Hundreds of guests filled the historic St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral in Minneapolis on Friday, November 4, 2016, for a concert of liturgical music honoring the legacy and supporting the on-going mission of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The concert was presented by the 32-member Men’s Chorale, featuring men from the Cathedral’s choir and alumni and friends of the Seminary.

“St. Mary’s community has a long history of supporting theological education in North America, beginning with the first Orthodox seminary in North America which was located next door in the late nineteenth century,” said Archpriest Chad Hatfield, greeting those at the concert. “The Seminary is extremely grateful for your continued support of our work to prepare clergy, musicians, and lay leaders for serving the Church around the world.”

Dozens of seminary graduates were in attendance for the concert, including 12 graduates who sang with the Chorale, led by Deacon Gregory Ealy, a 2007 graduate of St. Vladimir’s. “St. Vladimir’s played a vital role in my personal formation as a church musician,” said Deacon Gregory, the founder and director of the Chorale. “The knowledge I learned in the Seminary’s classroom and applied in the chapel has guided my directing and pastoral role in my vocation and service for the Church.”

The Chorale presented a selection of hymns that could be described as the ‘greatest hits’ of the Seminary. “Many of these settings are near and dear to the hearts of anyone who attended St. Vladimir’s,” said Deacon Gregory. “We began with the Greek chant setting of Psalm 103, arranged by Nikolai Kedrov, Sr., and concluded with the well-loved ‘The Angel Cried’ by Mily Balakirev.”

Other selections included Rachmaninoff’s “Rejoice, O Virgin,” the Bulgarian chant setting of “The Noble Joseph,” and the Optina Hermitage melody of stichera for the feast of the Elevation of the Cross.

“Surrounded by the newly renovated and expanded iconography of St. Mary's Cathedral, I felt the well-blended, four-part male chorus provided a spiritually enriching experience,” said Kathy Jurichko, a 1996 graduate and member of St. Mary’s. “The concert repertoire touched the hearts of us in attendance.”

Following the concert was a reception during which those in attendance had the opportunity to chat with Father Chad and learn more about the Seminary and its work. “Our goal is to let the faithful know what we’re doing and how their support is vital to providing the best theological education for the twenty-first century,” said Father Chad. The concert was the first in a new series of events planned to bring seminary leaders into local Orthodox communities to raise awareness of and create interest in the educational programs of St. Vladimir’s.

The concert also featured selections edited or composed by seminary graduates, including an arrangement of the Polyeleos psalms by Archpriest John Matusiak, class of ’75; a setting of the post-Gospel sticheron for Christmas by David Drillock, class of ’63; a setting of the Trisagion by Michael Breck, class of ’96; a setting of “O Champion Leader,” by Simeon Frøyshov, class of ’93; and two settings by Archpriest Paul Jannakos, class of ’83 who sang with the Chorale: a harmonization of a Carpatho-Russian setting of the Saturday evening prokeimenon, and his composition of the exapostilarion for the feast of the Annunciation.

“One of the beautiful aspects of Orthodoxy is the richness of our liturgical music tradition,” Deacon Gregory noted. “And thanks to the labors and efforts of our professors and teachers at St. Vladimir’s, we are the recipients of that tradition, and able to sing ancient and new settings in English to bear witness to Jesus Christ and the Orthodox Faith.”

For more information about future St. Vladimir’s events, please visit the Seminary’s website.

On October 30, 2016, Alexandru M Popovici, a St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumnus (M.A. ’16) and currently the school’s Director of Web Services, represented the Seminary at the elevation of His Eminence Nicolae (Condrea) to the rank of Metropolitan of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, at a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania. Mr. Popovici carried a Letter of Congratulations to Metropolitan-elect Nicolae, signed by Archpriest Chad Hatfield, CEO of St. Vladimir’s.

Metropolitan Nicolae, who for the past 14 years served as Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas, will now rule over the newly established Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas. The Metropolia, which was established October 28, 2016, by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Daniel, will consist of two dioceses: the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America, and the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada. The Holy Synod, during those same proceedings, elected His Grace Ioan Cassian as bishop for the new Canadian diocese.

St. Vladimir’s Seminary currently counts eight alumni from the Church of Romania under Patriarch Daniel, including Mr. Popovici and another recent graduate, Bogdan Neacsiu (M.Th. ’16). In 2013, at the invitation of then Archbishop Nicolae, and with the blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, St. Vladimir’s Seminary signed a formal agreement with the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Bucharest, which allowed for the exchange of students and ongoing dialogue between the two schools.

“I am grateful,” said Mr. Popovici, “that this rich exchange between St. Vladimir’s and the University in Bucharest—which included my own seminary education on two sides of the world—will continue to benefit U.S. and Romanian Orthodox Christian seminarians, for we have much to share with each other.

“I was especially honored to attend Metropolitan-elect Nicolae’s elevation ceremony, representing St. Vladimir’s,” he continued, “since I have heartfelt respect for the Church in my homeland, and Orthodox Christians here in the U.S.”

