Fr. Kishkovsky to Deliver 22nd Annual Fr. Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture

The V. Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, Assistant to the Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America for External Affairs and Interchurch Relations and rector of Our Lady of Kazan Church, Sea Cliff, NY.

CRESTWOOD, NY [OCA Communications]—Saint Vladimir’s Seminary here will host the 22nd annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture on January 30, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium.

The Very Rev. Leonid Kiskhovsky will deliver the lecture, titled “Orthodoxy Today: Tradition or Traditionalism?”

Father Kishkovsky serves as Assistant to the Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America for External Affairs and Interchurch Relations and rector of Our Lady of Kazan Church, Sea Cliff, NY. Ordained to the holy priesthood in 1969, he has vast experience serving the Church nationally and internationally. He served as president of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA from 1989 until 1990, while from 1996 until 1999 he served as a member of the Secretary of State’s Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. He also served as moderator for Action by Churches Together, a Geneva-based ecumenical alliance of churches and humanitarian agencies, from 2000 to 2003, and continues to serve on the emergency committee.

Currently, Father Kishkovsky holds leadership positions in several Orthodox and ecumenical agencies, including the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, International Orthodox Christian Charities, the World Council of Churches, the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, the Europe Forum of Church World Service, Christian Churches Together in the USA, the US Conference of Religions for Peace, the World Conference on Religion and Peace, the Research Center for Religion and Human Rights in Closed Societies, and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The annual lecture is held in honor of the late Father Schmemann, the renowned theologian who served as dean of the seminary from 1962 until his death in 1983. Past speakers include Dr. Albert Raboteau, professor of religion at Princeton University; His Eminence, Metropolitan George [Khodre] of Lebanon; and the Very Rev. Boris Bobrinskoy, dean of Saint Sergius Academy, Paris, France.

The lecture is open to the public.

For further information call Saint Vladimir’s Seminary at 914-963-1076 or visit the seminary’s web site at http://www.svots.edu.

Established in 1938, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary offers a variety of academic programs designed to prepare clergy, lay ministers, religious educators, choir directors, and other Church workers for ministry in the Church. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, serves as the seminary’s President.