Liturgy focus of SVS Summer Institute June 24-27, 2007
The annual Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Summer Institute will be held on the seminary campus June 24-27, 2007.
The theme of this year’s institute is “Why Liturgy Matters: Worship as Witness in a Changing World.”
“At this year’s institute we are trying a number of new things,” said the Rev. Alexander Rentel, an assistant professor at the seminary and one of the institute’s coordinators. “We are trying a shortened schedule so that participants don’t have to take so much time off from their busy schedules to attend. We are offering intensive rubrics classes for late-vocation clergy. Our faculty will be making multi-media presentations. And since the theme is about liturgy, we’re celebrating the Divine Liturgy every day of the institute.”
The seminary faculty chose this year’s theme because of their conviction that the liturgy stands at the center of Christian life because Christ Himself is at the center of Christian liturgy. As the late Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann once wrote, “the liturgy is entirely in Christ; throughout the liturgy Christ is with us and we are in Christ.”
The institute program opens on Sunday, June 24, with a keynote lecture by the renowned liturgical theologian, the Priestmonk Gregory [Woolfenden], at 7:00 p.m. A reception will follow.
On Monday and Tuesday, June 25 and 26, the institute faculty will deliver a number of talks and and lead discussions. The V. Rev. John Erickson, current seminary dean, will offer a final summation on Wednesday, June 27.
Institute faculty will explore the theme through presentations titled “Praying the Liturgy,” “The Priesthood of the Laity,” “Liturgy and Culture,” and “Why Liturgy? Why Ritual?” The music faculty will expand on these themes in light of the specific ministry of musicians in the Church. Finally, an intensive liturgics session especially designed for late-vocation clergy serving in the Orthodox Church in America will be offered.
The schedule, list of speakers, a downloadable registration form, and more information about the institute are available on the seminary web site at http://www.svots.edu.