Russian TV Program highlights St. Vladimir Seminary, Orthodoxy in America

On Sunday, December 22, the weekly Russian television show “Strolls down Broadway” will feature a segment about Orthodoxy in America that highlights Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Crestwood, NY and the work of the late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann.

Hosting the program will be Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporter, Mr. Serge Schmemann, son of Father Schmemann. Mr. Schmemann is also chairman of the Orthodox Church in America’s Communications Department.

The program features interviews with Prof. John Erickson, SVS Dean; the Very Revs. Paul Lazor and Leonid Kishkovsky; Mrs. Juliana Schmemann; and others. A visit to the OCA’s Our Lady of Kazan Church, Sea Cliff, NY, also forms part of the presentation.

The program intends to offer Russian viewers a glimpse of how Orthodox Christianity has adapted to the American scene while remaining faithful to its heritage and faith.

“I lived for more than ten years in the Soviet Union and in Russia, and I believe it is critically important for Orthodox believers there to see that the Church need not remain frozen in the form it had before the Communist era, that it can take on new forms and a new openness without betraying any of its essence,” Mr. Schmemann said. “I hope this brief visit to our Seminary and our Church will prove encouraging for the Russians.”