On the eve and day of February 12 (Jan. 30 by the Old Calendar), the students and faculty of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary gathered for a hierarchical All-Night-Vigil and Divine Liturgy to commemorate the feast of the Three Hierarchs, St’s Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. Metropolitan Hilarion, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, officiated. Although services at Holy Trinity Monastery are primarily in Church Slavonic, for this feast the seminarians prepare to read several parts in Liturgical Greek, including the Six Psalms, the Old Testament readings, the Fiftieth Psalm, and the Trisagion Prayers. Traditional Byzantine chant, led by HTS Greek instructor Rev. Hieromonk Cyprian, was sung for parts of Lord I have Cried, the Litya and Aposticha, O Gladsome Light, the troparion the feast and its Theotokion, and the Great Doxology. The chanting at the Divine Liturgy reflected more ancient styles of Russian Orthodox Chant, including later compositions which attempt to recapture that style and spirit.

Graduates of Holy Trinity Seminary were present for the feast among the clergy who served and the faithful who prayed. At the sixth hour, fifth-year seminarian Peter Markevich was elevated to the subdiaconate and third-year seminarian John Martin was ordained a reader.

Later the same day, the students and faculty gathered to continue the celebration in the Seminary Hall. Following the singing of the troparion of the feast, and partaking of refreshments, Metropolitan Hilarion addressed the student body with spiritual exhortation. The main speaker was the Very Reverend Protopresbyter George Dragas, Ph. D., instructor of Moral Theology at HTS and Patristics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theolgy, who spoke on the Three Hierarchs themselves, and their unique and ever-memorable legacies with an exhortation to strive to follow their examples. Next, the Very Reverend Archpriest Vladimir Tsurikov announced the awarding of scholarships. The program finished with a presentation by the Holy Trinity Seminary Choir, or Quartet, which sang a couple of selections to announce an upcoming program in celebration of the 400-year anniversary of the founding of the Romanov Dynasty.

 

 

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