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St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
Alumni Association
E-News – September 2006
Volume 6, No.9
Dear Friends,
I pray that your summer was restful. As I write to you, the seminary is already into its second week of classes and activity. Metropolitan Herman visited the campus for the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. He presided at the Liturgy and ordained Dn Matthew Cantrell to the holy priesthood and third-year student Nicholas Garklavs to the diaconate. After the Liturgy, a brunch was served at which Metropolitan Herman met and greeted all of our students. Included in our student body are thirty-eight new students. Let me update you on some significant events at the seminary.
DEAN SEARCH COMMITTEE REACHES DEADLINE FOR NOMINATION PROCESS
The Search Committee charged with presenting candidates to the Board of Trustees at their November meeting reached the deadline of the nomination process on September 15. The committee, consisting of the chairman, Fr John Dresko (’80), who was appointed by Metropolitan Herman, president of the school, along with two faculty members, Fr Paul Tarazi and Fr Alexander Rentel, and two members of the Board of Trustees, Protodeacon Peter Danilchick and Anne van den Berg, now have the task of limiting the candidates to at least one but not more than three for presentation.
FR HARRY PAPPAS JOINS SEMINARY FACULTY
The seminary welcomes Fr Harry Pappas, his wife Kerry, and their daughter Hannah to the seminary campus. Fr Harry and Kerry also have a college-aged son, Joshua, who is away at school, and a daughter, Rebecca, who recently married Joseph Samra, the OCF program director. Fr Harry has been a pastor for twenty-one years. For the last eleven years, he pastored St Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, MN. Fr Harry is a graduate of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline (‘80). In addition he has a ThM from Harvard Divinity School in Old Testament (’82) and has a PhD in Old Testament from Yale University (‘00). At the seminary, Fr Harry currently is teaching Homiletics and co-teaching the Practical Theology classes with Fr Paul Lazor. In the spring semester he will teach a course on Parish Administration. In addition, he will eventually assume responsibility for the seminary’s Field Work program. Besides his responsibilities at the seminary, Fr Harry is a part-time associate pastor at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in New Rochelle, NY. We wish Fr Harry and his family every blessing as he begins his academic teaching career at St Vladimir’s.
OPEN HOUSE SET FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
The seminary will host its fall semester Open House from November 9-11. Prospective students will have the opportunity to attend classes, chapel, information sessions, along with the chance to meet with faculty and students. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the study of theology, church service, or priestly ministry, please encourage them to attend this event. A registration form can be downloaded from our website at http://www.svots.edu/News/Upcoming/2006-fall-open-house/ .
FR PAUL LAZOR BACK TO NORMAL ACTIVITY
Fr Paul Lazor’s recuperation is going so well that he has resumed his normal activities as Associate Dean for Students Affairs. Thank you for your prayers and cards.
ALUMNI REUNION DATES SET
The Alumni Board has secured Wednesday, October 18 to Friday, October 20 as the dates set for the third Alumni Class Reunion. The class of 1981 is celebrating its 25th anniversary and the Class of 1956 is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The seminary will honor Archpriest and Matushka Sergei Glagolev for their many years of dedicated service to the Church. A schedule of events is included in this E-News.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS and join us.
Please see the promotional material on our website: www.svots.edu.
SVS FACULTY LEAD EDUCATION SERIES
Members of the seminary faculty will present an adult education series in two locations in September and October. Dates are set in New Haven, CT and Bridgeport, CT for five consecutive talks in each location. The talks are based on this summer’s Institute whose these was “A Christian Ending to Our Life: The Mystery of Death.” Please visit our website at www.svots.edu for specific information.
ALUMNI BOARD MEETS
The Alumni Board met via a teleconference call on September 5. Topics discussed included the upcoming Alumni Class Reunion, future alumni gatherings, and a possible Alumni Retreat. Fr John Dresko, Alumni Board President, reported on the progress of the Dean Search Committee. Valerie Zahirsky announced that an alumni gathering will take place on Sunday, November 12 at St George Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA where SVS alumnus, Fr John Abdallah, is the pastor. Fr Steven Belonick, Alumni Liaison, proposed a possible alumni retreat for July of 2007. The theme, location, and speakers will be further discussed at the Board’s face-to-face meeting at the Reunion. Board members also discussed misconceptions about St Vladimir’s, which find their way back to the seminary. Board members were asked to provide suggestions to address these.
