The newest hire at St Vladimir’s Seminary, Zachariah Mandell (M.Div. ’20), has a multi-faceted job description: Director of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Alumni Relations and Assistant Director of Chapel Music. We sat down with Zach to talk about his upbringing, his own journey within the Church, and his vision for seminarian life and community.

Zach, please share a bit about your upbringing in the Church and your ties to the seminary.

I was born into a cradle Orthodox family in central Pennsylvania with a mix of Carpatho-Rusyn, Slovak, and some Russian roots. My dad has always been the choir director of the parishes we’ve been a part of, and my mom has always been a leading soprano. Both sides of my family were largely Orthodox; on my mom’s side, my grandfather, Fr Thomas Hopko, and great-grandfather, Fr Alexander Schmemann, are well-known for their contributions at St Vladimir’s. Even with these deep roots, there was never any pressure to go to seminary, for which I'm really grateful because it really ended up, thank God, being my own journey, my own decisions, my own movement.

Zach directing the righthand choir at St Vladimir’s Seminary on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 2024
 

I think I can point to a few experiences where I started to engage my own faith more seriously. I went to Penn State University, and one of the big reasons I went, other than wanting to march in the Blue Band, was because it had such a strong OCF associated with it and a strong parish, Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. When you're in college, it’s not always easy to wake up on Sunday morning to go to church, and having that support, those friendships, and the choir to sing with were all really important for me as a college student.

Marching in the Penn State Blue Band, Fall 2013
 

In my junior year of college, I studied abroad in Greece, and as a deeply naive 20-year-old, I was thinking to myself, “This is amazing–it's an Orthodox country, so it's going to be so easy to just be 'orthodoxing' all the time.” I had already traveled abroad in Mexico, Egypt, and Italy, but this turned out to be the first time in my life that I felt homesick or had ever experienced culture shock, and those feelings were particularly strong in the context of church. I wasn’t prepared for how isolating it felt to be in church where everything was so familiar but not familiar at the same time, and it pulled the rug out from under me a little bit.

Part of what made it so difficult was that as a classics major, we were required to visit archaeological digs and museums every weekend, so I wasn't really going to church much at all while I was there. After the first month or so, I'd go and sit on a rock somewhere with a view of the Acropolis and listen to a recorded liturgy (this was before live-streaming), and I thought that could be enough to have some connection to church. 

I think it was the difference in the aesthetics of worship, and probably, my own immaturity, that was making me feel a bit isolated. What furthered that isolation was not just missing the music I liked, but missing something very real—the communion of church, both the Eucharist itself and the extended communion, the community.  It makes sense, especially having grown up so deeply rooted in a specific church tradition. Being in that same church but feeling like it wasn’t my own challenged my sense of identity because I wasn’t comfortable in a way I always had been.

At an archaeological site in Greece, Spring 2013
 

That was a turning point, a critical experience for me. I had been going to church before that, but the feeling of missing something, that hunger for communion and community, made me realize that my faith wasn’t just an idea; it was something real. 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go back to Greece this past year, and I realized, "I can do this now." This new sense of appreciation came from more experience, more curiosity about things that aren’t my way—exploring that discomfort, learning to say, "This is uncomfortable, but that’s interesting."

And after that experience in Greece, and even a little bit before that, I started engaging more. That’s when I began to really talk to my grandfather–in the last few years of his life–and have more serious conversations with him.

At the same time, I was working at youth camps—specifically, the New England Archdiocese Youth Rally, where I worked from 2012 to 2019. That’s when I really started engaging with the priests there, seeing them as mentors: Fr John Hopko, my uncle, Fr Sergius Halvorsen (who I now work with), and Father Dennis Rhodes. That’s when I began to read more. I studied Greek and Latin Language and Literature in college, and that gave me a little window into a new curiosity as I began reading the Church Fathers and even just the Gospel, thinking, “Wow, look at the Greek!” There was so much depth. I’d think, “Oh, this word is so cool.”

And, you know, as a millennial, of course, I was listening to podcasts. But don’t worry, it was Fr Tom’s podcast! That was such a gift for me—not just for my own spiritual formation and education, but also because it gave me a way to experience my grandfather as a teacher. I saw how other people experienced him and realized, “Huh, that’s just how he is.” It showed me a more complete picture of him, especially at that point in his life. I saw a person who was clearly striving toward wholeness. I’d listen to a podcast and think, “Yep, same guy who holds court at Thanksgiving, talking about Church Fathers and Scripture, telling people, ‘No, you’re wrong.’” (laughter)

A family visit to Ellwood City, PA
 

It was like listening to him in real life, and in these later years, experiencing him in those two ways helped me see how others saw him. I felt like I had a connection, like when someone would ask, “What’s he like?” and I’d say, “Well, kind of like what you see, but also, I’ve gone fishing with him, and he kisses the fish before throwing them back in the water.” All of us grandkids have memories like that.

On the lake with Grandpa
 

I applied to grad school during my last year of college because that’s just what you do when you study something as esoteric as Classics and Greek and Latin Literature—you apply for grad school. So, I went to grad school, and I got one semester in. Then I went to the OCF College Conference, and I thought, “I think I’m going to apply to seminary.”

