Our cup overflowed this weekend with the visit of His Grace Bishop Vasily (Permiakov) and a blessing of new icons for the Seminary chapel gifted in memory of Archpriest Paul Lazor.
Bishop Vasily Returns
Bishop Vasily (M.Div., '04) returned to campus for the first time since his ordination to the episcopate in August. His Grace served as a full-time member of the Seminary’s faculty leading up to his ordination, and now continues as part-time faculty as he oversees the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of the West. On Saturday, November 8, Bishop Vasily joined the Seminary community at Three Hierarchs Chapel for the Feast of the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels and the Bodiless Powers of Heaven. The festal celebration was further blessed by the presence of another beloved faculty member and alumnus, Archpriest Kirill Sokolov (M.Div., '07), who flew in from California for the intensive week of the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program. Bishop Vasily then presided over Hierarchical Divine Liturgy the next day on campus.
Dr. Ionut Alexandru Tudorie, Bishop Vasily, Archpriest Kirill Sokolov, and Archpriest Alexander Rentel in front of new icons of the Four Holy Evangelists gifted to the Seminary in memory of Archpriest Paul Lazor.
New Icons in Memory of Archpriest Paul Lazor (+2020)
Following Divine Liturgy on Saturday, Bishop Vasily blessed icons of the Holy Four Evangelists newly adorning the Chapel walls. The four icons are the result of an incredibly generous gift from Matushka Natasha Lazor in memory of her husband, the Very Rev. Paul Lazor (June 28, 1939–May 9, 2020).
Father Paul was an inspirational spiritual father and teacher for generations of Seminary graduates and clergy. He graduated from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 1964, and was married that same year to his beloved Matushka Natasha (Manturoff). After his ordination to the priesthood, by the hands of Archbishop John (Shahovsky) of San Francisco, Fr. Paul went on to serve parishes in Wisconsin and Connecticut. He later returned to the Seminary, where he served for many years as Dean of Students and full-time member of faculty, teaching courses in liturgics and liturgical theology, practical (pastoral) theology, as well as the Russian, Church Slavonic and Greek languages. He also served as priest and rector of the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel. During those years of service at St. Vladimir’s, Matushka Natasha worked on the Seminary staff and then for the special education organization BOCES. Father Paul retired from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in June of 2007.
Father Paul and Matushka Natasha at his retirement from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2007.
“Anyone who was a seminarian at St. Vladimir’s when Fr. Paul was Dean of Students will likely remember him in the choir or serving. He was always at services,” remembered Fr. Alexander Rentel, the current rector of Three Hierarchs Chapel. “He loved the services and believed in them, their power to bring us closer to God himself. He loved the services, but he also enjoyed the services. I learned so much from him about the services, organizing them, the underlying method beneath their structure, how to serve, but also just that enjoyment that I mentioned.
“I will always remember a quote, too, from him, which was really from his mother, whom he quoted frequently: ‘Any gift that comes from goodness has an inexhaustible source.’”
May the memory of Archpriest Paul be eternal!
More about Archpriest Paul Lazor
Fr. Paul’s Life & Ministry in Photos