The enthronement ceremony of Metropolitan-elect Nicolae will take place in Chicago, at a date yet to be determined.

Read the Letter of Congratulations to Metropolitan-elect Nicolae.

Church of the Dormition (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese),111 St Andrews Rd,11968,Southampton,NY,US

A St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s select choir—made up of students, alumni, student spouses, and community members and led by Robin Freeman, director of Music at SVOTS—will be singing Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Dormition (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese) in Southampton, NY on Sunday, November 6, 2016, at 10 a.m.

The Very Reverend Dr. Alexander Rentel, the John and Paraskeva Skvir Lecturer in Practical Theology at the Seminary, will be accompanying the choir and concelebrating with Protopresbyter Alexander Kartloutsos, rector of the parish.

When “Mama Maggie” Gobran spoke Friday evening, October 22, on our seminary campus, she not only shared the wisdom of the gospel—she embodied it. Through the extraordinary witness of her own life, which is lived among destitute people in Cairo, Egypt’s teeming slums, she humbly but liberally shared the spiritual treasures she has discovered in her service to Jesus Christ.

“When I was young, I had a dream of what life was all about: I thought that the purpose of life was to be happy,” she began, “but when I grew up, I found out that life is giving, the art of giving.”

In 1997 Mama Maggie gave up her career as a professor of Computer Science at the American University in Cairo to found Stephen’s Children, a charity named after the first Christian martyr. The organization uses a holistic approach to meet the physical, spiritual, and practical needs of the poor by opening schools and camps for children, holding literacy classes for women, providing medical services, and offering job training for the unemployed.

In recognition of her work, Mama Maggie, who is a Coptic Christian and who has been called the “Mother Teresa of Cairo,” was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012. Most recently, in 2015, her work again received international acclaim when major media reported that 7 out of the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS were former students of Mama Maggie, once children, whom she had known by name and taught.

In spite of the terror, danger, and daily challenges associated with her ministry, Mama Maggie encouraged her audience to remain close to Jesus Christ and to remember his transformative power, by saying, “Don’t allow the world to shape your life; let your life shape the world around you.”

Mama Maggie’s presentation is  through “Voices from St. Vladimir’s Seminary” on Ancient Faith Radio.

Gardens of Salonica,19 Fifth St NE,55413,Minneapolis,MN,US

Saturday, November 5, 2016
11:30am – 1:30pm

Gardens of Salonica
19 Fifth St NE  Minneapolis, MN 55413

RSVP by Nov 1st to Kathy Jurichko
Text or call 612.963.0482 or events@svots.edu
Spouses welcome

Download the flyer

St. Vladimir's Seminary,575 Scarsdale Rd.,10707,Yonkers,NY,US

A business woman and college professor, a wife, mother and grandmother, and a Coptic Orthodox Christian, Maggie Gobran has devoted herself to rescuing Christians—children above all–who are forced to live in the garbage slums of Cairo, Egypt.

 Known as “Mama Maggie” by the numberless people she has helped, she epitomizes Christian witness in a Muslim culture and country. Although Maggie Gobran has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, she is virtually unknown in America.

Now is your chance to meet her! Join us Friday, October 21, 2016, 7:30 pm in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building on our campus.

Read what Christianity Today says about Mama Maggie’s teaching on inner silence

Download the flyer.

His Grace the Right Reverend Irinej (Dobrijevic), a graduate of both St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (M.Div. ’82) and St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, was enthroned as bishop of the Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Saturday, October 1, 2016, at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Pittsburgh. Formerly, His Grace was bishop of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand, a diocese that, like the diocese to which he is newly elected, is under the authority of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate.

During his Enthronement homily, His Grace encouraged his new flock to “consciously strive together for a life in Christ,” adding:

"For He first loved us, creating us as an extension of Himself—His Love—in this world and in this age. But this world, the holy ground on which we stand, which the Lord has created and sealed with His love and beauty (cf. Gen. 1:31), requires us to cooperate fully with the Triumphant God-Man so that we can joyfully enter the abode of God and be His people and that He would be with us and we would live according to the will of our Heavenly Father."

On Sunday, October 2, Archpriest John Behr, dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and Archpriest Alexander Rentel, the Seminary’s John and Paraskeva Skvir Lecturer in Practical Theology, celebrated with His Grace, as he presided at his first Divine Liturgy in New York City in his new capacity.

After the Liturgy, which was held in Madison Square Park, His Grace, celebrating clergy, and accompanying congregants walked in procession to the site of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, where Bishop Irinej presided at a Molieben and blessed the four corners of the cathedral. A devastating fire gutted the cathedral in June 2016, and therefore necessitated His Grace’s Enthronement in Pittsburgh on Saturday, instead of in his home cathedral in New York. 

Read more of His Grace’s Enthronement Homily

Presentations from Orthodox Education Day, our Seminary’s annual open house, this year held October 1, 2016, are being made available on the website of Ancient Faith Ministries. All presentations center on the day’s theme, “Celebrating Mary,” and included among them is the Fourth Annual Father John Meyendorff Lecture, given by Dr. Mary B. Cunningham.

