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December 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

December 21, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Greetings to all at this most joyous time.

  • We are looking forward to coming together for our annual meeting soon after the turn of the New Year, with the shift of our 2021 Annual Meeting to January 13-15, 2022: “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World.” This year’s meeting has generated much interest, and has attracted the participation of many excellent presenters and distinguished panelists. Indeed, in order to accommodate the number of excellent presentations, please note that we extended the meeting from previous years, so that it begins Thursday morning and continues through Saturday early afternoon. We encourage you to register now, and invite others to join us, since non-members can also register and participate for a very modest fee, (the meeting is free to members current in their dues). The meeting will be entirely virtual, with zoom links sent to registered attendees.
  • The Schedule for the Annual Meeting is attached to this newsletter. A quick look through the panels and presentations reveals a wide range of ways in which this year’s topic is addressed. There are panels dealing with ecumenical issues, others taking on modern science and our Orthodox faith, and still others that look to the ways people struggle with having faith in the modern world or how to practice that faith today. Papers exhibit a similar diversity of perspectives around the main theme, with attention to ancient texts, modern media, and global interactions.
  • Annual Meeting Registration: Registration for the meeting is now available on the OTSA webpage at: https://www.otsamerica.net/2021-annual-meeting/  All attendees must register. Because we have shifted to the online format, members who are current in their dues will register at no cost (dues will function as the registration fee), and members not current in dues, or those who are not members and want to attend, will have a $30.00 registration charge. Students and retired attendees pay a reduced fee of $15.00. Because our meeting is now scheduled for January 13-15, 2022, dues from 2021 will be operative through those dates, and new dues for 2022 will not be necessary until January 16, 2022.

    This is a great time to become current in your OTSA dues for 2021!
  • The Florovsky Lecture, “‘Preserving the Fullness of Thy Church’: Fighting Fundamentalism, Defending Dialogue and Reclaiming Catholicity” is offered this year by Very Rev Dr. John J. Jillions. The lecture, held in conjunction with the OTSA annual meeting, will be on Friday evening, January 14, 2022, from 7:30-9:00 pm (EST). Attached to this email is the flyer for the lecture; please post this and share widely.
  • Registration for the Florovsky Lecture: The Florovsky lecture is free and open to all, but all who attend must register in order to receive the zoom link for the lecture. Registration for the Florovsky lecture is separate from that of the general meeting.  You can register now at https://www.otsamerica.net/rsvpmaker/2021-22-florovsky-lecture/
  • OTSA Business Meeting: We would like to bring your attention to two new matters that we will address at the annual business meeting (held on the afternoon of January 14, 2022, from 3:30-5:00 pm). These are:
    • The proposal that we offer lifetime membership for members who have retired aged 70 years and over; this would be available for a modest one-time fee.
    • A proposal that our next annual meeting be held in conjunction with the quadrennial IOTA conference planned for January 2023 in Volos, Greece.

Respectfully submitted,
Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

November 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

November 22, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

A blessed Advent to all!

The upcoming month of December brings with it a few deadlines for our annual meeting in January, and we would like to remind you of these and encourage your participation in what promises to be an interesting and engaging exchange of ideas. Please note:

  • OTSA 2021 ANNUAL MEETING WILL BE HELD JANUARY 13-15, 2022. The meeting will be entirely online. Please mark your calendars and register now.
  • Annual Meeting Registration: Registration for the meeting is now available on the OTSA webpage at: https://www.otsamerica.net/2021-annual-meeting/. All attendees must register. Because we have shifted to the online format, members who are current in their dues will register at no cost (dues will function as the registration fee), and members not current in dues, or those who are not members and want to attend, will have a $30.00 registration charge. Because our meeting is now scheduled for January 13-15, 2022, dues from 2021 will be operative through those dates, and new dues for 2022 will not be necessary until January 16, 2022.

    This is a great time to become current in your OTSA dues for 2021! You can do so here: https://www.otsamerica.net/pay-dues/
  • Call for papers/panels—Deadline extended to Dec. 1: The change in dates for our annual meeting also extends the deadline for proposals for papers and panel. The new deadline is December 1st, 2021. Please send proposals to Teva Regule at teva@mit.edu and/or Helen Theodoropoulos (helen60076@yahoo.com). Proposals for both papers and panels include an abstract of less than 250 words and an abbreviated CV of the presenter(s). Presenters of papers have 20 minutes to give their paper and an additional 10 minutes for Q&A.
  • Call for Panels: Please consider putting together or participating on a panel for the conference. Panels run for approximately an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes and include brief presentations of about 7-10 minutes by three or four people, leaving about half the time for discussion. If you have begun to assemble a panel, please contact Teva teva@mit.edu or Helen helen60076@yahoo.com regarding the status and contact person for the panel. Please submit a brief abstract explaining the topic of the panel, and a list of panelists with brief bios for each. Please note that some of the panels described in previous newsletters have been filled. Those still open and in the process of formation include the following:
    • Reflections on portions of the Social Ethos Document, “For the Life of the World”: Contact: Teva Regule (teva@mit.edu)
  • The Florovsky Lecture, offered this year by Very Rev Dr. John J. Jillions, will be via the Zoom meeting format, and entitled: “Preserve the Fullness of Thy Church:” Fighting Fundamentalism, Defending Dialogue, and Reclaiming Catholicity. A separate registration and link for this lecture are forthcoming. The lecture, held in conjunction with the OTSA annual meeting, is free and open to all, and will be on Friday evening, January 14, 2022.