Two months before my grandfather passed away, in January 2015, I visited him on my way back to school and told him, “I think I’d like to go to seminary.” He encouraged me to finish my degree first and then go to seminary, and that’s exactly what I did.

Thank you for sharing that fascinating look into your journey within your own faith and your deep family ties to the seminary. You are now the Assistant Director of Chapel Music here. Let's talk about your musical background. How did your interest in music begin? Was it mainly through your family, and how did playing instruments fit in? How did you grow into what you’re doing now?

Yeah, so in the beginning, as I mentioned earlier, my dad was always the choir director at the parishes I grew up in, and my family was very musical—my mom’s a singer, and my dad was a music teacher and choir director. Some of my earliest memories are of going to church with my dad when I was about four, going to Vespers, standing in the choir loft, and singing along to the bass part with my squeaky little voice. There’s even video evidence of me singing along with my dad in Vespers. So, I grew up with music in church, always around the choir loft.

When I was in elementary school, I started playing trombone, which was hard to avoid with a dad who was a band director. I started in fourth grade, even though the band director told me my arms were too short to play it—I chose trombone anyway. I loved it and kept playing through high school, while also singing in every ensemble.

Church music was always something I loved, but it really blossomed in college. I was asked to be the choir director at Holy Trinity in State College during my senior year, and that’s when I really started to dive into the services, the liturgical flow, and the beauty of hymnography. There was so much depth in matins and hymnography that I hadn’t experienced in my home parish.

Directing the choir at Sts Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Buffalo, NY, Spring 2016
 

After graduating, I moved to Buffalo, where a parish needed a choir director. Fr Vlad Zablotskyy hired me, and as a poor grad student, I jumped at the chance. That experience shaped my love for liturgical music—not just the music itself, but also the role of the choir. I started to understand how we lead the congregation, not just sing. It became one of my core focuses when I went to seminary, where I wanted to dive deeper into liturgical texts, hymnography, history, and the pastoral aspects of church music.

While at seminary, I took advantage of every opportunity to study conducting, music theory, and composition. Deacon Harrison Russin and Robin Freeman created classes for those of us who were really interested, and I was able to conduct and sing at a high level in the chapel, in performances, and in recordings.

After graduating, I was hired as the full-time choir director at St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral in Minneapolis. It was an incredible opportunity to apply what I had learned and explore what it meant to be in a pastoral role—working with people of different backgrounds, desires, and spiritual needs. At St Mary’s, we explored deeply what it means to be a church choir, and how to put that into practice.

Performing a choral concert at St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, Minneapolis, MN, December 2022
 

In terms of objectives, especially at a place with a high musical level, it’s easy to get preoccupied with the music itself, but the balance is important. Choirs in the Orthodox Church have a lot to balance. On one hand, services will happen no matter what, people are often volunteering, and life happens, so it's not entirely about musical perfection. It's a service and ministry, a sacrifice of praise, and we bring ourselves and offer ourselves where and when we are. On the other hand, we're also striving to offer our best to God. We offer the first-fruits, the whole-burnt offering–so it's also, I would say, not just a nice idea but necessary to be intentional, mindful, and strive to sing the music well so that our service and ministry of leading the congregation in worship can be beautiful, prayerful, AND unobtrusive. And maybe most importantly, it's necessary to have the ability to move on and be mindful of the moment, not to be distracted by the mistakes (or even the really beautiful moments), but to say, ok, thank God, whoops, wow, and continue. So I guess what I mean to say is that, as a service and ministry in the church, we're trying to balance where we are now with where we want to be in a way that keeps us engaged but not obsessed with progress or mistakes, and also that is not static. The Orthodox faith is dynamic, and I believe a choir should strive to reflect that, always becoming something more together.

So for us, it wasn’t just about concerts—our role was primarily the services. How do we engage with that? How do we become a group within the parish that is welcoming and part of the larger community, while still being a distinct group? That was the beautiful challenge we embraced.

Directing at St Vladimir’s as a seminarian
 

Coming back here after directing for a few years in a parish has been really cool. Standing on the same podium where my hands were once shaky, now with more experience, feels like a beautiful snapshot of my life’s trajectory—same guy, same place, but a different world. There are so many talented singers here right now, and building musical trust with them so quickly has been incredibly exciting. I’m really looking forward to what we’ll get to do together this year. So, I guess there's a bit of a "stay tuned" there!

It’s also worth mentioning that you're also a composer. You attended the 2023 Summer Music Institute Composition Workshop with Benedict Sheehan, where your music was performed and analyzed. Are you still involved in composing?

Yes, I am, though I haven't produced anything recently. But the composition process is something I’ve been really passionate about over the last few years. After the 2023 workshop, I convinced some music colleagues from Minneapolis to start composition workshops with me, where we’d bring our music and work through it together.

Having his composition sung in the Composer’s Reading Session during the 2023 Summer Music Institute
 

Last October, at the Midwest Diocesan Assembly, I was proud to bring six or seven compositions from my friends and fellow singers in Minneapolis and St Paul to share with the St Andrew of Crete Music Society. It was such an incredible moment—realizing we were doing something so special.

