Holy Trinity Seminary Hosts OISM
November 11-13, 2011 -- Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary hosted the biannual meeting of the Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM) †. In addition to Holy Trinity seminarians, the fall meeting at Jordanville was attended by representatives from three schools: Holy Cross School of Theology, Brookline, MA; St. Tikhon's Seminary, South Canaan, PA; and Christ the Saviour Seminary, Johnstown, PA.
Over the course of the weekend seminarians attended several divine services, socialized together, and received a tour of the monastery. Several students took hikes around the monastery grounds. Additionally, all seminarians worked diligently at Saturday’s OISM general meeting to continue developing their vision for future inter-seminary cooperation and fellowship.
One of the weekend’s highlights was special guest speaker Archimandrite Irinei (Steenberg), who delivered a talk entitled, “The Orthodox Priest and the Love of God”. Fr. Irinei outlined the lofty calling of the Orthodox priesthood, concluding his talk with an invitation to the seminarians:
And begin now, at this very moment, to cultivate in your heart those traits by which this love will only be strengthened through the trials of the priestly vocation in the world: strive to crave self-sacrifice and embrace those moments when your desires and your will are denied; learn to love obedience, as that which shapes your will to the truth of God’s Church and allows Him always to be the creative force in your life. Learn to forgive freely, to live without judgment, to cultivate peace in your heart and cherish God’s presence there, and develop a craving for every opportunity to give your heart, your will, your time, your energy, even your life away to those who need them.
An uplifting question-and-answer period followed, in which Fr. Irinei’s responses were laced with pastoral anecdotes and patristic quotations. Students left feeling inspired to start immediately on the spiritual work necessary to serve God and His people faithfully.
The next meeting of OISM will be at Holy Cross in the spring of 2012.
††† The Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement (OISM) is an organization of students enrolled in Orthodox Christian schools of theological education of all jurisdictions. OISM strives to create a closer fellowship among students and affirm common Orthodox traditions in order to build a network for future clerical and lay cooperation among the various local Orthodox Churches.
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