Archpriest Theodore Panchak fell asleep in the Lord on the evening of December 30, 2022.
A native of Gary, Indiana, Fr Ted was the son of the late Frank and Madge Panchak. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1968. Following his graduation, he received a Master of Divinity degree from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1984. He served in Charlotte, North Carolina before coming to Dormition Church in Norfolk. He also taught in the Chesapeake Public Schools System for many years.
He is survived by several cousins, extended family, and a host of dear friends.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Dormition Orthodox Church.
The funeral services for Father Ted are as follows:
Tuesday, January 3, at 6:00 PM: Funeral Service at Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, 736 Sheppard Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23518, with viewing to follow.
Wednesday, January 4, at 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy at Dormition Church, followed by burial at Forest Lawn Cemetery, 8100 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505.
Pavlo Kurganov just completed his first semester in the Master of Arts program at St Vladimir's Seminary. Hailing from Kyiv, Ukraine, where he studied at the Kyiv Theological Academy, Pavlo has many observations to share about adapting to life at an American theological institution, his experiences at St Vladimir’s Seminary, and his impressions of the great benefits to be gleaned from theological education.
Please share a little bit about your background—your home country, education, and family.
Originally, I'm from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Kyiv is a very beautiful city, with a lot of monasteries, churches, and parks. I really love this city. I was born there, I lived there, and I graduated there from the Kyiv Theological Academy and Seminary with a degree in theology, with an additional concentration in history and archaeology from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. I'm very grateful to God to have had this great opportunity.
I was born in a very big and beautiful family, four brothers and one sister. I'm the oldest brother and son in the family. I saw a lot of examples of kindness and happiness in my family, and I try to represent these examples in my own life.
My family is a very big support for me. Every time I have problems, for instance, I call my family to talk with them and hear their advice. I also call them often just to talk with them, also to congratulate them when there is a birthday party or something else like that. When I am at home, we always try to help each other, with chores, homework, and so on.
What is your motivation in pursuing theological studies?
I really want to become a priest. At the end of 9th or 10th grade, I started to discover for myself whom I really wanted to be; at the same time, I was discovering my own faith. I had thoughts and questions—what is our faith really, and what does God really want from us, or maybe, he doesn't really want anything from us. I tried to read different books about the Orthodox faith, about priests, their lives, about saints. I discovered that this was not only very interesting, but that the Orthodox faith and the saints showed me the way that could help me a lot. So, I started learning about this more and more, and I decided to go to the theological seminary.
Why did you choose to come to St Vladimir's Seminary, and what are your impressions now that you have been here for a few months?
Because it’s one of the leading Orthodox theological seminaries, it has a commitment to the educational process and uses a different approach to theological education compared to what I experienced in Ukraine. At home, I was able to receive a lot of information. Professors, teachers, scientists would give lectures, share their own results of research, and present discussions, data, scientific terms, and so on. It was some kind of filtered information. The only thing we needed to do was memorize those blocks of information. It was very helpful, especially when you study in seminary right after high school, but in my case, when I already have this seminary education, I want something more. The master’s program should teach me to think, to analyze, and to maybe research my faith and the Orthodox perspective on the things that surround me more closely.
At St Vladimir’s Seminary, our faith as students grows and is cultivated under the supervision of teachers and priests. As a student, you have a lot of questions. You have a lot of information, books, and so on. And you need to resolve these questions on your own, to try to think. This is maybe one of my biggest reasons for coming to St Vladimir’s Seminary. Here, I'm learning to think, to analyze, and to make my own decisions and to make my own synthesis of the information that I get. And I hope that through this process, maybe in time (I think I will need a lot of time), I will be trained to have some kind of theological intuition, so that I will have a better understanding when I need to deal with different texts, for example, in the Old Testament, or related to church history. We are being given a foundation to understand what's going on in those particular situations, those particular times, through the perspective of the Church, and why it's important.
In our church history class, our professor told us that we need to understand different approaches to the studies of the church, as compared to those used in the secular world—they are very different. We need to understand these different approaches as we study, so as to grab the most important, and to present the truest, most beautiful analyses that we can. And the results will be fascinating, even for people who are outside the Church.
We are encouraged to really, deeply investigate our own faith and share this perspective with others, taking part in the life of the Church. We are trying to get the Gospel in our hearts, so that the Gospel will really live in us—not simply the words, the history, or some kind of moral that was taught 1000 years ago, not as the rules and laws that are very strict, but as something that is alive and gives real life to me. This life from the Gospel enables me to become more joyful, have more kindness, and from the perspective of becoming a priest, to share the Gospel with others.
