Students and alumni from St. Vladimir's and St. Tikhon's seminaries are stepping out boldly to spread the gospel within the context of the Orthodox Church. Under the auspices of and funded by the Orthodox Church in America's (OCA) Department of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry, they'll be setting up a booth at the Cornerstone Music & Arts Festival, the largest Christian—but for the most part, non-Orthodox Christian—music extravaganza on the planet. The event will be held June 29–July 3 in Bushnell Illnois and will feature more than 120 bands, dozens of speakers, and hundreds of vendors, artists, and other performers.

The Orthodox "evangelists" include Fr. Christopher Foley (SVOTS alumnus), Dn. James Bozeman (SVOTS 3rd-year student), and Fr. Joel Weir and Christopher Patton (STOTS alumni). Along with Subdeacon Luke (Seraphim) Beecham, director of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry for the OCA, they will be distributing as much Orthodox Christian material as they can to festival goers.

Both Fr. Christopher, who is now rector at Holy Cross Orthodox Mission in High Point, North Carolina, and Dn. James were once members of the Christian rock band "Luxury," so they will understand the mind-set of many who will attend the festival. The idea to have an "Orthodox" presence at the festival arose this past year in a Missiology course at St. Vladimir's and was the brainchild of Dn. James; his fellow seminarian Andrew Boyd helped push the project forward.

Archpriest Chad Hatfield, who taught that course, noted, "The presentation made in the Missiology class this past fall and the ideas floated to find a way to make Orthodoxy present at the Cornerstone Music and Arts Festival were very exciting and bold. It may even expand in future years if this first attempt is a good experience."

"This is an incredible opportunity for us to witness to Orthodox Christianity in a highly visible venue," said Subdeacon Luke. "The festival director has been gracious enough to allow us the opportunity to celebrate daily Matins and Vespers, as well as the Divine Liturgy on Saturday at the event. They’ve even given us space in one of the main tents and put us in the program!"

Subdeacon Luke is looking for several young adults, age 18 or over, to assist the team that is organizing the department's booth. "If five days of music, art, fellowship, and witnessing to the fullness of the faith sparks your interest, please contact me at 317-460-8574 or lsb@oca.org," said SDn. Luke. "While our primary team has been assembled, we'd very much like to have some college students and others join us."

Our Dean, Archpriest John Behr, recently whirled through Kansas like a (benevolent) twister, touching down in several places in order to teach, preach, observe, and socialize with Orthodox Christian communities. As part of his effort to create an ongoing dialogue between the faithful in the “Sunflower State” and the seminary, Fr. John participated in activities ranging from a parish book discussion in Overland Park to a tour of a community center in Kansas City.

Fr. John’s tour was initiated by Fr. Timothy Sawchak, rector of Holy Trinity Church in Overland Park, and Tracy Gustilo, a member of the parish and a part-time, “itinerant” seminarian at St. Vladimir’s. They at first invited Fr. John simply to act as a visiting author and teacher for their parish’s book study group. The invitation to participate in the book discussion blossomed into a grand tour of the area.

 “As a seminarian, I am constantly looking for ways to bring ‘a taste’ of seminary life into the parish,” said seminarian Gustilo. “People are always asking me what I am learning at St Vlad's and wishing they could participate. When I heard that Fr. John was offering a course on his book The Mystery of Christ last spring semester, I thought, ‘We can do that!’ Fr. John concurred and even volunteered to visit and talk with us in person.

“The prospect of his coming spurred us on in our reading as we grappled with such a challenging book,” she continued. “As it turned out, many more people were able to attend Fr. John's Saturday presentation than were able to join in our original weekly discussion, and now he has inspired a whole new group to begin reading! We are very much looking forward to Fr. John coming back to teach—both clergy and laity—in Kansas City next year. Ongoing ‘dialogue’ between the seminary and our parish is proving incredibly fruitful.”

