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Music at Seminary sn 0 SPRING 2006 music at seminary Message from the Metropolitan Dearly Beloved in Christ, Every year, Orthodox Christian men and women hear the Lord’s call to study theology at our seminaries. The student of theology must hear and obey the Lord’s words: Whoever would be first among you must be your slave (Matthew 20:27). Faithful service as a choir director, teacher, deacon, priest, or bishop requires emulation of the Lord and study of His Word. The life of the sn Church through history provides many lessons for Christians of the twenty-first century.To faithfully serve Christ today requires that we study the lives of our fathers in the faith, the per- secutions the Church has endured in the name of Christ, and the triumphs of the truth of the Gospel in the face of great resistance. Martin Paluch The Dean of St Vladimir’s Seminary has been guiding our seminarians through the study of the Church’s his- tory as a lay professor for many years. I am grateful to the Lord that I was able to ordain John Erickson to the Holy Diaconate on the feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs, the patrons of the seminary’s chapel, and to the Holy Priesthood on May 7, 2006. Father John is now called to renewed service to God’s people at the Holy Table. Please join me in fervent prayer for Father John in his ministry as a professor, as Dean of St Vladimir’s, and as a servant of the Lord. With love in Christ, +HERMAN Archbishop of Washington and New York Metropolitan of All America and Canada President, Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary 2 • SPRING 2006 sn 0 contents spotlight at the seminary Robert Lisak MESSAGE FROM THE CAMPUS CHRONICLE ON THE COVER METROPOLITAN Seminary activities from April 2005 through February 2006 Students, such as Gregory Ealy and Ksenia Words of congratulations from Danylevich, study theories of chant as well Metropolitan Herman of the OCA to the 8 as practice singing and conducting for dean on the occasion of his ordination DOWN THE ROAD chapel services all in preparation for service Events calendar to the Church. 2 9 Opposite: Metropolitan Herman ordains ORDINATIONS Dean John H. Erickson to the Holy features Student ordinations from January 2005 Diaconate on January 30, 2006. May God through February 2006 grant him many years! (see p. 7 for more on MUSIC MINISTRY... 10 the ordination). An Integral Part of CLASS NOTES St Vladimir’s Seminary Alumni news from September 2004 sn Dn Kevin Smith, Instructor in Liturgical through February 2006 Music, uses a verse from St Paul’s letter 10 Spring 2006 • volume 4, number 1 to the Colossians to illustrate the TRANSITIONS Editor: Sofia Lopoukhine, Communications important role of music Farewells and welcomes to staff and Public Relations Officer 4 13 Advisory board: Fr John H. Erickson, Dean; Dn Jesse Greendyk, Chief SERVING GOD PILLARS Advancement Officer IN A NEW WAY SVS thanks St George Antiochian Art direction: Amber J. Schley Fr John H. Erickson reflects on his Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, Production: Paul Kachur path to the priesthood as well as Matushka Eva Hubiak and Excerpts from Orthodoxy and Western Culture:A 7 Protodeacon Basil of blessed Collection of Essays Honoring Jaroslav Pelikan on His memory Eightieth Birthday (pp. 31–33) used by ALUMNUS PROFILE: permission, SVS Press. 14 BISHOP BENJAMIN St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary READER’S CORNER is a graduate school of theology, whose SVS News interviews His Grace Bishop primary purpose is the preparation of Excerpt from Dr Jaroslav Pelikan’s leaders, both clergy and lay, for service to Benjamin (SVS ’81),Auxiliary Bishop memoir in Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Church and the world at large. of the Diocese of the West of the Western Culture Comments about the SVSNews magazine are Orthodox Church in America 15 welcome. Please e-mail sofi[email protected]. 11 OFF THE PRESS www.svots.edu New releases from SVS Press 16 Music Ministry... An integral part of St Vladimir’s Seminary Robert Lisak The following words from St Paul’s letter to the Colossians By Dn Kevin Smith, indicate music’s power to rally the hearts of the faithful Instructor in Liturgical toward thankfulness to God: Let the word of Christ dwell in you Music richly,teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God (3:16). WHY DOES THE These words establish for all believers a standard of study, CHURCH HAVE, OR teaching, and teachability, that is, the humble spirit of ser- EVEN NEED, MUSIC? vant leadership, the “job description” for every order of church ministry. 