FACULTY/STAFF NEWS
Fr John Erickson, Dean and Peter N Gramowich Professor of Church History, will present a paper on “Ecumenism Yesterday and Today: An Orthodox Perspective” at the annual Faculties’ Convocation of the Washington Theological Consortium, Washington DC, September 25, and a lecture on “The Realization of Archbishop Tikhon’s Dream” as part of St Tikhon Seminary’s annual Adult Education Lecture Series, September 26. He also will be participating in a Consultation on Orthodox Christian Fellowship, at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, October 20-21.
Fr John Behr, Professor of Patristics, spoke on Saturday, September 14 on the topic of the “Pedagogy of Suffering” at Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA at the Pappas Patristics Institute. He will also speak on the topic “Why A Crucified Messiah” at the third annual St Michael Institute for Orthodox Studies in Louisville, KY held from September 22-23. He will speak again at Holy Cross from November 3-4 on “Marriage and Asceticism.”
Dr Peter Bouteneff, Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology, is on sabbatical this semester. He will be busy, however, writing a book for Baker Academic Press on the early Christian reading of Genesis 1-3. He received a Research Expense Grant from Lilly Foundation to help fund the project. As part of the grant process, Dr Bouteneff will participate in a conference from February 23-24 on Theological Research organized by Lilly Foundation. In addition, he will chair a session on the theology of Fr Sergius Bulgakov at the annual conference of the American Academy of Religion November 18-21 in Washington, DC. Finally, his book “Sweeter than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma and Truth” (Vol 3 of the Foundations Series – SVS Press) came out in June. Other volumes in the series are authored by Fr John and Lyn Breck on bioethics, and Fr John Garvey on other faiths.
Fr Thomas Hopko, SVS Dean Emeritus, recently published a new book called “Christian Faith And Same-Sex Attraction” (Conciliar Press, 2006). He also was the featured speaker at: the Conference on Ancient African Christianity in Newark, NJ from June 2-3; the Parish Life Conference of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of the West in San Diego, CA from May 25-28; at the Assembly of the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of the South from July 24-28; the PSALM Conference (Pan-Orthodox Society for the Advancement of Liturgical Music) in Chicago, IL from August 2-5. Future engagements include a talk at St Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, CA on October 6-7 entitled “If We Have Died With Him; On the Death of Christ and our Death in Him.” In addition, Fr Tom is also currently preparing four DVDs on “Glorifying God In Old Age.” The DVDs were recorded at four gatherings this past Lenten season at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church in Mount Lebanon, PA and were sponsored by the Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood of Greater Pittsburgh. Fr Tom led two of the four sessions. The other two sessions were conducted by SVS alumnus Fr Edward Pehanich (DMin ’91) and Dr George Pazin, a physician from the Pittsburgh area. The DVDs should be available for purchase at the end of the year.
Fr Paul Lazor, the John and Paraskeva Skvir Lecturer in Practical Theology, will lead a retreat during the Nativity Fast at St John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, Las Vegas, NV from November 17-18. The Clark County Orthodox Clergy Association is sponsoring the event with SVS alumnus Fr Eric Tosi (‘96) as principal organizer. The theme of the retreat is: “You Are Witnesses Of These Things (Luke 24:48) – Making the Liturgy Real In Our Lives.”
Dr Paul Meyendorff, The Fr Alexander Schmemann Professor of Liturgical Theology, will attend the Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation in Washington, DC from October 26-28. He will speak at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Church in Trenton, NJ on November 4 on the topic “The Priesthood of the Laity.” From November 5-11, he will attend a drafting meeting for the WCC’s Faith and Order paper on Baptism in Geneva, Switzerland. From November 28-December 3, he will be at a meeting of the St Irenaeus Joint Working Group in Chevetogne, Belgium.
Fr Harry Pappas, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, will lead a retreat on the theme “The understanding of the Bible in the Orthodox Church” at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Memphis, TN on November 2-3.
Fr Alexander Rentel, Assistant Professor of Canon Law and Byzantine Studies, traveled to Rome, Italy and Sophia Bulgaria in June to research the history of the proskomedia. He studied manuscripts in the Vatican Library and the Ivan Dujcev Center in Sophia respectively. Funding for this research was provided by the ATS through a Lilly Research Grant. This grant will also provide funding for a trip to Greece this January for further research. He also traveled to Joensuu, Finland from June 12-19 to deliver a paper at the 7th Congress of the Higher Orthodox Schools of Theology with the overall theme “Orthodox Tradition and the 21st Century.” Fr Alexander’s paper was entitled “Towards a Theological Vision for Orthodox Canon Law.” From July 24 to July 28, he participated in the first ever meeting of the Society for Oriental Liturgy held in Eichstatt, Germany. He spoke at a roundtable discussion on the future of the study of Oriental Liturgiology. In addition, from August 1-6, Fr Alexander participated in the Eagle River Institute held at St. John Cathedral, Eagle River, Alaska. He spoke on Russian Church History and delivered the sermon on the feast of Transfiguration. Finally, he was recently appointed to the Study and Planning Commission of SCOBA and will attend their meeting in October in Chicago.
Dr Albert Rossi, Adjunct Professor in Pastoral Theology, will lead a workshop from September 24-26 for Antiochian Orthodox priests in Montreal. SVS alumnus, Bishop Alexander Mufarrij (‘00), will be present. Dr Rossi will also deliver three keynote talks at the OCF Winter Conference at Antiochian Village from December 27-31. The theme of his talks is “Be Still and Know That I Am God.”
Fr Paul Tarazi, Professor of Old Testament, spoke at the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Church, Charlotte, NC on September 15 on the topic “Taking up the Cross” and at St John of the Ladder Church, Greenville, SC on the topic “The Letter to the Hebrews.” He will speak at the Virgin Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Yonkers, NY on October 2. In addition, he will speak at the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Savior in Rye, NY on October 17 on the topic “God of the Old and New Testament.”
ALUMNI NEWS
Valerie Zahirsky (‘74) delivered a keynote lecture at the Conference of Orthodox Religious Education held July 28-August 2 in the Valamo Monastery, Finland. The conference was organized in cooperation with the Orthodox Church of Finland, Syndesmos, Valamo Lay Academy, and the University of Joensuu. The forty Orthodox educationists who attended the conference established a committee to continue its work and plan the next conference in 2008 or 2009. The conference participants named Valerie as a committee member.
Fr Kevin Scherer (‘02) was recently named Executive Director of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). Fr Kevin will be the first full-time Executive Director since the initial establishment of Orthodox campus ministry over thirty years ago. The position was made possible with a grant from Leadership 100. Fr Kevin spent the previous four years as pastor of St John’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Orinda, CA. During his pastorate, he established, Orthodox Youth Outreach, a teen program with the purpose of encouraging youth to live out their faith through Christian service to others.
John Stonestreet (’06) recently accepted a position as the first full-time OCF Chaplain in Charlotte, NC where he will minister to students, concentrating mainly on three campuses: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He will also coordinate regional events and visit surrounding schools.
Fr Matthew Cantrell (’07) and his wife Jennifer gave birth to their first-born son, Joachim, on August 24. Many years to the entire family.
Dn Gregory Bruner (’07) and his wife Ksenia gave birth to their first-born son, Matthias, on August 23. Many years to their family as well.
Monk Samuel (aka Sergey M Nedelsky, MTh, ’06) was tonsured to the Small Schema by Archbishop Mark of Berlin (ROCOR) at the Monastery of St John of Pochaev in Munich, Germany on August 21, 2006. At his tonsure he was given the new name Samuel in honor of St Samuel the Presbyter of Edessa. Monk Samuel will be dividing his time between his home monastery in Munich and Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY where he will teach one semester a year. In addition, he will be delivering a paper at the Holy Trinity Seminary Colloquium to be held October 6-7 in Jordanville. The title of his paper is “Archbishop Antonii (Khrapovitskii), Imiaslavie, and Hesychasm.”
Robert Royer (’07) was ordained to the holy diaconate by Archbishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh and the Bulgarian Diocese on Pentecost at St Mary Magdalene Mission in Fenton, MI. He and his wife Crystal also gave birth to their fourth child, Samuel Aidan, on June 27. Congratulations!
CLASS REUNION SCHEDULE
 The 2006 Class Reunion Schedule - PDF (40.40 Kb)
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