    Very Rev Dr. John A Jillions is a Research Fellow and the founding Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK). He is the former Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, and served as Associate Professor of Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and as adjunct instructor at Fordham University. Fr. John is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, and has published numerous scholarly and popular articles.
  • OTSA Small Grants: OTSA provides seed money and/or small grants for Orthodox initiatives. Through these grants, OTSA seeks to help and support the mission of Orthodox associations and initiatives with the greater purpose of building up the body of Christ. Applicants for a grant should provide a proposal, which includes a short description of the project/initiative (~300 words), information about the requesting organization, and the funding request amount. The deadline for application for grants for this year is December 15.  Send grant requests to Helen (helen60076@yahoo.com).
  • On November 11 and 12, 2021, St. Vladimir’s Seminary hosted His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) and several noted biblical scholars for a two-day event, Searching the Scriptures. The event drew nearly 600 people from twenty-four countries around the world who attended either in person or online. The lectures and discussions celebrated Metropolitan Hilarion’s New Testament scholarship and six-volume work Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching (SVS Press). Several OTSA members offered presentations, including Drs. John Barnet, Bruce Beck, Edith Humphrey, and James Buchanan Wallace. An extensive recap of the event, and links to the lectures is found here.
  • SVOTS is seeking to hire a full-time faculty position in Biblical Studies. Details can be found at https://www.svots.edu/headlines/svots-launches-search-hire-professor-biblical- studies
  • We welcome interested scholars to apply for OTSA membership. Applications for membership must be received a month prior to our annual meeting. This year the deadline for new membership application is December 15, 2021. (Please note: those who have applied for membership and are waiting for the final vote at the annual business meeting are still eligible to attend and present at the annual meeting. As provisional members, they are able to attend at no cost).

Best wishes to all for a blessed Happy Thanksgiving.

Respectfully submitted,
Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

October 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

October 5, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

We want to share with you some important changes and deadlines for the OTSA annual meeting, most importantly the NEW DATES for the meeting.

  • OTSA ANNUAL MEETING DATES CHANGED TO JANUARY 13-15, 2022. We recognize that a shift in the dates of the annual OTSA meeting is unexpected and most unusual, and emphasize that we took this step only after considered thought. The mission of OTSA includes the promotion and facilitation of scholarly study of important topics for Orthodox academics, fostering dialogue and reasoned conversation, and encouragement of the work of Orthodox academics in various institutions of higher learning, especially our seminaries. While it is impossible to select dates that do not coincide with other conferences and events, our intention is not to divide our members but to facilitate their participation in Orthodox scholarly endeavors. We note that our original time for the conference overlaps with another conference of significance to Orthodox. St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary is planning to host a major conference on Scripture, “Searching the Scriptures,” on Nov. 11–12, 2021. (See below for details.) We hope that by moving our meeting our members will be able to participate in both that conference and our own, and this will help to support camaraderie among Orthodox scholars.
  • OTSA Annual Meeting moved online: After careful consideration of all the complications and uncertainties the pandemic continues to generate, the executive committee has decided to move the annual OTSA meeting to an online-only format. As with last year’s meeting, the virtual only format will facilitate the participation of members from every location, without creating concerns about health, expense, or the vagaries of January weather.
  • Annual Meeting Registration: Registration for the meeting is now available on the OTSA webpage at: https://www.otsamerica.net/2021-annual-meeting/ All attendees must register. Because we have shifted to the online format, members who are current in their dues will register at no cost (dues will function as the registration fee), and members not current in dues, or those who are not members and want to attend, will have a $30.00 registration charge. Because our meeting is now scheduled for January 13-15, 2022, dues from 2021 will be operative through those dates, and new dues for 2022 will not be necessary until January 16, 2022.

    This is a great time to become current in your OTSA dues for 2021!
  • Call for papers/panels—Deadline extended to Dec. 1: The change in dates for our annual meeting also extends the deadline for proposals for papers and panel. The new deadline is December 1st, 2021. Please send proposals to Teva Regule at teva@mit.edu and/or Fr. John Jillions at jjillions@gmail.com. Proposals for both papers and panels include an abstract of less than 250 words and an abbreviated CV of the presenter(s). Presenters of papers have 20 minutes to give their paper and an additional 10 minutes for Q&A.
  • Call for Panels: Please consider putting together or participating on a panel for the conference. Panels run for approximately an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes and include brief presentations of about 7-10 minutes by three or four people, leaving about half the time for discussion. In addition to possible new panels, we are currently organizing panels around eight themes; please let us know if you would like to contribute to these specific panels. These eight topics are:
    • Mixed (Inter-Christian) marriages
    • COVID and the Church
    • Science and Theology
    • Ecumenism and Orthodoxy
    • The Diaconate (male and female) for the post-COVID world
    • The “Nones and Dones”
    • Reflections on portions of the Social Ethos document, “For the Life of the World”
    • Evangelical Theology and Orthodoxy.
  • The Florovsky Lecture, offered this year by Very Rev Dr. John J. Jillions, will be via the Zoom meeting format, with the working title “Orthodoxy and Pluralism: Reclaiming Catholicity.” There will be a separate registration and link for this lecture. The lecture, which is held in conjunction with the OTSA annual meeting, will be on Friday evening, January 14, 2022.

    Very Rev Dr. John A Jillions is a Research Fellow and the founding Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (Cambridge, UK), former Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, and the author of Divine Guidance: Lessons for Today from the World of Early Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2020). He has also served as Associate Professor of Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa (with the Sheptytsky Institute), Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, and as adjunct instructor at Fordham University. Educated at McGill University (BA), St Vladimir’s Seminary (MDiv, DMin), and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (PhD, New Testament), Fr John is a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and has served parishes in Australia, Greece, England, Canada, and the United States. He has published numerous scholarly and popular articles, and a children’s book, The Christmas Story: Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem (Xist Publishing). He is Vice-president of the Orthodox Theological Society in America and currently serves as pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Bridgeport, CT. He is married to Denise and they have three grown sons and two grandchildren.

    Please note that Fr. Jillions has a new essay posted to Public Orthodoxy, entitled “Outside the Camp: Opportunities and Opposition,” found at: https://publicorthodoxy.org/2021/09/23/outside-the-camp-opportunities-and-opposition/

Respectfully submitted,
Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

Church of the Ecumenical Councils, Church–State Divided?

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

V. Rev. Dr. Peter Anthony Baktis
Princeton, NJ
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We have been taught that the Orthodox Church is the “Church of the Ecumenical Councils.” Liturgically, we celebrate this reality, and the culmination of this liturgical reality is held on the first Sunday of the Great Lent: the Sunday of Orthodoxy. On this day, we proudly gather and celebrate an event that was first organized by Empress Irene who, in keeping with the tradition of the Byzantine Empire, gathered the leaders of the church to settle a dispute that was dividing the empire. This council held in 787 did not resolve the conflict and another ecclesiastical council needed to be called by Empress Theodora in 843.  The seventh Ecumenical, and all Ecumenical councils, were not called by the leaders of the Church but by a secular authority to settle the internal conflict that was dividing the church and the empire. Perhaps we should refer to the Orthodox Church as the Church of the State-Called Councils. This reality must be articulated in the present cultural divisions that the Orthodox Church experiences, especially in light of the present worldwide pandemic. Perhaps things would look different if the president of the United States or some other secular leader called for a council to settle the dispute. What we saw was the division of each jurisdiction in the United States and local Orthodox churches in the world. The voices of some within Monastic community, who live in isolation, argued that the state, science, and reason were not to be listened to and must be resisted. This is a marked change from the history of the Orthodox Church, the Church of the Councils, incarnational theology, and the church that was instrumental in emphasizing the role of the Holy Spirit in the landmark World Council of Churches’ document on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry. The worldwide pandemic became the worldwide polemic that highlighted the political realities and divisions that exist in the Orthodox Church.

Alexei Krindatch conducted a survey titled “Ten Questions and Answers about the Pandemic’s Impact on American Orthodox Christian Parishes,”[1] which points to the division of the political reality of the academic and theological climate for authentic dialogue in the Orthodox Church today. Two questions elucidate the divide: question 7, “How widespread were the conflicts in parishes caused by disagreements regarding various restrictions brought on by the pandemic?” and question 8, “Did parishes make an effort to educate their members about the COVID-19 pandemic and/or encourage them to get vaccinated?” His findings showed that 81% of the parishes surveyed in the study had mild to severe conflicts. Question 9 may indicate the recent divide between the church and science, as only 16% of all parishes invited medical professionals to speak about COVID-19, and the clergy from only 31% of the surveyed parishes publicly encouraged their parishioners to vaccinate. Although this survey by Krindatch, is a snapshot of a moment in time, it nevertheless indicates the hindrances to open, honest, and academic dialogue in the contemporary Orthodox Church not only in the United States but worldwide. We have recently seen this in Greece where the government threatened to order the church into compliance and threatened the shutdown of the Greek Church in Canada.[2] I could only imagine what would have happened if the “Holy Fathers” told the emperor that they would not accept his order to meet in Nicaea in 325.

The worldwide pandemic gave the Orthodox Church the opportunity to critically introspect its history and legacy and the pressing question of God’s revelatory actions in time and space. Instead, the debate allowed a political polemic and not a reasoned theological and historical analysis of the place of science and theology. Science was seen as the enemy, and the reasoning given to humanity by God was replaced by a despotic fear and blind obedience. Blogs, and many other social media sites, became the battleground for those who were in “lockdown,” and there was no emperor who could call the church into council to settle the debate. Instead of embracing the opportunity, many took to defending illogical arguments, calling for adherence to the holy tradition simply. Fear, the tool of the evil one, was operative, and dialogue, change, and reasoning became heretical and anti-orthodox.

