February 19, 2015
Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery marks Feast of Three Hierarchs & Greets Seminary Graduates

On Thursday, February 12, the feast of the Three Hierarchs – patron saints of theological study – Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, NY, held its first alumni gathering. On the eve of the feast, His Eminence Gabriel, Archbishop of Montreal & Canada, led the All-Night Vigil in Holy Trinity Cathedral, co-served by clergy from among the alumni of the Russian Diaspora’s principal seminary. Current seminarians sang, read, and served in the altar for the Vigil. In keeping with tradition, the majority of the service was sung in Greek, in honor of the holy hierarchs and luminaries Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom.

On the very day of the feast, Archbishop Gabriel celebrated the Divine Liturgy. His Eminence was co-served by the monastery’s abbot, Archimandrite Luke (Murianka), Archpriest Victor Potapov (dean of the South, member of the Diocesan Council), Archpriest Serge Lukianov (Eastern American Diocesan secretary), Archpriest George Kallaur (rector of Unexpected Joy Church on Staten Island, NY), Abbot Konstantin (Curchin; seminarian), Holy Trinity Monastery clerics Hieromonks Theophylact (Clapper-DeWell), Cyprian (Alexandrou), Gabriel (Astrahankine), Anatoly (Zilin), and Moses (Borges); Priest Alexis Pjawka (cleric of the Canadian Diocese), Hieromonk Eutychius (Dovganyuk; cleric of the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City), Priest Igor Kamenniy (UOC cleric, seminary professor), Priest Ephraim Willmarth (seminary administrative assistant), Protodeacon Joseph Jarostchuk (cleric of St. John of Kronstadt Memorial Church in Utica, NY), Protodeacon Victor Lochmatow and Deacons Andrei Psarev and Peter Markevich (monastery clerics); and Deacon Dionysius Lvov (Synodal cleric).

Communing at Liturgy were seminarians, local parishioners, and guests, who gathered within the church’s walls to honor the memory of the Three Hierarchs. Archbishop Gabriel congratulated the dean, professors, and students on the occasion of the seminary’s patronal feast. Fr. Serge Lukianov read aloud a greeting from Metropolitan Hilarion, currently performing an archpastoral visit to the Diocese of Australia & New Zealand.

A reception was held in the seminary hall in honor of the feast and the arrival of alumni. Fr. Victor Potapov, rector of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC, addressed those gathered and shared recollections of his time studying at seminary, of the professors and monastic preceptors, who instilled in the seminarians – now priests – a love for their native Orthodoxy, for Holy Rus’. "They were a continuation of Holy Rus’," noted Fr. Victor. "These were Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla), Archbishop Averky (Taushev), Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, Archimandrite Konstantin (Zaytsev), monastery founders Archimandrites Panteleimon (Nizhnik) and Joseph (Kolos), church singing professor Abbot Ignaty (Trepachko), and professors Andreevsky, Talberg, and more, whose spirit abides in the seminary to this day."

"The theology of monastery life is one of the most precious gifts that the monastic professors were able to bestow upon us," noted Fr. Victor. "The divine services that are performed in Holy Trinity Monastery are special, and you can immediately spot a priest who graduated from our seminary, according to the style of liturgical life that he conducts in his parish. You can tell a Jordanville graduate anywhere. It is with great love that I recall the years I spent in seminary – a love that the seminary and monastics instilled in me toward our theological life. I did not become a theologian myself, but a priest, and what I received here helped me to an incredible degree in my pastoral service, as well as in my labors preaching the word of God in radio transmissions to Russia. Seminary showed me the path that I would walk."

Fr. Victor added that, besides theological preparation, it is no less important for a priest to find a good matushka, and called on the future pastors to choose their life’s companion carefully, making sure that she shares his spiritual values, aspirations, and desire to serve God and man; he challenged them to value and make good use of the priceless days and years that they would spend in seminary and within the monastery’s walls.

Archbishop Gabriel thanked the abbot and monastery rector – Archimandrite Luke – and the brethren for their invitation and the opportunity to pray in the monastery, and reaffirmed Fr. Victor’s words, stating that the years he had spent in the monastery and seminary – first as a student, and later as a professor – were the best of his life. His Eminence reminded the seminarians that among the first seminary graduates were Metropolitan Laurus and Archpriest Boris Kizenko, and underscored that, over the years of the theological school’s existence, its graduate clergy took the spirit of the Jordanville monastery – the spirit of unadulterated Orthodox doctrine – with them to every corner of the world. He also noted that the monastery fathers and preceptors – representatives of Tsarist Russia – left a deep impression in the hearts of the seminarians of their interactions at the monastery, even in day-to-day life. And these impressions remain for the rest of one’s life.

Archbishop Gabriel called on the future pastors to be carriers of the spirit of Orthodox truth, as well, to help their shepherded flock withstand the temptations of both the heterodox and Orthodox worlds; he bade them value the time they had to spend at seminary, especially taking advantage of the opportunity to read.

Seminary administrative assistant Priest Ephraim Willmarth reported that all of the seminary students will be receiving scholarships from one of three foundations, totaling $50,000. The students in lower years of the Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) program and in the Certificate of Pastoral Studies this year received partial scholarships, and students in the upper years of the B.Th. program received full-tuition scholarships. Fr. Ephraim announced a new scholarship, offered by the Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov Foundation. Highlighting the example and legacy of this distinguished pastor, Fr. Ephaim listed the names of this year’s scholarship recipients: Seth Davidenko, George Luimes, Ilya Ivshin, Joseph Nguyentan, Fr. Konstantin (Curchin), Vladislav Diuta, Angelos Stanway, Vadim Abramov, Niko Arabidze, Dmitry Kreschenetskiy, Paul Lopez, Stanislav Matveev, Artem Siss, Stefan Stoyanov, Stojanche Andov, John Martin, Alexander Ilichev, and Johannes Sanjaya.

Fr. Luke thanked Archbishop Gabriel for their joint prayer, and then read aloud notes of well-wishing that had been sent in by clergy graduates to the professors and seminarians. The seminary rector noted that an alumni gathering of this kind had been planned for many years, and this gathering had become a "trial run" – he expressed his hope that next year’s gathering would see even more alumni attend.

Fr. Serge Lukianov (1981 graduate) expressed his gratitude to the seminary leadership for the distinction shown to his father, Fr. Valery Lukianov, and underscored the truly great honor that the scholarship represented for their family. On behalf of the Eastern American Diocese, Fr. Serge congratulated the seminarians, calling on them to find worthy life companions, who will share their sorrows and joys, and to fill the parishes of the Diocese.

During the banquet that followed, the alumni and seminarians were able to interact and discuss questions relating to their education, as well as to the latest news on Orthodox life in America and Russia, where some of the seminary’s professors have recently traveled.

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese