st. vladimir’s orthodox theological seminary

ACTON – SVS Poverty Conference Sure to Spark Some Fireworks

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St. Vladimir’s Conference on Poverty, May 31-June 1, 2013
Get details | Download flyer (pdf)

As iron sharpens iron, says the book of Proverbs, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Remember that advice as the conference on poverty begins on May 31, 2013 at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The conference is led by the Acton Institute, arguably one of the most influential think tanks on religion and economics in the English speaking world. The conference is sponsored by the Zarras Foundation in honor of the late Dn. John Zarras, a devoted churchman, successful businessman, and member of the St. Vladimir’s Board of Trustees.

Speakers at the conference include Jay Richards, author of Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute; Michael Matheson Miller, Acton Institute Research Fellow; and a Trustee of the Seminary, The Rev. Dr. Philip LeMasters, professor of Religion and Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Religion, McMurry University.

Rounding out a concluding panel discussion with the above speakers will be Dr. Antionios Kiriopoulos, SVOTS alumnus and officer in the National Council of Churches, along with SVOTS Trustee Dr. Nicholas Pandelidis and Subdeacon Paul Abernathy, local director of FOCUS North America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, representing FOCUS North America.

The Acton scholars research the causes and cures of poverty in America and other parts of the world (see Poverty Cure). Acton roundly critiques big-government solutions (Great Society programs, foreign aid cash grants, etc.). Big government solutions can address short-term symptoms but they usually destroy the underlying economic infrastructure as well. Government largesse does not eliminate poverty. It merely institutionalizes poverty by eliminating the possibility for economic growth and mobility — a form of 21st century colonization in the Third World.

These ideas are compelling but the religious left resists them like Dracula avoids the cross. Progressive thinkers justify their economic ideas by drawing from the moral vocabulary of the Christian tradition but facts on the ground show that their ideas don’t work. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. Create a market where a man can sell his extra fish and he can build a home and send his children to school.

St. Vladimir’s deserves credit for hosting the conference given that a preponderance of Orthodox thinking on political and economic issues tends to drift leftward. This is one reason why the Orthodox contribution to contemporary culture has been relatively meager. Orthodox voices seldom rise above the amen chorus for the cultural left as we see with Orthodox involvement in the (dying) National Council of Churches for example. (Also see John Lomperis’ article: Why Do Eastern Orthodox Churches Continue Enabling Opposition to Orthodox Values on Abortion, Sexual Morality?.)

Very often representatives from the religious left attempt to shut down rather than engage debate. Fortunately that has not happened here since an NCC representative has been invited to respond. As iron sharpens iron. . .

Russell Kirk said years ago that religion is the ground of culture. We are grateful to St. Vladimir’s for its commitment to rigorous and open inquiry on these pressing cultural questions.

Acton Poverty Cure Video

St. Vladimir’s Seminary featured on CNN’s “The Economic Report”

On Orthodox Christian Theological Education in America

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From St. Vladimir’s Seminary:

Teaching for the Future: Frs John and Chad reflect on a stormy summer

Theological reflection and education is essential for the life and future of the Church. Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). The vision of Christ himself, and how we are his body, enables us to pass through the storms of this world and move into the future. Theological education in the US has recently become the subject of controversy, division, and manipulation. However, turbulence can also signify new possibilities and new life. As we learn to discern the times, we must consider:

* Diversity in Unity
* A Comprehensive Plan
* Responsible Stewardship

Diversity in Unity

One of the glories of Orthodoxy in the western world is the richness of the diversity of its lived expressions. Orthodox Christians live together, work together, and learn to see each other as members of the one Body of Christ in a specific geographical region. However, in the U.S., different traditions, developed over centuries around the world, are here in one country, flowing into an incomparable experience of Orthodoxy. The recent Chambesy proposal suggested a way to recognize this diversity and to preserve it as we move, as we must, towards greater administrative unity.

