Honoring Ted Bazil: A Man behind the Rise of SVS Press and Expansion of St Vladimir’s Seminary

Have you ever enjoyed a book published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press? Have you or has someone you know—perhaps your own parish priest—lived or spent time on campus, worshiped in Three Hierarchs Chapel, or listened to a lecture at the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium from some of the most renowned Orthodox theologians of our times? However you might have interacted with the Seminary, whatever building you stepped into, or whatever good things you might have seen come out of the Seminary over the past half-century—more than likely Theodore (Ted) Bazil played an instrumental role in making it happen. From the time of Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s deanship to the current administration under Dean Dr. Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie, Ted has been an ever-present, ever-faithful figure over the past fifty-five years at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, working tirelessly in service of the Seminary’s mission.

Ted Bazil is the most senior member of the management staff at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Originally hailing from Michigan, he began his time at the Seminary as a student in 1969 after graduating from Michigan State University earlier that year (with a B.S. in Urban Planning, minor concentration in Engineering). He received his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from St. Vladimir’s in May of 1973 and began his employment with the Seminary the very next month, in June. Since then Ted has held many roles—most of them held simultaneously—including Business Manager, Director of SVS Press, Recording Secretary for the Board of Trustees, Director of Advancement CFRM, Planned Gifts Officer, and acting Chief Operations Officer. He both directed and was the project manager for construction and capital improvements totaling over $20 million, and was the lead person for campus expansion for over fifty years. During his tenure as the Director of SVS Press in its early years in the 1970s through 2013, the Press grew from 2-3 titles to over 500 titles, began generating over a million dollars in annual sales revenue, and established itself as the world’s largest and most active publisher of Orthodox Christian books in the English language. 

Over his long history with St. Vladimir’s, Ted has diligently and faithfully shared his talents through acts of service, love, and care in his various roles in the Seminary administration. Inspiringly, his zeal for St. Vladimir’s Seminary has endured, and his tireless work ethic has seemingly never diminished, even after all these years. And to this day Ted and his wife Claudia have remained engaged and committed members of Three Hierarchs Chapel and the extended Seminary community, generously giving to the Seminary themselves again and again.

In recognition of Ted’s exemplary service to Christ’s Holy Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon is set to bestow upon him the Primatial Gramota. 

In advance of receiving the honor, Ted graciously sat down to be interviewed about his life and to share memories about his time as a truly irreplaceable figure in the Seminary’s history.

 

Ted, what was your experience of the Church growing up, and what was it that drew you to St. Vladimir’s Seminary for the first time?

I grew up in a pious, Orthodox family, with a Russian background. My grandfather on my mother’s side was [Mitred Archpriest] Fr. Gregory Soroka, who came from the Belarus region of Russia. He went to the first Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Minneapolis. He had four sons, three of them were priests. The Soroka family were accomplished liturgical musicians. I had a very strong Orthodox religious background. Like many people who grew up in the 50s and 60s, the discipline was to go to church and go to all the services that were conducted in Church Slavonic. I had a strong spiritual influence through that side of the family. My father wasn’t a priest. He was a carpenter, but his side of the family were all Orthodox church members.

It was only in college that I started to understand more about the theology and history of the Church. I began attending church while at MSU and became good friends with the local Orthodox priest, who served the campus and local community. His name was [Mitred Archpriest] Photius Donahue. He was a Professor of History at the university. Father Schmemann and other members of the SVS faculty knew him and participated in his annual Orthodox catechetical conferences organized at the university. Father Photius taught a survey course on the Orthodox Church. Through this experience and readings in his course, I began to better understand the depth and tradition of the Orthodox Church. I got involved with the OCF. We had a large OCF with around 200-300 students. They made me president and I took on some leadership roles. I was on fire about learning more about the faith. This began my academic and spiritual interest in Orthodox theology and history. Father Photius opened my eyes to all of this.

Toward the end of college, I had a personal tragedy in my family. My sister passed away from an accident at a young age.  I started to reconsider where my life was going. Then I met Fr. Schmemann during a church presentation in Michigan. He inspired me. He revealed another dimension to the possibilities of my life. He talked to me about the Seminary. I wanted to visit, and I did visit and eventually enrolled. I came to SVS in ’69 as a full-time student. It was a great time. It was a small community, but the community wasn’t much smaller than it is now—we had 80 to 90 students. The facilities were so much more humble, much smaller and tighter. Students today no longer share rooms. In those days we all did. We had up to three in a room in two common dormitories. We were young and we forged friendships and did everything together. Choir trips to parishes on the weekends were a highlight. I got to know the faculty well. I loved it. It was such a change coming from a major university, going from large classes to small classes with the same classmates every day for years. We had great respect for the faculty, our mentors and teachers. The liturgical experience was profound and our spiritual life intense. 

 

What are some of your fondest memories of learning from some of those incredible teachers— Schmemann, Meyendorff, and others?

I remember every time we left Fr. Schmemann’s class. He always began the class by saying, “I have three points to make,” and then never got to the third point [laughs]. But it didn’t matter, because whatever he gave us in those two points was more than enough!

I have very fond memories of Fr. Schmemann. He was my dean, in charge of everything, and also my father-confessor. He was a great communicator. I often heard him effectively speak from the humblest to the most exalted audiences. He gave me direction but never told me what to do, either in confession or working at the Seminary. He wasn’t looking after my day-to-day operations. He was a person, in both his preaching and his presence, who would inspire you to do better. He gave you freedom and required you to work things out for yourself. This was especially true in his confessions. He gave direction but left you to work out your own salvation, which he always monitored to see if you were making progress. He imbued that kind of leadership quality to people at the Seminary at this time. That was a significant thing—he empowered people. I think that is what Dr. Tudorie is now trying to do. He’s trying to empower leadership at the Seminary and give back those responsibilities to each of the persons that have been delegated their work.

Father Meyendorff was a very different type of person. Father Schmemann was very extroverted, urbane, Parisian and Russian. Meyendorff was similar in this way but was more reserved. It took him a little longer to get to the point. His classes in both history and patristics were complete and detailed but were always related to the larger and more catholic universal history of the Church. I almost guarantee that most of his students still have his class notes! He would teach facts about Church history and provide theological insights using interesting stories from the Church Fathers. His explanation about the intricacies of the ecumenical councils and the relationships during these theological debates made history and patristics alive, not simply facts. You remember his stories. Meyendorff was incredible at doing that.

There were such great teachers in that generation—Schmemann, Meyendorff, Kesich, Hopko ...  I realized transitioning from university to the seminary how significant they were. You go through so many professors in college, and then you get to seminary and there are only a few professors. They were so far advanced as teachers because they conveyed not only the material, the information, but they inspired you to read more, to do more, and research the topics yourself. That’s very rare. Interestingly, a few of us were in the last class ever to attend a course with Fr. Georges Florovsky down at Lehman College. Father Schmemann encouraged us to take this course. This was a real highlight being able to take a course from Fr. Florovsky. In my student years, I was profoundly inspired by the faculty’s dedication and knowledge, and wanted to share this in some significant way.  

 

Did you feel called to ordained ministry as a seminarian?

No, my interest was theological and spiritual, not so much liturgical. I wanted to learn the history, the theology, and find the resources that Christ’s Church offered. I knew that I couldn’t find this myself. My former college professor led me to that, and then I started to find other things. I read Fr. Schmemann’s For the Life of the World (the first edition, 1964) and both Fr. Meyendorff and Bp. Kallistos Ware’s first editions of The Orthodox Church, and studied Isabel Hapgood’s service book. I wasn’t called to the ministry (actually, no one ever called me!) but I think I was always called to serve the Church somehow. I eventually found that niche in working for the Seminary and doing everything that I did.

What led to you being hired by the Seminary right after graduation, and how did you get involved with SVS Press?

I started doing things around the Seminary while I was a student. Everyone had jobs. My interest was in books. We had a small theological bookstore, just selling to students. We had two or three seminary Press books at the time. David Drillock was basically running it. Professor Verhovskoy wanted to close it because it wasn’t making much money, but Dave Drillock refused. He said no, thought we could do better, and he and Fr. Schmemann had the vision and dream to somehow use the bookstore to transition into the Press. They needed someone to help make it a reality. I was that person and got involved in helping develop the product while I was a seminarian. I was only volunteering, doing the work outside of my assigned seminary job. At one point Father Michael Oleksa and I put together a 124-page annotated book catalog. The books we featured of course weren’t Press books, as we only had two or three at that time, but we included a lot of quality theological books being sold by university presses. We put the catalog together and mailed it out to parishes and alumni. That’s how we started to use the bookstore as the sales arm of SVS Press. We developed a plan to sell these books outside of our normal orbit, and it was successful. I graduated that year, and wasn’t married. Fr. Schmemann came to me and said, “Why don’t you stay at the Seminary and help build the Press?” I knew David Drillock was behind that, because he was kind of the architect of the Press and understood what was going on. Father Schmemann knew that, but also said they could use some of my other skills that I had in planning and engineering to help physically develop and expand the facilities and campus. So that’s how I transitioned into my position at the Press and stayed at the Seminary. 