The dedication to missionary work is very good here. We learn about how to share this life, how not to harm another person with whom I speak, how to deal with my own problems, how to examine my own faith, and how to be a real Christian. I have experiences in the Orthodox Church of participating in missionary projects, such as sharing supplies with people who have nothing to eat, or don’t have enough clothes, and so on. But we have a lack of explanation for priests, for seminarians, even for people who are in the Church, about why we really need this, why this missionary work really enriches us. Not only in the spiritual sense, but also why it helps your parish to grow. There are a lot of good examples of missionary work here, and I really want to participate in them and try to initiate more efforts.
Mihailo Vlajkovic came to St Vladimir’s Seminary from Serbia in August 2022. He is enrolled in the M.A. program, continuing a theological education that began in his home country many years ago. In this student spotlight interview, Mihailo shared his background, his thoughts on life and study at St Vladimir’s Seminary, and ideas and hopes for the future.
Mihailo, can you tell us about your hometown and your family in Serbia?
My hometown is named Pozega. It's a small town, the whole municipality has around 30,000 people. My family lives there now, not really directly in the city, but in a small village. It's located in the Western region of Serbia, in the Diocese of Žiča, which is most famous because of St Sava, or for American Orthodox people, because of St Nikolaj Velimirović. We have many other famous priests and saints, but those are the most well-known. I have two younger brothers and a sister living there, besides my parents, and they're enjoying their life, their school, and other everyday life activities. I moved away from them seven years ago for my studies. Of course, I always try to come back home and visit them as much as I can.
What did you study before coming to St Vladimir’s Seminary?
I did my bachelor studies in Orthodox theological studies at the University of Belgrade in Serbia, but besides Serbia, I had opportunities to complete short academic programs and internships in a few other countries, such as Croatia, Hungary, and Greece. I participated in several other programs connected to theology, philosophy, and religion that were meant to encourage young scholars to think about modern approaches to problems. I would say that it was a very good opportunity to have all that experience, especially related to issues connected with the Balkan region. I also had the opportunity to study the Greek language in Greece for a summer, which I actually continued doing in Belgrade. That helped me a lot to start to understand and feel more familiar with people in other Orthodox churches.
How did you decide to come to St Vladimir's Seminary?
During my bachelor program, I was always listening to Fr Schmemann and Fr Florovsky and other famous theologians who have a very strong tradition in relation to the Serbian Orthodox Church. I was always thinking about how nice it would be to one day at least visit this school; I was dreaming of coming here. I didn't really believe that it would be possible, but after a very long process, here I am.
How did you become interested in theology?
Basically, I’ve spent my whole life in church. My family has a long tradition connected with the Church. Both my grandfather and my grandmother went to a monastery around the time when I was born. My aunt, my father's sister, went to a monastery when she was 17 years old, and has been a nun for more than 30 years now. My uncle is a priest here in the States, at St Sava Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA, and somehow all my life I was going to different churches and many monasteries to visit, in many different dioceses. I was not really sure during my high school years that I would go into theology, because I was very interested in literature and in theater. I like acting, I was active in theater and acting during my high school and undergraduate programs. But somehow, I figured out that I really like theology. And I wanted to connect all those things, what I'm interested in, with theology.
What class or professor has impacted you so far at St Vladimir’s Seminary?
This is a little bit of a difficult question. One class that has impacted me greatly was the class on the Philokalia with Father Maximos. I remember, when we were picking our classes for the semester, I wasn’t sure if I would choose this class, as I had taken classes on the Philokalia before. But I actually heard from my uncle, who studied at Holy Cross, that Fr Maximos is a very good professor, so I took the class. Now, after four months, I would say it feels like a miracle. I came here expecting to develop myself academically, pursuing my master’s degree and so on. But with that class, although it was at a very high academic level (it was my first time having to write so many pages about Patristics!), it also had this deeper side of spirituality, which I might say I had lost, in a sense, in constantly studying all this theology. I will remember all of the Philokalia classes; I could make half a book from the notes I took, things that hit me so strongly, and that changed my way of looking at my life or future.
I would say that I'm not the same person as I was in August when I came here. No matter how hard it was sometimes over the past few months, I'm very thankful for it all now, and I think I will be even more thankful as time goes on. For example, I'm very thankful that these three months have shown me the differences between the way schools are run here and in Europe, because it's a totally different system. I think I have started to get used to all of these differences, and I think the professors here are so open, which I really find very helpful; they are so open to help and give advice, to see when you have struggles, and to be there for you. I think that's something to be respected.
What is it like for you to live and study here at St Vladimir's Seminary?
