Nativity of the Mother of God
Saint Vladimir Seminary
September 8, 2023
As the liturgy comes to an end, I would like to take a moment to address and exhort the seminarians in particular.
One of the Russian folk names for today’s feast is Malaya Prechistaya—the ‘little Most Pure.’ The name makes sense: today, we behold the Most Holy Theotokos, the Most Pure, as a little baby in her mother’s embrace.
But behind this simple formula is a profound truth: though she is small, she is already Most Pure; she is already worthy to be made into a temple for the Lord. God made his dwelling in the Ever-virgin’s heart before he came to dwell in her womb; already, in her infant way, she is fully devoted to the Lord, a house of his worship, as we shall see clearly when she is offered up to the service of the temple at three years old, even then being herself the true temple, ark, and jar that fulfills the shadows of the Old Law, a ready habitation for the Lord, a house built for God’s hypostatic Wisdom, prepared with seven pillars.
Likewise, we are called to be temples of the Lord at every stage of our life, and this means that our life should be a continuous service of worship. In the ancient temple, sacrifices were offered morning and evening, and at seminary you carry on this practice by offering daily Vespers and Matins.
But daily services and continuous worship are not just for seminary or for monks; they are the foundation of the Orthodox way of life, which is nothing other than the Gospel properly understood and lived out.
Of course, this imperative for daily worship is partly fulfilled through private prayer, but we should strive also to fulfill it through public services. Worship is not just for Sundays and a handful of holidays. Every day is holy unto the Lord; every day should see Orthodox Christians present at his temples; every day we should be making ourselves into pure temples, filled with the sacrifice of prayer, songs, and praise offered unto the God of all.
As future leaders of the Orthodox Church, whether as clergy or laity, it is your duty to help develop and maintain an authentic liturgical culture among Orthodox Christians in your lands. Even small missions, even in the absence of a priest, can offer occasional additional services—a reader’s Vespers, an akathist that brings the community together in honor of its patron saint, a saint of the American land, or a saint of the day.
If this is possible for small missions, then what should we say of parishes with dedicated, full-time priests? The foundation of Orthodox life is divine services—again, not just Sunday liturgy or Saturday Vespers, but all the services of the year, all the services of need.
After all, if the divine services are an offering to the Lord, an offering of pure rational worship, then the more often we celebrate them, the more we will be offering up ourselves to him, to be filled with his knowledge and wisdom and love, better to discern, understand, and do his will.
In so many ways, this is the focus of your entire seminary experience: from your academic studies to your community service, from your time spent in the library to time spent with your families, from the learning of music to participation in pastoral work, all of these activities draw you back towards the worship of God and bear fruit only through the grace that flows from the sacred space of the altar and the divine services. This is why your hard-working President, Fr Chad, devotes so much time and energy to guiding and propelling the mission of the seminary, and we are grateful to him for his dedication to this noble task. This is why your Academic Dean, Dr. Alex Tudorie so diligently attends to the academic excellence of the seminary curriculum and programs of study, as well as the development of the excellent faculty who sacrificially offer not only expertise in their field of study but the wisdom of experience in the life of the Church. Together with the hard-working staff, the Board of Trustees, the alumni and all those who support this apostolic ministry, all these individuals are here to instill in you the desire to say with the psalmist: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1).
Therefore, I urge you all, concretely, to prioritize the divine services, both during your time here at seminary, as is required, but also all the days of your life, from morning to evening, at each age and stage of life. Hold services, attend services, follow the fasts, pray to the saints throughout the wheel of the year.
In this way, you will help the Orthodox Christian people to develop and maintain an authentic Orthodox Christian way of life, a way that is in harmony with the saints throughout the ages, a way that leads to sanctity and to eternal salvation. After all, for the elect who delight in God eternally, existence is nothing but worship, a continuous and total self-offering of adoration to the one God in Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages.