ST. VLADIMIR’S ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

ST. VLADIMIR’S ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. In 1905 Archbishop Tikhon (q.v.), later Patriarch of Moscow, recognized the need for indigenous American clergy and decided to establish a permanent seminary. Opened in 1905 in Minneapolis, it was transferred in 1913 to Tenafly, New Jersey, and during the eighteen years of its existence produced two generations of priests who, at a difficult moment in the life of the Church, assured the continuity of Orthodoxy in America and its progressive integration into American life.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 inaugurated a deep crisis for Orthodoxy in America. Deprived of material support from Russia, isolated from the mother church (q.v.), suffering from internal divisions, the Church here could no longer financially support the seminary, and in 1923 it closed its doors. Fifteen years later, after a long period of recovery and reorganization, the question of theological education was raised again. At the Sixth All-American Church Sobor meeting in New York in October 1937, Dr. Basil M. Bensin, one of the first instructors at the Minneapolis school, proposed reopening the seminary. A working agreement was established with Columbia College, and in 1939 a temporary home for the school was found on the campus of General Theological Seminary.

The aftermath of World War II brought unexpected growth and development to the seminary. The arrival from Europe of several renowned scholars-including George P. Fedotov (q.v.), formerly a professor at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (q.v.) in Paris (†1951); Nicholas S. Arseniev, from the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Warsaw (†1977); Eugene V. Spektorsky, formerly of the University of Kiev (†1950); and Nicholas O. Lossky (q.v.), formerly of the University of St. Petersburg (†1965)-made possible further development of St. Vladimir’s as a graduate school of theology, an “academy” to use the old Russian nomenclature. Soon the school moved to new quarters rented from Union Theological Seminary.

The beginning of this new era coincided with the arrival of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Georges Florovsky (q.v.) from St. Sergius Institute in Paris. He was soon appointed dean (1949–55), and under his leadership the theological curriculum was developed, the faculty grew and the school was given a definite pan-Orthodox orientation. “A contemporary Orthodox theologian,” Fr. Florovsky said at the formal inauguration of the seminary in its new status, “cannot retire into a narrow cell of some local tradition, because Orthodoxy . . . is not a local tradition but basically an ecumenical one.” The seminary’s future development was assured by the arrival of other younger theologians from St. Sergius: Fr. Alexander Schmemann (1951, †1983), Professor Serge S. Verhovskoy (1952, †1986), and later Fr. Joh n Meyendorff (q.v.) (1959). In April 1953 St. Vladimir’s was granted an Absolute Charter by the Board of Regents of the State of New York.

In 1961 a five-year search for a suitable campus ended with the purchase of property in Westchester County. Within a few years, after a successful financial drive, new buildings were erected and housing for faculty and staff was acquired. In June 1966 the seminary was accepted to Associate Membership in the American Association of Theological Schools, and became fully accredited in 1973. Final recognition of the seminary’s maturity was given in March 1967, when the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York granted St. Vladimir’s the power to award the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (later Master of Divinity), followed in 1970 by the degree of Master of Theology, in 1985 by the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1988 by the degree of Doctor of Ministry.