I feel like maybe it's too early to say it, but it feels like home, maybe because I'm here every day. When you start the morning with prayer and end the day with prayer, and you talk with and listen to all these people around you, you cannot be unaffected by all this. I'm a very open person, I like to meet people. And then when you connect all of this to theological study, it sometimes can be hard, as we all come here for different reasons, and from different perspectives, but ultimately, for one main reason: to serve God.
So, I really found a life here. People sometimes say to me, theology seems like the hardest thing to study in the world – how is it going for you? I always answer, theology is only hard if you want to live that which you study; if you're just trying to get grades, it shouldn't be that hard. If you want to really change your life, to follow what you are reading, that can be difficult – but that is actually what makes it more interesting, more lovely.
Life here is full of things to do, like classes or church. We have our service to the community, and we try to give our best because all of us are part of one big family. Then we have free time. Of course, we spend this together -- meeting for movies and discussions, poetry nights, and sports are also included. We have a gym here, we often play basketball when the weather is nice.
What do you hope to do, God willing, after seminary?
This is the hardest question. The thing which I have definitely learned since coming here, is that plans are something which are so easy to change, and I changed a lot of them since I came here. So, I would say that my plan is to give my best with school, and to see what the opportunities are like for me, and where the Church needs me.
Also, I want to say, as a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church, I'm very thankful to professors and priests here for the opportunity to go and meet our bishop and visit a few parish churches. That's something which is very important for us, as foreigners in this country, to see the Orthodox world in such a different sense, with so many different conditions. It can be hard sometimes, but in essence, it's something which we all need. If we are always just stuck inside our own walls, in our own rooms, nothing good can happen. So I'm very thankful for these opportunities.
I don't know what God and the Church will give me in the future, with my future serving, but I'll do my best to take all these experiences and the advice of smarter and more spiritual people to make myself better and one day, God willing, to serve where they send me in the best way I can. So that would be my plan.
2022: By God’s grace, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) grew and expanded in multiple areas. A few highlights were: accepting the largest student body (43) in recent history for the Fall 2022 semester (the entire student body, across degree programs totaling 101 seminarians, including 14 women), rebuilding seminarian scholarship funds on Giving Tuesday, and starting the development of online Orthodox theological courses and continuing education for clergy nationwide. As always, the primary mission and focus of St Vladimir’s Seminary continues unchanged: to train priests, lay leaders, and scholars to be active apologists of the Orthodox Christian Faith—focusing on academic rigor and spiritual formation within a residential Orthodox community.
JANUARY: On the feast of Theophany, SVOTS President, The Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield blessed the Seminary “Troublesome” Creek as part of a festal procession through the campus.
JANUARY: A large group of seminary faculty, staff, and students traveled to Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life.
JANUARY: His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada led the SVOTS community in celebrating the Synaxis of the Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, the patronal feast of the campus chapel.
FEBRUARY: The seminary community joined Fr Chad in a “house blessing” for the entire SVOTS campus.
MARCH: Seminarians saying the Prayer of St Ephraim during Presanctified Liturgy in the first week of Great Lent.
MARCH: World-renowned iconographer, Dr George Kordis gave a talk entitled “Tradition and Innovation: The Theology of Rhythm as a Guide in a Sea of Creative Possibilities” at an academic roundtable hosted by the Institute of Sacred Arts.
APRIL: Seminary students and community members participated in a unique, four-day icon-painting workshop given by Dr George Kordis as part of his tenure as an artist in residence with the Institute for Sacred Arts for the Spring 2022 semester.
APRIL: Seminary children sang the Troparion for Palm Sunday in preparation for the festal procession.
APRIL: Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Fr Chad censes the congregation at Pascha.
MAY: Commencement - the graduating class of 2022 with His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, visiting hierarchs, and faculty and trustees of St Vladimir’s Seminary.
JUNE: Practice makes perfect - a participant of the Summer Music Institute hones her choir directing craft.
JUNE: Seminary faculty help train diaconal candidates on campus for the Orthodox Church in America (OCA)’s Diaconal Liturgical Practicum.
JULY: Renowned scholar Dr Michael Legaspi joins SVOTS as associate professor of Biblical Studies (Old Testament).
AUGUST: Education Day was held online via Zoom; the event featured six hours of presentations conducted by SVOTS faculty members, was attended by hundreds online, and raised over $47,000 for seminarian scholarships.
SEPTEMBER: Several distinguished SVOTS faculty members were honored by the announcement of faculty chairs, sponsored by long-standing endowments.
