Renowned liturgist The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Robert F. Taft, S.J. will present the keynote address at an international academic symposium titled “The Past and Future of Liturgical Theology: Celebrating the Legacy of Father Alexander Schmemann,”  to be held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS), from January 29–31, 2009.

The academic symposium, featuring preeminent theologians from Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions from major universities, will honor The Very Rev. Alexander Schmemann (d. 1983), who served as dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary for more than twenty years. Fr. Schmemann is best known for his writings on liturgy and sacramental life, which have influenced all branches of Christianity, in the practice of worship as well as in the academic realm.

Fr. Taft’s talk, “The Liturgical Enterprise Twenty-five Years after Alexander Schmemann (1921–1983): The Man and His Heritage”—the centerpiece of the colloquium and this year’s Father Alexander Schmemann Annual Memorial Lecture—will be presented Friday, January 30, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building on the seminary campus. This lecture is free of charge and open to the public.

“I'm very excited about the upcoming ‘Schmemann Lecture’ and accompanying event,” said The Rev. Dr. Alexander Rentel, Assistant Professor in Canon Law and Byzantine Studies at SVS and organizer of the symposium.

“The seminary faculty and administration planned this conference for three main reasons,” Fr. Rentel continued. “First, to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Fr. Alexander Schmemann's death; second, scholars recently have shown much interest in Eastern liturgical themes; and third, one of our invited speakers, Professor Michael Aune, has written a two-part article titled ‘Liturgy and Theology: Rethinking the Relationship’ [Worship 81 (2007)] that has generated a lot of excitement in the academic community and seems to suggest a way forward in the discipline. I could also add that this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to invite Fr. Taft to speak,” he concluded.

Fr. Rentel himself pursued and completed his doctoral studies and degree under Fr. Taft, who was Professor of Oriental Liturgy at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome (1970–2002), where he also served as Prefect of the Library (1981–85), and Vice-Rector of the Institute (1995–2001). In addition, Fr. Taft has been Visiting Professor of Liturgy at the University of Notre Dame since 1974, and was Director of the Graduate Program in Liturgical Studies there in 1977–79. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of Orientalia Christian Periodica and is presently Director of Publications at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He has published hundreds of articles and, at last count, he had written and edited thirty-five books.

Mr. Theodore Bazil, SVS Associate Chancellor for Advancement, welcomes His Beatitude Jonah, metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America and alumnus of SVS, to the seminary chapel with the traditional gift of bread and salt. Metropolitan Jonah participated in several campus events from November 21–22, 2008, including the dedication of the recently constructed Lakeside Student Apartments for married seminarians, and the fall semi-annual meeting of the Board of Trustees.

From November 21–22, St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) warmly welcomed back to its campus an alumnus, James Paffhausen—but this time as His Beatitude Jonah, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and new president of the seminary.

His Beatitude, who had received two degrees from SVS (’85 M.Div. and ’88 M.Th.),  was elected as metropolitan at the 15th All-American Council of the OCA on November 12, 2008. According to the statutes of the seminary, the metropolitan of the OCA also concurrently assumes the position as the seminary’s president. Prior to his election, Metropolitan Jonah served as auxiliary bishop of Fort Worth in the Diocese of the South (11 days) and as abbot of a monastery under the patronage of St. John of Shanghai, in California (12 years).

On his first visit to his alma mater since his election, Metropolitan Jonah participated in several coinciding campus events. He was the main celebrant and homilist at the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple; he blessed the recently constructed Lakeside Student Apartments and spoke at the dedication celebration; he attended all sessions of the Board of Trustees, who were on campus for their fall annual meeting; and, he greeted not only SVS seminarians and their families but also visiting students who had gathered on campus for a meeting of the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM).

Although he spoke in several different venues, Metropolitan Jonah delivered one consistent message: he continually noted the enormous influence of his seminary training on his personal ministry and advocated a “unified, clear vision” for theological education in America.

“All leaders of the Church, who take up the yoke of Christ,” he urged, “must have a clear vision of theological education, which consists in four things: first, we must present the gospel of Jesus Christ; second, we have a mission to evangelize all people, regardless of color, ethnicity, or socio-economic status; third, we must bring integrity to the gospel message; and fourth, we must take up the task of bearing the presence of Jesus Christ to those around us.” 

On the last point, he particularly reiterated the need to imitate the sacrificial path of Christ and his mother, the Virgin Mary. “To become the living presence of God, the living temple of God, requires us to crush our ego and shatter our will,” he said, “so that we might conceive God within us and become his presence in this world.

“Seminarians,” he noted, “do not come to theological schools to become ‘professionals’ and to be ‘respected,’ but rather to be crucified and thereby shine forth the light of Christ.” His Beatitude reminded the seminarians that his own title of “episkopos” means not “master of the house,” but “slave of slaves.” Finally, Metropolitan Jonah emphasized the need for the Church in America to support all theological institutions with prayer and love.

Updated December 1, 2008

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