On Sunday, December 6, the Three Hierarchs Chapel community enjoyed a favorite St. Vladimir's tradition when they sang a collection of carols and then welcomed "St. Nicholas" to campus after celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The carol "All who love Nicholas the saintly" ushered in the good saint, whose real identity was hidden under his flowing white "beard."
Grown ups and kids alike also enjoyed a potluck meal, and St. Nicholas presented each child with a gift. Longtime Chapel member and one of our campus photographers, Glen Mules, captured the event for posterity.
What is evangelism in the Orthodox Church? What are we trying to accomplish with our evangelistic efforts, and is this even a valid endeavor? On April 8, 2016, the St. Innocent Mission Society at St. Vladimir's Seminary sponsored a presentation by alumnus Archpriest Eric Tosi (SVOTS '96), secretary of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Father Eric, who recently completed his D.Min. thesis, "Koinonic Evangelism," tackled these questions and more. At the heart of his thesis is a case study of three carefully selected OCA parishes of varying ages, regions, and sizes, all considered healthy and growing churches. Father Eric is convinced that all Orthodox evangelism belongs in the context of the Church, within local worshipping communities.
In the course of his D.Min. studies, Fr. Eric conducted surveys and interviews with priests, lay leaders, and parishioners. His queries included: "Is evangelism ever discussed at any level in your parish?" "How did you come to be a member of this particular parish?" "What drew you to the Orthodox Church?" "Why do you think Orthodox people leave the Church?"
Fr. Eric TosiFather Eric elaborated on the study's conclusions:
-In thriving parishes, evangelism is considered a way of life—something that crops up in casual conversations among parishioners, for instance—rather than a "program" directed by the priest. At the same time, most people surveyed said that they don't feel they know how to "do evangelism."
-In thriving parishes, people like to be together. Fellowship Hour isn't just a time for coffee and a few snacks before people get on with the day, but a time for a full meal together, with extended time among friends.
-Parishioners love their parishes! Even when people haven't been members for a long time, they know the parish's history.
-On reflecting upon their conversion, most converts mentioned finding the "true church" or discovering a certain fullness of Christian faith and practice in Orthodoxy. They were drawn by the witness of a friend, the beauty of the liturgy, and quality written material.
Father Eric articulated five main reasons why parishioners chose to stay with their particular local community:
-Quality of clergy leadership
-Fiscal openness and awareness (people don't argue about money, and they set aside at least 10% of their budget to give to ministries)
-Quality of worship
-Ministry is done in community, and
-Parishioners value their relationships with one another.
Following the presentation, other points were raised in discussion:
-The Orthodox Church has experienced some success when witnessing to middle class, college-educated people, but has much work to do in witnessing to Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Many parishes are currently situated in neighborhoods with significant Hispanic populations, and in such cases, it is only natural to introduce Spanish into the services.
-The parishes surveyed have much exposure to, and interaction with, monastic communities.
-We need to consider how to minister to all generations. Priests in thriving parishes are involved in the lives of the children of their parishes when they go off to school.
For seminarians anticipating future ministry, Fr. Eric's presentation offered a fascinating glimpse at the work of evangelism from the perspective of both parish priests and lay leaders. A valuable aspect of Fr. Eric's research and presentation was that he offered empirical data, not just theories about what makes for thriving parishes. There was much to learn from his study's data and conclusions; I look forward to more such encounters with experienced, knowledgeable priests.
Christopher Moore heads up the St. Innocent Missions Society on campus. A first-year Master of Divinity student from St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Church in Indianapolis, IN, Chris and his wife Jennifer have been missionaries with OCMC since 2012. They have been blessed with two young boys, Andrew, who is 2 years old, and Gideon, born in December 2015. After graduation the Moores plan to return to full-time missionary service. Read his story!
How do you handle conflict in your family, and in your parish family?
That’s the question Michelle Moujaes, founder of FaithTree, addressed at the mid-November gathering of St. Juliana’s Society—our campus women’s fellowship.