OCTOBER: Over one hundred teens and parents gathered at St Vladimir's Seminary for a Teen SOYO retreat, during which ten SVOTS seminarians from the Antiochian Archdiocese and three from the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) shared their experiences at the seminary.
OCTOBER: St Vladimir’s Seminary hosted its inaugural Annual Academic Symposium, inviting noted scholars to give presentations related to liturgical theology.
OCTOBER: Seminary families gathered for the annual Fall Festival, which included a chili cook-off, games and crafts, and a children’s costume contest.
NOVEMBER: In one of several ordinations held at Three Hierarchs Chapel this year, 3rd year M.Div. student, Dn Alexander Earl, was ordained to the priesthood by the hand of His Eminence, the Most Reverend Alexander, Archbishop of Dallas, the South and the Bulgarian Diocese of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) on Sunday, November 6 - the commemoration of the seminary’s reception of the relics of the Holy Prince Vladimir, Equal to the Apostles and patron saint of the Seminary.
NOVEMBER: Faculty dish up Thanksgiving dinner for seminary students and their families, in a longstanding SVOTS tradition.
DECEMBER: Seminary children gathered at the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium for a special visit from St Nicholas (played by a seminarian)!
DECEMBER: The first post-pandemic Christmas Concert was performed by the St Vladimir’s Seminary Chorale, under the direction of Dr Harrison Russin, singing “Hymns of the Nativity,” a selection of Christmas hymns and carols from various traditions to celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
St Vladimir’s Seminary families gathered in the Rangos Auditorium on the afternoon of Sunday, December 4, in anticipation of a special visit from St Nicholas. Before entering the auditorium, children were instructed to take off their shoes and line them up against the wall in the hallway.
To start things off, Fr John Vazquez (M.Div.’23) read the story of St Nicholas and engaged with the children as they asked questions. At the end of the story hour, each child received $5 to give to someone anonymously, in the same way that St Nicholas gave to the needy in secret. Lindsey Birdsall (Josh Birdsall, M.Div.’23) then led the children in singing a few traditional carols about St Nicholas.
For the main event, St Nicholas (played by seminarian Josh Williams, M.A.’24) arrived in full festal array and visited with the children, who were then sent back out to the hallway, where they found gold coins and clementines in their shoes! The fun continued with hot chocolate and sweet treats, followed by some time to get creative with Christmas crafts.
To conclude the celebration of St Nicholas Day (organized by Denisa Tudorie), the Very Rev. David Garretsen and Matushka Shari gave out gifts to each child from the Fellowship of Orthodox Christian in America (FOCA). Each year, FOCA arranges for different parishes to “adopt” a seminarian family, giving Christmas gifts to the children of students at St Vladimir’s Seminary, in appreciation for their commitment to future service in the Church.
An evening of glorious music to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
On Friday, December 9, at 7 p.m. the St Vladimir’s Seminary Chorale, under the direction of Dr Harrison Russin, will perform “Hymns of the Nativity.” Join us as we prepare our hearts and minds to exalt the birth of Jesus Christ.
The concert will take place in the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St Vladimir’s Seminary.
You can attend the concert in person or watch live online. We will send you a link to watch the concert after you register.
With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Leon J. Lysaght, Jr., who served on the Board of Trustees at St Vladimir’s Seminary from 1997 to 2014.
Leon Joseph Lysaght Jr. (Rocky) peacefully departed this earthly life on Dec. 2, 2022, while his family and priest held vigil by his bedside. Leon was born Aug. 25, 1940, to his devoted parents, Helen and Leon Lysaght, Sr. in Butte, Montana. He had an idyllic childhood immersed in Serbian and Butte culture, and he was blessed to have grown up around his beloved grandparents, Soke and Jovo Vucanovich. The profound intellectual and spiritual guidance fostered by his father and grandfather incited Leon's evolving and passionate thirst for knowledge, truth, and his Eastern Orthodox Christian faith.
As an aspiring student-athlete, Leon started his academic journey at Whitman College, majoring in Philosophy. He excelled at track and field and was deeply influenced by his distinguished college track coach, Bill Martin. His philosophical studies inspired an interest in the field of law, and Leon earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. After practicing law in Helena, Montana, and serving in the United States military as a medic, Leon received a teaching fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a Ph.D. in Philosophy. This led to an academic career in which he taught philosophy and law at five universities, in three countries, and on two continents.
Leon's first faculty position was at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, teaching philosophy, which led to a teaching position at Queen's University Belfast in Ireland. After receiving a professorship offer at the University of Detroit School of Law, he and his family moved to Michigan. This position progressed into a distinguished academic career that spanned four decades, which also included serving on the University of Windsor Faculty of Law. His greatest vocational joy was engaging in intellectual discussions with colleagues and students. Leon was born to serve as a teacher. He impacted thousands of students and received numerous teaching awards throughout his career. He was also instrumental in founding the Dual JD Program between the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.