Those involved in theological education in this country have to learn how this diversity can not only be valued in theory but experienced in practice by all students, in whose hands lie the future of our Church. We have three ATS-accredited schools in North America – Holy Cross, St. Tikhon’s, and St. Vladimir’s – each with its own valuable tradition and character. However, diversity between schools, rather than within each school, all too easily creates an unhealthy polarization or rivalry between schools. And this leads to students, the future priests and lay leaders of our churches, having little knowledge of each other and little desire to learn. Nothing is more divisive for our future. We fear that division, based upon cultural or ethnic differences, is becoming more prevalent in North America, and it is regarding this that we would voice our greatest concern.

At St Vladimir’s Seminary, we have been committed to a truly pan-Orthodox vision for this country. If our life has been too Slavic for some, there is nevertheless a place, and an increasing one at that, at the Seminary and its chapel for a fully educated expression of Byzantine life to enrich the campus and form students of all the different traditions represented on our campus. This is something that we desire and promote. Likewise, we hope to find ways of working more closely with our sister school, Holy Cross, and the Antiochian House of Studies, to see what we can do together, in an open conversation that leads wherever God may take us.

A Comprehensive Plan

All those involved in theological education in North America need to develop a comprehensive plan for all aspects of the task of education. Continue reading →

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Some broad reflections on the SVS seminar

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First of all, thank you to St. Vladimir Seminary, St. Andrew House, and Orthodox Christian Laity for sponsoring the webcast. Thank you to Ancient Faith Radio, and Executive Producer Dean Calvert and crew for making the webcast possible.

I saw perhaps a quarter of it. The first seminars dealt with historical themes, important and interesting (had to concentrate though) but I won’t comment on them here. I found the lecture on the “myth of autocephaly” very interesting, particular how the narrative of how autocephaly was obtained shapes contemporary self-understanding in the autocephalous Churches. This deals more with how historical narrative functions in a community, than the veracity of the actual narrative. (Of course, veracity is contentious term since history is, at bottom, narrative. Nevertheless, some history is “truer” than others, witness the attempts by the Marxists and other culture barbarians to rewrite it.) Back to the subject…

Dr. Paul Meyendorff, professor of Liturgical Theology at St. Vladimir Seminary, clearly understands the power of the internet. It gives voice to the laity and makes it impossible to hide malfeasance are two points he brought out. It’s a qualified good of course, but the Church hierarchy must come to grips with the fact that business as usual just doesn’t work anymore. Reference was made to a previous discussion that touched on this topic but I did not see it. Dr. Meyendorff wants others to grasp this as well. (We at AOI get it.)

Mr. Charles Ajalat, Chancellor of the Antiochian Archdiocese was perhaps the most outspoken but voiced ideas many people say privately. It was good to hear them expressed in a public forum. Some of them include reestablishing a married episcopate because in some cases we are not drawing the level of leadership talent that we need. He was more critical of the Chambesy conference than AOI has been because it offered a structure (the Bishop assemblies) that too closely mirrored SCOBA and thus could become ineffectual, another roadblock to unity. Fr. Mark Arey from the GOA countered his assertion by listing programs under SCOBA sponsorship such as OCMC (the mission program), IOCC (world aid), OCPM (prison ministry) and so forth, but Mr. Ajalat replied that these programs arose largely through the private initiative of priests and laity, not hierarchical leadership. He is correct in this.

Fr. Mark Arey, Ecumenical Officer of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, mentioned the importance of unity despite the differences. This is a good caution. However, not much more was offered beyond this. I was expecting some comment on the Orthodox-Hellenism-Greek historical apologetic, especially since it appears that the Chambesy conference effectively repudiated it. Constantinople’s position is that unity in America requires that all jurisdictions come under Constantinople, so I thought at least the idea would be defended but not a word on it.

I missed Met. Jonah’s talk unfortunately. Had a hospital call in the morning and then completely forgot about it until it was over. However, Met. Jonah made a comment in the discussion portion I have never heard a hierarch make: The Antiochians and the OCA should “come together” as a first step in establishing an American Church. Bold idea, especially coming from someone in leadership.

As mentioned at the outset, I only caught bits and pieces of the three-day seminar. Still, you could sense the shift in momentum towards an American Orthodox Church that seems to be growing. The next conference on Orthodox Unity will be sponsored by Orthodox Christian Laity in October. Info posted separately.