www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News St. Tikhon's OCA Seminary-Student Enrollment At 90

This is bound to provoke some comments!
Dn. Robert

http://www.oca.org/News.asp?ID=1067&SID=19

St. Tikhon's Seminary opens academic year with record enrollment

SOUTH CANAAN, PA [OCA Communications] � Ninety students -- a record enrollment -- were welcomed at the Divine Liturgy marking the opening of the 2006-2007 academic year at Saint Tikhon's Seminary here on Thursday, August 31.

His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, rector of Saint Tikhon's Seminary here, presided at the Divine Liturgy.

�It is a great joy to welcome all of you � a very large incoming class and returning students who comprise a record enrollment � as we begin another academic year," Bishop Tikhon said in his homily at the conclusion of the opening Liturgy. "We are grateful to the Lord that He has called so many to pursue the sacred vocation of serving Him and His Holy Church, and I pray that He will guide your theological studies and priestly formation here at our seminary for His glory.�

The incoming class of 30 seminarians gathered for a three-day orientation August 28-30, while the entire student body participated in a three-day opening retreat August 31-September 2. The Priestmonk Matthias [Moriak], an M. Div. graduate of Saint Tikhon�s who serves as rector of Saint Gregory of Nyssa Church, Seaford, NY, served as retreat master.

Classes began on Tuesday, September 5.

On Wednesday, September 13, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, seminary president, joined the faculty and seminarians for the celebration of the Vigil of the Holy Cross. Metropolitan Herman is a graduate of Saint Tikhon�s and teaches on its faculty. Prior to his election as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America in 2002, he served as the seminary's rector.

The primary purpose of Saint Tikhon�s Seminary is the formation of candidates desiring to serve in the priestly ministry. The school offers programs of study on the undergraduate and Master of Divinity levels. The seminary, firmly grounded in the Church's patristic tradition, is fully accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

The student body, which this year includes a record 36 married students -- with 66 children -- in residence, comprises seminarians from the OCA (including the Romanian Episcopate and the Albanian Archdiocese), the Antiochian and Greek archdioceses, the Serbian Dioceses and Carpatho-Russian dioceses, the Moscow and Jerusalem patriarchal parishes, and the Malankara Indian Orthodox Syrian Diocese in the US. A number of international students from such diverse places as Brazil, Denmark, Hungary, Palestine, and Uganda are also studying at the seminary.

The seminary faculty includes 10 full-time and 11 part-time members. New to the faculty this year is Prof. James Miller, Ph.D., a graduate of Marquette Univesity. Dr. Miller, whose field of expertise is the Old Testament, will teach a variety of courses, including Israel�s Origins and Psalms and Wisdom.

The seminary provides a balanced academic program, evenly divided into four areas of concentration: Scripture, Theology and Spirituality, Church History and Patristics, and Pastoral Arts and Praxis. In addition, students are required to participate in the spiritual life afforded them at Saint Tikhon�s Monastery Church, where the full cycle of liturgical services is offered daily, and where they have the opportunity to benefit from the guidance of monastics.

This is wonderful news! I have always thought that St Tikhon's turns out some wonderful priests. The parents of one of my priest friends live in Waymart, and we would stay there when we would go to New York, and it was always my habit to go and talk to the seminarians there. I have always walked away impressed. It is good that so many young men are hearing God calling.

Alexandr

I am eastern Catholic but find myself frequently looking longingly towards my Orthodox brothers and sisters. If only the eastern Catholics could take a few hints from the east, then perhaps we would thrive too.

I understand a significant number are converts.

"Significant" is an understatement. I work in a Bank in the same county as South Canaan. St. Tikhon's is a depository & borrowing customer of my Bank. In 2002, I took an on-line course which they offered in Spirituality. It was taught by the Academic Dean. I went over there on Bank business, but the Dean spotted me, and invited me to lunch with the seminarians. He graciously introduced me around as a Greek Catholic deacon, and we had lunch. It was a Friday, and the lunch consisted primarily of halushki. However, there was only a siginificant minority of "nosh" guys eating that halushki. I met candidates from the Deep South who were converts from the Southern Baptist Church. I met Africans from Nigeria, Filipinos, Mexicans, a Polish-American former Roman Catholic (who had a lot of RC horror stories to relate), a Cuban-American priest convert from the RC Archdiocese of Miami who had an "axe to grind" against the inroads of radical feminism into his former diocese. I met candidates from pre-Chalcedonian Eastern Churches. While I have some theological and ecclesiological differences with these folks, I can affirm that they have a truly Christian spirit, and they are serious about building a Church in the United States (IMHO, the present financial scandal will only go down as a "blip" on the radar screen). On the issue of having a truly Christian spirit, and of building and growing a Church here in the U.S., we (American Greek Catholics) should take a page from their book, and "go and do likewise".

In Christ,
Dn. Robert

Sorry. Double-posted in error!

Alex,
I pass through Waymart every day, on the way to, and home from, work. My bank has a branch there, and we typically will hire some of the future Matushki of those candidates who are already married. Let me know the next time you intend to visit the area.

Dn. Robert

P.S.

There is a ROCOR church (mostly Lemkos and Carpatho-Russians) minutes away in downtown Mayfield! Very friendly parish!

I have a couple of questions.

Do Byzantine Catholics in this country have a seminary of their own?

Can candidates for the priesthood in the BCC attend St. Tikhon's if they wish?

Andrew

Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Ss. Cyril and Methodius: http://www.byzcathsem.org/main/home.php

Do they have roughly the same number of seminarians?

I'm still curious about my second question. It seems like that would be a good way to build a bridge with Orthodoxy.

Andrew

Ilian,

I'm afraid someone else will have to answer those questions for you. My uneducated guess to answer both of your questions is NO, and I wonder how my guess stands up to the truth.

I would find the above question humorous if the answer were not so grim.

Someone please correct me if I am in error, but my understanding is that the current number of seminarians at Sts. Cyril & Methodius can be counted on one hand.


~Isaac

Alex,
I pass through Waymart every day, on the way to, and home from, work. My bank has a branch there, and we typically will hire some of the future Matushki of those candidates who are already married. Let me know the next time you intend to visit the area.

Dn. Robert

P.S.

There is a ROCOR church (mostly Lemkos and Carpatho-Russians) minutes away in downtown Mayfield! Very friendly parish! [/QUOTE]


Ah yes, St John the Baptist in Mayfield! I know Protopresbyter John Sorochka very well. The next time you see him, ask him to show you the video of the "Holy Fire" that occured whilst he was censing during Paschal services a few years back!

Alexandr

Ah yes, St John the Baptist in Mayfield! I know Protopresbyter John Sorochka very well. The next time you see him, ask him to show you the video of the "Holy Fire" that occured whilst he was censing during Paschal services a few years back!

Alexandr [/b][/QUOTE]

Will do. I will be seeing him soon. This "Holy Fire" occurred in Mayfield, and not in Jerusalem? Interesting.

Dn. Robert

(1.) We have a seminary in Pittsburgh-Sts. Cyril & Methodius.

(2.) Our diaconal and priestly candidates ,at this time, can't go there for formation. But, in general, our people will take courses there, from time to time, as I have done. This, in itself, is a thing which can serve toward "building bridges".

Dn. Robert