Elevation, ordinations, and awards mark Feast of Three Hierarchs at St. Vladimir’s Seminary
On January 30, 2009, during the celebration of the Feast of the Three Hierarchs — Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, the patrons of the St. Vladimir’s Seminary campus chapel — two seminarians were ordained and two more received distinctive scholarship awards. Concurrently, Protodeacon Kirill Sokolov, the seminary’s Associate Chancellor for Systems, was elevated to the rank of Archdeacon by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America. In addition to his duties at the seminary, he now serves as the Metropolitan’s archdeacon.
Archdeacon Kirill, an alumnus of SVS [M.Div. ‘07], was ordained to the diaconate in 2004 and elevated to the rank of Protodeacon in 2006. He is a lecturer in liturgics for second and third year seminarians. He has been a member of the OCA’s Committee on Diaconal Vocations since 2007, and a member of Orthodox Information Technologies Commission of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America since 2004. Moreover, he has led practical training sessions throughout the United States for clergy and church servers, including the Diaconal Liturgical Practicum, which occurs on the seminary campus during the summer, the next of which will take place June 14 to 17, 2009.
Deacon Gregory — a third-year M.Div. student who currently fulfills his weekend parish assignment at St. Gregory the Theologian Church, Wappingers Falls, NY, under the direction of the Very Rev. Alexis Vinogradov, rector — was ordained to the holy priesthood by Metropolitan Jonah. Fr. Gregory has a wife, Sarah, and a son, Cassian, and is priest in the OCA.
Lee Whitfield — a second-year M.Div. student who hails from Christ the Savior Church in Southbury, CT — was ordained to the diaconate, and adopted the name of his patron, St. Theophan the Recluse. Dn. Theophan had been a teacher for 15 years at independent schools in New York City and Connecticut prior to pursuing seminary studies. He and his wife, Manna, have three daughters: Ayame, Miya, and Emi.
His Grace, Bishop Maxim of Western America of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and over a dozen faculty, student, and guest clergy concelebrated with Metropolitan Jonah.
Third-year student, the Rev. Aaron Warwick of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, and second-year student, Dr. Andrew Cuneo of the OCA, each received the St. Basil the Great Award for Academic Achievement, established in 2003 by an anonymous benefactor who wished to recognize and encourage students who have excelled in their studies at the seminary.
The award bears the name of St. Basil the Great, one of the Three Holy Hierarchs for whom the seminary chapel is named. With St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil is lauded as a “harp of the Spirit,” a “trumpet of truth,” a “flowing river of wisdom,” a “teacher of the universe,” a “pillar of the Church.” Like St. Gregory and St. John (to use words from one of the hymns in honor of the Holy Hierarchs), St. Basil “approached the meadows of books like a bee, gathering well the flowers of virtue.” He excelled in the study of philosophy and rhetoric, the two most prized areas of intellectual accomplishment of his day. He demonstrated how such intellectual pursuits help to edify the Church and enlighten the universe. In doing so, he has given a noble example for all who dedicate themselves to the study of Orthodox theology.
This past year, the St. Basil the Great Award was given to a senior (third-year) student at commencement exercises, besides its current presentation to a middler [second-year] and a junior [first-year] student on the Feast of the Three Hierarchs. At the May 2008 Commencement, the award went to Rico Monge from the senior class. May God grant that the recipients, with St. Basil as their exemplar, will continue to excel not only in academic achievements but also in wisdom and in virtue.