St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Alumni Association
E-News - March/April 2008
Volume 8, No.3 and 4

Dear Friends,

This new issue of E-News contains information on the newest developments on the seminary campus, including two new faculty appointments, a historic conference slated for early June, news about the 2008 commencement exercises, and a plea from our Alumni Association President. I pray that your Paschal celebration will be filled with joy and peace in the Risen Lord.  

ALUMNI PRESIDENT REQUESTS YOUR SUPPORT

Below, you will find a letter from Alumni President, Fr David Barr, requesting signatures in support of the seminary faculty's recent statement regarding the situation of the Orthodox Church in America. The statement can be found on the seminary's website: www.svots.edu.

Dear Alumni of St Vladimir's:

The Faculty of St Vladimir's Seminary has recently released a statement concerning the situation in the Orthodox Church in America.  It is posted on the seminary's website.

The faculty of our seminary reminds us all of our accountability to each other in Christ and of the high calling of the episcopacy in our Church.

I would like to offer the alumni of St Vladimir's Seminary the opportunity to join in supporting the faculty of our alma mater as they speak out on this growing crisis in the Orthodox Church in North America.

If you would like to sign a statement of support, you may go to http://www.svots.edu/petition-in-support-of-svs-faculty and submit your name along with other alumni of St Vladimir's Seminary.

Please keep our Church in North America in your prayers during this holy season of Great Lent

Yours in Christ,

Fr David Barr
President, SVS Alumni Board

SEMINARY ANNOUNCES TWO NEW APPOINTMENTS

St Vladimir's Seminary is pleased to announce two new appointments in the field of Liturgical Music.  Alla Generalow has been appointed to the position of Director of Liturgical Music at St Vladimir's Seminary and Mark Bailey has been appointed to the position of Director of the Peter Prokofieff Advanced Certificate in Liturgical Music, a new program for the training of choir directors, which will be launched in Fall 2009.  See http://www.svots.edu/news/recent/2008-0329-liturgical-music

SVS ALUMNUS TO SPEAK AT LENTEN RETREAT

Fr Constantine Nasr ('74) will be the featured speaker at the annual Lenten Retreat for the supporters and benefactors of the school, scheduled on Saturday, April 12.  For more:  http://www.svots.edu/news/upcoming/2008-0412-lenten-retreat/

Ss ALBAN AND SERGIUS FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCE

This summer from Wednesday, June 4 to Sunday, June 8, 2008, St Vladimir's Seminary will host a conference of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius to mark the 80th anniversary of the Fellowship.  This conference will replace the annual Summer Institute. For details and registration: http://www.svots.edu/2008sass

DIACONAL LITURGICAL PRACTICUM TO BE HELD JUNE 3-6

Intense liturgical training is the focus of a 4-day training program to be held June 3-6, 2008, on the campus of St Vladimir's Seminary. Practical liturgical training by Fr Alexander Rentel and Protodn Kirill Sokolov will be supported by daily celebration of the Divine Liturgy and other divine services by participants with seminary clergy. In addition to practicums, focused presentations by faculty will augment the deacon's understanding of his place in the liturgical life of the Church and the deacon's broader vocation as a symbol to the faithful of the diakonia of Christ our Lord. Instruction in public speaking and vocal technique will also be offered. Encourage diaconal vocations candidates and deacons in your area to attend: http://www.svots.edu/2008diaconal

GRADUATION DATE SET

Graduation exercises will take place at the seminary on Saturday, May 17 with a possible thirty-two candidates receiving diplomas. This year's commencement will be an expanded week-long event and will feature two sessions for the graduates with commencement speaker, Fr Michael Oleksa ('73); a volunteer opportunity in local soup kitchens; a session to discuss "continuing formation" after graduation; a tour of the Byzantine exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under the mentorship of Professor Richard Schneider; a continental breakfast with alumni president, Fr David Barr; and a number of cookouts.

ALUMNI REUNION DATE FINALIZED

Mark your calendars! The graduating classes of 1983 (25th anniversary) and 1958 (50th anniversary) will be honored along with other anniversary classes during the seminary's alumni reunion scheduled for October 21-23, 2008. The reunion schedule, housing information, and registration forms will be forthcoming.

PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING TOOL FOR SVS ALUMNI

We've created an SVS group on LinkedIn, an online professional network tool. Membership in the SVS group is restricted to SVS alumni, so it provides an immediate connection with any fellow graduate who works somewhere you'd like to work or knows someone you need to know! Alumni have expressed interest in having a job bulletin board on our website and a place to connect to old friends. We hope this helps serve these purposes. To join the SVS Alumni Group for LinkedIn, go to: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/48410/3A8F4B1C6AD2

Unless your email has changed recently, you should receive immediate approval for membership. Otherwise, the site will have us verify your status and you'll be approved ASAP. If you're not already a member of LinkedIn, their site is pretty easy to use and you should be able to sign up and join the group at that time.

