As the Chancellor of St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary I want to welcome all of you who are exploring our seminary through this website.  SVOTS has taken on the challenge to be the very best Orthodox seminary serving the Church and the needs of Orthodox Christians in the 21st Century.  Time always brings change but the Truth of the Gospel is eternal and unchanging.  This seminary understands that changes must be made to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world without sacrificing that which is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The year 2007 will be remembered as a year of changes at SVOTS. This year we begin a new form of shared governance, which will maintain good order and make us better stewards of our time, talent, and treasure as we fulfill our mission to provide high-quality education for our students

This year also begins the implementation of the first part of our new curriculum, the Master of Divinity degree program. Our new curriculum will provide only the very best of academic excellence and the pastoral integration of what is learned. You can learn more about our new curriculum on this website.

One of the most exciting aspects of our new curriculum is the Spouses' Program. The needs of the wives of future clergy have been heard and this unique program will help prepare them for their important ministry within the Church.

Wives and families are very important at SVOTS. This importance is reflected in how we’ve made married student housing a priority on this campus.  I invite you to take a tour of our new Lakeside Housing.

We care about our students’ needs and the challenges they face. SVOTS understands the financial issues that our Seminarians struggle with and we are working behind the scenes to help alleviate this problem. We are prepared to be advocates and assist all of our students to reduce the large debts that too many seminary graduates carry.

As you virtually tour our campus, I hope you will visit our Chapel. It is not by accident that the Three Hierarchs Chapel is located in the center of our 12-acre campus, because the Chapel is the center of our Community Life.

Again, please enjoy exploring SVOTS via the web and feel free to contact us and to visit our beautiful campus.

The Very Reverend Dr Chad Hatfield
Chancellor