Now, I’ve had the chance to work with talented composers on campus, talking about their music, playing with it, and helping them shape it. Even just having a small role in helping them find what they want it to be has been so cool. I’m feeling inspired to pick up the pencil again and get those creative juices flowing!

Moving on to your experience as a seminarian at St Vladimir’s Seminary. In your new role as Director of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Alumni Relations, how does your experience as a seminarian shape your vision for the student experience here? We’ve already seen you get involved in community life beyond your formal role. Can you talk about that?

Sure. Being a seminarian, and now working at the seminary, I’ve come to realize the importance of balance. Seminary life is intense, to put it mildly. Deacon Harrison Russin said it well at orientation: in grad school, you’re a student. But in seminary, you’re a student, you're serving, you're forming—it’s many roles combined. There are so many expectations, like helping out with last-minute tasks for visiting bishops, alongside community service and chapel life. It’s a humbling experience, and it requires sacrifice.

For me, as a single guy coming from grad school, the transition was easier than for some who give up a lot—stable family life, careers—to come to seminary. But I still experienced imbalance, focusing too much on my tasks and neglecting myself. It’s a blessing to be back here now, and while I don’t claim to have magical wisdom, I can offer my experience to current students. I live in the same space as them and try to model the balance I believe is important. Balance isn’t something you achieve and hold on to—it’s a constant process of falling down and getting up again.

It’s really fulfilling to see new students come in, often being the first person they meet as Admissions Director, and to share my journey with them, offering encouragement and support. I respect anyone who makes the decision to come here—it’s not one made lightly.

Reflecting on my own time here, by my last year, I was so focused on grades and perfection that I started getting migraines and vertigo—deeply stress-related. It wasn’t just the workload, but how I approached it. Expectations—both from others and myself—were high, and I realized I had to rethink how I invested my energy. Not everything is life or death, and you have to be able to keep going.

With seminary classmates and friends
 

After seminary, I sought therapy and started reorienting how I approached myself and others. I realized that when Christ says to love your neighbor as yourself, the “as yourself” part matters. If you don’t care for yourself, you won’t last long trying to serve others. Learning to love myself was hard, but crucial. Without grace for myself, I couldn’t truly extend it to others.

That’s something I tell every new student—you won’t make it through here or anywhere else unless you work towards balance and self-care. It’s vital, especially in the face of the pressures at seminary, where everyone is focused on important formation for future work.

It’s also about finding community. We’re all going through this journey in different ways, but we can find strength together. When I was a student, my friends and I shared the struggles of classes and life here. Married and single students alike face challenges, especially families who can feel isolated. Building a supportive community from the start makes a world of difference, and it models how life in the church should be—living in community, supporting, and praying for one another.

As an alumnus, and now, the newly minted Director of Alumni Relations, how would you like to build up the community of students who have already graduated? You're already building up the community here. How about the alumni community?

As Director of Alumni Relations, my focus is really on just that–relations. I want to build and maintain relationships with alumni and stay connected with those who are graduating now. My goal is to help alumni connect with each other, hear their stories, and share what they’re doing.

A lot of us can feel isolated in our ministries—whether you’re a priest, choir director, or Sunday school teacher, it can feel a little lonely out there. Personally, many of my closest friends are from seminary, and we stay in touch at least weekly, if not daily. I’d love to expand that sense of camaraderie.

Enjoying a local Greek Festival with seminarians and their families, September 2024
 

One of the key things I want to do is share stories—what people are doing, and how they’re navigating their ministries. And I want everyone to know, my phone is always on—please call, reach out, share what’s happening.

It’s so important for us here at St Vladimir’s Seminary to know what our alumni are doing, to celebrate their efforts, and to lift each other up. That’s how we can all stay connected and brought together.

Thank you for sharing so many wonderful ideas and thoughts today, Zach. To wrap up our interview, do you have a favorite seminary memory or something fun to share?

Oh man, some fun seminary memories! One fantastic memory was building the community garden on campus during the summer of 2018. A group of us worked together, thinking about what it all meant, but mostly just doing it—building something as a team. That fall, through the St Herman Society, we dried the herbs and hot peppers we grew, which was quite an adventure. We even used marigolds and nasturtiums from the garden to make table settings for Ed Day. That was such a special memory.

Enjoying the fruits of his labors in the seminary garden

Besides that, it was the joy of singing. We had some fantastic concert series while I was here, and those are some wonderful memories. Then there were the late-night chats in the hallway with friends, getting so excited about whatever we were discussing, telling ourselves, "We should go to bed," but then starting up again.

It sounds like you're making new memories now with the community and some fun new initiatives like the fermentation club.

Yes, the fermentation club has been great! There are some really inspiring students here who have a gift for bringing people together. Just last night, the north side of campus had a little bonfire block party. Anyone was welcome, and we stayed up late, reminding ourselves about liturgy the next day but just enjoying being together. I think the pizza ovens are coming out for the next one!

