With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share the news of the repose of Archpriest Joseph Shaheen, 91, who fell asleep in the Lord Jesus Christ on Friday, August 4, 2023, in Naples, FL.

Since his priestly ordination in 1959, Fr Joseph pastored four communities: St George Church of Upper Darby, PA; St George Church of Indianapolis (now Fishers), IN; St Nicholas Church of Montreal, Quebec; and St Paul Church of Naples, where he retired from active ministry in 2017. His tenure covered the construction or renovation of three of those churches. Additionally, Fr Joseph served as ecclesiarch at Archdiocese Conventions, overseeing the operations of the hotel chapels.

"Dear ones, it is essential that we understand that the departing of Fr Joseph Shaheen truly marks the 'end' of a foundational era for our Archdiocese here in America," said Fr. Paul Girgis, Fr. Joseph's successor in Naples. "In fact, he was among the last living men to have been ordained to the holy priesthood by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony Bashir of blessed memory. That is three metropolitans ago! Fr Joseph was a man that had been involved in building up so much of what we have in the Antiochian Archdiocese today, not to mention our parish here in Naples and several before! May the Lord grant him Paradise."

Fr Joseph graduated St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1960 (M.Div.). In addition to his pastoral duties, he served as spiritual advisor for regional chapters of Teen SOYO, the Fellowship of St John the Divine (now Young Adult Ministry), and the Order of St Ignatius of Antioch. Fr Joseph was elevated to the dignity of Archpriest in 1977.

Funeral arrangements are pending with divine services planned for Aug. 10-11 at St Paul Church in Naples. Final arrangements will be announced soon.

Fr Joseph is survived by his wife, Kh. Diane, to whom he was married for 64 years, and their children Rebecca, Joseph, and Philip.

His Eminence Metropolitan Saba and the hierarchs, clergy, and laity of the Antiochian Archdiocese extend their love and sympathies to the family and friends of Fr Joseph.

May Fr Joseph's memory be eternal!

Adapted from antiochian.org.

Join us for St Vladimir's Seminary Education Day 2023! Listen to discussions by Orthodox scholars and ask them your burning questions on a variety of topics, including Scripture, Church History, current events, and other topics such as; end-of-life issues, personhood, and the importance of Orthodox literature in our lives today. Education Day Online is a six-hour “Zoomathon” where you can participate and pose questions to Seminary professors and guest scholars.

Registration for this event is closed.

The online event is Saturday, August 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT (7 a.m. to 1 p.m. PDT). Join Education Day Online when a topic that interests you is scheduled, or join several discussions throughout the day. It's up to you when you join and for how long. (See the schedule below.)

Education Day Online is also for a good cause—join us and help raise $100,000 to educate seminarians! Attendance is FREE. Please consider making a donation as you register or during the event. (If donating through our Giving Page, please write "ED DAY" in the comment section.)

You may submit questions now, as you register, to be asked during the event on August 5 (please indicate what topic your question belongs to in the comment box). Of course, you will be able to submit questions during the event as well.

Faculty members from St. Vladimir’s Seminary will be joined by Dr Edith Humphrey, SVS Press author and William F. Orr Professor Emerita of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; the Rev. Dn Dr Sampson Nash, Associate Professor of Medicine for the St Vladimir’s Seminary Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program, and Adjunct Professor of Christian Ethics at St Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (STOTS); Dr Mark Cherry, the Dr. Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at St Edward’s University in Austin, TX; Dr Alexander Titus, independent scholar and instructor at Scholé Academy; Dr Paul Meyendorff, Father Alexander Schmemann Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Theology at St Vladimir’s Seminary (1987-2016); and Dr James Buchanan Wallace, Chair and Professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Christian Brothers University. We look forward to a fruitful and enlightening day of discussion!

Registration for this event is closed.

In this faculty spotlight interview, we speak with the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Basil Russin, known around campus as Dn Harrison. On Saturday, Aug. 5 at 3:05 p.m. EDT, Dn Harrison will be co-hosting the session “Embodying Tradition in Contemporary Orthodox Liturgical Music: Back to the Future?” for Education Day Online 2023, alongside Dr Alexander Lingas, Professor of Music at St Vladimir’s Seminary. 

