Staff Spotlight: Getting to Know Abby Legaspi

Abby Legaspi joins St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) as Student Affairs Administrator, but her ties to SVOTS already run deep: She is an alumna, having graduated with a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in May of 2025; her daughter, Ana, was part of the same graduating class; and her husband, Michael, is Associate Professor of Old Testament at the Seminary! We sat down with Abby and learned about her journey to Orthodoxy and St. Vladimir’s Seminary, the beautiful way she met her husband, and what it was like being in class with her spouse as the instructor and her child as a classmate!

Abby, tell us about your background. What brought you to St. Vladimir’s Seminary?

Well, I grew up in Cincinnati in a family that was very involved in the Presbyterian church that we attended there. My parents had leadership roles within the church, and my sister and I were involved in everything it had to offer. When I went to college at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, I joined the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship there. It was through that Christian Fellowship that I met my husband. In my sophomore year, which was his freshman year, we were assigned to the same small-group Bible study, and the next year we were assigned to lead a small group together! It quickly became clear that Mike enjoyed and had a gift for leading the Bible study portions of the meetings, while I had a knack for the hospitality and community-building aspects. We worked well together and complemented each other, and we were blessed to see the fruits of that in our small group, which was very special. Mike and I each decided independently that we would marry the other before we ever went on what could be called a date, so we got engaged soon after he finally, bravely broached the subject of our relationship. He was able to finish college in three years, and we got married three weeks after we both graduated. 

We have rarely had a year since then that did not involve a major life event. We had four children—a boy, two girls, and then another boy—within the next seven and a half years and moved multiple times. After teaching high school for four years (two at the Perkiomen School in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and two at Phil-Mont Christian Academy in Erdenheim, Pennsylvania), Mike was accepted into a Ph.D. program at Harvard, and we moved to Massachusetts. During the writing of his dissertation, we spent two years back in Pennsylvania and one in Göttingen, Germany, which was very challenging but also an incredible experience. Then his work took us to Creighton University in Omaha for four years, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for four years, Penn State University for six years, and back to Andover for two more years. Then he was invited to apply to be a professor of Biblical Studies at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, he was offered the position after a competitive international search, and we came here in August 2022. 

 

During all of that time, it was my joy to use my talents to care for my family, support Mike, and try to be a good steward of all that the Lord gave us. I homeschooled for fourteen years, teaching my oldest three children through eighth grade and my youngest through fifth. I found great satisfaction in managing my household, stretching every dollar in our always-tight budgets, making things from scratch, learning to build furniture, and trying to give our family consistency and a rich life despite our many moves and what the culture would consider to be constraints. 

After I stopped homeschooling, when we moved to State College for Mike to teach at Penn State, I started working to try to help pay for college. While trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I held a few administrative positions at Penn State, several part-time customer service jobs, and some roles in educational support for students with special needs, especially children with autism. I think working with children with special needs is what I would have done if I had not had my own children right away and homeschooled them, but when I did join the workforce, I didn’t think getting more education and trying to build a career in that field made sense at my age and in my circumstances. I was still looking for some direction when, about six months into our time at St. Vladimir’s, I received a fundraising letter from [retired SVOTS President] Fr. Chad Hatfield that focused on women seminarians. It pointed out that there are many different reasons why women go to seminary and that there is a need for seminary-educated people in many different jobs in the Orthodox world. And I thought, I would love to do that! I didn’t know where it would lead, but I thought I would enjoy the studies and love being fully immersed in the seminary community for a while. So, right after I turned 50, I started my master’s degree, and I graduated this May. It was a wonderful experience, and I am very grateful for all that I was able to do and learn over the past two years. I had no idea how much I didn't know! 

 

How did you start your journey toward Orthodox Christianity?

