First-year Seminarian Daniel Bein represented St. Vladimir’s Seminary at the 2017 Eastern College Conference of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF), which was held at Antiochian Village in Bolivar, PA, December 27–30. Seminarian Daniel serves as an enthusiastic Class Representative on the Student Council here at the Seminary, and at the recent OCF conference, he was given a unique opportunity to speak to all attendees—an impromptu invitation issued by conference organizers.
Daniel Bein speaking at the 2018 OCF Eastern Conference“I began my short talk by telling about my own journey to St. Vlad's, viewing my enrolling here as an opportunity to explore further what began in OCF,” he said. “I looked at what the Lord had been doing in my life, and I presented St. Vlad’s as a launching pad for opening doors to opportunities that I had never thought I would have: prison ministry, an upcoming mission trip to Uganda, in-depth academic study—and not being afraid of sheet music anymore!
“The beautiful thing about St. Vlad's,” he explained, “is that we can investigate those opportunities in community, not just by listening to podcasts and reading a few books.
“Instead, just like in real life, we meet different people who are doing different things; we live together and are exposed to all sorts of people with different goals as they pursue their M.A., M.Div, Th.M., and D.Min. degrees,” he went on. “Most of all, I told the college students that I love the people at St. Vlad's because they believe that we can start that process of glorification, of becoming saintly, now—in the classroom, in the chapel, and through fieldwork.
“Additionally, I passed out free SVS Press books to the college students gathered,” he concluded, “and it was a joy to be able to supply—typically needy—college students with some ‘free stuff’ that’s actually beneficial, in order for them to discern where the Lord has been moving in their lives!”