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon (OCA) raised Seminary faculty member, Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology, the Rev. Dn Dr Vitaly Permiakov, to the Holy Priesthood. His Beatitude arrived on Friday, September 13, and presided over the Festal Vigil that evening and the Divine Liturgy on the following day. The Vigil was sung by antiphonal choirs; a male ensemble led by the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Russin, and the mixed choir led by Zachariah Mandell. Several smaller student ensembles sang select pieces prepared for the feast. At the conclusion of the Great Vigil, His Beatitude performed the solemn rite of the Exaltation of the Cross, as the choir sang 500 repetitions of the petition “Lord have mercy.”

Concelebrating at the Divine Liturgy with His Beatitude were the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield, Skvir Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Very Rev. Dr Alexander Rentel, OCA Chancellor, the Very Rev. Alessandro Margheritino, OCA Secretary, the Very Rev. Dr Kirill Sokolov, Chancellor of the Diocese of the West, the Rev. Alexis Torrance (University of Notre Dame, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne), the Rev. Demetrios Harper (St Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary), and chancery, seminary, and visiting clergy.

In his homily during the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude spoke of the Cross as central to our Christian worship and path to salvation; through the Cross, “Christ has made death a passage way into life, life everlasting, life abundant and overflowing, life incomparable to this fleeting life, life not as the world knows or gives.”

Read His Beatitude’s Homily

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Interim President and Academic Dean, Dr Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, welcomed His Beatitude and the visiting clergy warmly, and expressed his joy and gratitude for the ordination of his fellow faculty member. Seminary students, staff, and faculty congratulated Fr Vitaly heartily, at the service and via the Seminary Whatsapp group, with one student saying, “Axios to the man who taught me the Liturgy!” 

Fr Vitaly celebrated his first Divine Liturgy as a priest the following day, Sunday, September 15, in Three Hierarchs Chapel. 
 

About the Rev. Dr Vitaly Permiakov

Born to a Russian family in Riga, Latvia, Fr Vitaly Permiakov, Ph.D. relocated to the United States in 1999 after completing his undergraduate studies. He entered St Vladimir’s Seminary with the blessing of the late Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas (OCA) (d. 2011). After finishing seminary, Fr Vitaly enrolled in a doctoral program in Liturgical Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where in 2012 he defended his dissertation on the history and origins of the Byzantine rite for the consecration of churches. Fr Vitaly taught at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, NY) from 2011 to 2020, and joined the full-time faculty at St Vladimir's Seminary in August 2020.

Fr Vitaly's ordination to the priesthood marked the next milestone in his 22-year journey through the ecclesiastical ranks of the Church, all of which took place at Three Hierarchs Chapel at St Vladimir’s Seminary. He was tonsured to the rank of reader as a seminarian in 2002. In 2021, on the Feast of the Annunciation, he was ordained subdeacon. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 2021, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate through the hand of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon. Three years later, His Beatitude ordained Fr Vitaly to the priesthood on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 2024.

May God grant the newly ordained Fr Vitaly Permiakov many blessed years!

On Friday, September 6, at 1 p.m. in Bashir Auditorium, the Rev. Dr Jacob Joseph presented a talk based on his forthcoming book, The Christ Who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Margins.  

The Rev. Dr Jacob Joseph's book delves into the intersection of Orthodox Christian mission and caste dynamics among the St Thomas/Syrian/Orthodox Christians in India. It necessitates Orthodox theology's engagement with society and contemporary challenges.  The book introduces the profound concept of a liturgical embrace in the context of 'untouchability,' where individuals recognize each other as equals, without discrimination. This reflects the inseparable unity of divine (transcendental) and human (immanent) in Christ. Fr Jacob proposes a 'patristic symbiosis' in which the voices of the patristic and contemporary Fathers engage in a discourse, which is the correct methodological vision for Orthodox theology to engage in the modern context. It favors polyphonic responses over monophonic ones, taking into account the missionary signs and symptoms of the time.

His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of the Malankara Archdiocese in North America and an alumnus of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (M.Div. ‘03), presided at the event.

SVOTS Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Very Rev. Dr Eric Tosi introduced Fr Jacob and his new book, inviting all those in attendance to consider how Christ lived on the margins of his contemporary society.

This presentation was a unique opportunity for SVOTS seminarians across various jurisdictions to come together and deepen their understanding of Christianity in India and how Gospel teachings inform the missionary efforts there. Seminarians who attended the event gave enthusiastic feedback on the presentation. One student from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Pavlo Kurganov (Th.M. ‘25), remarked,

“Fr Jacob Joseph started by saying that the mission to the people begins from within the Church. First, we should seek peace and theological agreement within the  Orthodox communities in India, and theology and liturgical practice are very helpful in this. Father Jacob spoke about the "kiss of peace" in the Liturgy as the symbol of unity that we shall all strive for.

He also suggested the idea of patristic symbiosis: hearing the Church Fathers and trying to understand the same truth they proclaimed, which they delivered to us through different languages, symbols, and traditions. Father Jacob emphasized acquiring the Church Fathers' mind or mindset which is a foundation of effective missionary work.”

