The St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) community celebrated a truly joyous altar feast of The Three Holy Hierarchs on Friday, January 30, as the Seminary welcomed to campus seven hierarchs, a number of other noted clergy and alumni, Seminary trustees, friends, and renowned Orthodox theologian the Very Rev. Dr. Andrew Louth. Later that evening, following the morning’s Divine Liturgy, Fr. Andrew delivered the 43rd Annual Fr. Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture and received an honorary doctorate from St. Vladimir’s.
Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs
His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, and President of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, presided over Divine Liturgy at the Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel. Joining His Beatitude were His Eminence Archbishop Michael of New York and the Diocese of New York and New Jersey (OCA); His Grace Bishop John (SVOTS Class of ’84) of Worcester and New England (Antiochian Archdiocese); His Grace Bishop Irinej (’82) of Washington-New York and Eastern America (Serbian Orthodox Church); His Grace Bishop Nikodhim (’07) of Boston and the Albanian Archdiocese (OCA); His Grace Bishop Benedict (’10) of Hartford and New England (OCA); and His Grace Bishop Vasily (’04) of San Francisco and the West (OCA). Among the priests present were—including Seminary clergy, guests, and alumni—Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino (’14 and ’25), Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America; Three Hierarchs Chapel Rector Archpriest Alexander Rentel (’95), SVOTS’ Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology and Canon Law; Protopresbyter Nicolas Kazarian, Ecumenical Officer and Director of the Department of Inter-Orthodox Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America); Archimandrite Jeremy (Davis; ’04), Archiepiscopal Vicar, Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest (Antiochian Archdiocese), and Seminary Trustee; Archpriest Andrew Louth, Archpriest Emeritus of the Diocese of Sourozh (Moscow Patriarchate); Seminary Spiritual Formation Director Archpriest Michael Nasser; Archpriest Volodymyr Zablotskyy, the Rector of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Yonkers, NY; and Archpriest Bogdan Bucur, SVOTS’ Associate Professor of Patristics.
“When a community celebrates its patronal feast day, they pause to give thanks to all those who came before them to bring us to this point … to express the kingdom of heaven in this place and in this time,” His Grace Bishop John noted as he gave the homily. “Let us remember the Three Holy Hierarchs and their love for each other as we learn to know each other and love each other, so that in unity we can, in one voice, proclaim the Good News and share the life that God chooses to share with the entire world.”
On behalf of Seminary Dean Dr. Ionuț-Alexandru Tudorie and the entire community, Fr. Alexander Rentel warmly welcomed all the hierarchs and guests at the conclusion of Divine Liturgy.
His Beatitude then offered a beautiful reflection on the numerology which marked this blessed feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom:
“The grace and peace of these three great saints is multiplied twofold through the presence of the venerable hierarchs and brothers who join me, six in number, for our concelebration today…”
Read Met. Tikhon’s Remarks for the Feast
Strategic Planning for the Seminary’s Future
Part of this busy week at the Seminary, including Friday afternoon, was reserved for a major undertaking by SVOTS administration and the Board of Trustees. Board members engaged in the work of strategic planning that will guide the Seminary for the next several years and beyond. This work was a continuation of efforts that began during the Board’s October 2025 session. During the January session, trustees discussed and discerned important topics about the Seminary's future, work that involves the voice of the Church as well as the Seminary. The Board is eager to ensure this strategic planning reflects the close connection of SVOTS and the Church that has been a strong emphasis of recent administrative and board work overseen by His Beatitude and Dr. Tudorie. Input from stakeholders—including hierarchs, alumni, donors, seminarians, faculty, staff, and others—is part of this ongoing work.
Hierarchs, Seminary Administration, and Trustees
Many trustees were present on campus for the strategic planning work; others joined remotely due to travel difficulties brought on by the recent blizzard.
Schmemann Lecture & Honorary Doctorate
As the Fr. Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture got underway that evening, Dr. Tudorie announced a special honor for guest lecturer Fr. Andrew Louth: the bestowal of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
“[Father Andrew] is a great teacher of the Church, a scholar of renown, and one of the most respected voices in patristic studies today, for whose decades of ministry both at the altar and in the library we are deeply grateful,” stated Dr. Tudorie.
READ THE HONORARY DEGREE CITATION
The Very Rev. Dr. Andrew Louth is Professor Emeritus at the University of Durham; Honorary Fellow of the St. Irenaeus Orthodox Theological Institute at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands; a Fellow of the British Academy; and Archpriest Emeritus of the Diocese of Sourozh (Moscow Patriarchate). He is the author of several books, including St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press’s Greek East and Latin West: the Church ad 681–1071, The Church in History, vol. III (2007); and he has also served as editor and translator for other Press titles over the years.
“I am completely overwhelmed,” said Fr. Andrew upon receiving the honorary doctorate. The honor was a surprise and kept secret from Fr. Andrew until shortly before the Lecture. “St. Vlad’s has always meant a great deal to me, and … over the last thirty years or so [I’ve] kept in touch with the Seminary. … I just feel very, very moved that you’ve chosen to give me this great honor.”
Father Andrew then offered his lecture, entitled, “Shadows and Darkness in Patristic Theology.”
“Orthodox Theology is often regarded, by ourselves and others, as essentially ‘apophatic,’” explained Fr. Andrew in his introduction. “Even though the language of apophatic/cataphatic, affirmation or denial, or negation, was only introduced into Greek Patristic theology by Dionysios the Areopagite in the early sixth century, a negative theology of an unknowable God already had a long history, both among Christian Fathers and among their contemporaries, the philosophers of the Greek Platonic tradition. There has, however, been a tendency to see Greek Patristic theology from the perspective of what is, in truth, Neoplatonic apophaticism, and to regard the various ways in which shadows and darkness feature in the Fathers somewhat as stumbling blocks towards a fully fledged apophatic theology.”
Listen to the entirety of Fr. Andrew’s lecture below, or on the Seminary’s YouTube channel.
At the end of this memorable day of worship, fellowship, and meditation, His Beatitude offered a word of gratitude before concluding the event with prayer.
“Your inspiring exposition … [reflects] the years of prayerful labor and research that you have offered not just for your own spiritual growth and academic growth—or even for that of your students—but for the Church. And we are grateful to you not only for your words but your example, reminding us so clearly how we all must, in a certain sense, pass through those stages of shadow to image and truth.”
Scenes from the Feast Day & Schmemann Lecture
