SVS Chancellor, The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, recently received an honorary doctoral degree from Nashotah House Seminary, his alma mater.

On October 28, 2008 at a fall academic convocation at Nashotah House Seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin, the degree Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, was bestowed on SVS Chancellor, Archpriest Chad Hatfield.

Nashotah House is the oldest degree granting institution in Wisconsin, being founded in 1842. The seminary, a graduate school of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion, has a long history of close association with Orthodoxy. In 1905 St. Tikhon of Moscow received an honorary doctorate from the seminary, and at the 150th Anniversary of Nashotah House, Archbishop Herman, former Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America, was also given an honorary doctorate in recognition of the close bonds of the school with Orthodoxy in America.

In the period between the Russian Revolution and the founding of SVS in 1938, and the establishment of St. Tikhon’s Seminary in South Canaan, PA, and Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA, there were many Orthodox Christian seminarians who received their theological training at Nashotah House.

The Fellowship of Ss. Alban and Sergius Conference at SVS this past June renewed the once strong exchange between SVS and Nashotah House, and now there is serious interest to promote a new relationship between both seminaries to help facilitate the Anglican–Orthodox dialogue. Seminary Dean, Archpriest John Behr, is scheduled to teach a course at Nashotah House in 2010.

Click here to view the honorary degree citation in PDF format.  

Click here to view a gallery of photos attached at the bottom of this article.