Another student, Mother Melania Mikhaiel (M.A. ‘26), from the Monastery of St Macarius the Great (OCA), expressed her appreciation for Fr Jacob’s talk, saying, “I didn’t have any exposure to the Orthodox Church of India before coming to the seminary. It was a great experience to get to hear directly from Fr Jacob about how they too cherish the patristic teachings of the early Church and see it as the fundamental foundation of the Church through which Christ will embrace all.” 

Luke Anderson (M.Div. ‘27), hailing from the OCA Diocese of the Midwest, commented that he “appreciated that His Eminence Mor Titus Yeldho led students and faculty in prayer after the event. Not only is such prayer valuable in of itself, but it gives an insight into the theological heart of Syriac Orthodoxy that Fr Jacob is writing from in his book.”

About the Rev. Dr Jacob Joseph

Fr Jacob Joseph is a Syrian Orthodox priest from India. Fr Jacob holds a Ph.D. (2020) with a Chancellor's Award from the University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia, and teaches patristics and the contemporary theology of mission at St Athanasius Coptic Theological College, Melbourne, Australia; at Agora University in Virginia, USA; and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Seminary in Kerala, India. He has presented numerous papers on Orthodoxy, liturgy, mission, and theology at various national and international academic conferences. 

St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) marked the beginning of the 2024 Fall Semester on Thursday, August 22, 2024. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada (OCA) led the Moleben (prayer service) for the Beginning of a New Academic Year, attended by SVOTS faculty and the incoming class. At the conclusion of the service, His Beatitude exhorted the new students, saying, “…the task at hand for you, as incoming seminarians, is to take up your studies, under the oversight of the interim President and Academic Dean, Dr Alex Tudorie, learning from the distinguished faculty with their many years of collective wisdom and experience, and supported by the hard-working staff. And to take up this task within the often challenging context of the seminary community.”

Interim President and Academic Dean, Dr Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, addresses the new students and faculty

Immediately following the Moleben, each member of the faculty welcomed the new students and shared encouragement for the rigorous training ahead of them. Interim President and Academic Dean, Dr Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, urged the students to engage deeply with the faculty throughout their studies and to always speak up in case of need, academic or otherwise. Applauding the students for leaving behind comfortable careers and homes to come to seminary, Associate Professor of New Testament, Dr John Barnet, offered his words of thanks to the students, saying, “I am in awe of each and every one of you.”

Later in the evening, the St Juliana Society also hosted its first gathering for the Fall 2024 semester. The St Juliana Society, named after St Juliana Lazarevo, was formed in 2010 by Mka Thekla Hatfield to support future clergy wives by hosting speakers on topics related to parish life and service. A separate women’s group was also established to facilitate events encouraging fun and fellowship for all the women on campus. In response to recent suggestions by women on campus, the SJS will now be open to seminarian and faculty wives, single women students, and female SVOTS staff and faculty. Dr Patricia Bouteneff and returning trustee Tatiana Hoff have stepped in to guide the Society for the coming semester.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon addresses the St Juliana Society

After enjoying refreshments near the John G. Rangos Building koi pond, Dr Tudorie opened the meeting, before His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon gave the opening remarks. His Beatitude encouraged the attendees to remember the words of the Lord to St Peter, "...when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish (John 21.18)." He assured the women that life at seminary and in future ministry would often involve challenging situations and circumstances. Using his own experience as an example, he suggested that, even when you find yourself going "where you do not wish," humility and trust in the Lord's will can lead to deeper love for God and spiritual maturity. 

The group adjourned to the seminary board room to meet incoming Director of Admissions Zach Mandell, after which Patricia Bouteneff then gave a brief overview of upcoming events, invited the group of 25 women to introduce themselves and consider discussion topics and questions they would like to ask potential future speakers. As Dr Bouteneff said, “It is always a joy to bring Orthodox women together across jurisdictional lines, and we can’t wait to get things underway this year!”

Members of the St Juliana Society at this year’s inaugural meeting

Student Orientation sessions continued over the following three days, concluding with the  General Student Meeting in the afternoon of Sunday, August 25. During this annual meeting including the entire student body, faculty and staff reviewed updates to policies related to community service and residential life. 

Thirty-two students are beginning their first year of studies in their respective degree programs: fifteen in the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program, three in the Master of Arts (M.A.) program, six in the Master of Theology (Th.M.) program, one in a special one-year program, and seven in the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program.

Faculty, staff, and seminarians and their families enjoy a welcome reception at the Germack building

The incoming class of twenty-nine men and three women hail from four countries: the United States, Canada, Ukraine, and Serbia. The seminarians represent eight Eastern and Oriental Orthodox jurisdictions:

• Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
• Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA)
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (GOA)
• Serbian Orthodox Church
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church
• Macedonian Orthodox Church
• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church

One first-year seminarian, Scott Strickland, is coming to seminary from the Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Miami and the Southeast (DOMSE) to enter the Master of Divinity program and offered his thoughts on beginning his theological studies.

