February 9-11
JORDANVILLE, NY [OISM; Dn. Stephen Vernak] Over 60 students from five North American Orthodox seminaries gathered at Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary February 9-11, 2007, for the spring meeting of the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement [OISM].
This event marked the first time in the 40 year history of the movement that a meeting was held on the sacred grounds of Holy Trinity Monastery. The participants spent three days in spiritual retreat, fellowship, and in conducting their business meetings.
Highlights included attending the services at the monastery cathedral of the Holy Trinity, an address to the students by His Eminence Metropolitan LAURUS, first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), an extensive tour of the monastery and seminary grounds and the election of Kevin Meyers, a student at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, as new OISM president. The students also viewed a slideshow presentation of the October 2006 pilgrimage to St. Herman Seminary and Spruce Island. Representatives also discussed the possibility of launching an OISM web site and plans for a symposium featuring the work of OISM seminarians.
The representatives expressed their gratitude to Metropolitan LAURUS, for his blessing to hold the meeting on the sacred grounds of Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary, to the monastery brotherhood and seminary community for their warmth and hospitality, and to their respective school administrations for supporting their participation in this historic event in the life of Orthodox theological education on this continent.
In addition to students from Holy Trinity Seminary, students from Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA; Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Crestwood, NY; Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA; and Saint Andrew’s College, Manitoba, Canada participated in the gathering. Students from Saint Herman’s Seminary, Kodiak, AK were unable to make the transcontinental journey, but hope to participate in future meetings.