St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

09/01/2026

☦ Become a Certified Lay Catechist

Only 1 Week Left to Apply!
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St. Vladimir’s Online School of Theology certified nearly 130 new lay catechists this summer to help serve the growing Orthodox Church in North America. Will you join them?

Seekers are finding the Orthodox Church. Many parishes are regularly working with dozens of catechumens at a time. We need more people to help teach them the Faith, welcome them into our communities, and position churches for continued stability and growth. Become a certified lay catechist!

St. Vladimir’s Online School of Theology is now accepting applications for the next cohort of its Catechist Certification Program (Intensive Term: September 14–December 21, 2026). Receive training from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, faculty members from St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and many other leading Orthodox Christian leaders and teachers.

➡ Learn More & Apply: https://buff.ly/WArZ1UY

The deadline to apply for the Catechist Certification Program is Tuesday, September 7, 2026.

08/31/2026

Thanks be to God, another fantastic Orthodox Education Day is in the books!

💻 Watch the Replay & Consider Joining the Mission of St. Vladimir's Seminary. Make a donation today at www.svots.edu/give

On August 29, 2026, on St. Vladimir's Seminary's annual Orthodox Education Day online, faculty members and guest speakers guided listeners through a day of fantastic discussion on pressing topics:

▪️Unity in a Divided World
▪️Orthodoxy in the Trenches: Alumni in Ministry
▪️The Book of Job and Suffering
▪️Artificial Intelligence and the Church
▪️Internet Apologetics
▪️Responding to Church Growth

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

08/28/2026

Can Unity Actually Be Achieved in This Divided World?

☦ Orthodox Education Day is Saturday!
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In our polarized culture of North America and with all the increasing tensions abroad, how might the Church address and minister to our fragmented world?

Orthodox Education Day kicks off tomorrow, August 29, with the discussion “Unity in a Divided World.”

Speakers:

▪️His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America, and President of St. Vladimir’s Seminary
▪️Dr Peter Bouteneff (M.Div. ’90), Associate Dean for Institutional Mission and Engagement, Professor of Systematic Theology, Kulik Professor of Sacred Arts, and Director of the Institute of Sacred Arts

Is there truly anything we can do? The Primate of the OCA and one of the Seminary's eminent scholars and theologians will lead us through what promises to be a profound and frank discussion.

➡ See Full Schedule & Register to Attend: https://buff.ly/D1I5E5T

Free and open to the public, this discussion is part of Orthodox Education Day, a virtual online event hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, one of North America’s leading centers of Orthodox scholarship and home to SVS Press. Stay for the full program or join only the sessions that interest you most.

08/26/2026

Have questions about pressing topics in the Church today? Here’s an opportunity to explore them with Orthodox Christian scholars!

Orthodox Education Day is a free virtual event happening this Saturday, August 29 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT / 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. PDT). Six sessions, lively conversations and interesting topics: church growth, the Book of Job and suffering, AI, internet apologetics, unity in a divided world, and the future of the Orthodox Church in North America.

No pressure to attend all day. Tune in for one session or all six. Ask your questions live or submit them ahead of time.

➡ See the Schedule & Register: buff.ly/D1I5E5T

All Education Day gifts benefit the St. Vladimir’s Seminary Scholarship Fund.

08/26/2026

⛪ The Church Is Growing. Now What?

Parishes across North America are reporting numbers they have not seen in living memory. Growth is a gift, but it is also a summons: more catechumens to form, more parishes to staff, more priests to prepare. In this session we will examine the available data and insights related to the unprecedented growth of the Church in North America, and discuss ongoing and future Seminary plans to respond to that growth and need.

Speakers:

▪️Very Rev. Dr. Alexander Rentel (M.Div. ’95), Rector of Three Hierarchs Chapel and Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology and Canon Law
▪️Very Rev. Dr. Alessandro Margheritino (M.Div. ’14, D.Min. ’24), Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America
▪️Very Rev. Dr. Kirill Sokolov (M.Div. ’07), Chancellor of the Diocese of the West, Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology (D.Min. Program)

Three priests who carry this growth as a daily responsibility will lay out what the numbers actually show — and what it will take to respond faithfully.

➡ See Full Schedule & Register to Attend: https://buff.ly/D1I5E5T

Free and open to the public, this discussion is part of Orthodox Education Day, a virtual online event hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, one of North America’s leading centers of Orthodox scholarship and home to SVS Press. Stay for the full program or join only the sessions that interest you most.

08/25/2026

☦ Become a Certified Lay Catechist

Program Begins September 14
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There is still time to apply for our online Catechist Certification Program. Join the many others who have already enrolled. Help our priests and parishes teach the faith to the people knocking at the doors of the Orthodox Church. Become a certified lay catechist!

➡ Learn More & Apply: https://buff.ly/WArZ1UY

Receive training from His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, faculty members from St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and many other leading Orthodox Christian leaders and teachers.

Program participants will be taught in three phases:

▪️Phase 1: The Catechist and Contemporary Church Growth
▪️Phase 2: The Work of a Catechist
▪️Phase 3: Church Growth and Catechism in Our Time

The program is designed for individuals and parishes seeking to launch or to enhance their catechetical programs. It is not a catechesis but a training program for aspiring catechists and Church growth directors—professionals who will support their priests or even work full-time in parish life.

What You'll Learn

Sessions will focus on topics such as:

▪️Practical instruction on how to teach biblical, historical, theological, and liturgical subjects;
▪️Management of group dynamics;
▪️Awareness of various resources for catechetical training;
▪️Guidance in approaching contemporary questions;
▪️Strategies for the integration of new members to the local parish;
▪️And more.