The question now is where do we go from here? Is the Orthodox Church to continue to be held in captivity to a non-critical reading of its history? Is the question of economic security and fear of debate causing our leaders to fold and keep silent and watch as people suffer and die not only of the current pandemic but the pandemic of ignorance? There is One Truth, and Christ has shown that truth. The Orthodox Church is proud to proclaim and liturgically read the words found in 1 Corinthians 1:21–23:

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

Have the Orthodox forgotten their history in Nicaea in 355–366 where the emperor Valens “faced a serious military revolt by one of Julian’s generals, Procopius. During this rebellion, Valens recalled bishops that had been exiled (including Athanasius) in the hope of securing wider support. In such circumstances, pragmatism overcame the general support for the Homoiousians. Valens’ pragmatism provides an important key for understanding theological development in this period.”[3] History does not require blind obedience but an objective analysis and pragmatically reasoned discernment. This is the holy tradition that the Orthodox proclaims when they gather as the body in Christ in council: “The Grace of the Holy Spirit has assembled us today. . . ” The Church of the Councils has much to learn from its past and must be approached in the fear of God with faith and love, not with the fear of political retribution or economic insecurity. Does the Orthodox Church need an emperor to bring it out of the ignorance of exile?

[1] https://orthodoxreality.org/reports/

[2] See: “The Greek Orthodox Church told priests [on] Monday not to observe the Greek government’s edict to close houses of worship, as a part of the country’s new, tightened coronavirus restrictions.” https://nypost.com/2021/01/04/greek-orthodox-church-tells-priests-to-defy-lockdown-measures/. “Toronto Public Health (TPH) has issued revised COVID-19 guidelines that ban the offering of Holy Communion to the faithful.” https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/07/09/temporary-ban-on-holy-communion-in-toronto/

[3] Lewis Ayres. Nicaea and its Legacy: An approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology. (Oxford University Press, 2004) p.169.

August 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

26 August, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

Greetings! We are pleased to share with you plans for the annual meeting, and other news.

ANNUAL MEETING: November 11-13, 2021. The theme for this year’s annual meeting is “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World.” Our location is the campus of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, 50 Goddard Ave, Brookline, MA 02445. The meeting will be in hybrid format this year, allowing for both in-person and virtual attendance.

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS (Deadline for Proposals: Sept. 30, 2021). This year’s annual theme of “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World,” allows for a wide range of interconnected topics, including mixed and inter-faith marriages, ecumenism, pluralism, secularism, racism, and the relation of science and religion. However, we also welcome papers on other topics, especially those of current concern. Requirements for proposals for both papers and panels include an abstract of less than 250 words and an abbreviated CV of the presenter(s). Presenters of papers have 20 minutes to give their paper and an additional 10 minutes for Q&A. The length of panels will be determined by the number of papers and the schedule of the meeting. Please send the proposals to the OTSA secretary, Helen Theodoropoulos, at secretary@otsamerica.org or  helen60076@yahoo.com.

OTSA strives to facilitate vigorous and respectful analysis, dialogue and reflection among faithful Orthodox scholars. Indeed, this is the place best suited for this dialogue, and where it needs to happen. We welcome and encourage all our members to add their voice and insight, both in paper presentations and in the discussions that follow.Please note that, per HCHC policy, all in-person attendees must be fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus.

Travel Grants: OTSA can award up to 5 travel grants of up to $500 each to assist with travel to the annual meeting. We will prioritize speakers, young scholars, and those w/o funding. The deadline for application is 9/30/21. Please contact Teva (teva@mit.edu) or Helen (helen60076@yahoo.com)

Florovsky Lecture: We are very pleased to announce that the Florovsky Lecture this year will be offered by The Very Reverend Dr. John Jillions. (More information to follow in our next newsletter).

OTSA Small Grants: OTSA provides seed money and/or small grants for Orthodox initiatives. Through these grants, OTSA seeks to help and support the mission of Orthodox associations and initiatives with the greater purpose of building up the body of Christ. Applicants for a grant should provide a proposal, which includes a short description of the project/initiative (~300 words), information about the requesting organization, and the funding request amount. The deadline for application for grants for this year is September 30, 2021.

The Church and the Academy Blog: We continue to invite our members to address and explore issues of academic freedom through our Church and the Academy blog.  Please send submissions (of approximately 1000 words) to Teva (teva@mit.edu)

Upcoming Conference notification: On November 22-26, a special conference devoted to the centennial of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad will take place in Belgrade and on line. This conference provides an opportunity for West to meet East: leading scholars in the field of the history of Russian ecclesiastical emigration will be presenting.

Dues Reminder: OTSA needs your support and commitment!  Members who are not yet current in their dues can pay online. If for some reason you need to send a check instead of using PayPal, please send your check to Fr. Gabriel Rochelle, P.O Box 540, Mesilla NM 88046.

Recognizing that OTSA is blessed with longstanding members who are now retirees, the officers will propose at the next annual meeting a lifetime membership option of a one- time payment of $60.00 for retirees.

Recent Publications: (These contributions have recently come to our attention. If you have published a book recently as well, please let us know so we can inform our members.)

The most recent book by Fr. Michael Plekon has been published: Community as Church, Church as Community (Cascade Books). See an extensive interview with the author, including a link to his new book on Amazon.

The second volume from IOTA publications has been published: Natural Theology in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, edited by David Bradshaw and Richard Swinburne. See more information about the publication, and an interview with the co-editors.

