The SVS Karate Club has been meeting weekly since Fall 2009. Most students are seminary children, but several adults have participated as well. The traditional Karate training conducted here is designed to develop positive character traits in students through working within strict guidelines while enjoying a fun atmosphere.

Students learn valuable self-defense skills; they learn to respect themselves and others, to practice self-control, and to coordinate their minds and bodies. Training gives children a sense of self-value and confidence, better health, and increases their ability to concentrate on tasks. All students are taught that the Karate techniques they learn are for self-defense purposes only, and they practice different methods to avoid physical confrontation.

A typical Saturday-morning class lasts for one hour. During the class, safety is paramount and a qualified instructor monitors the students closely. Students begin by bowing to the instructor (a traditional form of respect in martial arts training.) After calisthenics, designed to warm-up and strengthen the body, the class practices basic techniques —punches, blocks, evasive movements and kicks—while the instructor corrects each student's technique as needed. The techniques learned are then applied in practical exercises, consisting of working with a partner, practicing with hand-held foam striking targets, etc. The students frequently participate in fun activities, which help them learn the various techniques.

The instructor, third-year seminarian Fr. Michael Sakran, has trained in martial arts for 17 years, and has instructed children for 13 years.  He holds a black belt in American Open Karate, a blue belt in Northern Shaolin/Northern Praying Mantis Kung-Fu, and has trained in self-defense skills as instructed by the U.S. Marine Corps while serving honorably from 1998–2002.

Community Gathering • By Kate Behr •

Shining faces, rapt expressions, and sweet voices welcomed St. Nicholas to the annual SVOTS Church School celebration and brunch after the Divine Liturgy on Sunday December 5th. Children and adults alike shared food, carols, and a joyful sense of occasion.

Everyone contributed to the event. Parents and community members set up tables under the guidance of Parent-Co-ordinator, Bettye Malone. Families brought food and more food, until there was no room on the central table for one more dish. Whether babies, toddlers, or lofty teens, the children generated excitement and hope.

When “Oh, who loves Nicholas the saintly?” rang out, it was clear that everyone singing meant every heartfelt word.

By Peter C. Bouteneff

I didn’t know our first-year student Harrison Russin played the accordion, until he flung it out of its case and launched into a spirited set of Christmas carols at our semi-annual Talent Show. I knew that seminarians Lee and Jamey Bozeman had been accomplished Christian rock musicians and signed recording artists, but I didn’t know how good they could sound with a faculty bass player.

Our winter Talent Show provides the campus community a much-needed opportunity to relax in fellowship just before final exam week. It also gives us the chance to celebrate each other’s talents, and to discover facets of our brothers and sisters that do not come to fore in the classroom, chapel, or on field assignments!

This season, we witnessed song writing, comedic wit, a children’s choir, and more. Everyone laughed, everyone applauded in acclamation. Everyone also was reminded that as Orthodox Christians, we retain and celebrate every gift that each person brings to the church body: preaching, teaching, and service to the needy, of course; but also the beauty that we co-create with the Lord.

By Deborah (Malacky) Belonick

Squealing with delight, children at the seminary participate in one of the most anticipated events of Pascha afternoon: the annual Easter egg hunt. They scout under every bush and tree, behind every rock and lightpost, to fill their baskets with multi-colored hard boiled eggs. Gathering eggs as if they were treasured jewels, the children eagerly compare their finds—"But, we don't eat the eggs," they admit. The joy of the hunt, and the joy of the Lord, is expressed in their faces.

O who loves Nicholas the Saintly,

O who serves Nicholas the Saintly.
Him will Nicholas receive,
and give help in time of need.
Holy Father Nicholas!

With the singing of this traditional St. Nicholas hymn, the children of the Three Hierarchs Chapel's Sunday community welcomed special guest St. Nicholas for his annual visit to St. Vladimir's Seminary. As is customary, the identity of the good saint was camouflaged by his abundant white beard, but astute children perceived he bore a striking resemblance to The Rev. Dr. David Mezynski, associate dean for Student Affairs. During the celebration, grown ups and kids alike also enjoyed a potluck meal and a time of carol singing.

Metropolitan Philip Auditorium morphed into Super Bowl Central on Sunday evening, February 3. Fans of the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers clustered around the big screen to watch the game, while students, faculty, and staff—not to mention kids!—enjoyed pizza and snacks.

During the early October fall recess, students enjoyed "Oktoberfest," an evening of relaxation and good food. Campus Chef Nat served up delicious bratwurst and spare ribs (look for his upcoming SVS Press cookbook release When You Feast) and faculty and seminarians alike enjoyed polka music and fellowship. 

The next morning, the St. Herman's Society for Orthodox Ecology kicked off the semester recess with Campus Clean-Up Day. After an 8:30 a.m. molieben to the Holy Spirit "At the Beginning of Any Good Work," students set out across the seminary with trash bags, gloves, and rakes. Five workers labored to render the 12–acre campus to pristine condition—often a challenge when surrounded by a populated surburban neighborhood. 

Read about the September 1, 2013 lecture sponsored by the St. Herman's Society for Orthodox Ecology. 

On the last weekend in October, 2013, students and their families gathered in the Germack building to participate in the "Chili Cook-off & Kids Costume Party." Contestants brought crock pots featuring their special version of chili recipes, and when the winner was announced, no one was surprised that the prize went to legendary St. Vladimir's cook, Fr. Alexander Rentel.

On Sunday, December 8, 2013, the children of the Three Hierarchs Chapel's Sunday community welcomed special guest St. Nicholas for his annual visit to St. Vladimir's Seminary. As is customary, the identity of the good saint was hidden under his abundant white beard. During the celebration, grown ups and kids alike also enjoyed a potluck meal, after which St. Nicholas presented each child with a gift.

The following week, students finished papers, sat for finals, and joyfully made travel and holiday arrangements while breathing a collective sigh of relief at the end of the term.

On November 11, 2013, Seminarians Megan Martha Carlisle and Ashli Moore travelled to Washington, D.C. to represent St. Vladimir's at the pan-Orthodox ecology conference "On Earth as it is in Heaven." The event was sponsored by the Orthodox Fellowship of the Transfiguration and hosted by St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The conference focused on practical applications of Orthodox theology and ecology, and presentation topics ranged from examinations of worldwide ecological trends to architectural design in Orthodox parish construction.

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios delivered the keynote address. "Harmony between heaven and earth, just as between creation and humanity, has always been a fundamental vocation and principle in the Judeo-Christian scripture and tradition, as well as in our Orthodox liturgy and spiritual life," he emphasized. 

Martha Carlisle was one of the members of the last panel of the day, in which participants discussed ecological concerns in the context of Orthodox higher education. She said a few words on the subject of campus activism, highlighting the existence of the St. Herman's Society for Orthodox Ecology at St. Vladimir's Seminary and advocating the commingling of work, study, and prayer, with ecological concerns. Earlier that afternoon, St. Vladimir's Seminary Trustee Anne Glynn Mackoul moderated a panel devoted to the topic "Putting Theology into Action in the Parish." 

"Our prayers fill us with the hope and humility necessary to carry out our tasks," she noted. "As fallen human beings, we almost never see ourselves clearly. We overestimate our abilities, and believe that we can save the earth ourselves. Or we underestimate them and give up when the problem seems too large. Communion with God keeps us from those extremes. We are not God; but we are his instruments. We cannot do everything, but, with his help, we can do something."

Representatives from Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, MA, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, PA, and Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) also attended the conference. The panel moderator was Dr. Alfred Kentigern Siewers, professor of English and Environmental Studies at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA.