge. The fundraiser will benefit the Youth Equipped to Serve (YES) Program, an Orthodox Christian ministry that trains youth as service leaders and promotes outreach to their communities. More than $2,500 was raised by the walk.

"Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge aimed to demonstrate the importance of 'Bridging the Gap' between the rich and the poor," said Katrina Bitar, SVOTS alumna ('09) and program director for YES. "The YES approach begins with breaking down stereotypes and poverty awareness, and ends with engaging our youth in situations where they see Christ in everyone and choose to be Christ for every person they encounter, ultimately creating a oneness with all people through serving each other. The ultimate goal of the YES Program is to equip a generation of youth to be service leaders who will lead others in meeting the needs of the neighbors in their communities."

Maggie Downham, 2nd-year student at SVOTS and YES leader, helped Ms. Bitar organize the walk, which included participants not only from St. Vladimir's Seminary but also YES students from local parishes in the Greek and Antiochian Archdioeses and the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Our Chancellor, Fr. Chad Hatfield, led the SVOTS contingent.

First-year seminarian Jesse Brandow explained why he wanted to participate, saying, "I wanted to walk in support of YES because the kind of work they do with teens has the power to transform them, to wake them up to the gospel. It was also just a beautiful day to walk with a bunch of friends!"

YES is a program under the umbrella of FOCUS North America, an Orthodox Christian agency that expresses Christ's love by following the dictates of the gospel to feed and clothe the hungry, to minister to the imprisoned and sick, and to create loving bonds among peoples in all strata of society. The Rev. Justin Mathews, also  a SVOTS alumnus, is the Executive Director and CEO of FOCUS.