Fr. Timothy concurred. “We hope to have Fr. John come to our area annually and possibly do some continuing education for the clergy here, as well as meeting with the faithful. It was an awesome weekend!”

Fr. John, reflecting upon his experience, said, “I had a wonderful time visiting with all the various Orthodox communities and projects in Kansas, and was very impressed by the life that is going on there. I had a great time talking with everyone, and look forward eagerly to returning next year.”

Besides visiting Holy Trinity Church, Fr. John’s itinerary included:

• Friday, June 3: Fr. John visited St. Nicholas Church in Lawrence, where Dn. Joshua Lollar, a SVOTS alumnus, will be assigned as Priest-in-charge on June 26. Dn. Joshua will hopefully begin teaching at the University of Kansas, Spring 2012, and Fr. John got an extensive tour of that campus from Fr. Timothy (a proud alum!).

• Friday, June 3: Fr. John met with the Clergy Brotherhood of Kansas City at St. Mary of Egypt Church in Kansas City and toured the facility there which houses Reconciliation Ministries/FOCUS Kansas City. 

• Saturday, June 4: Fr. John visited St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Lenexa, which was having its annual Serbfest and visited with their pastor, Fr. Aleksandar Bugarin.

• Saturday, June 4: Fr. John met with the book study group and other interested folks at Holy Trinity Church.

• Saturday, June 4: Fr. John was at Holy Trinity Church for Vespers and then went to dinner with participants from the book discussion group.

• Sunday, June 5: Fr. John served Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity Church and preached the homily on the “Sunday of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council”; he then met with parishioners at the social hour following.

• Sunday, June 5: Fr. John visited St. Basil the Great Antiochian Orthodox Church in Kansas City and met with the pastor, Fr. Elias Issa.

If you would like to have Fr. John visit and teach in your parish community, please contact him: jbehr@svots.edu. Perhaps you and your fellow parishioners would also like to study his book The Mystery of Christ, written for a popular audience, which may be ordered from SVS Press & Bookstore.

The enormous world of internet pornomillion Americans are regular visitors to porn sites; 70% of men ages 18–24 visit porn sites monthly; 1 in 3 porn viewers are women; there are 116,000 searches for “child pornography” daily; 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic; and in the U.S., Internet porn pulls in $2.84 billion per year.

In his recent campus workshop addressing this invasive addiction—“Internet Pornography and Chastity”—Dr. Albert Rossi, adjunct professor for Pastoral Theology at St. Vladimir’s, stressed two things: hope in Christ and help from commendable resources.

“The sessions,” said Dr. Rossi, “stressed the necessity of personal stillness and accountability. Perhaps the signature insight of the workshop was, ‘Christ is everything.’ Many persons don't comprehend the seriousness of Internet pornography. But, Jesus said, ‘If anyone looks at a woman lustfully he commits adultery with her in his heart’ (Matt 5:28).  In Jesus' time, adultery was a serious sin, punishable by death. In the workshop, we discussed how viewing Internet pornography is a form of ‘adultery,’ with disastrous consequences for personal relationships.”

Dr. Rossi also noted the importance of personal accountability in addressing the problem of the pull toward Internet pornography.  “‘Revolving door’ confession for an Internet pornography addiction only aids and abets the behavior,” he observed. Thus, in his presentation, he particularly highlighted the distinction between self-will and surrender to the Lord, along with surrender to another human being—inside and outside of the sacrament of Confession. “Isolation is the enemy of emotional and spiritual growth,” he stressed.

He also recommended two sources of help for those dealing with an Internet pornography addiction or compulsion: “Covenant Eyes,” a software program that provides accountability for computer use; and “Sexaholics Anonymous,” a 12-Step fellowship that includes individuals, many of whom are professionals, whose "only" sexual problem is Internet misuse.

* Via online MBA.

If you wish Dr. Rossi to speak or to present a workshop in your locale on this topic, please invite him by e-mailing arossi@svots.edu.

This past week, a group of some thirty Orthodox Christian academics from around the U.S. met at the seminary to discuss the possibility of and issues involved in establishing an Orthodox College in North America. The idea of the conference was announced on our SVOTS website last year and was guided to fruition by a pan-Orthodox steering committee led by Dr. Bruce Seraphim Foltz (Eckerd College) and Dr. David Bradshaw (University of Kentucky) together with our Chancellor, The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, and our Dean, The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr.

In his opening words to the conference, Fr. John pointed to the increasing interest in this topic, as evidenced in the consultations sponsored in recent years by the Orthodox Theological Society in America and the Orthodox Scholars Initiative run by Office of Vocation and Ministry at Hellenic College, Brookline.

“Those past discussions related to Orthodoxy and the Academy, the changing nature of the Orthodox Theological Society in America over the past decade, and the various attempts to establish an Orthodox College,” said Fr. John, “which together suggest that we might be at a ‘kairos moment’ in which such aspirations could become a reality.”

In eight different sessions this week, participants discussed all aspects of developing an Orthodox College, including funding, curriculum and pedagogy, and ethos related to student life and administration. “Many of the participants,” observed Fr. John, “noted that the kinds of items that came up for discussion, and the vigor and enthusiasm with which they were debated, witnessed to the increasing maturity of Orthodoxy in North America—due to an increasing number of scholars in all disciplines and an increasing sense of our ability to tackle and speak to the intellectual culture and the task of education more generally.”

Participants at the conference were instructors and administrators from a variety of secular and religious colleges and universities, including those from Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, which included: Dr. Demetrios Katos, Dean of Hellenic College; Dr. Ann Mitsakos Bezzerides (SVOTS alumna, ‘00), Director of the Office of Vocation and Ministry; and The Rev. Dn. Nicholas Belcher (SVOTS alumnus ‘05), Dean of Students.

All presentations from the conference were recorded and are now available on Ancient Faith Radio (AFR). A listing of the topics may be found in the schedule for the conference.

This week our seminary hosted the 80th meeting of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation—the oldest official dialogue between the two Churches in the modern era. The dialogue is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA).

Since its establishment in 1965, the Consultation has now issued more than 20 agreed statements on various topics. All these texts are now available on the USCCB Website and the SCOBA Website.

The Very Rev. John Erickson, former dean of St. Vladimir's, and Dr. Paul Meyendorff, professor of Liturgical Theology at the seminary, are members of the group and participated in the meeting. "During our discussions," said Professor Meyendorff, "we focused on the role of episcopal assemblies in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as well as on roles played by the laity."

Accurately chronicling bygone theological debates can be extraordinarily challenging, but our Dean, Archpriest John Behr, has proved himself worthy of the task. In May 2011, he published a landmark work, The Case Against Diodore and Theodore, which is being touted by its publisher, the prestigious Oxford University Press (OUP), as "ground-breaking" in its research. The new book is part of OUP's "Oxford Early Christian Texts" series.

Even more impressive, this is Fr. John's second book with OUP, his first being Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement, published in 2000 as part of the "Oxford Early Christian Studies" series. The publication of both titles makes Fr. John one of only two people in the world to be published in both series.

In his newly published work, Fr. John provides a complete analysis of the teachings of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, two key figures at the center of the Christological controversy that raged from the fourth to the sixth centuries in the Church. Most importantly, he throws down an intellectual gauntlet, deftly confronting modern scholarship with solid historical inquiry that simultaneously accords with the Orthodox Christian tradition.

Diodore and Theodore, who were posthumously condemned for their teachings at the Second Council of Constantinople (AD 553), have often been depicted by modern scholars as sympathetic characters because of their concern for the "historical Jesus" and their aversion to scriptural allegory. In his work, Fr. John presents a historical and theological analysis that completely revises modern scholarship, showing Diodore and Theodore to be outside the tradition of the Church. He does this by presenting a complete collection of the extracts of their writings—in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian—some newly edited from manuscripts, and all newly translated and accompanied with an explanation of the historical context in which they were written. Although the original works of the two figures were destroyed by the Church after their condemnation, passages quoted by their supporters and opponents remain, and Fr. John uses these to state his theological case.