"I am looking forward to exploring the depths of the Orthodox understanding of the deification of man. The future of the church rests on unlocking the potentiality of every human person in relation to God. It is time for us to believe and reclaim who we were always meant to be in Christ."

Counting the incoming class, the total student body at SVOTS this year is ninety-five seminarians.

Assistant Director of Chapel Music and Director of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Alumni Relations, Zach Mandell

Welcoming the students this year is the latest addition to the SVOTS faculty and staff, Zachariah Mandell, Assistant Director of Chapel Music and Director of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Alumni Relations. Zach is an alumnus himself (M.Div. ‘20), and is “excited to engage with students from their earliest explorations of seminary education, during their time at St Vladimir’s Seminary in class, in choir, and in life, and as alumni in their work and ministries.”

Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music and Associate Dean for Residential Life, the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Basil Russin

In another notable update to the Seminary administrative team this year, the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Basil Russin will serve as Associate Dean for Residential Life, in addition to his faculty position as Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music. Dn Harrison brings a hands-on approach to residential life at the seminary, drawing upon his own experience living on campus with his family for close to a decade. Regarding his new position, Dn Harrison remarked, “I look forward to serving the residential community of the Seminary, helping to keep it a safe location with an edifying community centered around the liturgical worship of the chapel. This position is certainly brand new to me, but I am willing to serve however I am called.”

The new academic year also brings two new additions to the part-time faculty: Dr Ani Shahinian, Assistant Professor of Armenian Christian Art and Culture, and Dr Sarah Byrne-Martelli, Assistant Professor of Spiritual Care. 

May the intercessions of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, our patron Great and Holy Prince Vladimir, and all the saints be with our seminarians, faculty, and staff as a new academic year commences in service to Christ!

With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share the news of the repose of longtime friend and supporter of St Vladimir’s Seminary, Anthony “Lew” Scott (M.Div. ‘75), who fell asleep in the Lord on Monday, September 2, 2024. After a full life in the service of God and the Orthodox Church, he underwent an arduous struggle with dementia and deteriorated rapidly in the last several months. His passing was a peaceful one and he was attended to by family and friends.

The Seminary and the Board of Trustees send their sincere condolences to the Scott family and offer their prayers for the repose of Anthony Scott.

According to Theodore Bazil, Senior Advisor to the Office of Advancement, "Anthony Scott, the former Director of Advancement, played a significant role in leading and securing the most successful capital campaign in the Seminary's history. The campaign resulted in the construction of the John G. Rangos Building, major campus infrastructure improvements, construction of the Erickson and Hopko buildings, and new faculty housing. Through Anthony Scott's efforts, the campaign was additionally credited with advancing alumni relations, establishing programmatic initiatives, and assisted to recruit a new generation of professional, committed Orthodox lay leadership to the Board of Trustees.

Anthony Scott was a vibrant, articulate leader who brought great energy and passion to his position. The Seminary acknowledges his leadership, commitment, and achievements. St Vladimir's Seminary is deeply grateful for the work of Anthony Scott."

Aside from a life of service in the Church, Anthony was known for his love of family, nature, the arts, travel, and adventures. His family is grateful for his life and that he is now at peace. Anthony is survived by his daughters Stephanie Scott and Katherine Scott Dirkes (Stephen), and his son, Alex Scott.

Further information about the life of Anthony Scott will be posted as it becomes available.

Below is information for the funeral service, his burial, and donations.

Funeral Service and Reception

Friday, September 6, at 10 a.m., followed by a light reception

Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church

1110 Highland Drive, Novato, CA

 

Burial (family only after the reception)

Pleasant Hill Mortuary

1700 Pleasant Hill Road
Sebastopol, CA

 

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to:

International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
www.iocc.org

110 West Road #360
Baltimore, MD, 21204

May the memory of Anthony Scott be eternal!

 

After graduating from St Vladimir’s Seminary, Fr Joshua Burnett (M.Div. '15) was sent to St George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas, where he served as assistant priest for three years. He is now the proistamenos of Holy Cross Church (Antiochian Archdiocese), just south of Baltimore. He and his wife Khouria Meredith have ten children in their care. 

Remembering the arrival at St Vladimir’s Seminary

My father had been diagnosed with brain cancer, and two months into our first semester at seminary, he died. About a week after he died, Hurricane Sandy hit… It was a turbulent first semester! But it was also formative. Fr John Behr was the dean at the time, and his whole understanding of suffering and death—the centrality of the Cross to our Orthodox faith—informed the way I began to speak about my father’s death. When I gave the eulogy at his funeral, it was the first time I had the sense of speaking as an Orthodox Christian from an Orthodox perspective.

After seminary, I was sent to St George Cathedral in Wichita, a very large parish, where they had a funeral every week. Serving so many funerals was cathartic. Every death had its own particularity and grief, but it also carried within it, for me, echoes of my father’s death. Serving funeral after funeral helped me become aware of my own grief, and the comfort offered by the Orthodox funeral service became a comfort that sunk into my bones week after week. 

Memories of Seminary

Family! We came to SVOTS with three kids and thought, “I guess we’ll have to wait for three years to have another kid.” Then, we saw all the families on campus, learned that there were midwives in the area and that insurance pays for them, and decided, “This is the perfect place to have a baby,” so our son was born halfway through seminary. 