Apply today. Seats for this course are filling up! The deadline to apply for the Catechist Certification Program is Tuesday, September 7, 2026.

08/24/2026

💻 Is Online Orthodoxy Good? ☦

Weighing the Gifts and Dangers of Online Orthodoxy
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More and more people are first encountering Orthodoxy on a screen, rather than in a nave. There are real benefits AND real dangers in learning and reading about the Faith online, where we meet countless social media influencers, videos, podcasts, and blogs—some of them formed by the Church, some of them formed by the algorithm. What is the proper role, and conversely what are the pitfalls, of the many online resources now available to faithful Orthodox Christians and to spiritual seekers?

Joining the Session:

▪️Very Rev. Dr. Bogdan Bucur, Associate Professor of Patristics at St. Vladimir’s Seminary
▪️Very Rev. Thomas Soroka, Host of Ancient Faith Today Live and Pastor of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
▪️Elissa Bjeletich Davis, Orthodox author, podcaster, and educator

A patristics scholar, a veteran broadcaster, and a widely followed Orthodox educator—each of them working in this space daily—will help us tell the difference between a genuine gift and a beautifully packaged counterfeit. Fr. Bogdan will moderate this discussion.

➡ See Full Schedule & Register to Attend: https://buff.ly/D1I5E5T

Free and open to the public, this discussion is part of Orthodox Education Day, a virtual online event hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Stay for the full program or join only the sessions that interest you most.

08/22/2026

Two Old Testament Scholars on Suffering and Hope

Join us for Orthodox Education Day on August 29!
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Fr. Thomas Hopko once wrote, “There is no life in this world without suffering. The cessation of suffering comes only in the Kingdom of God.” Every one of us will be handed grief we did not choose. How are we to understand the inevitability of suffering in this life, and what should our proper response to it be? No book of Scripture presses these questions harder than Job.

Presenters:

▪️ Dr Michael Legaspi, Associate Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Master of Theology Program at St. Vladimir’s Seminary
▪️ Arpi N. Bullockian (M.A. ’15), Online Education Consultant at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and doctoral candidate in theology at Radboud University

Both of these scholars have spent years living inside the Book of Job. Together they will help us read it not as an argument to be settled, but as a companion for the days we would not have chosen.

➡ See Full Schedule & Register to Attend: https://buff.ly/D1I5E5T

Free and open to the public, this discussion is part of Orthodox Education Day, a virtual online event hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Stay for the full program or join only the sessions that interest you most.

08/21/2026

A Year of Milestones for Archpriest Garabed Kochakian
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The year 2026 marks Archpriest Garabed Kochakian’s fiftieth year of faithful priestly ministry in the Armenian Church and the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage to his wife Yeretzgin Roberta.

Back in May Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, and more than 400 people gathered at St. John Armenian Church in Southfield, MI, to celebrate the double milestone with Fr. Garabed and Yn. Roberta. Fr. Garabed, an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (M.Div., ’73), served as pastor at St. John’s for more than seventeen years before his retirement in October 2015. The celebratory banquet brought together family members, friends, parishioners, and clergy from the Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Churches from across the US and beyond, reflecting the countless lives touched by Fr. Garabed’s ministry over five decades.

In a fitting expression of their enduring commitment to the parish they have served and loved, Fr. Garabed and Yn. Roberta generously donated $10 thousand to St. John’s Veterans Building renovation fund.

A native of Salem, MA, Fr. Garabed studied classical languages at Iona College and went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from St. Vladimir’s Seminary and St. Nersess Armenian Seminary. He was ordained to the holy priesthood in 1976.

Fr. Garabed began his priestly ministry as an assistant pastor at the Church of Our Saviour in Worcester, MA. He then became the full-time pastor there before going on to serve at St. Mesrob Church of Racine, WI, from 1982 to 1992. Prior to his arrival in Detroit, he served at the Diocesan Center in New York City, where he was the chancellor and ecumenical officer. He also taught at his alma mater, St. Nersess Seminary.

In addition to pastoral ministry, Fr. Garabed is also widely known as an art historian and iconographer. He holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Wisconsin, with a specialization in Armenian art and architecture. Fr. Garabed serves as the chairman of the Ecclesiastical Arts and Architecture Committee of the Diocese and is often an advisor to new church construction projects. He has painted a number of Armenian illuminations and icons for churches and has authored several books on the Armenian Church and Armenian religious art.

May God grant many years to Archpriest Garabed and Yn. Roberta!

08/20/2026

☦ Ministry on the Front Lines of Parish Life

Join us for Orthodox Education Day on August 29!
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Ask a parish priest what has changed in the last five years, and the answer will be about the people walking through the door. Who are the seekers and converts arriving in our parishes, and what do they actually need from us? What ministry trends and challenges are our clergy encountering at the parish level? How is seminary education today emphasizing pastoral formation, how does someone discern a call to the priesthood, and what is being asked of lay leaders in our communities?

Drawing on decades of combined parish, mission, and diocesan ministry, the three priests joining us will speak candidly about what pastoral work looks like right now—and what the Church will need from her clergy and her laity next.

➡ See Full Schedule & Register to Attend: https://buff.ly/D1I5E5T

Free and open to the public, this discussion is part of Orthodox Education Day, a virtual online event hosted by St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Stay for the full program or join only the sessions that interest you most.