In Memoriam

Protopresbyter Leonid Kishkovsky, longtime Director of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA)’s Office of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations, fell asleep in the Lord on the evening of August 3, 2021. Fr. Leonid was among those who were crucial to the establishment and growth of the OCA, and his guidance and influence were significant and extensive. In addition to his work for the OCA, Fr. Leonid served the Church through leadership in organizations such as SCOBA, IOCC, and the World Council of Churches. He was also the long-serving rector of Our Lady of Kazan Church, Sea Cliff, NY.

May Fr. Leonid’s memory be eternal!

Matushka Tresja Denysenko, beloved wife of active OTSA member Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, who serves at Protection of the Virgin Mary Church, Merrillville, IN, fell asleep in the Lord unexpectedly on August 19, 2021. In her compassionate work as a disaster response expert with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance Matushka Tresja worked tirelessly to provide for those in distress. Originally from Minnesota, Matushka Tresja is survived by her husband and daughter, as well as her mother and stepfather. We extend our prayers to Deacon Nick and his family. May Matushka Tresja’s memory be eternal!

Respectfully submitted,

Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

July 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

30 July, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

Greetings! We are pleased to share with you our progress in becoming formally incorporated and receiving non-profit status, our plans for the annual meeting, and other news.

  • Incorporation status: We have completed and submitted all the paperwork for incorporation in the State of Massachusetts, and for the reception of federal non-profit 501(c)(3) status. We are awaiting the final notification of approval.
  • Assembly of Bishops requirements: Under its new regulations, the Assembly of Bishops lists requirements necessary for all associations to which it grants affiliated status. We are now current with those requirements. These include annual reports, financial statements, non-profit incorporation in one of the States, independent 501(c)(3) status, and the purchase of insurance for officers and directors.
  • Annual Meeting – November 11-13, 2021: The theme for this year’s annual meeting is “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World.” Our tentative dates and location are Thursday through Saturday, November 11-13, on the campus of Hellenic College/Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. The meeting will be in hybrid format this year, allowing for both in-person and virtual attendance. 
  • CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS (Deadline for Proposals: Sept. 30, 2021). This year’s annual theme of “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World,” allows for a wide range of interconnected topics, including mixed and inter-faith marriages, ecumenism, pluralism, secularism, racism, and the relation of science and religion. However, we also welcome papers on other topics, especially those of current concern. Requirements for proposals for both papers and panels include an abstract of less than 250 words and an abbreviated CV of the presenter(s). Presenters of papers have 20 minutes to give their paper and an additional 10 minutes for Q&A. The length of panels will be determined by the number of papers and the schedule of the meeting. Please send the proposals to the OTSA secretary, Helen Theodoropoulos, at secretary@otsamerica.org or helen60076@yahoo.com.
  • OTSA Small Grants: OTSA provides seed money and/or small grants for Orthodox initiatives. Through these grants, OTSA seeks to help and support the mission of Orthodox associations and initiatives with the greater purpose of building up the body of Christ. Applicants for a grant should provide a proposal, which includes a short description of the project/initiative (~300 words), information about the requesting organization, and the funding request amount. The deadline for application for grants for this year is September 30, 2021.
  • We continue to offer the ongoing blog, The Church and the Academy, to address and explore issues of academic freedom, and encourage you to offer your reflections.  Please send submissions (of approximately 1000 words) to Teva (teva@mit.edu).
  • Presentation at New Skete Monastery: Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis will give the Featured Presentation at the New Skete Monastery Pilgrimage – Friday, August 6, 7:00 pm EDT. Each year, the Monasteries of New Skete hold an annual pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration.  This year the pilgrimage will be held on August 6-7, 2021.  Due to the lingering Coronavirus, it will be a Virtual Event this year.

    On Friday Night (8/6) (beginning at 6:45 pm), the Communities will kick off the Pilgrimage with a featured presentation given by the Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis.  Dcn. John is an Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and serves as theological advisor to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.  His talk is entitled, “Caring for the Soul of the Planet.”  This will be a live webinar with the opportunity for those participating to ask questions and engage the speaker.  Registration is required.  To do so, see the New Skete Event page.
  • Dues Reminder—Important: The OTSA yearly dues are especially important this year in assisting with the expenses associated with meeting the new Assembly of Bishops requirements for its affiliated organizations. OTSA needs your support and commitment!  Members who are not yet current in their dues can pay online. If for some reason you need to send a check instead of using PayPal, please send your check to Fr. Gabriel Rochelle, P.O Box 540, Mesilla NM 88046.

    Recognizing that OTSA is blessed to count among its membership many longstanding members who are now retirees, we are considering establishing a lifetime membership option for retirees. Discussion whether to offer this option, and further details about it, will be on the agenda of OTSA’s annual business meeting in November.

Finally, it has just come to our attention that one of our members, Fr. George Morelli, fell asleep in the Lord this past March – 3/16/21. Archpriest George Morelli served various Churches within the Antiochian Archdiocese, was for several years the coordinator of the Department of Chaplain and Pastoral Counseling Ministry for the Antiochian Archdiocese, and was on the faculty of Kean University in Union, NJ. Fr. George was a seasoned professional and published author in the areas of Clinical Psychology, and Marriage and Family Therapy. May his memory be eternal.