Djakonitsa Adrienne Soper, wife of first-year Seminarian Dn. Larry Soper, remarked on Ms. Moujaes’s presentation about conflict resolution, saying, "I was moved by her ability to relay her experience and her wisdom as we ladies enter the world of being married—God-Willing—to future clergymen.
“Michelle's candid, yet, respectful way of lending advice, mixed with reality and humor, was refreshing to me,” continued Djakonitsa Adrienne. “Sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in the fear of the future and of the unknown, and speakers like Michelle offer great opportunities to draw hope and strength as we wives prepare for our journey to serve Christ, the church and our husbands."
FaithTree is a ministry of St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Church in Van Nuys, California. Its educational programs and resources aim to equip Orthodox Christian families to be able to live out their beliefs within their cultural context, by answering questions like: How do I forgive someone? How do I make good choices? How do I care for my body and eat properly? What do the Gospels say about finances and money?
While speaking about conflict resolution to our women’s fellowship, Mrs. Moujaes zeroed in on a crucial area that could either ensure or destroy harmony within a family unit or within a faith community.
“We were thrilled to have Michelle discuss this issue with us,” said Matushka Thekla Hatfield, coordinator of St. Juliana Society. “Her knowledge and training as a Social Worker, coupled with her dedicated struggle to live as a Christian, truly gave us all gems of wisdom that we can use as tools when encountering personal conflict.”
"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." [Is 11.1]
The Jesse TreeThe St. Juliana Society undertook a special endeavor this Nativity Season to encourage the idea of “the Church in the home.” Upon the suggestion of Archpriest Chad Hatfield, president of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, they set up a “Jesse Tree” in the foyer of the John G. Rangos Family Building.
The “Jesse Tree” is a schematic representation of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, with Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David, as the central figure. On this tree hang depictions of the ancestors of Christ in images and words, marking the days of Advent leading up to the Feast of the Nativity of Christ.
On each day of the Nativity Fast a family in the seminary community gathered at the tree to recite the assigned daily reading from Scripture and to hang a related handmade decoration on the tree. Some of the readings pointed directly to the genealogy of Christ but others presented God’s economy of salvation through the patriarchs and prophets, and were related not simply to Christ’s birth in the flesh but ultimately to the Cross, Resurrection, and glorious Second Coming of the Lord. [Readings were taken from the website of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America].
“The Jesse Tree experience held blessings for everyone who participated,” noted Seminarian Sister Margarete (Roeber), who helped organize the project.
“The children delighted in examining the ornaments, even after seeing some of them many times,” she said, “and the wonder on their faces, while circling the tree and pointing to their favorites, was a foretaste of the wonder of the Nativity of our Lord.
“For us adults,” she continued, “hearing the Old Testament stories again, and explaining them to the children, caused us to reflect on the meaning and power of these narratives in which Christ reveals himself. And, of course, everyone enjoyed singing together the Advent carols: some of the children now know these songs by heart!”
Many visitors frequent our campus each Academic Year: bishops, priests, musicians, academics, monastics, potential students, and so forth. All of them enrich our lives as seminarians as we converse with them, share meals with them, and worship together.
On February 4, 2017, Archimandrite Chrysostomos Onyekakeyah from Nigeria came to St. Vladimir's to talk to us students about Orthodox mission work in Africa. With the permission of the Seminary’s President, Fr. Chad Hatfield, I had issued the invitation to Fr. Chrysostom, whom I’d met during my parish assignment at St. Nicholas Antiochian Cathedral in Brooklyn. I had already learned a bit about his fascinating life, and I wanted him to share his story further with me and with my fellow seminarians.
We found out that Fr. Chrysostomos serves large communities of converts, by riding from village to village each Sunday on his bicycle, and organizing benevolent projects for the elderly and for orphans. We also discovered that he runs St. Christopher's, an orphanage and elementary school in rural Nigeria, under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria.
Fr. Chrysostomos with children of his flock in NigeriaAdditionally, Fr. Chrysostomos serves five different parish communities in the area! The Orthodox Church in Nigeria, he told us, is growing, but the resources are scarce, and finding young men to become priests, training them, and then providing livable salaries for them are all serious challenges. (He himself has been a priest for twelve years, having studied at the archdiocesan seminary in Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria.)
