The 79th academic year (2026-27) is underway at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY. Several days of orientation for new students took place from August 26-29, during which the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos took place on Friday, August 28.
The school year began on Monday, August 31 with a moleben, which was served by His Grace, Bishop Luke (seminary rector), and monastery clergy immediately after that morning’s daily Liturgy. The annual convocation ceremony was held later that same day in the Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov Hall.
The ceremony began with welcome remarks from Bishop Luke (HTOS ’78), who shared many details about daily life in the seminary and how it is uniquely interrelated to the monastery. His Grace spoke at length about the monastery fathers who came before, particularly focusing on His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus (Škurla; +2008 – HTOS ‘58) and Archimandrite Flor (Vanko; +2012 – HTOS ‘60), who shared this day as their joint namesday, and for whom, together with the monastery brotherhood departed this life, a memorial panahida had been served after lunch at Metropolitan Laurus’ crypt.
As in previous years, Bishop Luke shared some very useful insights into how to properly navigate life at the monastery and seminary. His Grace stressed several pitfalls to avoid and gave advice on how to manage the stress, workload, and temptations that inevitably arise during any good and praiseworthy undertaking.
His Grace stated that seminary life would bring both blessings and temptations. The one he stressed the most among the latter sort was the tendency to give up, to imagine that problems cannot be overcome, to get offended by peers and those around oneself, to give in to the demon of criticism, and to simply leave seminary. He stated that overcoming such temptations is foundational to success in seminary studies, and in life in general.
Bishop Luke also reiterated that social media can have quite detrimental effects if overused, and that this has been the cause for many a late assignment and incomplete coursework. His Grace suggested cutting internet usage in half or taking entire days off as ‘screen-free’ days, avoiding checking the news constantly and obsessing over what we see and hear, and instead using our time wisely, to read, walk in nature, and/or pray instead. Ultimately, he concluded with encouraging the new students to use these years in Jordanville to acquire at least a small amount of humility, and to develop a habit of prayer. He focused heavily on the importance of prayer, stating that it will be essential in their future pastoral life.
Remarks were then offered by Priest Ephraim Willmarth (HTOS’11), assistant dean, director of admissions, and registrar. Fr. Ephraim introduced the new students individually and asked each of them to rise to their feet and state their name, their home parish (and jurisdiction if other than ROCOR), and to tell everyone a little about themselves, as well as what brought them to study in seminary in general, and why they chose HTOS in Jordanville in particular.
Next, he asked the faculty members present in the hall to introduce themselves to the new students, explaining what classes they taught and recounting a bit about their backgrounds and current academic work.
Dean Nicolas Schidlovsky then addressed those assembled for the convocation wit the following remarks:
“At Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, the convocation ceremony is always a fundamentally inspirational event welcoming its students to the beginning of a new academic year and to the ever-expanding opportunities for spiritual growth, self-enrichment, and the countless deeply rewarding activities that are available for pursuit in Jordanville."
At the same time, while briefly emphasizing the many high-level demands of any serious academic commitment, Dean Schidlovsky also offered some unexpected but delightful commentaries on the seminary’s geographical location, its remarkable surroundings in Upstate New York, its rolling hills, ubiquitous lakesides, farmlands, and so much else that is equally conductive to ceaseless prayer and a sense of true partnership with the Almighty. "Upon arrival here many decades ago," he stated, "our founding fathers fully grasped the unique quality of this landscape and took it as a real reminder of humanity’s need for constant embrace with radiant beauty, which must not be seen as a luxury, in the materialistic sense, but as an ontological reality, and as a part of life just as the air we breathe."
In addition to all else that the Seminary stives to accomplish for its students, the dean’s remarks stressed the institution’s thorough commitment to a deep awareness of God’s divine nature within its countless dimensions. "This is one of the seminary’s leading foundational premises."
He concluded with the summary statement:
"Our program strives to bring its students to many realizations of everything they need to grasp at the very core of their life’s religious experience, which can be seen as starting with the bottom-line assertion that one of God’s names, in fact, is Beauty as is affirmed in the writings of our early Church Fathers who were so widely acclaimed as beholders of such divine and mysterious truths."
For this 2026-27 academic year, Holy Trinity Seminary has an on-campus population of 36 students, which includes 20 undergraduate students and 16 graduate students. The seminary has 24 returning students and 12 new/incoming students. Of these, eight are new undergraduate students and four are new graduate students. Five of these incoming students are married and came seminary with their wives and children
First-year undergraduate (B.Th.) students include: Seraphim Bicko, Alexander Drobish, Marian Miller, Juan Rangel, Alexander Romashouk, Marcel Scrivner, and Andrew Seredensky. Justin Metlenko, who is a transfer student from the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary at Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, entered the seminary as a third-year undergraduate.
First-year graduate (M.Div.) students include: Theophan Barthelemy, Ambrose Clark, Maximos Lopez, and Joseph Miller.
Toward the conclusion of the ceremony, and before the group photos were taken, Bishop Luke gave each new student a blessing to wear their cassock (and belt for undergraduates), charging them never to do anything while not wearing the cassock which they would not do while wearing one. His Grace made it clear that a seminarian does not cease to be a seminarian when out in the world, but on the contrary: he must apply the same discipline wherever he is and whatever he is engaged in.
Following the group photos, an ice cream social was hosted for the students to spend some time getting to know one another, as well as the faculty.
Glory to God for the successful start of the 7th academic year at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville!