So, as I mentioned, my husband and I met in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship during college, and then we were active in a few Orthodox Presbyterian parishes after that. When Mike was in grad school, though, he became disillusioned with Reformed theology. He started doing a lot of reading, and he became interested in Orthodoxy. I wasn't sure what I thought about it. I read some of the things he asked me to read, and I understood his concerns, but community was very important for me. I wasn't sure I would find that in an Orthodox church the way I did in the Evangelical church in which we were active. The need for a change in our church situation was part of what prompted our move from Massachusetts when we were free to live anywhere while Mike wrote his dissertation. We moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to family, and soon after moving, we saw a sign on Route 30 in York, Pennsylvania, that said, “St. John Chrysostom Orthodox Church, one mile.” We thought, “We'll give it a try.” Mike says that when we walked through the door, he felt like he won the lottery. It was and is a wonderful community, and it was an amazing place for us to discover Orthodoxy. Our family of six was chrismated there on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in 2004. Since then, because of our many moves, we’ve been involved in many different parishes: Antiochian, Greek, OCA, and ROCOR. We are grateful for the people we met and the experiences we had in each of these places. I attended services and sang in the choir in all of them, but I had no idea how much is involved in putting together the services and how rich and extensive the hymnography of the Church is until I studied liturgics at St. Vladimir’s. So, doing the M.A. program and learning about Orthodox music, services, views of Scripture, theology, and doctrine, as well as Church history, was just really wonderful. I loved it. It was challenging, definitely, to be a student, but I learned so much, and I really, really grew. I am far more equipped to engage with people in discussions about the faith than I was before, which was one of my goals when I began my studies. It was a tremendous privilege to learn from the outstanding professors at St. Vladimir’s Seminary alongside my wonderful classmates. 

 

One of those seminary classmates was your daughter, Ana! That must have been so neat—but did she ever feel, “Wow, this is kind of embarrassing”?

[Laughs] She handled it wonderfully! I so appreciated it. If she ever was embarrassed, she didn’t show it. Sharing this experience with her was really 100% great. At a practical level, she was very helpful with the technological aspects of being a student in this new era that were a challenge for me. Being with her in a different context and at a time in her life when I didn’t expect to have much time with her at all were unexpected and tremendous blessings. People often ask me if we had to take my husband's class, and yes, we did. We each had to take Old Testament 100 with him, which was excellent, but also odd. I've heard him give a lot of talks before, but to actually sit in his class and see him run it, and take his quizzes … that was a strange experience.

 

Now you’ve joined the Seminary in another capacity, as a member of the staff!

Yes, my official title is Student Affairs Administrator. I’m working a lot with Dr. John Barnet, who is the acting registrar. My duties have a lot in common with administrative work I did in the past, and I'm really excited to be able to use my abilities and put my time and effort towards something—the whole St. Vladimir’s Seminary endeavor—that I really believe in and support. I am also very grateful to have a job that will allow me to still be active in the services, choir, and community at St. Vladimir’s.

What has living on campus been like for you and your family?

We love it! Our house is 453 feet from the chapel, and for me, it's a dream to be able to walk to services and to my job. We love the community, and it’s such a blessing to have daily services during the school year. It isn’t easy, though. Everyone here works very, very hard, and there are, of course, challenges to living day in and day out in a small community in which people are stretched all the time. I once heard one of my classmates say that this place is built on sacrifice. That is definitely true. It is humbling and inspiring to see the way people here pour themselves out in service to the Church, the Seminary, and each other. We are very grateful for opportunities we’ve had to get to know people and work together toward common goals.

 

I enjoy living in New York more than I thought I would. Despite being only a short train ride from the city, the Seminary campus and the area around it are very beautiful. We enjoy taking walks in the neighborhood with our thirteen-year-old Yorkie, Grumio, and we’ve spent some time in the city. We’re also in a great location for our kids—almost equidistant from three of them. Our older son, Josiah, got married in September and lives with his wife, Claire, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Ana was married two weeks ago in the church where we were chrismated, and she is preparing to move to Boston with her husband, Ryan, in August. Our youngest, Cato, has one more year at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Our older daughter, who was once Olivia, is now Sister Glykeria. She lives in a convent in Kansas City. We don’t see her often, but we are very much looking forward to visiting her there this summer.  Mike and I celebrated our thirtieth anniversary on June 10. It’s incredible to look back on those three decades and think about how all of those major life events—which often made our lives feel incoherent and unstable—were necessary steps in getting each of us to where we are today. Glory to God!

 

 

Are you interested in studying at St. Vladimir’s Seminary? Learn more about the Seminary’s degree programs and how to apply at www.svots.edu/admissions.