(from left) Seminarians Dn. Peter Robichau and Troyen Hamilton joined Fr. John Erickson in presenting “SVS goes to Africa!”—a program about their recent and varied missionary experiences on that continent—to the St. Vladimir’s community.

“Things that you read about in the New Testament and in the lives of the saints are happening in Africa today,” observed The Very Rev. John Erickson, as he began a lively presentation entitled “SVS goes to Africa!” to the St. Vladimir’s community on October 15, 2008.

Fr. John, who is the Peter N. Gramowich Professor of Church History at SVS, along with two seminarians—second-year M.Div. student The Rev. Dn. Peter Robichau and third-year M.Div. student Troyen Hamilton—related their missionary experiences in the African continent during the summer of 2008, under the auspices of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), the official international missions agency of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA).

Fr. John served for five weeks in Tanzania during the Paschal season as an OCMC “mission specialist.” His first days were spent serving with His Eminence Jeronymos, Metropolitan of Western Tanzania, during the last days of Holy Week (in the archbishop’s new headquarters in the city of Mwanza) and Pascha (in a remote village about four hours to the south). Fr. John then spent most of his time working at an Orthodox seminary in the village of Kisikizi, where he “enjoyed the daily rhythm of services and classes, and the simplicity of life without electricity and running water.”