Respectfully submitted,

Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

June 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

27 June, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

A blessed Sunday of All Saints!

We are pleased to share with you some updates about recent events, and introduce the theme for the annual OTSA meeting, which is planned for this coming Fall.

  • The mixed marriages online seminar, “The Two Become One? Mixed Marriages in the Orthodox Church,” was held on May 29, and is now posted to the OTSA webpage at.

    As expressed in the seminar, the issues around mixed marriages in the Orthodox Church are extensive, complex, convoluted, and painful for a great many of our faithful.

    Speakers included OTSA members: Dr. Vigen Guroian, Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, Dr. Despina Prassas and Fr. Anthony Roeber.  Dr. Guroian set the tone by offering personal reflections to illuminate the cost suffered through the absurdities and confusion in the treatment of mixed marriages. Deacon Denysenko offered in a measured and thoughtful manner bold proposals for liturgical reform that would work toward the inclusion of the whole family in the life of the Church. The final presenter, Dr. Prassas, founded her comments on Acts 15 and the Council of Jerusalem to offer a way forward in the treatment of marriages and other interactions between Orthodox and other Christians. Fr. Roeber concluded with responses that clarified the different conditions pertaining to Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox marriages, and examined more carefully the definition and boundaries of “church.” We see this seminar as an important first step in opening thoughtful conversation on this topic.
  • Addendum to the Document on the Covid-19 Vaccines: The authors of the document answering questions on the efficacy and safety of the Covid-19 vaccines, posted to the OTSA webpage, have provided an addendum that addresses recent additional questions and concerns, such as the safety of the vaccine for pregnant women, and recommendations as the country continues to lift restrictions. This update is now on the OTSA webpage.

    Both the update and the original document on the vaccines are on the master coronavirus page.
  • Annual Meeting – Fall 2021: Looking forward to the OTSA national meeting, we have chosen the theme “Orthodoxy in a Pluralistic World.”  This theme encompasses many of the issues members have identified as deserving attention this year, including discussion of relations with other Christians and people of other faiths, mixed and interfaith marriages, and the growing number of people who identify as having no faith. It also embraces several of the themes within the document issued in 2020: “For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church.” A more detailed call for proposals for papers and presentations will be posted in our next newsletter, but we anticipate a deadline in about mid-September for proposals.

    We are hoping to host the meeting in a hybrid format, with both virtual and in-person attendance, and are asking our members for assistance in identifying possible locations that have the facilities to accommodate us and are affordable. Please send suggestions to Helen (helen60067@yahoo.com) or Teva (teva@mit.edu).
  • We ask that you join us in assisting the Assembly of Bishops and OCAMPR in promoting a survey to assess the mental health needs of our communities. This survey has been developed in conjunction with the newly formed Mental Health Task Force, and is not a self-assessment but rather seeks to gather the faithful’s perceptions on the topic. The information that is gathered will be used in developing mental health resources for our faithful. Access the survey.
  • We continue to recommend the ongoing sermon series “Orthodox Scholars Preach,” offered by The Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, in partnership with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.  Many of the participants have been OTSA members. The page listing the sermons and linking to them has been recently updated.
  • We encourage you to offer submissions for our continuing blog, The Church and the Academy.  Please send submissions (of approximately 1000 words) to Teva (teva@mit.edu).
  • Dues Reminder—Important: The OTSA yearly dues have a special importance this year in enabling us to comply with the new Assembly of Bishops requirements for its affiliated organizations. OTSA is now required to carry insurance, which constitutes a new and significant part of our operating budget! OTSA needs your support and commitment! Members who are not yet current in their dues can pay online. If for some reason you need to send a check instead of using PayPal, please send your check to Fr. Gabriel Rochelle, P.O Box 540, Mesilla NM 88046.

Respectfully submitted,

Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

May 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

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22 May, 2021

Dear Fathers and Friends,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Register now for the Mixed Marriages Online Seminar, “The Two Become One? Mixed Marriages in the Orthodox Church,” Saturday, May 29, 1–3 pm EDT.   Panelists are Fr. Anthony Roeber, Dr. Vigen Guroian, Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, and Dr. Despina Prassas. This pressing topic is of wide interest and we encourage you to invite everyone to attend. The registration link is: https://www.otsamerica.net/rsvpmaker/mixed-marriages/ and a flier for you to post and share is attached. Once registered, you will receive the Zoom information for the seminar.  All attendees are eligible for a 20% discount on the purchase of Fr. Roeber’s book on the topic, Mixed Marriages: An Orthodox History, published by SVS Press.

We remind you of the ongoing sermon series “Orthodox Scholars Preach,” offered by The Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, in partnership with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Several members of OTSA are participating in this series. The sermons are available on the Center’s YouTube channel, and a list (with links) of speakers and sermons that have aired can be found at the OTSA newsletter page.

Annual Meeting: We are in the process of planning our annual meeting and are asking for feedback from members about this year’s topic. Suggestions that came out of our last general business meeting include reflections on

  • The Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church document
  • Mixed and Inter-faith Marriages
  • Resolving Conflict among the Orthodox Churches
  • Bioethics and Orthodoxy
  • Other? Please suggest!