My wife didn’t expect me to be gone as much as I was. We went traveling with the bishop quite a bit. That was more of a burden than we were expecting. And I had a lot of growth points related to the bishop. Before I came to seminary, I had gone to the cathedral in Pittsburgh when (then Father and now) Bishop John was there. He was very laid back. He made me a subdeacon and had me help in the altar. I was so green, I wouldn’t even kiss his hand when I handed him things! I’d hand him the censer as if to say, “Here you go.” I think he must have been chuckling a little to himself, but he never insisted I pay him special honors.

So, I got to seminary and it was mind-blowing to learn all the protocols. When my dad died I simply wrote an email to my bishop notifying him that I’d be gone for the funeral, and he wrote back—very kindly—but saying, “OK, but this is how you address a bishop. You don’t TELL him, you ASK him!” (laughter) There was this whole world of hierarchy and courtesy that I had never been exposed to in my days as an Evangelical Protestant, but at seminary I learned—quickly! 

Another aspect of seminary that I remember was the community service assignment. My wife asked me to try to get assigned to prosphora-baking most semesters because that was something that she could help me with at home (or, in most cases, do entirely on her own!). Because she did my community service, I had a little extra time with the family, and she had an opportunity to join me in service. This pattern followed us into the parish after seminary. 

 

Life after seminary

I was at St George Cathedral for three years and it was lovely. I wish everyone could be given an assistant position right after seminary. You learn really valuable things in seminary but they aren’t what you learn as an assistant in a parish. At St George, Bishop Basil was there (he’s also a SVOTS alumnus) and his regimen was very similar to the SVOTS chapel. “We don’t mess around, there is an order to things, you should not be moving or talking, this is the altar of God.” He taught me this. He was both serious but warm and hospitable at the same time.

What I gained from SVOTS

During those years in Wichita, I had a Lutheran friend who talked about his seminary experience, saying, “Seminary just gave me the tools to give a Bible study off the cuff or maybe even a sermon. That’s basically what I got from seminary.”

And I certainly got that from seminary too; I could walk into a Bible study mostly unprepared and still be able to give something because of my seminary training. I gained confidence, and things to say without having to look in a book because we’d read deeply and widely.

But I received more than just a few pat answers from St Vladimir’s Seminary. I received a good academic education, something I’ve appreciated more and more as the years have gone on. I learned how to interact both with the Fathers and with modern scholars. That was helpful in terms of trying to figure out how to walk this line between what the Academy knows and what we know from our experience as Orthodox Christians. At SVOTS, I received a “critical appropriation” of the Christian tradition. Yes, we learned that there are things we receive dogmatically without giving it a second thought. But we weren’t led to believe that the deposit of faith is simply an inanimate thing that people pass on from generation to generation without any kind of interaction with it. We bring questions from our experience of the world, and being honest about those questions is important. It guards us against becoming too abstract or too blindly ideological. For me, SVOTS was like a gymnasium. It trained me to grapple—in an embodied, personal way—with the truth of our faith.

What have been the joys and challenges of clergy life?

We became foster parents in Wichita and had several children placed with us; we ended up adopting the final two children placed with us. We were moving away from Wichita and had to decide whether to adopt or to send them back into the system. That decision required a lot of prayer and deliberation. Foster kids have experienced a lot of trauma, and that trauma often gets expressed in troubling ways. For instance, our now daughter would get up to the sink and wash her hands and leave the water running, and then say “Susie!” (Susie was a little younger than her.) “I left the water on for you, you can wash your hands!” But what she had done was leave just the hot water on, and it was scorching hot, and Susie would put her hands up under the water and scream! Our kids were pretty peaceable but suddenly, with the introduction of these foster kids, our house felt like a war zone. We struggled as parents, especially as we watched our kids struggle. When it came time to make the decision to adopt, we went around and asked our biological children, and one of them said, “You know, I think it’s going to be very hard, but it will provide us an opportunity to exercise self-control.”

I believe this child had absorbed some of the teaching that we had received in seminary: that it is through our suffering that we are united with Christ’s suffering, and that the suffering we would go through, with and for these kids, would be good for us and, of course, good for them too. We were opening up the possibility for God to transform them and us, and so we prayed and hoped for that possibility.

And God has provided. With the stability of a loving home, our adopted children went through a transformation, almost overnight. The girl who would turn on the hot water for her sister is now a compassionate and trusted caretaker of her younger siblings. And, of course, the rest of the family has changed as well. We are learning to trust in God’s providence and to put less stock in “reasonable” calculations. Our adoption has even been transformative for our parish on a number of levels. We have one family that became foster parents after we arrived and two other families are in the process of becoming licensed. People see it up close and it inspires them to take the same step, thank God.

Our big clergy family also changes people’s expectations. Parishioners recognize that I’m not as available as an empty nester priest would be. That changes how parishioners view themselves, their relationship with the priest, and with the rest of the church. In some ways—when it works well—people are more self-sufficient and interdependent on one another rather than dependent on the priest.

