Administrator of Patriarchal Parishes in USA visits Orthodox seminary in America

Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, visited on October 1, 2011, St. Vladimir’s Seminary on the invitation of its dean, Archpriest Dr. John Behr, with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada. He celebrated a festive thanksgiving there on the occasion of the Orthodox Education Day traditionally observed in the seminary.

Among the archbishop’s concelebrants were Archpriest John Behr and professors and ordained graduates who serve in the Orthodox Church in America, the Russian Church Outside Russia and other Orthodox jurisdictions. Participating in the service were also the Orthodox Church in America’s chaplains engaged in pastoral care in the US Army, the website of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA has reported.

After the service, Archbishop Justinian addressed the congregation. He greeted the faculty and students on occasion of the Orthodox Education Day noting that the St. Vladimir’s Seminary is known not only in America but also in other countries, where its graduates serve, for the high professional level of training it offers. He noted with gratification that the seminary cherished the traditions it inherited from its founders, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann and Protopresbyter John Meyendorff, outstanding church leaders and theologians of the last century.

To mark the Orthodox Education Day, the seminary opened in its museum an exposition devoted to the service of Orthodox clergy in the US Army, displaying a collection of chaplains’ uniform and church field utensils used during World War II. A particular stand is devoted to the first Orthodox chaplain to serve in the US Army, Archpriest Vladimir Borichevsky (1920-1990).

Archpriest Justinian, the Seminary’s guests and professors and students continued their festive meeting at a fraternal meal.

DECR Communication Service