His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America and His Eminence, Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America were awarded Doctor of Divinity degrees, Honoris Causa, on behalf of the Board of Trustees and faculty of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY at an academic convocation on Monday evening, September 14, 2015.
Metropolitan Tikhon serves as the seminary’s President and chairs its Board of Trustees, while Metropolitan Joseph serves as Vice Chair of the Board.
“The visual image of these two Metropolitans standing together should remind all of us of the important place that our seminary has had for generations in showing the visible unity of Orthodoxy in America,” said Archpriest Dr. Chad Hatfield, the seminary’s Chancellor/CEO, in commenting on the significance of the awards. “Now both of these great leaders will be alumni of Saint Vladimir’s.”
The convocation took place in conjunction with the presentation of the third annual Father John Meyendorff Memorial Lecture, delivered by Dr. Predrag Matejic, Associate Professor at Ohio State University’s Center for Slavic and East European Studies and Curator of the Hilandar Research Library. In his lecture, titled “Byzantium, the Slavs, and the Rise of the Russian Orthodox Church,” Dr. Matejic highlighted three historical periods: the conversion of the Slavs, the 10th-11th centuries, and the Russian Orthodox Church after the fall of Constantinople and the Councils of the 16th century. “These three moments reflect the changing interaction and relationship between Byzantium and the Slavs (Russia) from complete acceptance, to refinement—that is, rejection of Byzantium’s pagan philosophies—and finally, to the renaissance of the Russian Orthodox Church,” he said.
The convocation and lecture were open to the public.
For additional information visit the web site of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary.
