Questions about Seminary Schools?

The practice of living the life in Christ: fasting, vigil lamps, head-coverings, family life, icon corners, and other forms of Orthopraxy. All Forum Rules apply.


Post Reply
Andreas
Member
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 21 November 2003 12:59 am

Questions about Seminary Schools?

Post by Andreas »

  1. How hard is it to get into one?
  2. What kind of jobs can you get if you graduate from one?
  3. Which ones do you think are the best? And how hard is it to enter each of them?

Thanks. :)

Anastasios
Sr Member
Posts: 886
Joined: Thu 7 November 2002 11:40 pm
Faith: Eastern Orthodox
Jurisdiction: GOC-Archbishop Kallinikos
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Post by Anastasios »

No it's not hard to get into them because they offer both education and training for priesthood by frequent prayer, fasting, etc. and anyone can do that.

I study at St Vladimir's and find it to be a very nice place. Sometimes thing said I disagree with but doesn't everyone?

You can either be a priest, or study and then teach theology classes (lower level). To be a professor you have to go on and do a PhD.

If you are interested, call the seminary and arrange a visit.

anastasios

Disclaimer: Many older posts were made before my baptism and thus may not reflect an Orthodox point of view.
Please do not message me with questions about the forum or moderation requests. Jonathan Gress (jgress) will be able to assist you.
Please note that I do not subscribe to "Old Calendar Ecumenism" and believe that only the Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos is the canonical GOC of Greece. I do believe, however, that we can break down barriers and misunderstandings through prayer and discussion on forums such as this one.

Andreas
Member
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 21 November 2003 12:59 am

Post by Andreas »

Thanks for your response. :)

I'll be 18 this month, and I'm really nerved up about what I'm going to do when I get out of high school. I'm convinced that I either want to be a Priest or teach theology, but my marks from high school are not so hot. Do you think I can get into a place like St. Vladimir's in about two years?

bogoliubtsy
Sr Member
Posts: 666
Joined: Wed 16 April 2003 4:53 pm
Location: Russia

Post by bogoliubtsy »

Andreas wrote:

Thanks for your response. :)

I'll be 18 this month, and I'm really nerved up about what I'm going to do when I get out of high school. I'm convinced that I either want to be a Priest or teach theology, but my marks from high school are not so hot. Do you think I can get into a place like St. Vladimir's in about two years?

You're going to need a BA to enter St. Vladimir's, Holy Cross, or St. Tikhon's. St. Tikhon's does have a priestly formation program though for those without a BA, but it seems like a program mostly for older people who want to train to be priests. Why not take 4 years and do a BA and then apply to one of the seminaries? Also, you could look at Holy Trinity Seminary (ROCOR) which offers a 5 year BA program in Theology and trains people for the priesthood. Classes though are conducted primarily in Russian and services are all Slavonic. You might also want to consider Hellenic College which is attached to Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline(Boston), MA.
Just some thoughts.

Anastasios
Sr Member
Posts: 886
Joined: Thu 7 November 2002 11:40 pm
Faith: Eastern Orthodox
Jurisdiction: GOC-Archbishop Kallinikos
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Post by Anastasios »

Hi Andreas,

You have to have a BA to study at St Vladimir's normally. Here's what you should do. Enter a community college if your marks aren't too high. After two years, transfer to another univerity. Major in either

1) Philosophy
2) History
3) Greek and Latin

and then apply to St Vladimir's, or St Tikhon's, or Holy Cross. (My preference is for St Vladimir's becuase they have Fr John Behr, a highly gifted patristics professor).

If you work very hard in your undergraduate, you could finish in about 3 years.

During this time you need to try and be a "good Orthodox" by praying, fasting, and hopefully visiting monasteries if you can.

anastasios

Disclaimer: Many older posts were made before my baptism and thus may not reflect an Orthodox point of view.
Please do not message me with questions about the forum or moderation requests. Jonathan Gress (jgress) will be able to assist you.
Please note that I do not subscribe to "Old Calendar Ecumenism" and believe that only the Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos is the canonical GOC of Greece. I do believe, however, that we can break down barriers and misunderstandings through prayer and discussion on forums such as this one.

Andreas
Member
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 21 November 2003 12:59 am

Post by Andreas »

bogoliubtsy wrote:
Andreas wrote:

Thanks for your response. :)

I'll be 18 this month, and I'm really nerved up about what I'm going to do when I get out of high school. I'm convinced that I either want to be a Priest or teach theology, but my marks from high school are not so hot. Do you think I can get into a place like St. Vladimir's in about two years?

You're going to need a BA to enter St. Vladimir's, Holy Cross, or St. Tikhon's. St. Tikhon's does have a priestly formation program though for those without a BA, but it seems like a program mostly for older people who want to train to be priests. Why not take 4 years and do a BA and then apply to one of the seminaries? Also, you could look at Holy Trinity Seminary (ROCOR) which offers a 5 year BA program in Theology and trains people for the priesthood. Classes though are conducted primarily in Russian and services are all Slavonic. You might also want to consider Hellenic College which is attached to Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline(Boston), MA.
Just some thoughts.

Thanks for the info. :)

So I need a BA to enter any of the seminaries, even if I want to go through to become a teacher of theology? Or do I only need a BA if I want to enter to become a Priest?

Andreas
Member
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri 21 November 2003 12:59 am

Post by Andreas »

anastasios wrote:

Hi Andreas,

You have to have a BA to study at St Vladimir's normally. Here's what you should do. Enter a community college if your marks aren't too high. After two years, transfer to another univerity. Major in either

1) Philosophy
2) History
3) Greek and Latin

and then apply to St Vladimir's, or St Tikhon's, or Holy Cross. (My preference is for St Vladimir's becuase they have Fr John Behr, a highly gifted patristics professor).

If you work very hard in your undergraduate, you could finish in about 3 years.

During this time you need to try and be a "good Orthodox" by praying, fasting, and hopefully visiting monasteries if you can.

anastasios

Interesting, thanks. :) Are their any seminaries that offer a program that you can gain a BA from?

Post Reply