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Dn Harrison is the Prokofiev Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music at St Vladimir’s Seminary, as well as the Director of Music at the Seminary. Dr Russin has a Ph.D. in historical musicology from Duke University and has published and lectured internationally on medieval and renaissance music. He is also an active church musician, directing three choirs at St Vladimir’s Seminary, teaching courses in singing, reading, music theory, composition, and conducting, and serving as a consultant to the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Liturgical Music and Translation. Dn Harrison and his wife Mat. Gabrielle met as seminarians at St Vladimir’s Seminary, and they are both honored to be back working and living at their alma mater. Their son, Simon, just turned one year old.

Dn Harrison, please share a bit about your family background and early life in the Church. What were some early influences that led you to dedicate your life to serving the Church as a seminary educator? 

My father’s family immigrated from Galicia (Poland)  to the US in the 1890s, and they were part of the movement that was led from the Greek Catholic Church to the Orthodox Church under Fr (now Saint) Alexis Toth. Saint Alexis baptized my grandfather. My mother’s family is of German Protestant background, and has been in America since the mid-18th century. I was baptized in the Orthodox Church as an infant but raised with exposure to both the Orthodox Church and the United Methodist church.

It was primarily my college experience that led me to a deeper Orthodox faith, and that brought me into contact with St Vladimir’s Seminary. I first attended a summer institute in 2007 (one of the last Institutes) and I fell in love with the school. Honestly, I never made a conscious goal of being a seminary educator. I came to the seminary as a student in 2010, and had a fantastic experience as a student; I was offered a part-time position in 2016 teaching music, as I was finishing my doctorate at Duke, and that became full-time in 2020.

As a St Vladimir's Seminary alumnus, how do you draw on your experience as a former student in relating to current students? What do you strive to impart to all of your students?

I have been blessed to have studied under wonderful teachers, thinkers, and readers. The chapel has always been the center of my seminary experience, both as a student and now as a professor, and I hope I can relate that sense of joy in worship to my students. There were many times as a student I remember studying one topic from different angles in different classes, and the chapel was a place where those angles could cohere into a whole.

What is community life at St Vladimir's Seminary like for you?

Similarly, community life for me revolves around the chapel. We are not passive spectators in worship, but constantly engaging in the pronouncement of the word and the singing of hymns. Since my ordination to the diaconate in May 2023, I have been able to witness and “read” another element of Orthodox worship. 

On another level, I live in an apartment in a building with seminarians, and we are constantly interacting in different ways. There are many children here the same as my son, and it is a joy for me to see him grow up here.

You led the organization of the Summer Music Institute this year, propelling forward a bold topic: the composition of new liturgical music for use in American Orthodox worship. Why did you and your collaborators feel this was an important area of focus? 

Working closely with Talia Sheehan of St Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery, we focused on the topic of new musical composition because we felt that the creative energy in that direction had “dried up” to a degree; of course, people are still creating new music for worship in the Orthodox Church, but there seems to be little cohesion or guiding principles. Our goal this summer was to gather three composers who are quite different in their experiences and priorities and have them demonstrate how they articulate a vision for music in the Orthodox Church.

What were some key takeaways from this year's Summer Institute?

I always leave the Institute exhausted and exhilarated. The reading session on the final day of the Institute was particularly inspiring; we were able to hear and sing compositions submitted from musicians across the country, and pay attention to how they navigate the different challenges posed by setting liturgical music in English.

In this year's Education Day Online, you and Dr Alexander Lingas will be continuing this discussion of the composition of liturgical music. Can you give us a sneak peek of some of the points you will touch on?

Dr Lingas and I will discuss the different ways the “past” of Orthodox music has been imagined and revived over the centuries. As Dr Lingas has pointed out, there was a general musical lingua franca across the Orthodox world until the 15th century; the musical traditions of most national Orthodox Churches derive from what we call “Byzantine Chant” today. We’ll tie a historical knowledge of Orthodox music to questions about what that can mean for present practice.

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Join the conversation, Embodying Tradition in Contemporary Orthodox Liturgical Music: Back to the Future?, on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 3:05 p,m. EDT, with Dr Alexander Lingas and the Rev. Dn Dr Harrison Basil Russin. Register now to save your seat in their virtual classroom and submit your questions ahead of time.

In this faculty spotlight interview, we hear from Dr James Buchanan Wallace, known to friends and family as “Bru.” On Saturday, Aug. 5 at 2:05 p.m. EDT, Dr Wallace will be co-hosting the session on Biblical Criticism and Orthodox Faith for Education Day Online 2023, alongside Dr Michael Legaspi, Associate Professor of Old Testament at St Vladimir’s Seminary. 

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Dr Wallace is Professor of Religion and currently serves as chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. He studied English and Russian at Sewanee, the University of the South (B.A. 1998), and received his M.Div. and Ph.D. from Emory University (2002, 2008). In 2008, Dr. Wallace joined the faculty at Christian Brothers University. His research interests include patristic interpretations of Scripture and the Greco-Roman and Jewish religious contexts of early Christianity. At Christian Brothers University, Dr Wallace teaches both Old Testament and New Testament, in addition to a variety of upper-level courses in Scripture, including courses in the Prophets, the Gospels, and the letters of Paul, as well as a course entitled, “The Apocalyptic Imagination”.

Aside from his teaching and research, Dr Wallace is the author of Snatched into Paradise (2 Cor 12:1-10): Paul’s Heavenly Journey in the Context of Early Christian Experience (de Gruyter, 2011). He has also served as co-editor of two books: The Holy Spirit and the Church according to the New Testament (Mohr Siebeck, 2016) and Greek and Byzantine Philosophical Exegesis (Brill Schöningh, 2022).
One of his latest projects is editing a volume to be published with SVS Press, Seeking Christ in the Scriptures: Intersections of Faith and Biblical Scholarship.
Dr Wallace lives with his wife, Thea, and their three children in the town where he grew up—Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Where did you start in your Christian journey,  and how did you and your family come to the Orthodox Faith?

Although I was raised nominally Christian, I did not attend church until fourth grade. After some experiences at local Vacation Bible Schools, a venerable summer institution where I grew up (in Olive Branch, Mississippi), I asked my parents whether they would start taking me to a local Baptist church. My father said no, but he would take me to the local Methodist church! So from fourth grade on, I was a United Methodist, and by eighth grade, I thought God was calling me to ministry. When I was in high school, I even went on a Methodist mission trip to Russia, which began a fascination with things Russian.

I attended an Episcopalian college, Sewanee (the University of the South). There, I slowly fell in love with liturgical worship and grew to perceive the importance of the Eucharist. I also added a major in Russian to my major in English. A good friend of mine, who was Roman Catholic, set out to convert me to Catholicism. He began to challenge my understanding of the nature of the Church. He thought my fascination with Russia was promising and concluded that if he could coax me to become Orthodox, then all he would have to do, would be to convince me of the Pope – and I’d be a Catholic! We ended up meeting in the middle: we both became Eastern Orthodox, and he has now served as an Orthodox priest for many years! I joined the Orthodox Church on Holy Saturday of 1999—during my first year at a Methodist seminary (Candler School of Theology at Emory University). By then, however, my sense of calling had shifted to teaching rather than pastoral ministry. After consulting with some trusted faculty members and being open about my path, I decided to remain at Candler to complete my M.Div.
 

How did you come to be a biblical scholar? When and how did you decide to dedicate your life to studying the Bible?

Just as my path to Orthodoxy was a triangulation of various factors, so was my route to biblical studies. As my undergraduate majors might suggest, my first real intellectual love was literature. Then, like so many young Orthodox enthusiasts, I decided I wanted to study patristics. This was around my final year of undergraduate work, before I had actually joined the Church. Already, I was studying Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic and gaining some appreciation for how reading the Bible in its original languages could unlock meaning. Then, at Candler, several things converged: I realized what wonderful teachers the doctorate program at Emory University trained when I took Greek readings with a graduate student. I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for the New Testament scholar, Dr. Carl Holladay. I also began studying with Dr Luke Timothy Johnson (who had been one of the main attractions of Candler in the first place). I realized that I could apply my love for the close study of texts to the New Testament. This narrow focus was better suited to my abilities and inclinations than a broader field like patristics. Luke Johnson’s focus, especially in his introductory New Testament class, was discerning the distinctive voice of each New Testament composition and reading each text on its own terms, in light of its historical contexts. Far from being a problem for my faith, this approach made complete sense to me as a student of English literature. If you want to understand Romans (or Hebrews, or Mark, or Luke), read it as a coherent whole, from beginning to end. Suddenly, terms that I had heard thrown around most of my life (like “justification by faith”) came to gain real meaning.

As an Orthodox Christian, do you feel the modern field of biblical studies is compatible with our faith? Why or why not?

As what I said above may suggest, I can hardly imagine reading the Bible without the approaches of biblical studies. Biblical studies opened the meaning of Scripture to me in a way I had not imagined. Of course, as you dive deeper into some of the questions and problems that biblical studies raises, there can be tensions and even challenges. But these questions are, by and large, legitimate questions necessitated by an intelligent study of the texts. We avoid those challenges at our peril, and we stand to gain immensely through a deeper encounter with the texts.

What are some ways in which you contribute to the field from an Orthodox perspective?

I have tried to contribute in numerous ways. Though my perspectives and approaches continue to evolve, several of my own modest contributions to biblical scholarship (such as my book, Snatched into Paradise) have sought to put patristic interpretation into conversation with contemporary scholarship, in hopes of enriching the theological interpretation of Scripture. I have also written some surveys of modern Orthodox biblical scholarship.

I have been involved in several initiatives to bring Orthodox biblical scholarship into the spotlight and into conversation with Western scholars. I participated in several symposia in Europe that brought together Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant biblical scholars to discuss major themes in New Testament interpretation, and I co-edited the volume based on one of these symposia (The Holy Spirit and the Church According to the New Testament). With my friend and colleague Dr Athanasios Despotis, I helped co-found (and for six years co-chaired) the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) program unit, “Biblical Exegesis from Eastern Orthodox Perspectives,” which is still going strong. Most recently, Athanasios and I co-founded a new academic series of the same name, which will be published with Brill (Leiden). I should acknowledge, however, that the impetus for both of these projects, as well as most of the credit generally, belongs to Athanasios.

What are some of the real-world implications of the claims made in the field of biblical studies?

I think that the conversation Dr Legaspi and I will have on Education Day will address this to some degree, but I will offer a few hints. It is tempting to impose a rigid theological unity on the biblical texts, but the Bible is an anthology of very different texts that speak with different voices (you can see the influence of Luke Johnson here). When we recognize this diversity and perceive the host of different reactions expressed in biblical texts to real-life experiences such as doubt, fear, joy, and especially suffering, we have a whole host of pastoral tools to help address the complexities of our lives today. In many ways, the ancient Greco-Roman world was every bit as complex and confusing as ours is today, with so many different cultural trends blending together and different poles of one’s existence leading to confusions of loyalty and identity. So I think that reading New Testament texts in those first-century contexts is more relevant than ever.

Also, we have to face the fact that the Bible is full of “internal criticism” of religiosity. The Prophets, Jesus, and Paul all express deep suspicions of the ways that acts of piety can serve to bolster social prestige and can, ironically, lead to a callousness to those on the margins of society. Especially as Orthodox, we need to heed these warnings.

Can you give us a sneak peek of the discussion you plan to have with Dr Michael Legaspi on Education Day?

I have given a few hints already! I hope we will help clarify what actually goes on in biblical studies and why we love this field, warts and all. While we may mention a few strands we do not find helpful, we will focus on approaches we think should challenge and enrich our lives as Orthodox Christians. We are going to talk more about what reading a single text on its own terms might mean for us.

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Join the conversation, Biblical Criticism and Orthodox Faith, on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 2:05 p,m. EDT, with Dr James Buchanan Wallace and Dr Michael Legaspi. Register now to save your seat in their virtual classroom and submit your questions ahead of time.

St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) hosted an alumni reception, sponsored by the Orthodox Vision Foundation, at the 56th Biennial Antiochian Archdiocese Convention in Phoenix, AZ. Over 60 alumni attended the event, reconnecting with former classmates and learning about recent developments in Seminary life from SVOTS President, the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield, Academic Dean, Dr Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, Alumni Association Board Chair, Richard Mitry Ajalat (M.Div. ‘13), and Class of 2023 Valedictorian, the Rev. Dr Anthony Gilbert.

Fr Chad Hatfield emphasized the importance of upholding the residential model for seminary education, particularly for priests in training, saying, “Without the formation experienced in community with others, without the experience of coming together daily for worship, study, and community service, there can be no preparation for service to the Church as a parish priest.”

Following Fr Chad’s address, the audience viewed a compilation of recent graduates’ reflections on their time at St Vladimir’s Seminary. Fr Anthony Gilbert followed the video presentation with a brief address, sharing his recent experiences as a student with the alumni audience. Fr Anthony spoke highly of the current faculty, echoing the sentiments Fr Chad had expressed in his remarks, describing SVOTS professors as a collegial, highly capable team of scholars who are deeply committed to teaching and collaborating with their students.

Richard Ajalat shared his reflections on the community life at St Vladimir’s Seminary, noting the importance of the daily services in forming seminarians as servants of Christ. He also spoke of the recent addition of audiobooks to the SVS Press catalog, sponsored by the Orthodox Vision Foundation, which is rapidly adding titles and expanding the outreach of the Press to an ever wider audience.

The alumni reception was MC’ed by Dr Greg Abdalah, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology for the D.Min. program at St Vladimir’s Seminary (M.Div. ‘08; D.Min. ‘18). Dr Abdalah shared touching reminiscences of his lifelong connections with SVOTS, beginning with listening to St Vladimir’s Seminary Choir recordings regularly at home, visiting the Seminary for events, and finally joining the Seminary community as a student.

The reception wrapped up with a Q&A session where Fr Chad and Dr Tudorie fielded a variety of questions from the alumni present. Several new initiatives taking place at SVOTS were discussed, including the St Vladimir’s Online School of Theology and the upcoming introduction of a Ph.D. program. In response to a question from Fr Gabriel Tannous (M.Div. ‘15) about the need for resources for priests who wish to further deepen their knowledge and ability to minister to their faithful, Dr Tudorie spoke about a new continuing education program for clergy that is now in the development phase at St Vladimir’s Seminary.

Aside from the alumni reception, St Vladimir’s Seminary was represented at the convention with an information table sharing Seminary reports, degree program brochures, and video content with Convention attendees. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press was also present, offering a large portion of the Press inventory for sale each day of the Convention.

With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share the news of the repose of Boris N. Gosheff. Boris departed his earthly journey on Thursday, July 20, 2023, to await the glorious second coming of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Boris was born on November 30, 1946, to Naum and Stephana Gosheff in Elwood City, Pennsylvania, moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana shortly thereafter. After graduating from South Side High School, he earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Education from St Francis University, and a Master of Divinity from Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Class of ‘74).

Boris embraced his faith, family, and Macedonian culture. He owned and operated Tower Tavern with his family. He was a lifelong member of St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral and rarely missed a Sunday service. He was also a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan and rarely missed a Sunday loss.

Most of all, Boris loved his family. Boris is survived by his wife, Vesna; children, Damian (Jenny) and Christopher (Rebecca); grandchildren, Josephine, Katherine, Theodore, Finn, and Audrey; and brother, George (Donna). Boris was preceded in death by his parents, Naum and Stephana, and his brother, Stephan.

Memorial services will be held at St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, 3535 Crescent Avenue, Fort Wayne, IN. The funeral service is 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at the cathedral, with visitation one hour prior. Visitation also from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 25, 2023, with a Trisagion Hymn at 7 p.m. Burial will follow service at Highland Park Cemetery and a luncheon will follow the burial. In lieu of flowers, the family wishes to have donations made to St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral.

May Boris’ memory be eternal!

Article adapted from legacy.com.

Fr Bogdan holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Marquette University and has been Associate Professor of Patristics at St Vladimir’s Seminary since Fall 2020. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, and served as a parish priest at St Anthony Orthodox Church in Butler, PA for many years.

Aside from his teaching duties during the academic year, Fr Bogdan recently taught the first-ever online course offered by the new St Vladimir’s Online School of Theology, Preparing to Read the Fathers. He will also give a one-hour presentation along with Dr Alexander Titus at the 2023 Online Education Day Zoomathon on August 5, 2023, entitled The Patristic Foundations and Spiritual Legacy of St Gregory Palamas.

In this Faculty Spotlight Interview, Fr Bogdan Bucur outlines how and why the theological education at St Vladimir’s Seminary plays an important part in the formation of our future clergy and other servants of the Church. He also shares his thoughts on the current developments at St Vladimir’s Seminary and expresses his appreciation for the sacrifices made by students who choose to come to St Vladimir’s Seminary.

How would you explain the importance of the theological education at St Vladimir's Seminary, both in training priests and lay leaders and scholars?

Stakes are really high. I have in mind the priests and catechists with whom my children will interact ten or fifteen years from now. I hope these will be faithful, deep, and intelligent Christians, capable of a charitable but critical engagement with the world they are seeking to serve; Orthodox teachers knowledgeable about the various theological areas, but also civil and patient with others, and aware of their own limitations—certainly not ignorant and arrogant peddlers of half-digested bits of YouTube theology, or narcissistic “Church professionals” aspiring to be the Grand Inquisitor.

Having been both an Orthodox scholar and parish priest before coming to St Vladimir's Seminary in 2020, how would you say life at St Vladimir's Seminary prepares our students for the priesthood, further scholarship, or both?

