Sheptytsky Institute conducts 14th program in Eastern theology (10/08/00)

Sheptytsky Institute conducts 14th program in Eastern theology

OTTAWA - The Sheptytsky Institute conducted its summer intensive program in Eastern Christian Theology and Spirituality for the 14th year, and in a new setting, while attracting students from Ukraine, Italy, Belarus, the United States and Canada.

The program was held at a Studite monastery, as in previous years, but this time, instead of Holy Transfiguration (Mount Tabor) Monastery in northern California, the venue was the brand new Monastery of the Mother of God in Orangeville, Ontario, an hour northwest of Toronto. This new monastery is home to a dozen monks, most in their 20s and 30s, with three from North America and the rest from Ukraine. The change of location was a definite challenge for both the institute and the young monastery, but both the monks and the students were quite happy with the results.

Many of the participants spoke of their four weeks as a life-changing experience, a real watershed in the way they experienced their faith and the reality of Church. The prayerful atmosphere of the monastery, the serene beauty of the natural surroundings high on the Niagara escarpment, with 50-mile views, and the stimulating courses and field trips made for a powerful mix of experiences.

As in past years, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association offered scholarships for several students or graduates of the Lviv Theological Academy to attend. "This is really the only program of its kind in the world, and we want to help the best students from Ukraine to have a chance to participate in it," explained Chorbishop John Faris, assistant secretary general of the association.

Students not only have a chance to mix academic theology courses on a university level with life in the liturgical cycle of a monastery, but they have the opportunity to visit more Eastern Christian communities, Orthodox and Catholic, than most people are exposed to in a lifetime.

Field trips included visits to Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Greek and Russian churches as well as a host of Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Toronto and vicinity. A number of well-executed iconographic projects were visited in conjunction with the Rev. Andriy Chirovsky's course, "Theology and Spirituality of Icons." Dr. Jaroslav Skira taught "Ecclesiology from Eastern and Western Perspectives," and this was accompanied by visits to various communities, many of which are not in communion with each other.

At the Armenian Church, the group was greeted with a letter from the Armenian primate for Canada, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, who had accompanied the late Karekin I, Catholicos of all Armenians, during his visit to the Sheptytsky Institute headquarters at St. Paul University in Ottawa several years earlier. Coptic and Ethiopian communities with their very distinct traditions also welcomed the students and professors warmly, offering food and hospitality. The new Greek Orthodox Theological Academy of Toronto was visited in the hopes of further cooperation in the future. Several beautifully decorated Greek and Ukrainian churches were on the list of places visited, along with such venues as St. John the Compassionate Mission, a non-ethnic ministry for the inner-city poor of Toronto, under the sponsorship of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.

In addition to the North American experience, the Sheptytsky Institute also has co-sponsored a similar program at the Studite Lavra Monastery in Univ, western Ukraine, together with the Lviv Theological Academy. Over 20 students from various regions of Ukraine (and of various religious backgrounds) participated this year. The Sheptytsky Institute sent its associates, Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev and Dr. Andrew Sorokowsky, to teach "Byzantine-Slav Liturgical Architecture until the 17th Century" and "Selected Topics in Ukrainian Church History," respectively. Just as at the monastery in Orangeville, the students in Ukraine earned six university credits through St. Paul University in Ottawa, which is the home of the Sheptytsky Institute.

Every year more persons are interested in the institute's programs (whether during the summer or during the regular academic year). The Sheptytsky Institute offers fully accredited university programs from the one-year certificate to the three-year B.A., and the four-year B.Th., the M.A.(Th.) and Ph.D.

Those interested in participating or making a tax-deductible donation (the institute's foundation is a federally registered charity in Canada and the United States) may write to: The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute, St. Paul University, 223 Main St., Ottawa, Ontario KlS lC4; telephone, (613) 236-1393, ext. 2332; fax, (613)782-3026; website, http://www.ustpaul.ca/sheptytsky.

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