When asked about work involved in producing this volume, Fr. John commented that although it required great painstaking work, this meant getting involved in a level of detail that was tremendously illuminating, and that the most exciting part of it was being able to handle manuscripts that date to the very years of the controversy itself. Although this volume is intended for an academic audience, he added, the work was necessary as background preparation for the next volume of his Formation of Christian Theology series.

SVOTS Board of Trustee member Dr. Leon Lysaght, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, lauded Fr. John's accomplishment, saying, "Once again Father John has demonstrated his pre-eminence as a patristics scholar and theologian. The writings of Diodore and Theodore have been understood to mark the fault lines that have separated Eastern Christianity. Father John’s comprehensive study provides a foundation for understanding the nature and context of the disputes arising out of scriptural interpretations that have been a source of contention within the Churches of the Orthodox East.  His careful and comprehensive analysis will define the agenda for discussion among the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches for generations.

"This monumental work," he continued, "makes an important contribution to the tradition and role of St. Vladimir’s as a center for the study of Eastern Christianity. Father John’s distinctive and insightful scholarship is a remarkable demonstration and reminder of the important position that St. Vladimir’s occupies in the Orthodox Christian world. Those who support the work of St. Vladimir’s should feel enormous pride in the contribution Father John has made to Orthodox Theology and to the Seminary." 

Not only is Fr. John the Dean of St. Vladimir's, but he also is Professor of Patristics at the seminary, as well as the Distinguished Lecturer in Patristics at Fordham University. His continual theological quest to answer Jesus' challenge to the Apostle Peter—"Who do men say that I am?" (Matt 16:16)—has led him to write his Formation of Christian Theology three-volume series, which catapulted him to the forefront of patristic scholarship.

Look out for his two new books coming out later this year from St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: a new translation of St. Athanasius’ work On the Incarnation; and The Glory of God: A Living Human Being, a work addressed to a general audience that presents Fr. John’s insights into what it is to be a human being, supported by patristic and scriptural explorations that mark Fr. John’s research.

The full description of The Case Against Diodore and Theodore may be found on the Website of Oxford University Press. Books in his scholarly Formation of Christian Theology series, including The Way to Nicaea and The Nicene Faith, as well as his more popularly written The Mystery of Christ, may be purchased through St. Vladimir's Seminary Press & Bookstore.

In an effort to reach two indigenous and rapidly growing North American populations with the message of Orthodox Christianity, our two-day workshop on missiology and evangelism will focus on outreach to people of African heritage and Spanish-speaking cultures in the U.S. and Canada. Workshop leaders will be Fr. Moses Berry of St. Louis, Missouri, and Fr. Antonio Perdomo of Pharr, Texas, two experienced "evangelists."

Fr. Moses is the President of the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black, a non-profit organization which has as its mission to "minister to Americans the gift of Orthodoxy." Through an annual conference, the organization targets those who have little exposure to Orthodoxy as well as the African roots of Orthodoxy.

Fr. Moses also is pastor of the Theotokos "Unexpected Joy" Orthodox Church in Ashgrove, Missouri. On the parish's website, Fr. Moses notes: "It has fallen to me to speak wherever I can about the universality of our Church, of the necessity to bring Her good news to all people, especially to those who’ve been neglected in our evangelical efforts. African Americans from all over the country call me for information and counsel and their numbers are growing. It is likely, and hopeful, that I will have increasing work to do in the coming years."

Fr. Antonio Perdomo pastors St. George's Orthodox Church in Hidalgo County on the South Texas border, which bridges the lower Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. A diversity of people from various ethnic and national backgrounds, including many who speak Spanish, make up the parish. Because of St. George's strategic location, parishioners have the honor, opportunity, and responsibility to serve Christ by reaching out to their neighbors—both in South Texas and across the border in Mexico.

