By The Rev. Protodeacon Peter M. Danilchick, Trustee Emeritus
We spend a lot of time worrying about titles: from the head office with all kinds of executive nomenclature, down the line, to the branches, to the factory floor's various supervisory levels. Titles can convey not only responsibilities and duties but also appearances of power and prestige. So, as Christians, we need to be careful about titles, how we regard them, and how they affect us. We need to embrace responsibilities and duties, and reject power and prestige.
In the Old Testament, Israel switched from priests, to judges, to kings, to prophets. Finally, Israel discovered the One who fulfilled all these titles: Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, The Priest, The Judge, The King, The Prophet.
Everything we do in the Church needs to recognize that all levels of responsibility and duty refer back to Christ. There is to be no appearance of power and prestige—only service and sacrifice.
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary is part of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. There is no dichotomy or division between the salvific nature of the Church, the theology being taught at the Seminary, the care given to all who pass through her sacred gates, the mission to all those who receive from her hands works and words of life, and the inner person-to-person workings of her governance and administration. Accordingly, the Seminary has always adopted a unified understanding of the Church's mission, the daily activities conducted within her walls, and the people who are responsible for her.
Trustee Emeritus The Rev. Protodeacon Peter Danilchick, who celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his diaconal ordination the same day as the 2025 Commencement Exercises in May, was honored for his long service and commitment to St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
In the announcement of the new governance structure and associated “titles,” we emphasize the spiritual nature of those titles and the great responsibilities that they entail.
In this structure, the President is the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America (His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon) and serves as the spiritual father of the Seminary. The Dean (Dr. Ionuţ-Alexandru Tudorie) is the one who is responsible for that theology which is taught, the care for people, and the offering of the seminary gifts to the world.
But, the Seminary does not exist in only this point in time and space. She stands in a long line of forebears and extends her arms to people around the country and the world. The Board of Trustees (individuals of varying ages and locales) ensures the continual connection with history, learning from the past and pointing at all times to the future, while being vitally concerned with today's responsibilities to everyone the Seminary serves, in whatever jurisdiction and origin the Lord blesses the Seminary with. The Board is chaired by a Chair, elected to a one-year term, currently Archimandrite Jeremy Davis.
In the cases of the above three “titles,” those individuals are in turn responsible to their own constituencies and colleagues. The Metropolitan is responsible to the Holy Synod of Bishops in the OCA and, by extension, to all other Orthodox bishops as well to all the faithful, preserving the sacred unity of Christ and the integrity of His mission. The Dean is responsible to faculty, administration, students, alumni, donors, and all those who depend upon the Seminary in any way, to fulfill its mission. The Board Chair is responsible to all the Trustees and to the greater constituency of the Church, both now, in various places, and for the future. These three are also co-responsible to one another, “eager to maintain the unity of the faith in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).
At all times, there is to be transparency and openness in mutual dealing. One approaches the other in openness and sincerity, speaking one's mind, but “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love” (Eph 4:2). This we pledge to one another and to all those who depend upon the St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
The Seminary has for many years operated with the above understanding. She has been blessed with highly capable deans leading this blessed institution, with close relationships with the Primate of the OCA and other bishops, both within and without the OCA. Historical and practical circumstances dictated a change to a Dean-Chancellor arrangement, then to a CEO/President some years ago, again a blessing for this school. The latest change with the OCA Primate as President, the Dean as the chief executive officer leading the seminary, together with a Board Chair appointed by the Board, both restores the more-historical arrangement and strengthens the relationship with the Church hierarchy.
The critical understanding among the President, Dean, and Board is that positions of responsibility are just that, not denotations of power, prestige, or privilege, but rather specifications of servant and sacrificial leadership for the good of those whom the Church and Seminary serve and for whom our Savior died.
His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon at the Seminary’s 2025 Commencement Exercises with SVOTS Board Chair The Very Rev. Archimandrite Jeremy (Davis, left) and Dean Dr. Ionuţ-Alexandru Tudorie (right).
SVOTS Trustee Emeritus The Rev. Pdn. Peter Danilchick, Hon. D.H.L., has served as a leader in many different contexts, both as a protodeacon in the Orthodox Church for fifty years, working for the Church in six different countries and serving on the boards of many national and international organizations, and as a corporate executive with three decades of experience in international operations and management in a variety of circumstances. He is the author of Thy Will Be Done: Strategic Leadership, Planning, and Management for Christians (SVS Press) and the recently published The Theology of Leadership: Servant, Sacrifice, Shepherd, Leader (SVS Press).
