Saint Tikhon’s Seminary holds 70th annual commencement

1/6/2012
OCA

On Saturday, May 26, 2012, Saint Tikhon’s Seminary here held its 70th Annual Commencement Exercises.

Presiding over the commencement exercises was His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America and President of the Seminary. He was joined by His Eminence, Metropolitan Nikolaos of the North American Diocese of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church; His Eminence, