Beryl Knudsen I am on the road to becoming a hospital chaplain. I started attending SVOTS eight years ago as a half time student. My youngest child was ten, my husband no longer required my help in his business ; I wanted to go back to school. I am the...
Fr. Gabreil Alemayehu Second-year seminarian Fr. Gabreil Alemayehu was recently ordained in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In January 2014, he participated in the Festival of Young Preachers in Indianapolis, IN, along with his mentor The Rev. Dr. Sergius Halvorsen, professor of...
Dn. Shiryl Mathai Psalm 133:1 - "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" As Orthodox Christians, we work out our salvation in community, rather than alone. Each interaction provides a moment of truth demonstrating our faith in praxis. It is within community, as our dean...
Joshua Trant As a proud Texan, it is more than a little ironic that my daughter has a New York birth certificate. Having spent all of our married life in Texas, my wife and I would have gladly welcomed our daughter before we moved to New York to attend seminary...
Kathryn Ashbahian As the end of the semester is swiftly approaching, my brain is in that all too familiar state of neuron-explosion as it tries to process the immense transformation that has taken place within me over my past year at school. You are well aware, reader, that the practice...
Ian Abodeely In the first week of August, 2014, third-year seminarian Ian Abodeely attended the biennial, pan-Orthodox conference of the Western Rite Vicariate of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCANA). The Vicariate oversees parishes and missions within the Archdiocese that worship according to traditional Western Christian liturgical...
The Orthodox Church in Norway is a tiny community in a predominantly secular and Lutheran country. Most of our parishes are mission churches and there are only a very few established churches. By coming to the United States and St. Vladimir’s Seminary, I hoped that my family and I would...
Seraphim Long When I reflect on my journey as a seminarian one word looms in the background of my story — transfiguration. I count myself as one twice converted; first to church in general, and then to the Orthodox Church. Change is a constant theme and in the Orthodox spiritual...
Lijin Raju ...What am I supposed to do with this all? St. Vladimir's Seminary is a challenging environment, and yet as I step back and think about why I'm here, I am inspired and motivated to continue and finish strong. I grew up in a clergy household with parents who...
John Mikitish 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...