“Worship as witness in a changing world” theme of SVS Summer Institute
“Why Liturgy Matters: Worship as Witness in a Changing World” was the theme of the annual summer institute at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary here June 24-27, 2007.
The theme was developed by several SVS faculty members and the keynote guest lecturer, the Priestmonk Gregory [Woolfenden]. A former member of the theological faculty of the University of Oxford, where he taught liturgical studies and Byzantine Church history, Father Gregory currently is professor of liturgical studies at Saint Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary, South Bound Brook, NJ, and a visiting assistant professor of liturgical studies at the Institute of Sacred Music at the Yale Divinity School.
The institute coordinators, the Rev. Alexander Rentel and Deacon Kevin Smith, addressed the participants, as did Dr. Paul Meyendorff. Other SVS faculty members who participated in the institute included the Revs. John Erickson and Harry Pappas, Protodeacon Kirill Sokolov, Dr. Peter Bouteneff, and Mr. Mark Bailey.
A new feature of this year’s institute was a liturgics training program aimed at newly ordained deacons and men preparing for or considering ordination.
Nearly seventy percent of this year’s attendees participated in the annual event for the first time. In addition to lectures, discussions, and classes, they worshipped daily in the seminary chapel.
Institute lectures will be available as downloadable MP3s free of charge at www.svspress.com in the near future, while a photo gallery of the institute is available at www.svots.edu.