4 • SPRING 2006 sn Music has, and always will have, a great power to unite and realize the ministry of the Church in this world. To lead a community in prayer through music is by definition a pastoral ministry: it draws strength from and participates in the ministry of the pastor, or shepherd, of a church community. One recognizable characteristic of a good pastor is the abil- ity to minister competently in liturgical services, standing before an assembly to lead them through prayer and music. In fact, a large proportion of the two or three years that a seminarian spends at SVS is given to exercising this ability in the classroom, in the chapel, and through field work in area parishes. The cornerstone of daily life at SVS is the vibrant liturgical Combined female voices (students and student-wives) sing a worship that “frames the entire academic enterprise,” in the beautiful Eis Polla Eti Despota for one of the many hierarchs words of one observer from the Carnegie Foundation, that frequently visit St Vladimir’s Seminary. which actively supports higher education for ministry.The whole community is called to prayer each day to “com- mend ourselves, each other, and our whole life unto Christ our God.”Those participating in this ministry include fac- discernment to apply these in concrete situations where God ulty, staff, students, and their respective family members will call them to serve.These courses have a strong implica- who chant, sing, conduct the choirs, and serve in the altar. tion for music ministry as well: simply put, anyone serving The same observer adds, “This stands in contrast to many God in a ministry of teaching or preaching within the other seminaries, where the congregation participates as Church will be called upon at some point to minister to oth- ‘audience’ to others’ performances.” By definition, students ers through liturgical music. and members of the seminary community are answering Students in introductory classes aim for competence in the call to serve, and their service begins here, where we singing and chanting, but they primarily strive for excel- daily learn the “ministry of the word of God” in the semi- lence in these areas by preparing for and participating in nary chapel. the divine services each day. By taking responsibility for Music ministry at any level cannot be taught entirely “on the their role in services at the seminary’s Three Hierarchs job,” however, and classroom teaching provides support in Chapel and in their parish assignments, SVS students take an this area for every student, lay or ordained.Thus, to prepare essential step toward realizing their vocation during this period of formation. Whether a seminarian will eventually be called by God to serve as a priest or deacon, chanter, choir director, composer, religious educator, or lay leader, “The cornerstone of daily there is a fundamental musical, liturgical, and pastoral qual- life at SVS is the vibrant ity to each of these ministries that he or she may undertake. liturgical worship.” “LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY” Even at the most basic level, the calling to communicate the for the transition to ministry after seminary, each Master of Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and confidently through the Divinity student spends two or more semesters learning liturgical worship of the Church bears the mark of a min- contemporary liturgical chants: Byzantine Chant, the Com- istry to others, and in liturgy,these texts are elevated through mon Chant of the Russian choral tradition, and others. music. Thus, reading texts and music clearly, finding one’s Courses each year in liturgical theology and practical theol- place in the service, and singing traditional melodies cor- ogy round out students’ liturgical training, opening up to rectly and in tune take on a ministerial quality which semi- future ministers not only the history and practice of Ortho- narians must discover for “all things to be done decently,and dox liturgical worship, but also the necessary pastoral in order” as the Apostle Paul writes (1 Cor 14:40). sn SPRING 2006 • 5 out and elevate forms from outside their ethnic tradition, both musically and culturally. In this respect, students trace the development of music and liturgy in many historical and cultural contexts: for example, the rich history of psalm antiphons such as the prokeimenon, or the flowering of indigenous musical forms that occurred when Byzantine missionaries carried their chant melodies into the Slavic lands.Then, ideally, students combine these principles with training in pastoral ministry in order to convey the Gospel of Jesus Christ through music in and through the Church where God will call them to serve.The goal of the music pro- gram at SVS is for outstanding candidates to internalize the traditions of chant and choral singing, composition, and conducting, in order to join the ranks of those who lead oth- ers to Christ by the content and demeanor of their liturgical music ministry.
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