In particular, the parish began helping its neighbors by creating St. George's Food Pantry in early 2004. Other outreach ministries have long been part of the parish as well, including deliveries and assistance offered to the Casa Amparo Orphanage for girls in Reynosa, Mexico. Many new ones are in early stages of development. For a number of years, Fr. Antonio has hosted a Spanish-language internet forum called Hisporto. The parish is working on encouraging and making easily accessible and available translations of Spanish- language Orthodox Liturgical Translations, Educational Materials, and developing a list of Spanish-speaking Clergy and monastics for others to use as helpful resources.

Registration, Fees, & Accommodations. Register here by June 1st.

Download the attached flyer of the Missiology and Evangelism Workshop, and share it on your social networks with your family, parish family, and friends. 

Download the attached postcard describing all of our Summer Programs 2011 and share it with your family, parish family, and friends. 

Reflection by Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

This year’s SVOTS summer conference, scheduled for June 17–19, is on women in the Orthodox Church—entitled “Women Disciples of the Lord.”

Having helped to organize this gathering, I want to first express some enthusiasm about it: It is shaping up to be a remarkable, inspiring event, bringing together a wide array of speakers and workshop leaders. It is a unique opportunity to reflect, listen, speak, network, and enjoy fellowship.

Please download the schedule of events, and register on our website! (Note that alumnae of Orthodox Christian theological seminaries receive a substantial discount on registration.)

This is the first conference on this theme to be organized by an Orthodox seminary in North America in over thirty years. Several excellent conferences, meetings, and talks, held here and internationally, have brought people together to discuss related themes from different perspectives. The fact that we are doing it here at St. Vladimir’s Seminary this year is notable in several ways. For one, it gives the issue a certain kind of visibility. It also means that we will be devoting at least part of the conference to theological reflection. But finally, its main organizers, as well as many of its speakers and workshop leaders, are graduates of Orthodox seminaries.

To us at St. Vladimir’s—which has had women students since the early 1960s—it has always seemed strange that a seminary could be without them. If a seminary sees itself as—among other things—a place to come closer to the life of the Church through studying and living it in community, it no longer makes any sense to exclude women from its student body.

The question has followed: what jobs or vocations can women fulfill after leaving seminary? That question runs parallel to the challenge that laymen alumni experience. Many graduates of our theological schools end up with church-based jobs; but some do not, and are seeking to contribute their gifts.

It is partly to address such concerns that one of the main focuses of the upcoming conference is vocations for women. There are sixteen workshop sessions planned (several of them running simultaneously) that will bring together women involved in church-based vocations, such as International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), as well as in vocations that have a clear bearing on their Christian identity and training, such as hospital and prison chaplaincy, education ministry, and many others. Aside from an opportunity to network among people working in these fields, we are looking to this conference as a source of inspiration and ideas for women and men in the Church who seek to build up and participate in such ministries. Our seminary, as well as clergy, hierarchs, parish officers, and others, stand to learn a lot from this meeting too.

I know that I have been learning a lot already. This has been a challenging conference to organize, and that is partly because there are several strongly held and often opposing opinions on this subject. We’ve gotten messages and calls from women who say, in no uncertain terms (and with a touch of resentment) that “there is no problem” surrounding women in the Church, that “nothing needs validating.” Others see things very differently indeed. Many have been deeply hurt by the Church’s inability to find a place for women (including young women and girls) in the Church’s life. They also believe that the Church itself has been functioning at a reduced capacity, not engaging more fully this huge constituency of its membership.

One presumes that there are also people who are just interested in seeing “what’s out there” and what the issues of interest are. I’m sure many such people will be at the conference, but they aren’t the ones writing us. In fact, almost nobody who has contacted us is neutral or vague about this issue in the slightest. The intensity of the various and sometimes contrasting signals we are getting also goes to show how very important it is to bring all these issues into a forum for discussion. That too is what this conference is about. Bringing women from Holy Cross, St. Vladimir’s, St. Tikhon’s seminaries together. Bringing under one roof single, married, monastic women, theologians, professionals, academics. People who are stung by this issue and people that aren’t—bearing in mind that if one member of the body suffers, all suffer together (cf. 1 Cor. 12:26).

