On June 23 The Very Rev. Grand Ecclesiarch Aetios (Nikiforos), an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) and the Director of the Private Office of the Ecumenical Patriarch, passed his viva examination and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at Cardiff University in Wales. Fr. Aetios submitted his dissertation, “The Creation...

By The Very Rev. Dr. Sergius Halvorsen , Assistant Professor of Homiletics and Rhetoric This sermon by Archpriest Sergius Halvorsen was delivered on the Feast of the Holy, Glorious Prophet Elijah , July 20, 2025, following the reading of the Holy Gospel at Divine Liturgy (Luke 4:22–30). In the name...

In July, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) Board of Directors announced the selection of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Alumnus Dr. Nathan Hoppe (’20) as OCMC’s new Executive Director. Dr. Hoppe will succeed Fr. Martin Ritsi and assume the helm in January 2026, following Fr. Martin’s retirement after more than twenty-six...

Faculty member and alumna Dr. Sarah Byrne-Martelli has developed a penchant for firsts. In 2019, she became the first woman to graduate from St. Vladimir's Seminary's Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program in its current format. Now, she has also become the first chaplain to be accepted as a full-time Research...

“My hope and prayer when I joined the Board was that I would be able to make an impact on the success of the Seminary with the experiences I have had in my life,” said Francis (Frank) Barrett. “To be able to play a small part in improving the quality...

CrossRoad Summer Institute hosted one of its summer sessions on the campus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVOTS) this July. Although technically the program’s first official visit to campus in its twenty-year history, it was a homecoming of sorts for CrossRoad. The Seminary welcomed a group of thirty-two high school juniors...

On this Feast of Holy Transfiguration, St. Vladimir’s Seminary remembers the eminent Orthodox Church musician and noted Professor Boris Ledkovsky, on the 50th anniversary of his repose in the Lord (+Aug. 6, 1975). Boris Ledkovsky was born in 1894 in Agrafenovka, Russia. The son of a priest, Boris began directing...

In his new role as Manager of Operations for St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press , Dr. Daniel Stauffer gets to combine his academic expertise in late Byzantine theology with his aptitude for business. He spent the past eight years at the University of Notre Dame, where he completed a master’s...

The word “piety” is now seldom used outside the Church. What precisely is piety, let alone biblical piety? In the new book Biblical Piety and Prayer from St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) Press, author Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon explores figures from the Old and New Testaments to examine the concepts of...

Dr. John Barnet is Associate Professor of New Testament at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, where he teaches courses in New Testament and biblical Greek—but the details of his life almost read like something out of a spy novel. His path to the Seminary took him from Italy to the United States...