If you have any questions regarding this new resource for our alumni, Protodeacon Kirill Sokolov has offered to assist. He can be reached for this purpose at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

BISHOP JOSEPH LEADS SVS LENTEN RETREAT

The seminary welcomed Bishop Joseph of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West of the Antiochian Orthodox Church as retreat leader for its two-day Lenten retreat, March 10-11. To read about his visit: http://www.svots.edu/news/recent/2008-0310-lentenretreat

SEMINARY HOSTS OPEN HOUSE

The seminary hosted a total of fifteen prospective students and their spouses at the Spring Open House for Prospective Students, March 27-29. Participants from different backgrounds came from all parts of the country to experience seminary life first hand.

FACULTY/STAFF NEWS

Fr John Behr, Dean, will deliver a talk entitled "Standing by the Cross: Putting on Christ" on April 4 at St Jacob Church in Northfield Falls, VT where SVS alumnus Fr Caleb Abetti ('07) is the pastor. Fr John will also travel to St Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Hamilton, Ontario from April 12-13 to lead a retreat entitled "The Creed." And finally, he will attend the Annual Meeting of the North American Patristics Society in Chicago from May 22-24 where he will participate in a discussion group on Exegesis and Theology.

Fr Chad Hatfield, Chancellor, will travel to Louisville, CO from April 5-6 to lead a Lenten retreat at St John Chrysostom Mission and will lead a retreat on April 7 at St Elias Church in Denver, CO where SVS alumnus, Fr Seraphim Gisetti, is the pastor. Further, he will visit Holy Trinity Church in Yonkers, NY on April 13.   From May 6-8, will attend the OCMC Board Meeting in Detroit, MI.

Dr Peter Bouteneff, Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology will participate in a meeting of the NCCCUSA Faith and Order Commission in Atlanta, April 3-5. On April 11, he will speak at the Holy Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in New York City on "Holy Week in the Church Fathers." From May 22-29, he will travel to Jerusalem as a member of the international board of advisors of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute. Alumni or friends who are interested a period of study in Jerusalem, either on their own or through programs offered through Tantur, may contact him. See www.tantur.org.

Fr John Erickson, Professor of Church History, lectured on "The Church's Canons: What They Are and What They Are Not," for the New Jersey District FOCA lecture series, at St John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Singac NJ, April 3. He will teach church history and canon law as an OCMC mission specialist at the Kisikizi Center and Seminary, Bukoba, Tanzania, from April 21-May 23.  He will participate in the semi-annual meeting of the North American Orthodox - Roman Catholic Theological Consultation at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline MA, June 2-4.  In addition, he will participate in a panel on "Orthodox Institutions of Higher Learning: The Vision and History of Orthodox Undergraduate Education in the U.S." at the annual meeting of the Orthodox Theological Society of America, Chicago, June 12-14.

Fr Paul Lazor, the retired John and Paraskeva Skvir Lecturer in Practical Theology and Associate Dean of Student Affairs will lead a retreat on April 12 entitled "Holy Week" for the FOCA District at St. Andrew's Church (OCA), Baltimore, MD and will serve and offer the homily at the Sunday Divine Liturgy there. From May 16-17, Fr Paul will participate in the celebration of 100th anniversary of the Dormition of the Theotokos Church (OCA), Cumberland, RI where SVS alumnus, Fr Vasily Lickwar ('73) is pastor. Fr Paul will give the main address at the Anniversary Banquet.

Dr Paul Meyendorff, The Father Alexander Schmemann Professor of Liturgical Theology, will attend an ecumenical meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in New York City on April 18, 2008. On April 21, 2008, he will be an examiner for Dn Nicholas Denysenko's ('00) defense of his doctoral thesis - "The Blessing of Waters on the Feast of Theophany in the Byzantine Rite" held at Catholic University in Washington, DC. From June 2-4, 2008, he will attend a meeting of the Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA.

Fr Harry Pappas, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, will attend the 1-year memorial (Panikhida) for Fr David Kirk, founder of Emmaus House, the inner city ministry to the homeless, on Friday, May 23, at noon at Emmaus House in Harlem.  SVS Alumnus, Fr John Garvey, will preside.

Dr Al Rossi, Adjunct Professor in Pastoral Theology, gave a retreat entitled "Liturgical Life: Healing and the Church Today" to the priests of the diocese of Eastern PA and Philadelphia on Tuesday, April 1 at St Tikhon's Seminary, South Canaan, PA.

Fr Paul Tarazi, Professor of Old Testament: A list of Fr Paul's numerous talks is available at http://www.svots.edu/Events/faculty-speaking.html/

Eleana Silk, Head Librarian, will speak at St Mark Orthodox Church in Bethesda, MD on the topic "St Innocent of Alaska" on Wednesday, April 9 after the Presanctified Liturgy at the invitation of SVS alumni Fr Gregory and Alexandra Safchuk ('82).