The Rev. Dn. Dr. Vitaly Permiakov contributed his expertise in liturgical scholarship to a special conference in Serbia celebrating the centennial of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR; 1921–2021).
The conference, titled Links Between Times: Conclusions and Perspectives, took place November 23–25, 2021 in both Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci. It was co-organized by the Archive of the Serbian Orthodox Church, directed by Dr. Radovan Pilipovic, and the website Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad, directed by Dn. Vitaly's fellow St. Vladimir's Seminary alumnus, The Rev. Dn. Dr. Andrei Psarev ('04), professor of Russian Church history and canon law at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, NY. The conference received letters of greeting from His Holiness, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and Ukraine.
Deacon Vitaly and Dn. Andrei were among a number of speakers at the conference. Scholars from Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, the United States, and Canada delivered more than twenty papers. Deacon Vitaly presented "Can We Speak of a Unique Liturgical Tradition of the Russian Church Abroad" to highlight the unique place of ROCOR among the churches of Russian tradition from a liturgical perspective. Part of his presentation included the history of the new Slavonic translation of the Liturgy of St. James. Deacon Andrei's lecture was titled "The Development of the ROCOR's Attitude to the All-Russian Council of 1917–1919 with Regard to the Issue of Conciliarity.”
Some abridged papers from the conference are posted on the Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad website.
On Friday, November 26, Dn. Vitaly served at Divine Liturgy on the Feast of St. John Chrysostom at the historic Serbian Orthodox monastery of Vavedenje (Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos) in the Senjak district of Belgrade. The Liturgy was presided over by His Eminence, Metropolitan Mark (Arndt) of Berlin and Germany (ROCOR).
About The Rev. Dn. Vitaly Perkmiakov
Born to a Russian family in Riga, Latvia, Dn. Vitaly Permiakov, Ph.D. relocated to the United States in 1999 after completing his undergraduate studies. He entered St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) in Yonkers, NY with the blessing of late Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas (OCA) (d. 2011). After finishing seminary, Dn. 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. Deacon 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.
Deacon Vitaly was tonsured to the ecclesiastical rank of reader in the Orthodox Church in America at Three Hierarchs Chapel, St Vladimir’s Seminary, in 2002. In 2021, on the Feast of the Annunciation, he was ordained subdeacon, also at Three Hierarchs Chapel. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14, 2001, again at the Seminary chapel, he was ordained to the holy diaconate through the hand of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon.