Please send your thoughts about these topics, or others you feel we should consider, either to Teva: teva@mit.edu, or Helen: helen60076@yahoo.com

From your officers: We are working diligently at completing the necessary requirements to incorporate as a non-profit in Massachusetts, and to achieve federal 501(3)(c) status. This is, in part, to meet the new requirements set by the Assembly of Bishops for its Affiliated Associations. Also required are annual reports, which we are working to submit.

Recognizing our Members

The following have recently come to our attention.  Please submit updates for future newsletters.

Scott Kenworthy has co-authored the recently published book, Understanding World Christianity: Russia Nadia Kizenko, a noted scholar of Russian Orthodoxy, offers this quick review:

It’s not often when you get a book to review that you read it and say: not only will I assign this gem to students, I must buy several copies for my nephews and nieces, with my own money, RIGHT NOW. You may think you know the Russian Orthodox Christian tradition pretty well. You probably do. But I guarantee you have never read a account of its 20th and 21st century experience in particular as comprehensive, accessible, and profoundly empathetic as this one. And, at a modest $29 (less 30% through June from the *publisher*, making it $20!), you can get one for yourself as well. Scott Kenworthy, Alex Agadjanian—you know all the trees in the forest, so many that it would be easy to get lost in every rare branch. Instead you give us a map that is *essential* for anyone who wants to better understand both Russia and Orthodoxy today—and a wonderfully written read. I bow!

Congratulations to Rev. Dr. Bogdan Bucer for receiving the St. Macrina Award for Excellence in Teaching selected each year by the students at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.

Dues reminder: Please remember to submit your 2021 dues. Your membership enables OTSA to continue its work of scholarly reflection on matters crucial to the life of the Church. You can pay online here. If, for some reason, you need to send a check instead of using PayPal, please send your check to Fr. Gabriel Rochelle, P.O Box 540, Mesilla NM 88046.

Respectfully submitted,
Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

April 2021 Newsletter

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

26 April, 2021
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Dear Fathers and Friends,

A blessed Holy Week and Pascha to all!

icon of the resurrection

We wanted to share with you this opportunity to reflect more deeply on this sacred and crucial time through this sermon series in which a number of OTSA members have participated.  The series, “Orthodox Scholars Preach,” speaks to the Sundays of Lent and Pascha.

The Orthodox Christian Studies Center, in partnership with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros, has launched a new video series “Orthodox Scholars Preach.” The goal of the series is to provide a platform for Orthodox scholars to reflect on the spiritual themes of the liturgical calendar while drawing on their expertise. The series provides a space where Orthodox Christians and others interested in Orthodox spirituality can encounter the depth and richness of the tradition through stimulating, theologically-informed preaching by respected and diverse Orthodox scholars.

Videos are found on the Center’s YouTube channel.
 
Speakers for the debut series include (those with an asterisk are OTSA members): 

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: Fr. Stefanos Alexopoulos*
Sunday of the Prodigal Son: Sister Vassa Larin*
Sunday of the Last Judgment: Fr. John Behr*
Sunday of Forgiveness: Aristotle Papanikolaou*
Sunday of Orthodoxy: Fr. John Chryssavgis
Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas: Jeannie Constantinou
Sunday of the Holy Cross: John Fotopoulos
Sunday of St. John Climacus: James Skedros*
Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt: Nadia Kizenko
Palm Sunday: Teva Regule*
Good Friday: Paul Gavrilyuk* (To be posted)
Pascha:  Ashley Purpura* (To be posted)

MARK YOUR CALENDARS—Mixed Marriages Online Seminar, May 29, 1–3 pm EDT:  Please plan to attend the upcoming online seminar on Mixed Marriage hosted by OTSA: “The Two Become One? Mixed Marriages in the Orthodox Church.” DATE AND TIME: Saturday, May 29, 1:00-3:00 pm (EDT). Panelists are Fr. Anthony Roeber, Dr. Vigen Guroian, Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, and Dr. Despina Prassas. We look forward to an exceptional exploration of this pressing and important topic for our times. Our next letter will include more details, plus a flyer for you to share and post.

Respectfully submitted,

Teva Regule, PhD, OTSA President
Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos, PhD, OTSA Secretary

The Betrayal of the Intellectuals: Orthodox Clergy and the Suspicion of Expertise

Posted on by OTSA Administrator

Fr. Anthony Roeber
(Download essay as pdf)

My remarks come from my observations and experiences in three distinct but inter-related perspectives. I am a priest of the Antiochian Archdiocese and have now served for some 16 years as deacon and priest. My second point of view is shaped by a more than 40-year career as a professor of history and religious studies in both private and public universities in the U.S. and lecturing in European universities. Finally, I served for 10 years as a university administrator heading one of the largest departments of history in the United States and directing a research institute.