This is one thing we do here at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, by vocation: bring multiple voices together into conversation—voices that matter—from different perspectives, different passionately held positions and backgrounds. Not only is this a part of our mandate as a theological school; it is something that, by God’s grace, could play a role in bringing more people closer to the Church, and therefore closer to Christ.

So come and be a part of it! Go to our website and register. We would be delighted to see you at this gathering, whether you’re a woman, man, priest, professional, student, parent, single person: Come!

Read more Faculty Footnotes, as well as Seminarians Speak and Alumni News in the Voices section of our Website.

This past Friday, May 20, amidst the preparations for our yearly Commencement, a true friend of St. Vladimir's Seminary, Zoran Milkovich, fell asleep in the Lord. A graduate of St. Vladimir's Seminary, Mr. Milkovich served as President of the Saint Vladimir's Theological Foundation from its inception in 1968 until 1984. The Foundation played an essential role in the advancement of the seminary; members devoted thousands of "man and woman hours," and millions of dollars, to support the training of seminarians during its existence.

Zoran was also a member of the seminary's Board of Trustees for many years, and Vice President of Personal Trusts and Estates for Chase Manhattan Bank for more than 35 years. His wife of 60 years, Annette, fell asleep in the Lord one month ago, on April 10. He is survived by one daughter, Lisa Madara, and is grandfather to Nicholas, Daniel, Anthony, and Erika.

Funeral services for Zoran will be held at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 20 West 26 Street, New York City on Wednesday, May 25, at 10:00 a.m. Visitation will be held at the Volk-Leber Funeral Home, 789 Teaneck Rd., Teaneck, New Jersey on Tuesday, May 24 from 1:00–3:00 p.m. and from 6:00–8:00 p.m. Interment will follow at St. Tikhon's Monastery Cemetery, South Canaan, Pennsylvania.

May Zoran's memory be eternal! Christ is risen!

For directions or more information about funeral arrangements, please visit www.volkleberfuneralhome.com.

Twenty-srs of Arts degrees were conferred.

Commencement crowned the week's celebrations, during which one student was ordained to the priesthood, four were ordained to the diaconate, three were elevated as sub-deacons, and two were tonsured as readers (see that story here); the Dean, Archpriest John Behr, received the honor of wearing the jeweled cross; the Chapel Ecclesiarch, Priest Alexander Rentel, was elevated to the rank of Archpriest; and the Director of Recruitment and Alumni Relations, Protodeacon Joseph Matusiak, was awarded a kamilavka.

Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America and president of the seminary’s Board of Trustees, opened the Commencement Exercises. Class Valedictorian this year was Michael John Soroka, and the newly ordained Deacon David Wooten was Salutatorian; both demonstrated not only scholarly acumen but also exceptional service to the community. The “Saint Basil Award for Academic Achievement” was presented to both Andrew Smith and Monk Kilian (Sprecher).

Another highlight of the Commencement program was the conferral of the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Music upon David Drillock, who served as Commencement Speaker this year. Dr. Drillock is Professor of Music, emeritus, from St. Vladimir’s, and is well known in Orthodox Christian circles for his extensive influence on liturgical music in North America. Editions of his books continue to provide foundational and sound liturgical music adaptations in the English language for parish choirs. The citation honoring Professor Drilock was read by Dr. John Barnet, associate dean for Academic Affairs.

The entire campus community wishes the Class of 2011 many years!

[Photos in this article are by Robert Lisak]

View the entire Commencement Program booklet. Listen to the Commencement Program and Professor David Drillock's address. Read Professor Drillock's address: "Heaven on Earth: Singing with the Angels." See a photo gallery of the day, by Robert Lisak.