In conjunction with his professional teaching accomplishments, Leon sought to deepen his understanding of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. He served for two decades on the Board of Trustees at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and he developed numerous initiatives and theological dialogues with Orthodox theologians in the United States and abroad. During his long tenure on the Board of Trustees, he served as Chairman of the Legal, Academic Affairs and Statue Revision Committees as well as being a member of the Executive Committee. He took the lead and helped to establish new academic programs and initiatives for the Seminary. Through his leadership, dedication, and skills he played an important role for the cause of theological education at St. Vladimir's Seminary. Upon his retirement in 2014, the Board elected him as Trustee Emeritus, and he was given a gramota in appreciation for his many years of dedicated service.
Fellow long-time SVOTS trustee, Alex Machaskee, served on the board for many years with Leon, and remarked in tribute, “It was a pleasure to serve with Leon on St. Vladimir's Seminary board because of his legal intellect, love of the seminary and candid, constructive suggestions. He took a strong interest in all seminarians and was especially helpful to the Serbian students. May his memory be eternal.”
Leon also found ways to integrate his legal knowledge with his faith by serving as Advisor to the Episcopal Council and Member of the Central Church Council Legal Risk and Compliance Committee of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central, and South America, and as Consultant to the Legal Matters Committee of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. Additionally, he was a founding member of the Orthodox Christian Attorneys Network. He was the proud recipient of the Czar Dushan Award from the Serbian Bar Association of America.
In 2015, Leon and his cherished wife and spiritual partner, Pam, moved to Glen Arbor permanently after being summer residents since 1994. They became founding members of St. Sebastian Orthodox Christian Church in Traverse City. Leon was filled with gratitude and great joy to see the parish grow well beyond its founding members.
Throughout his life, Leon was a devoted father and grandfather and was passionate about photographing and chronicling their countless activities. Leon's intellectual and spiritual footprint will be greatly missed, but his teachings and his memory will be celebrated by all those he has touched, and most certainly by his family, whose love for him is eternal.
Leon is survived by his loving wife, Pam; his children, Aidan (Carolina, who is a second daughter to him) and Tupper Wierbicki (Robert); and his grandchildren, whom he loved beyond measure, Nolan Lysaght, Cielo Lysaght, Soren Wierbicki, Vuko Wierbicki, and Stevan Martinez (Samantha) whom he considered another grandson.
With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, Jack Hill (M.Div.’84) fell asleep in the Lord on November 30, 2022.
Jack Hill loved Christ and the Church, history, the civil war, guns and target shooting, picking on the guitar or banjo, fixing things, making things, solving problems, trains and trollies, animals, backyard squirrels and birds, children, astronomy, and traveling. He had two beautiful daughters through his first marriage and then his beloved son through his second.
Jack Hill was born on December 16, 1943, in Augusta Georgia. As a young man, Jack served in the Army Reserves and then the Air Force. When he left the military, Jack went to work at NASA in Texas, and was a Junior Field Engineer at Mission Control at the time they put a man on the moon.
After the NASA position, Jack worked in Florida with Southern Bell as a Sales Manager and then an Account Manager. While working as an Account Manager he decided to act on a lifelong calling to the ministry. This eventually took him to St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, NY where he earned a Master of Divinity in 1984.
After graduation, he returned to Florida and was hired as Associate Director for Missions at the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), helping it grow from a small organization to a major focus operation.
In 1995, Jack applied for ordination to the priesthood; upon his ordination, he was assigned and served as a priest for the Greek Archdiocese for 11 years at St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church in Lubbock, Texas. During that time, he guided two young men to go to Seminary and both are now Orthodox priests in the States.
In retirement, Jack enjoyed many joyful years in Canada with his wife, Julianna (M.Div.’84).
He is survived by his loving wife, Dianne Julianna Storheim; children, Danal Ruane (Kevin), Kelly Haven (Glen+), and John-Paul Hill; his grandson, Robert Hickey (Andrea Burnham); great-grandchildren, Kaydence, Robert Jr, Landon, and Remington; siblings, Michael Kilpatrick (Rae), Joan Stallworth (Barney +), and Laura Deragon; and numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, extended family and a host of friends.
Jack was predeceased by his mother, Lena Belle Kilpatrick (nee Trader), father, Jack Donald Hill, step-Father, Lloyd Kilpatrick, and brother Kenneth David Hill.
