June 25-30, 2006

The SVS Summer Institute is for all who are interested in the theology and life of the Church; be they clergy or lay, men or women, young or old.

Everyone speaks of death as “something that concerns us all.”  But do we all understand the same thing about death? A physician, a theologian and an insurance salesman will speak differently about death. And anyone’s perspective changes when they look at their own death or that of a loved one.

Does death always refer to the end of biological life? How is it that death is understood as a mercy or a gift of God, or as a victory? What does it mean to “die daily?”  Furthermore:

• What meaning does death give to the rest of our life?
• What is our guide in questions about euthanasia and suicide?
• How does Scripture and the patristic and liturgical tradition inform our thinking about death?
• How do we live with and relate to people whose death is near, whether in hospitals or hospices, or in our homes?
• What images do the Orthodox prayers for burial and memorial place before us as we contemplate death?
  
• How do we discern God’s presence in death and in suffering?

The 2006 SVS Summer Institute will provide an opportunity to examine such questions through a combination of lectures, small and large group discussions, and practica, in a context of daily worship and fellowship.

Joining SVS Faculty members for the Institute are:

• Fr John Garvey, pastor, author of Death and the Rest of Our Life
  
• Dr David Bentley Hart, theologian, author of The Beauty of the Infinite, and Where Was God in the Tsunami?
  
• Dr Lila Kalinich, professor of clinical psychiatry
  
• Fr Sergei Glagolev, pastor and Church musician

During parts of the day, participants will divide into subsections geared to particular interests in music, pastoral practice, and other dimensions of church life. Fr Steven Belonick, and lawyer Anne Mackoul will offer practical workshops on pastoral and practical aspects of death and dying.

As a new feature this year, St Vladimir’s Seminary is also offering an intensive twelve-hour course, integrated into the Institute program but taken for credit, taught by Professor Albert Rossi, on Christian Counseling in relation to death and dying.

Consult the SVS website at www.svots.edu regularly for updates on schedule, speakers, and format.