Dear Friends!

St. Tikhon's Seminary opens her doors to you and your parishioners for a joyful evening--Tuesday, March 14, 6-830p, at 178 St. Tikhon's Rd, Waymart, PA 18472.

A generous donor makes it possible for us to invite you as our guest to dinner and the 3rd Annual St. Nicholai (Velimirovich) Lecture. There is *no cost* to the dinner or lecture. BUT an RSVP is necessary, because we have only 100 seats available. The first 100 to reply are invited to join us for supper and the lecture. (The Lecture will also be live-streamed on our YouTube Channel.

To RSVP and reserve a ticket, please write katherine@stots.edu.

St. Nicholai was the Rector of St. Tikhon's Seminary in 1955; he fell asleep in the Lord here in 1956, having eaten his last meal in the Orphanage. A beautiful Shrine is being finished in his honor, in the very room in which he lived and reposed.

Our own local Fr. Daniel Geeza was a student of St Nicholai's. Fr. Daniel has agreed to come and share an evening of stories about the Saint, his professor.

If you have not been back to St. Tikhon's in a while, you might not believe all the good that God is doing here. If you have been back recently, still come enjoy the night!  

Please join us! Come and See! And enjoy!

On Friday, January 27, His Eminence Archbishop Mark ordained Dn. Nathan Clausson to the Holy Priesthood and Kirill Tyler Zawatski to the Holy Diaconate at St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Bethlehem, PA. May God grant them many years of fruitful service to Christ's Holy Church! Axios!

Fr. Solomon Longo was ordained to the Holy Priesthood, and Dn. Gregory Fedorchak was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by Archbishop Michael at St. Tikhon's Monastery on January 21, 2023. Axios!

Fr. Gabriel Aldridge was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Archbishop Alexander at St. John the Wonderworker Orthodox Orthodox Church in Atlanta, GA on January 7, 2023. Spring term STOTS instructor Dean Harbry was also tonsured a reader and ordained a subdeacon. The concelebrating priests were Fr. Marcus Burch (DOS chancellor, rector St. John of the Ladder, Greenville, SC), Fr. Alexander Fecanin (dean of Atlanta deanery, rector St. Symeon the New Theologian, Birmingham, AL), Fr. Thomas Alessandroni (rector St. John the Wonderworker, Atlanta, GA), Fr. Daniel Hickman (rector St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Orlando, FL), Fr. Christopher Maciolek (rector St. Mary of Egypt, Norcross, GA), Fr. Theophan Buck (rector St. Innocent’s, Macon, GA), Fr. Seth Earl (priest-in-charge, St. Tikhon’s, Chattanooga, TN), Fr. David Galloway (third-year seminarian, St. Vladimir’s), Protodeacon Ephraim Rivers (St. Symeon the New Theologian, Birmingham, AL), and Pdn. Lazarus Muska (St. Mary of Egypt, Norcross, GA). Axios!

Photo credits: Kurtis M. Johnson. Enjoy more photos of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy and Ordination: Kurtis M. Johnson Photography

Seminarians Fr. Joseph Whittaker and Dn. John York were ordained in Chicago on Theophany: https://domoca.org/diocesan-seminarians-ordained-on-holy-theophany/. Axios!

St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary,

South Canaan, Pennsylvania,

announces the bi-weekly posting on the Seminary’s web site of

papers presented at a conference held at St. Tikhon’s Seminary November 7 - 9, 2019:

Speaking the Truth in Love:

Addressing Sexuality

and the Human Being

Where will these papers be posted?  http://stots.edu/truthinlove 

Why did St. Tikhon’s Seminary hold this Conference on this theme?