SVS Press is extremely rare in how profitable it is, especially considering it’s attached to a small, non-profit religious school. Even large, well-known university presses mostly lose money and operate at a deficit! How did you go about growing SVS Press so tremendously into what it is today?

 

It was interesting because after I married my wife, we didn’t have children for five years. Claudia was a flight attendant for Pan Am Airlines, always doing international travel for a large part of the week. This afforded me the possibility of spending a tremendous amount of time working to build the Press. For five years, I know that I would often spend six to seven days a week, from ten to sometimes eighteen hours a day, working to build the Press, focusing on that work. Dave Drillock and I worked together. He taught during the day, and was the Secretary and later CFO, but would come over in the evenings to help me when he could. We did this together, and that is how we built a foundation for the Press.

We saw opportunities at that time. For example, we found a group of small patristic titles, On the Incarnation, On the Christian Sacraments, and St. John Chrysostom’s On the Priesthood, which were published in the UK by SPCK. We bought the rights and published them under SVS Press. We saw the popularity of these texts. These books launched what became the Popular Patristics Series. In the beginning, Fr. Meyendorff and Fr. Erickson were very helpful in identifying important patristic texts to translate and finding translators for new materials, e.g. St. Basil’s On the Holy Spirit among others. At the time there were large, often poorly translated patristic texts published in expansive and expensive editions such as the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. We saw the Orthodox interest and necessity in publishing new, fresh, and readable patristic texts focused on a particular theme. Our patristic publications were small and inexpensive. This series became a tremendous success. Now we have something like seventy-five volumes in the series using this model.

 

Another important way the Press grew: In the 60s it started with the publication of a few faculty works; by the 70s we brought publication rights to some very popular and important books like The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware and books by other Orthodox figures who weren’t part of the Seminary faculty. Then we expanded our publication net even more and looked for works that weren’t necessarily written by Orthodox authors. These new titles represented the theology of the Orthodox Church and some from various traditions too, such as the Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian traditions. Occasionally we identified some respected Catholic and Anglican authors to publish some significant books on history, theology, and liturgical theology. We often published or bought publications or translations and North American rights from respected English Christian or French Roman Catholic publishers. We published these books in the US market and paid them royalties. We don’t co-publish much anymore. Either authors come to us with a manuscript or the Press through the Faculty Publication Committee solicits new titles from authors on various topics. That’s one of the big things that has changed. 

 

There was another significant transition at the Press. At first, our market was Orthodox. Our initial market was Orthodox believers and parishes. But the market changed, and we began to expand beyond the traditional Orthodox audience, which actually grew the Press and grew its influence. That transition was tremendous. I don’t know the proportions now of how many non-Orthodox versus Orthodox people read our books and use our material—just go on Amazon and start reading reviews. You can surmise most of those people aren’t Orthodox. So many people have “read” their way into the Orthodox Church by reading a Press book!

SVS Press was created as a “mission.” I feel certain we never lost sight of this purpose. This is the raison d’être for SVS Press to exist. We hope that our publications are transformational and serve to guide spiritually and inform our readers. It’s significant that we established a model that made the Press profitable, which is unheard of for a university press. This is accomplished by keeping the expenses and prices of books low, while publishing the right material and distributing to expanding markets.

We were always a small operation, but very active. There was no template for us already set. You learned on the way, learned how to publish, learned what would sell, how to do acquisition, how to edit, how to design, how to find printers, and then warehouse, market, and manage the operation. There were always things you learned as you went along, and this grew our knowledge about everything.

 

After all that tremendous work to build the Press and doing countless other things at the Seminary, you “retired” as SVS Press Director in 2013. But it seems we just wouldn’t let you leave! And you still have so much enthusiasm for the work of the Seminary, and are working as tirelessly as ever. How have you kept that fire kindled year after year?

Well, there are a number of things. Number one is that, since I did so many things—I was the Director of the Press (that just fell into my lap), the COO, the business manager; I was charged with construction and property acquisition, fundraising, planned gifts—so it was never boring. I was always doing something different and something more exciting and something more challenging. And the great thing about that is that when you have the freedom to do things and you see successes, that feeds your passion. You know when it happens, and see it’s being done for the greater good. You want to be part of that, and it feeds your passion to continue. Then you throw that in with those inspirational leaders that you’ve met and worked with. It’s a wonderful formula.