For these reflections I chose to use the title of a 1927 book by the French author Julien Benda, The Betrayal of the Intellectuals. The title was intended as an indictment of the intelligentsia for failing in their public duty to pursue integrity in analyzing the issues and authoritarian persons threatening contemporary society regardless of the social or political costs to themselves. The American situation is slightly different because historically Americans have seldom been inclined to defer to the wisdom of the highly educated in any way comparable to what has been the case, and remains so even today, in many European countries. Historians of higher education in the U.S. have pointed out that Americans have been willing to support what we would call “practical knowledge”. Land grant universities that furthered the progress of agriculture, industry, and national defense did not generate hostility on the part of the population as a whole.  If we think of what were traditionally called the “learned professions” of clergy, lawyers, and medical doctors, public trust was placed in those three groups in exactly that order—and to a degree that has not changed even today. (For an example, see Donald M. Scott, From Office to Professions: A Social History of the New England Ministry, 1750-1850 (Philadelphia, 1978).  As late as the 1920s most Americans were not high school graduates, and a college degree remained beyond the hopes of the majority of Americans until after World War II. Only the availability of the GI Bill enabled male veterans into aspire to study—and in some notable cases— to pursue careers, in the American academy. Through the so-called Sputnik scare of the early 1960s Americans paid little attention to experts in the humanities and social sciences, but they were not uniformly hostile, either. (See Burton J. Bledstein, The Culture of Professionalism: The Middle Class and the Development of Higher Education in America (New York, 1976). But all of this has changed in the past half-century.

I want to argue for two main causes for the shift in attitude. One has to do with an internal change in university and college life. Through the 1960s, faculty who taught in the humanities and social sciences were not especially well paid—“genteel poverty” was what described the life of those men and some women who were drawn from agricultural, small town, urban, and suburban communities. But the competition for government grants and money transformed the major universities and many of the elite liberal arts colleges during the 1960s into entrepreneurial institutions where competition to hire the best and the brightest led to a market-place mentality that meant faculty showed little loyalty to an institution or religious tradition and a readiness to be bought up by elite institutions that could afford to pay more and offer a prestige title as well. The brief change in undergraduate enrollment of the late 1940s and 50s that had recruited working class, rural, and in some cases, minority candidates, began to disappear as well. By the 1970s, the overwhelming majority of graduate students and new faculty were suburban, white, and with few or no memories of the working class or farming communities that had briefly produced teachers and researchers in the American academy. Politically, this has led to a distinct shift in political identity to the left, generated in part by the loathing with which academics had regarded the communist-red-baiting of the Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. The alienation was already obvious to some scholars, most famously Richard Hofstadter whose 1963 book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life should have generated more self-criticism within the academy than it did. If there has been a treason of the intellectuals during the past half century, part of that has manifested itself in an indifference toward the disappearance of conservative, religiously observant colleagues and a shameful willingness to bow to the pressure of student consumers who now insist on being protected from speech, knowledge, and discussion they claim to find threatening.  Some have suggested that there is nothing new in these patterns—for example David F. Labaree, A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendency of American Higher Education (Chicago, 2017).  But at least for North Americans looking to do graduate work in theology, I conclude that the situation has in fact, become far more dire. This shift in university culture coincided with the alienation of many Protestant and Catholic Christians from the faculties of theology in the elite universities, a development chronicled by George Marsden’s 1994 analysis The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Non-belief. That alienation occurred just as the old American industrial economy imploded leaving ethnic, working class Christian neighborhoods and entire cities facing what is by now a multi-generational struggle with social, economic, and political marginalization.

The secondary cause of the fraught relationship of the Orthodox with the Academy is rooted in this first sequence of events. With rare exceptions, candidates for the Orthodox clergy in the United States have been recruited from the ethnic, white, working classes that had little or no positive personal or collective engagement with the American research university or its internal transformation. Fear, and lack of personal experience have driven too many Orthodox critics of the academy to a kind of guilt by association mentality where even participation by Orthodox scholars in non-Orthodox events have come to be regarded with hostility. Despite the creation of the Assembly of Bishop’s predecessor body in 1960, the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops of the Americas did not include all bishops. The 1994 meeting of 29 bishops at Ligonier, Pennsylvania began a process of bishops getting to know one another personally, but with rare exceptions, these men had never enjoyed the opportunity for advanced study in theology or any other discipline. Moreover, the refusal of the various “mother churches” to endorse a move away from “diaspora” thinking toward a unified Orthodox Church re-enforced attacks that had already been directed at the theologians of the old Metropolia such as Alexander Schmemann, John Meyendorff,  or Thomas Hopko who labored in the attempt to create and sustain a tradition of scholarly theological inquiry inherited from the St Sergius Institute in Paris. Movement back to the familiar, the tribal, and the comfortable has not only accelerated among the various jurisdictions in North America since the 1990s. The more insidious tendency to contrast theological learning coupled with genuine expertise in other fields of knowledge with a “spirituality” has also intensified into a myopic vision that sees only a “Christ against culture” model of the church as authentically Orthodox in North America. This spurious version of a hyper-Orthodoxy claims its roots in a romanticized past located only in the “traditional” geographic centers of the Orthodox world where the pernicious effects of the apostate West have, so it is claimed, been kept at bay. The threat of attack from these quarters has also worked against those few bishops who might be positively inclined to call upon lay and ordained academic expertise as the Orthodox in North America confront the challenges of living in a society and culture where they, at least for the foreseeable future, will need to summon the courage to be a vocal, but informed,  minority voice. Both bishops, and the lower clergy and laity need to re-commit themselves to an informed, critical, but mutually supportive realization of authentic Orthodox Tradition in a self-ruled Church of North America.