SVOTS Dean, Chancellor meet with Patriarch John X, Metropolitan Joseph

Metropolitan Anthony

The Chancellor and Dean of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY—Archpriest Dr. Chad Hatfield and Archpriest Dr. John Behr respectively—were received by His Beatitude, Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and His Eminence, Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, at the Archdiocese’s headquarters here on Thursday, December 4, 2014.

In an expression of love and solidarity with the suffering Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, they presented Patriarch John with a gift of $8,000.00.  Patriarch John, whose See is in Damascus, Syria, will personally oversee distribution of the monies to alleviate the dire conditions of Orthodox Christians in that country.

The gift represents a tithe—one-tenth—of the total $80,000.00 donated to Saint Vladimir’s Seminary during its highly successful #GivingTuesday campaign, conducted on December 2.

Patriarch John is in the US to preside at the Enthronement of Metropolitan Joseph as Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America for the Antiochian Archdiocese at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, December 6.  [See related story].

“After weeks of anticipation and publicity, the seminary received an overwhelmingly generous response when it launched its very first #GivingTuesday campaign,” reported Father Chad.  “We are humbled by this gift, which will allow our students to continue to learn about and preach the true faith, and we are grateful that we can offer a tithe—as we promised our donors—to the Orthodox believers in Syria, who daily bravely witness to that faith.”

Fathers Chad and John also presented an icon of Saint Vladimir to Metropolitan Joseph in honor of his Enthronement and in recognition of his being the newly elected Vice-President of the seminary’s Board of Trustees.

A photo gallery of the meeting may be viewed here.