Saint Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) Alumnus Hierodeacon Aetios (formerly Dimitrios Nikiforos) was ordained to the holy priesthood Sunday, November 3, in Istanbul, Turkey, and was made grand ecclesiarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Very Rev. Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios was ordained by the hand of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the...
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon has awarded St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) Alumnus Very Rev. Michael Koblosh (’68) the miter in recognition of his decades of service to the Orthodox Church. Father Michael was elevated to the dignity of mitered archpriest during the Divine Liturgy Sunday, January 5, 2020 at the mission...
A homily delivered in the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary on the Sunday before Theophany, 2015. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! Today is the fourth day of January. We’ve taken the...
Some of the most famous members of this community are also perhaps some of its least remembered. Physically, they are silent and unmoving. Spiritually, they active here and throughout the world, and their written words resound like trumpets sounding from heaven, calling us to Jesus. Theirs are the loud voices...
A homily delivered in the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary on January 12th, 2015. We all know the story of Saul of Tarsus. When he set out on the road to Damascus, Saul knew exactly what he was doing. He was well trained, he was respected...
What appears to happen in the Passion of Christ and what actually happens are not at all the same. What appears to happen is not that extraordinary. The Romans crucified a Jewish man in order to keep public order. During their long rule over Judea, the Romans had killed many...
The life of Fr. Matthew Baker is a triumph of Orthodoxy. It is easy to doubt God’s Providence in taking away a young priest, newly installed in his first parish, a husband, and a father of seven (his youngest, Alexis, so recently taken from his mother and father in stillbirth)...
Let’s be honest: how do we parents feel when we suddenly realize, while attending Liturgy, that the Gospel reading for the Sunday is the Prodigal Son, reminding us that Lent is around the corner? If you’re like me, you start doing a mental checklist of all the meat that needs...
Be always with Christ and trust God in everything. Pray as you can, not as you think you must. Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied. Make some prostrations when...
Baptism is Christian initiation. The goal of this process and its culminating rite is not some individualized, purely personal experience. The goal of baptism is initiation into a community of faith, a church. It is entrance into a way of life together, not a rite to do something to or...