Very interesting to me was Fr. Chrysostomos’ statement that the Orthodox Church in this particular mission field makes a number of concessions to local custom, a phenomenon he calls “enculturation.” By blessing and accommodating not only the local language, but also some local customs, the Church succeeds in making Orthodox Christianity truly organic and local, while unequivocally remaining inside of the universal canonical church tradition.
Even more interesting to us all were Fr. Chrysostomos’ descriptions of the church services: his sermons are often more than an hour long, and are given in a manner that invites congregational response and interaction; baptisms involve performing the sacrament with twenty or thirty children during the same service—such is the growth rate of the Orthodox communities he serves; and so many children are being communed on a Sunday that distributing Holy Communion can take from 45 minutes to an hour!
Finally, Fr. Chrysostomos encouraged us to consider the responsibility we have within the global Orthodox community to remember our brothers and sisters who have fewer resources, and to consider supporting his mission and orphanage. (Vestments are especially difficult to come by in Nigeria, and local churches in the New York area have kindly donated some. Others have donated prayer ropes and icons.)
I, and my fellow seminarians, learn a lot when we follow our Lord’s admonition to welcome strangers (Matt 25.35). I’m told by Fr. Chad that Fr. Chrysostom’s visit has providentially led to the possibility of his coming in the near future to St. Vladimir’s for study, along with other Nigerian students. I’m so blessed to have had that initial conversation with Fr. Chrysostom at my parish assignment—it’s opened doors and pathways, both spiritually and materially, for both of us.
When Harrison Russin—Dean’s Fellow and Lecturer in Liturgical Music here at St. Vladimir’s—inspected an aged trophy resting inconspicuously in the student lounge of the Houda Germack Building recently, he noted it listed champions for one of his own favorite pastimes: chess.
“The previous winners were seminarians from the early ’90s,” he remarked, “and I noted a ping-pong tournament trophy on the windowsill as well. Apparently these community events fell by the wayside over the years, and I wanted to bring back at least one of them.
“I had played chess a bit in college but then started playing more seriously in grad school,” he went on, “and now, I play in a local chess club.
“As well,” he continued, “Dima Rentel (son of faculty member Archpriest Alexander Rentel) and I actually played in a tournament in Manhattan last October; Dima finished with a respectable score, especially considering there were three grandmasters in that tournament!
“Since a few of us regularly play casually on campus, usually on Sundays after Divine Liturgy,” he explained, “I decided to revive the tournament here at SVOTS.”
So on Saturday, April 29, he did just that, inviting the “regulars” of the Coffee Hour games—from kids to adults—to tourney play. He himself faced off with “Defending Coffee Hour Champion” Rufus Behr (son of Dean John Behr), his continuing nemesis.
The group played 4 rounds of games in which each player got 15 minutes (= 30 minutes total), and the final standings (win = 2 points, loss = 0, draw = 1 point) were:
1. Priest Adrian Budica, Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education at SVOTS = 8 points
2. Rufus Behr = 7 points (won tiebreaker)
3. Harrison Russin = 6 points
T4. Julia Fields, 4 points (Tie for highest among children)
T4 Dr. Anca Sailer, 4 points
T4 Dn. Larry Soper, 4 points
T4 Raphael Sailer, 4 points (Tie for highest among children)
T8 Angelo Niqula, 2 points
T8 Daniel Rentel, 2 points
10 Jacob Fields, 2 points
The new Champion, Fr. Adrian, will get his name engraved on the SVOTS Chess Tournament Cup!
Two longstanding members of our Three Hierarchs Chapel community were honored following the hierarchal Divine Liturgy on Sunday, May 20, 2017: Joseph Domanick and Vera Hubiak. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America and chair of the Board of Trustees, presented Joe with an icon of St. Joseph the Betrothed, and Vera with a gramota, in recognition of their service to our seminary community.
Now 92+ years old, Joe takes a personal interest in every student he meets. Over the years, he has shown equal love and kindness to others in the wider chapel community. Around campus, he may be seen quietly reading biblical commentaries in the library, participating in or helping out at campus events—like Orthodox Education Day—praying at liturgical services, or vigorously socializing at coffee hour.