          This conference was held at St. Tikhon’s on this theme, because we wished to reaffirm the glory, beauty, sanctity, wonder, and dignity of striving to live in purity of mind and body in Christ, with and in the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

          We believe that such a fresh proclamation is always necessary, especially in our own time in view of the current widespread, very harmful confusion in our society about human personhood and sexuality.  And now, this proclamation is even more necessary, since some members of our own Orthodox Church, including even some clergy and scholars, apparently are yielding, at least to some degree, to the prevailing spirit of our age that says there’s nothing wrong, harmful, sinful, or disruptive to spiritual life, about indulging in nearly any form of sexual relations outside traditional marriage.  And there are even a few within our Church who seem to be yielding to the contemporary fascination with gender fluidity and transgenderism, both of which encourage rejection of the basic, God-given reality embedded in humanity whereby every human being is clearly born either as male or female (except in extremely rare cases).

          We, the faculty, staff, and students at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, led by our beloved rector, Archbishop Michael, deeply believe that it’s our sacred, God-given responsibility to meet the challenge of the so-called Sexual Revolution, plus now the challenge of so-called gender fluidity, by proclaiming and explaining anew the life-giving teachings about what it truly means to be either a male or a female human being, made in the image of God. These teachings, which our Holy Church has always proclaimed and lived by, include, as we know, Christ’s holy, life-giving, grace-bearing commandments for us to live in sexual purity.  As St. Paul declares:

          For this is the will of GOD for you, even your sanctification; and hence, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor—not in the lust of concupiscence, even as those who do not know GOD—and that no one should go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. For the LORD is the avenger of all such people, as we also have forewarned you and testified to you.  For GOD has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7).

          With our LORD’s help, we aimed during this conference to bring forth many of the theological and practical reasons why sexual purity—meaning chastity/virginity before marriage and faithfulness to one’s spouse within marriage—is the healthiest and safest way to live, in addition to the fact that it alone is the God-pleasing way to express the gift of our sexuality with which Christ has graced every one of us.

          So for this conference, we gathered over a dozen excellent speakers, beginning with Archbishop Michael, who shared theological and practical wisdom  about various aspects of our Church’s life-giving teachings on human anthropology, especially regarding sexual purity. 

Why is St. Tikhon’s presenting these papers at this time through posting them on-line?

          Our hope and prayer are that the talks from this conference will reach the widest possible audience, which we believe will occur if they are made available on-line on the St. Tikhon’s Seminary web site.  Please, everyone, feel free to copy and send the link for any and all of the papers, as they are posted week by week.

          May these articles help us all grow even more closely together in a common vision for the glory of human personhood and sexual purity.  And further, through them may we gain a more thorough knowledge of very practical ways to help our people, especially our youth, to understand and live this rich and wholesome way of life—the way of living which is the most conducive to promoting our emotional, physical, and spiritual health through helping us grow closer to our beloved Creator and Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          Our first posting is a general introduction to the papers, written by our beloved Dean of the Seminary, Fr. John Parker.  The "General Introduction" has been posted today, Monday, November 14, 2022. The next paper will be Dr. Harry Boosalis' "An Orthodox Understanding of the Human Body," on November 21.

Dr. David C. Ford, PhD, Coordinating Editor

Professor of Church History

St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary

South Canaan, PA

St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary is presently accepting admissions applications for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Information concerning admission to the Seminary, including application materials, can be accessed digitally HERE.

Interested applicants should forward hard-copy materials by June 1, 2023 to the following address:

Seminary Admissions Committee

St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary

P.O. Box 130

South Canaan, PA 18459

Applicants wishing to present materials in digital form, may do so by emailing the Seminary at admissions@stots.edu 

For those discerning applying to the Seminary, a recent presentation of the journey of one of our seminary families can be seen HERE.

On Sunday, June 20/July 3, 2022, His Grace, +Bishop ALEXEI served the hierarchical divine liturgy at Saint Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral where Reverend Deacon Peter Kamilos was ordained to the holy priesthood. AXIOS! 

More information on the ordination and Father Peter can be found at: https://odosa.org/news/deacon- peter-kalimos-ordained-to-the- holy-priesthood

Vladyka ALEXEI asks that you keep Father Peter, Matushka Michele, and their family in your prayers.