[SVOTS Communications] St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Yonkers, NY, is offering its second public continuing education course in Byzantine Music, beginning Monday, January 27, and ending Monday, April 7, 2014, in collaboration with The Axion Estin Foundation of New Rochelle, NY. Eleftherios Eleftheriadis, the highly regarded Protopsaltis of St. Nicholas Shrine Church in Flushing, NY, who previously served on the faculty of the Music School of Thessaloniki, Greece, will instruct students in chanting the services of Great Lent, as well as the Sunday Orthros and Divine Liturgy.
Classes will be held every Monday evening, with the exception of Monday, March 3, and will be divided into two sections: Beginner/Refresher Class, 6:45 pm–7:30 pm, and Regular Class (Beginners welcome), 7:30 pm–8:45 pm. Classes will be conducted in the Greek language, with translation, and will be held in Classroom 307 of the Metropolitan Leonty Education Building on campus. Course materials include original music texts in Byzantine notation and the Greek language.
Resource materials for the course will be available electronically for further study, and students have the option of participation in the Lenten Services at Three Hierarchs Chapel on the Seminary’s campus. Students will be awarded acertificate upon successful completion of the course.
To register, call 914–961–8313 x348, or email byzantine@svots.edu. A one-time registration/tuition fee of $150 payable to Axion Estin Foundation, 10 Mill Rd, New Rochelle, NY 10804, is required to begin the course.
In a second public event at St. Vladimir's, the 31st Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture titled "On 'The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church'" will be presented by The Very Rev. Dr. John McGuckin, a leading international commentator on Eastern Orthodox theology and early Christian history. The free and public lecture, Friday, January 31, 2014, will be immediately preceded by an academic convocation at 7:00 p.m., at which Fr. John will be awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree honoris causa.
Father John is professor of Byzantine Christian Studies at Columbia University, and Union Theological Seminary's Ane Marie and Bent Emil Nielsen Professor in Late Antique and Byzantine Christian History, an endowed Chair created in 2008 out of one of the oldest Church History departments in America. Father John has authored 23 books and has served as visiting professor and guest lecturer in many universities and colleges in England, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, and the United States. On November 7, 2013, he was a featured guest speaker at St. Vladimir's 75th Anniversary Gala Banquet.
A public reception will follow the lecture, and will be held in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building.