 

Challenges of many new inquirers and catechumens

We’ve always had catechumens, but it used to average between 6 –10 or so. Now we have 25 catechumens and I know of brother priests who are seeing 70, 100, and more! Our catechumenate is a formal program with classes, and it lasts a year. I describe it to them as like getting engaged.

There is another group of people though. We have a lot of inquirers who are just staying inquirers, who have been attending and learning for a while. So, altogether, almost 50 people are either catechumens or inquirers! In addition, almost every week we have visitors. Some of our visitors probably are seeing how crowded our parish is and so they go looking for something less crowded (laughter). As long as they end up in another Orthodox parish—thank God, I’m happy with that.

So yes, it is a challenge. Our parish identity is being challenged by how many new people there are here. Oftentimes I think that the old timers have felt like the outsiders and have felt displaced. I’m working on some things to help them with that. 

Also, our parish tends to be on the conservative end of the political spectrum. That comes with some plusses and minuses. It would be great if people didn’t talk politics at all, but they do! And newcomers hear conversations during coffee hour and they think, “Oh—is that the kind of people who are here?” and they get worried. But usually, for most of the parishioners, regardless of their politics, their faith really is first. Yes, they care about politics and they are talking to others who have the same leanings during coffee hour, BUT when it comes down to it, are they going to avoid a fellow parishioner of a different persuasion politically? No. 

Even if these differences between our parishioners have at times become really fractious on social media, at the end of the day the people involved have said, “Look—we need to come together here and put this aside and recognize that, first and foremost, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.” The few times there have been social media “fights,” in the end it has ended peaceably. 

Dealing with social media 

It’s usually on the topics on the fringe where people butt heads. One of these is how men understand women. We have a lot of young men coming into the Church and many of them are disenfranchised and/or feel disenfranchised, and they feel like they can’t make it in life. “I have a job but I can’t buy a house, can’t seem to find a girlfriend”; there’s a lot of discrepancy between the expectations they had growing up as opposed to the reality of their adult lives. 

Then the reaction is, “Feminism has been ascendant for a while and now men are second-class citizens and I am angry about the place women occupy in the world.” But also, “I am going to learn how to be a player and date women serially.” 

Often this is being brought into the Church and is something I’ve had to address very directly, in our catechism classes and general parish classes, like a class I did on marriage. I am talking about the dynamic between men and women, and making sure our parishioners are not OK with unhealthy attitudes. We try to understand where these attitudes are coming from, and we aren’t going to denigrate people. We will be compassionate but also express the Orthodox understanding of the relationship between men and women. 

How do we rehabilitate these young men? In my parish what is working well is to get them involved in service. I have actively said, “We need the dishes washed, or, someone’s donating a couch, can you help move it? Our playground is a mud pit, let’s have a workday to dig everything out and put in mulch, can you help?” And the young men have stepped up in ways that have really touched my heart. They are serious about this and are asking, “What else can I do?” They’re going above and beyond, counting Sunday collections, visiting people who are homebound…it’s beautiful to see the ways they have found their place. Belonging through service has been transformational. By God’s grace, some of these young men who are learning and growing in the Faith will even eventually become priests. We sent one family to seminary last year and will do so again this year.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

YONKERS, NY, Tuesday, August 20, 2024—At its meeting on August 9, 2024, the Board of Trustees at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) announced its decision to indefinitely pause the relocation of St Vladimir's Seminary, and pursue the needs of the Seminary for recruiting a new president, strengthening the Seminary’s finances, and creating a strategic vision and direction in fulfillment of its core mission. 

The Seminary’s core mission remains to “train priests, lay leaders, and scholars to be active apologists of the Orthodox Christian Faith—focusing on academic rigor and spiritual formation within a residential Orthodox community.”

Over the course of the summer, SVOTS began proceedings for a comprehensive search for the next Seminary President, while also conducting an in-depth analysis of the Seminary’s organizational structure, budgetary gaps, and future growth needs. 

The Board of Trustees commends Dr Ionuţ-Alexandru Tudorie, Interim President and CEO for his diligent work in leading St Vladimir’s Seminary during this time of transition, and assisting in the maintenance and development of the internal structure of the Seminary in order to prepare for the incoming class of students this fall. The Board of Trustees and Dr Tudorie, together, acknowledge that the near-term focus on the Seminary’s mission especially includes looking inward and refocusing the institution as Christ-centered, student-focused, and education-driven. Dr Tudorie remarks: “As we renew our focus on what St Vladimir’s Seminary needs most at this moment, we tune into the needs of our students here and now, beginning foremost with spiritual formation and academic excellence.”

ABOUT ST VLADIMIR’S ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is a higher education institution that embraces the challenge of serving the Church and the needs of Orthodox Christians in the twenty-first century. SVOTS trains priests, lay leaders, and scholars to be active apologists of the Orthodox Christian Faith, focusing on academic rigor and spiritual formation within a residential Orthodox community. The Seminary is chartered by the University of the State of New York and accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) to offer the following program degrees: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, Master of Theology, and Doctor of Ministry. www.svots.edu