Another element of the joy of being here is serving the Seminary. I never felt that I was called to anything else except to do this work. But part of the joy of being here is meeting so many people through the years: seminarians, alumni, new faculty, previous faculty, staff, and others such as the Board of Trustees and donors. For over twenty-five years I was recording secretary for the Board, and I met and got to know all the Board members. They stepped up their participation, especially at critical times when we were doing capital campaigns and supported these projects. They were so sacrificial and dedicated. They gave so much of their time and talents, and treasure. The fact that people like that sacrifice for the mission of the school inspired me. You hope that you can emulate them by some modicum of example. I met so many people like that through the years. I won’t use names, because I will forget someone. There are so many of them who were so instrumental in the life of the Seminary, both trustees and other donors. Then occasionally you met some really bright stars, like Jaroslav Pelikan, whom I got to know personally. My wife Claudia and I were godparents to his wife Sylvia when she was brought into the Orthodox Church in the chapel, and are godparents to one of his grandchildren. He just was a remarkable person who was a real rock of faith and knowledge. You are blessed to meet people like this on occasion. If I were not in this position, I would never have that opportunity. It is the gift of being at SVS so long that you are given these opportunities. 

 

As I mentioned, I had my hands in so many things. When I formally retired, I just stayed on part time, and helped the Seminary where needed. I sit in on meetings and share my experience when requested. I find that I am still interested in what is going on here and am not bored. I still come to work, get to meet people, and do different things. So even though I’m not doing all the things that I did before, I still am excited by the challenge of what goes on and seeing the changes, seeing how the Seminary has grown and has developed, and where it’s going. I’m very hopeful about the future of St. Vladimir’s.

 

One of the people you met here became your wife! Can you tell us how you and Claudia met? 

It happened after I returned to the Seminary as a student. After my second year I had to take a hiatus from my studies, because I suffered a bad injury to my knee and needed surgery. I went back to Michigan and had a lot of reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation. In those days you didn’t leave the hospital and had to stay there for weeks. I returned to St. Vladimir’s the year after my surgery on Holy Thursday. I met Claudia that day for the first time. I was introduced to her by my cousin, Michael Soroka, who was a seminarian. She was the daughter of an Orthodox priest and was employed by Pan American Airlines. I met her in the chapel on Holy Thursday. We never separated since and share a wonderful life together. We think of Holy Thursday as a special time. 

 

That is so beautiful! Is Claudia still working these days?

She is still a flight attendant and works for Delta Airlines. In fact, that’s a part of our life too. She has afforded us the opportunity for both myself and our two sons to travel all over the world for free. We’ve been able to visit so many ultimate destinations that I could not have otherwise afforded.

 

Can you talk about your sons and now grandchildren as well? 

My oldest son, Drew, lives on my same street in Crestwood with his wife Sarah and my thirteen-year-old granddaughter. He’s a professional structural engineer and a project manager for the new NYC Hudson Tunnels. My other son is Justin. He works as an electrician for the entertainment industry. He comes back occasionally and works out of the New York City region. He and his wife Alexandra have our two-year-old grandson.

We have a very close family. We go on family trips together and get together often. It’s a nice time of life to share so much.

 

What else do you enjoy doing—maybe something people don’t know about you, even if they’ve worked or known you for a long time?

Well, aside from my absolute love of mountains, national parks, the great outdoors, extensive hiking, and canoeing, I think what most people don’t know about me is that I enjoy Hallmark-type of movies with my wife [laughs]. Some of them are great!

 

Having seen so much history at St. Vladimir’s Seminary under so many different leaders and administrations, what are your thoughts on the direction of the Seminary moving forward?

I think now, with this new leadership and direction under Dr. Tudorie and with the present Board, faculty, and staff, it bodes well for the future. There are some exciting possibilities that I see for development in all the areas. I think the right people are in place to do that. In my previous role as the Director of Advancement and Planned Giving, I have been blessed with getting to know incredibly generous donors that give in measure of their blessings. They support, believe in, and pray for the mission of the Seminary. Our school could not exist without their support to sustain the annual budget. Planned gift estates and capital campaign donors have provided transformational gifts that resulted in the growth of the Seminary’s programs and facilities. Our benefactors look for something hopeful and want to see things accomplished. We’re moving in the right direction. It’s our job to stay on the narrow path, work hard and do our best—we pray that God bless our efforts!

 

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Top Photo: Theodore (Ted) Bazil (center) at the Seminary bookstore with then-seminarian Fr. Steven Belonick (left) and bookstore volunteer and longtime friend Joseph Domanick, circa late 1970s.