“This icon depicts St. Joseph the Betrothed,” said seminary President Archpriest Chad Hatfield, as he addressed Joe during the recognition ceremony, “and I could not imagine a more fitting image. Like Joseph watched over Mary, you have nurtured and cared for the students, children, and members of the chapel community. Just by your presence, you set an example of God’s grace, and we thank you for all that you do and have done.”
Likewise, Vera has been a longtime member of the Seminary’s chapel community. Formally, she sings in the choir, volunteers for various jobs around the seminary, hosts coffee hour, organizes Holy Supper on the Eve of the Nativity, and coordinates participation in St. Bart’s Soup Kitchen in White Plains.
“Besides all of that, Vera visits our community members in the hospital or in their homes,” noted Fr. Chad. “She looks after so many in our community, making sure that they and we all stay connected. She has also gone out of her way to bring people to services here in our Chapel.
“Joe and Vera,” concluded Fr. Chad, “on behalf on the entire seminary community, thank you for everything you have done for us and everything you have given us.”
Additionally, Fr. Chad gifted Joe and his wife Teresa with a special illuminated honorary certificate for their “exemplary” service to the community.
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon made his first archpastoral visit of the new academic year to our campus on Sunday, September 24, 2017, which marked the Synaxis of All Saints of Alaska.
In addition to the seminary faculty, staff, student body, and area faithful, participants in a three-day conference organized by the recently established Orthodox Vision Foundation [OVF] on the seminary campus gathered for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, at which Metropolitan Tikhon presided in Three Hierarchs Chapel. See related story.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Tikhon addressed the student body and their families and participants in the OVF conference:
“I would like to offer one final exhortation to both the seminarians and their families as they begin this new year, and to the participants of this week’s conference,” Metropolitan Tikhon said.
“Often in the business and administrative world, forward progress is measured by aggressive attempts to forge ahead against the waves of difficulties. In the Church, we also know that we are navigating the ‘sea of life,’ as we hear in our liturgical hymnography and in the writings of the Fathers.
One of the great desert fathers, Abba Dorotheos, offers Christians a helpful image for passing through these temptations of life, by drawing a contrast between a good swimmer and a bad swimmer. A bad swimmer, says Abba Dorotheos, will try to make his way forward by swimming over the waves. Unfortunately, anyone who has gone swimming in the ocean knows well how powerful the waves can be, and the tactic of trying to fight through the waves by going over them not only does not provide any forward movement, but actually pushes the swimmer even further back. A good swimmer knows that, to make forward progress, the best approach is to swim under the waves. This movement under the waves is, for Abba Dorotheos, an image of the humility required to pass through the temptations of life. Only with Christ-like humility can we safely pass through the temptations and difficulties of life.
“All of us, whether we are laboring in the world and preparing ourselves through seminary training, will face temptations and struggles,” Metropolitan Tikhon concluded. “I encourage you to follow the advice of Abba Dorotheos and to strive to attain the humility and the love needed to fulfill the work that the Lord has placed on your shoulders.”
The St. Innocent Mission Society—a student initiative under the auspices of the Student Council here at St. Vladimir’s Seminary—continues to be a tour de force on campus, introducing seminarians to missionary opportunities both near and far.
During fall semester the group did everything from sponsoring our Annual Missions Weekend to preparing meals for a local soup kitchen. They also hosted impromptu and informal campus chats with visiting missionaries, such as Alumnus Fr. Nicholas Andruchow, who is the currently the director of Project Mexico & St. Innocent Orphanage, and Fr. Denis Pozdnyaev, a presbyter and missionary in Hong Kong, China. Additionally, they hosted an informal interactive campus discussion titled, "Orthodox Missions and Their Interaction with the Canonical Tradition of the Church," led by Seminarian Attorney Dimitrios Nikiforos.
