Archpriest Michael Oleksa, who will be our keynote speaker for Orthodox Education Day, October 2, 2010, displays the beautiful icon of St. Vasily Martysz, which he recently donated to the seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel.

SAVE THE DATE!

“Many Cultures, One Faith” with Keynote Archpriest Michael Oleksa

Join us for a festive day that will feed your heart, mind, and spirit. This year, our annual open house, Orthodox Education Day, will feature Archpriest Michael Oleksa as the keynote speaker, who will set the tone for our theme “Many Cultures, One Faith.”

Father Michael has spent the last forty years in Alaska, serving as village priest, university professor, and consultant on intercultural relations and communications. He has authored several books on Alaskan native cultures and history, including Alaskan Missionary Spirituality (SVS Press, 2010). A 1969 graduate of Georgetown University, he earned his M.Div. at St. Vladimir’s in 1973, and went on to complete his doctoral degree at the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Presov, Slovakia, with an emphasis in Alaska Native History during the Alaska-Russian period (1741–1867). He is recognized as an “Elder” by the Alaska Federation of Natives, a “Distinguished Public Servant” by the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska, and has been honored by the Alaska Sate Legislature and the National Governors Association.

Come and enjoy hands-on and how-to workshops, Q&A with SVS Faculty, entertainment by musical groups and dance troupes, and ethnic dishes and delicacies. Come to our chapel services, and take a prayerful pilgrimage through our display of icons and reliquaries. Come and explore the multicultural facets of peoples and lands that have embraced the Orthodox Christian faith. Please, come!

A full schedule of the day will be posted in September.

Participants in our iconography workshops patiently labored over sketches, gesso, paint, and gold leaf, as they watched brilliant images emerge from wooden boards. Protodeacon Nazari Polataiko taught the Russo-Byzantine style, while Khouriya Erin Mary Kimmett taught the Greek-Cretan style to students.

Seminary Dean Fr. John Behr taught his class the meaning of the Nicene Creed and its place within the broader framework of Scripture and church tradition, in his summer course, “From Gospel to Creed.” Students privileged to enjoy Fr. John’s expertise in patristics described the course as “mind-altering.”

Every year, the Diaconal Liturgical Program and the Practical Liturgics Program, developed and headed by Archdeacon Kirill Sokolov, grows in popularity. Deacons and lay diaconal candidates receive intensive practical and theological training to augment their ministry.

Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America [Photo: Gregory Hatrak]

Our "Hellenism & Orthodoxy" symposium, held on the seminary campus June 10–12, 2010, generated frank and lively discussion concerning the unity of, and relations between, Orthodox churches in North America. Conference speakers and participants respectfully wrestled with a myriad of sticky points related to the ecclesial structure of Orthodoxy on this continent: the interpretation of Canon 28, the definition of "diaspora," ethnic identity, and especially, the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

Presenters at the symposium first explored the historical roots of  Hellenism and then noted its lasting and profound effects on the cultural, linguistic, and canonical history of the Orthodox Church. Most intriguing were the keynote addresses given by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, titled "Hellenism and Orthodoxy: A Linguistic and Spiritual Journey," and by Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, chief secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, titled "Greek Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarachate, and the Church in the USA."

We invite our Web audience to read the cogent Opening Remarks of Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff, Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir's and conference organizer. We also invite our Web community to view the full schedule of the symposium and to listen to the Podcasts of the symposium on Orthodox Christian Network, http://www.myocn.net/.

See a gallery of photos by Gregory Hatrak of this historic symposium!