 Dr. Cunningham delivered her lecture, entitled, “The Mystery of Mary: The Mother of God in Orthodox Christian Tradition,” to a capacity crowd in the Seminary’s Metropolitan Philip Auditorium. She spoke with both scholarly precision and devoted warmth about the person of the Virgin Mary, while endeavoring to reconcile for listeners the narrative and typological strands within Orthodox Christian tradition that create a tension: on the one hand, they describe a humble teenager of third-century B.C. Galilee, and on the other hand, they highly elevate a woman to queen-like dignity through magnificent liturgical epitaphs.

 Dr. Cunningham resolved the seeming tension by explaining the Virgin Mother’s place in salvation history, in which her personal story (with noticeable historical “gaps”) is subsumed within Christological events. Quoting St. Andrew of Crete’s Homily on the Dormition, Dr. Cunningham summed up: “She is the great world in miniature, the world containing him who brought the world from nothingness into being, that it might be a messenger of his own greatness.”

Other recorded presentations included: “Imagining the Akathistos Hymn in Late Byzantine Art,” by Nicole Paxton Sullo, Ph.D. Candidate, History of Art Department, Yale University; and “The Hope of the Hopeless: The HOPE Project,” a talk given by the Sisters of All Saints Greek Orthodox Monastery, Long Island, NY, about providing resources and healing for victims of human trafficking.

Additionally, alumna Jenny Haddad Mosher, Ph.D. Candidate, Religion and Education, Union Theological Seminary, presented a lively Teen Workshop, entitled, “O Champion Leader: The Teenage Girl Who Changed the World.”

“We are especially gratified,” said seminary CEO Archpriest Chad Hatfield, “that our friends and alumni came out to Ed Day this year, not only to hear the excellent talks by our superb speakers but also to support us during a trying time.

“Because we wanted to recognize and pay due respect to our neighbors during a local tragedy—the line-of-duty death of a brave firefighter—we had decided to completely reorganize our day’s schedule at the last moment,” he explained. “Yet our supporters still came out, thus honoring our intent toward our neighbors while making our event truly successful; it was a wonderful gathering of God’s people.

“And,” he concluded, “We wanted to ‘pay forward’ their kindness, so we decided spontaneously to tithe whatever net profit we receive from this year’s Ed Day to The HOPE Project, run by the Sisters at All Saints Monastery in Long Island. Truly, we who gathered on Ed Day felt like one family under the Virgin’s protection.”

View of gallery of photos by Mary Honoré, Adrienne Soper, and Alexandru Popovici

 Listen to:

Father John Meyendorff Lecture: “The Mystery of Mary: The Mother of God in Orthodox Christian Tradition” (available October 12, 2016)

“The Hope of the Hopeless: The HOPE Project” (available October 19, 2016)

 Order Dr. Cunningham’s SVS Press title: Gateway of Life: Orthodox Thinking on the Mother of God

Orthodox Education Day, the annual open house of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 1. The events of the day have been moved forward into the afternoon and evening, out of respect for a neighborhood fireman who was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday morning, September 27, during an explosion in the Bronx.

Battalion Chief Michael Fahy, of Battalion 19, died when he was struck by debris from the blast. He was a 17-year veteran of the FDNY, joining in 1999. Chief Fahy lived with his wife and three children in Crestwood, the section of Yonkers that also encompasses the Seminary property. His funeral, which will take place on October 1, at Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima Parish just one block from the Seminary, is expected to draw up to 10,000 mourners, including firefighters from around the globe.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to Chief Fahy’s family at this time,” said Archpriest Chad Hatfield, CEO of the Seminary.

“We would not want our festivities and the crowds associated with our own Orthodox Education Day in any way to place an extra burden on them as they mourn their beloved husband and father, and as their friends and family, and fellow firefighters, gather to be with them,” he explained. “Therefore, we are readjusting our Ed Day schedule to accommodate them, as we cooperate with local authorities who are coordinating the funeral preparations for Chief Fahy.

“We will light a vigil candle for the Fahy family on that day in our own Three Hierarchs Chapel, and will keep them in prayer,” he added. “May our Lord Jesus Christ be their strength and comfort.”

“Finally,” said Fr. Chad, “We have been assured by local authorities that our Ed Day visitors will be welcome in the neighborhood by 2:30 p.m., and we hope they still will loyally support the Seminary by coming onto campus and enjoying the afternoon and evening with us.”

 Download the revised schedule for Orthodox Education Day, here.

(NOTE: In case you arrive earlier than 2 p.m. to the Yonkers/Crestwood area, please proceed to the Seminary via Central Park Avenue on to Alta Vista Drive. Then turn left on to Avondale Road, right on on to Pietro Drive, and then turn right on to Maria Lane. The Seminary entrance will be on the left hand side. Local authorities advise this would be the fastest route earlier in the day.)

The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, CEOAlumnus Dn. Gregory Ealy, Conductor
St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral,1701 Fifth St. NE,55413,Minneapolis,MN,US

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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