Learning to live in community, entering into a rhythm of intense liturgical life, submitting to the pace of academic instruction within a community of teachers and fellow learners, and being stretched and molded by long periods of time of intense interaction with normal (that is, always less-than-ideal) fellow Christians—all of this is challenging, testing, and potentially transformative for any candidate for ordination to holy orders or for assignment as a teacher of the faith. I do not discount or minimize the difficulty (and in many cases the impossibility) of uprooting oneself for three years in order to attend the St Vladimir’s Seminary MDiv program; nevertheless, I find the alternative of an online seminary education to be downright irresponsible. To put it bluntly: I don’t think the pastorate of a parish or mission should be entrusted to someone parachuted in after two or three years of theological cyber-schooling with perhaps a few weeks of “liturgical boot camp” thrown in. Future priests and catechists simply need the kind of residential and communal theological education and formation that St Vladimir’s Seminary offers.

In teaching and guiding seminarians, what is your approach in helping to prepare them to become priests, teachers, and leaders in the Church? 

I must confess that I feel mild disgust and a hefty dose of suspicion every time I hear of “leaders in the Church.” Christ Himself said, "I am among you as the one who serves" (Luke 22.27). We must strive to cultivate the mindset of one serving the Lord by serving those who come here to become servants in the Lord’s vineyard. My job is to give all that I am able to give in terms of teaching, mentorship, companionship, and encouragement on the road to Emmaus.

What are ways that you have seen St Vladimir's Seminary grow and expand its mission in the last year?

As everyone knows, there is much going on at the administrative level, as the trustees and the president are weighing very carefully whether and how (and where and when) the Seminary should relocate in order to continue and expand its work. In my opinion, speaking as a member of the faculty, the most important developments the past year have been, by far, the arrival of our new colleague, Dr Michael Legaspi—a high-caliber scholar, proven teacher and mentor, and wonderful human being who now holds the position of professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, and (...drum roll, please!) the decision to kick off the long and laborious application process for an in-house Ph.D. Program in Orthodox Theology. I should also mention the hire of a Director of Online Education in the person of Arpi Nakashian, with the goal of boosting the Seminary’s new Online School of Theology. These are all very significant developments, whose positive impact upon the mission of St Vladimir’s Seminary will be felt for a long time.

Why did you want to teach at SVOTS?

 I remember my honest amazement upon learning that the new position of Academic Dean had been filled by an unknown, “unconnected” candidate—Dr Alex Tudorie, a young and very competent Church historian from Romania. To me, that was a guarantee that future searches would also proceed in earnest. Some two years later, when the opening in Patristics was announced, I was equally impressed by the descriptions of what St Vladimir’s Seminary was aiming for, namely a faculty given to academic research no less than to teaching, who would view both as service and who would support each other in a collegial, collaborative way, eventually forming a team, a cluster of teacher-scholars, greater and better than the sum of its parts. 

What subject(s) do you teach? What are the parts of Patristics you enjoy teaching about the most?

My own approach and interests in the area of Patristics are largely the result of being taught and mentored by a wonderful professor, now Archbishop Alexander Golitzin. It is thanks to him and the entire “Theophaneia” School he created that I have a special interest in the link between biblical reception history and doctrinal articulation in early Christianity and the Byzantine tradition; the interest in studying how early Christians articulated their identity by reworking doctrines, imagery, and practices inherited from the many currents of Second Temple Judaism; and the conviction that a certain spiritual continuum unites all the saintly writers who have borne witness to Christ, from the patriarchs and prophets of old to the apostles and their disciples down to our very own generation.

What excites you most about the students at SVOTS? 

I am deeply moved by the sacrifices made by incoming seminarians, especially those who are married and are raising children: they have left behind the relative comfort and stability of houses, jobs, and network of families and friends, entrusting three years of their lives to the Lord and to us at St Vladimir’s Seminary. How could I not reciprocate by giving my best and doing my utmost to serve such people? Besides, it is exciting to see seminarians who come with a great thirst for learning, for understanding more and better, and who are also dedicated to becoming better disciples to the Lord and better brothers and sisters to each other.

Finally, I love their sense of humor! On this note, I am a fan of the anonymous student satire piece recently posted all over campus, Notes From the Schmem-a-Dome, the “official unofficial student newspaper that no one asked for and no one needs”: I think we all need it.

Fr Bogdan Bucur was born in Romania. He and Cristina have just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and they are the parents of Irina, Andrei, and Miruna.