Father Christopher Moore, student leader of the society, and Archpriest Chad Hatfield, seminary president and faculty advisor to the society, are both experienced missionaries committed to opening even more doors to mission fields, as the society’s upcoming schedule indicates:
Meal Prep for St. Bart's Soup Kitchen Saturday, December 9
IOCC Home Build in New Orleans Monday January 8–Sunday, January 14
OCMC Mission Trip to Uganda, Africa Tuesday, May 22–Tuesday, June 5 (tentative)
We wish society members Godspeed as they follow Jesus' call to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8) locally, nationally, and internationally, and as they strive to love their fellow human beings while edifying Christ's Church.
On December 15 children and families of our St. Vladimir’s community presented a small concert and Nativity pageant, including a special procession in honor of Saint Lucia, the 3rd-century martyr who had brought light and nourishment to her fellow Christians held within a darkened prison. What glorious, sacred, adorable, holy chaos! Watching my two young sons and their friends wander about the seminary chapel in their attempts to tell the story of Christ’s birth was (let’s just be honest) slightly hilarious.
But perhaps—I thought as I watched their earnest attempts—God feels the same way watching me at times, since I am one of His “little children.” Perhaps He chuckles to Himself as I wander about the chapel of my soul, trying to figure out and work out my life’s story. And I further contemplated: just as all my snapshots from that evening’s Nativity presentation turned out blurry due to dealing with tiny humans in the dark, so might God view my attempts to do, to share, and to be as less than clearly focused!
But this moment of the Incarnation—when the God-man was born on Earth as a tiny human who shook the very universe and shocked all of creation—this moment is emblazoned in eternity with perfect clarity. And at this moment every year the Christ Child begins to turn the chaos of my soul into newness, wholeness, and perfection.
I remember my first Christmas as a mother. My firstborn son was then two-and-a-half-months old. Though raised in the Orthodox Church, I felt as though I were hearing the beautiful Nativity hymns for the first time: “I behold a strange and wonderful mystery: heaven, the cave, the cherubic throne, the Virgin, the manger—the noble place where Christ lay—the uncontainable God whom we magnify in song.” Looking up at the icon of the Nativity and seeing the Theotokos and her motherly love for Christ, God’s Only-begotten Son, was so moving.
But nobody told me how hard parenting would actually be! It felt like “learning by doing.” (I hesitate to say “trial and error,” because we are talking here about raising tiny human beings!) Who can describe such a wonderful, brutal, beautiful, heartbreaking, challenging task?
Yet, when I remember that I am God’s child, I have so much more grace with my own children. I recall another incident in our seminary chapel that continues to teach me that lesson.
It had been a particularly rambunctious morning liturgy. About one and half hours into the service, most of us parents were looking around with eye-rolling exasperation. Our kids were just done. It was loud and it was crazy.
Then a middle-aged woman in our chapel community, observing the children, whispered to me, “They express how my soul feels sometimes in church!” Her perplexed smile suggested, “Am I crazy? Or do you understand what I’m trying to say?” I actually felt tears coming to my eyes. With relief and an understanding chuckle I whispered back, “They express how my soul feels, too!” Smiling in agreement we stood together, waiting to kiss the cross at liturgy’s end.
Any parent who has ever brought their small children to church can relate to what I am saying. We do our very best, but every parent has “one of those days” (or lots of “those days”) from time-to-time. And, our children’s behavior can, at times, solicit comments from fellow parishioners—some like the sweet words I had heard, and others, not!
Yet, as we celebrate the feast of Christ’s Incarnation, I reflect on that sweet comment again. Jesus told us, “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven.” So many times I had neglected His command because of self-conscious worry: “What will people think of me? What will they think of my children? How will I ever learn to be a ‘Khouria’? It’s hard enough just learning to be a wife and mother. It’s hard enough to try and be myself!” Thankfully I encountered many warm and loving people within Christ’s body who were gracious to me, and taught me to be gracious with myself—because our God is gracious and loving!
When I recall that I am a child of God, parenting suddenly becomes a sacred vocation. That God loves me unconditionally, so much so that “He sent His Only-Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” gives me pause.
During this festive season of Jesus Christ’s Nativity I pray to not be distracted by the chaos around me. I pray rather to receive the grace to glory in the One who “for our sakes was born as a new Babe: He who from eternity is God.”
