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Does any one know about the theoligical teachings at ss. cyril and methodius seminary. Is it a mixture of east and west or just east. My priest gave me a catechism on the divine liturgy to read from there. It was real old and there were a lot of infferences to latin theology. For exaple, they called the liturgy a mass, talked about purgatory, and also the sacred heart. Theses are all western teachings, maybee it was made for latin coming into the church. I just want to know if the seminary teaches the eastern theology in its purity. thanks

Broric,

There was a time in our history when Byzantine Catholics were severely latinized in a failed attempt to win the respect of the Roman Catholics. This time has passed and we are well along in the process to truly witness Orthodoxy within Catholic communion.

You might visit the seminary's online catalogue of courses at https://www.byzcath.org/seminary/Formation.htm (it is a few years out of date but still pretty relevant).

Best wishes,

Administrator

Dear Broric,

I join with our esteemed Administrator in wishing you well.

But if you don't work on your spelling, you may go down in history as the first candidate to have been excommunicated for grammatical error

Alex

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]

Dear Broric,
I believe the book you have is the Liturgical Catechism on the Sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy. It was published by Byzantine Seminary Press (not "the seminary" per se) sometime -- I think -- in the early 1970s. Most likely the primary author was Msgr. Basil Shereghy who also wrote a more extensive monograph on the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom that especially focused on the Byzantine-Slavonic usage.

While the book does, as you note, contain a substantial amount of overtly Latin theology, I think overall it is quite well done and with some updating (since some 30 years later we have renewed many of our traditional practice and theology) could be put to good use in youth Eastern Christian Formation classes and probably also adult enrichment sessions.

Dear RichC,

Excellent points!

In addition, purgatory and the Sacred Heart devotion and other things we recognize as overt Latinisms today were also part and parcel of the theological curricula and practice of the Kyivan Orthodox Church in the eighteenth century, beginning with St Peter Mohyla and St Dmytry of Rostov.

And yet the Orthodox Church didn't feel that this was sufficient to prevent their canonization.

Alex

Broric,

One has be aware of one's needs and others needs and make decisions on that basis.

If one is looking for an academic and intellectually pure education in the Eastern Tradition, I would suppose one might find it in certain institutions in Rome, Lebanon or the Holy Land.

Sts. Cyril & Methodius, on the other hand, exists less to train academics than pastors. In that sense, like most seminaries in the USA, it provides the intellectual training needed for the parish priesthood rather than the academy. In our small and poor Metropolia, we often grabbed whatever was handy. We send our candidates without a BA, or who need additional pre-graduate study to a nearby Jesuit university.

We have made do with what little we have for many years, and will do so in the future if need be.

K.

Broric;

To quote my favorite band REM, let me say "Consider this..."

http://www.holyspiritseminary.org/

Excellent website.

Axios

Does anyone have a listing of the various Eastern Catholic seminaries in the USA or Canada? How many US Eastern Catholic seminarians study in the Old World or in Roman seminaries?

axios

[ 02-23-2002: Message edited by: Axios ]

Dear Axios,

You have the two links already here in this thread. Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh (for Byzantine Catholics), and Holy Spirit in Ontario, for Ukrainians. Ukrainians in America study abroad, or at several Roman diocesan seminaries, or at the faculty at Catholic University in Washington D.C., where they have a house of studies, but not a programme of theology of their own.

Elias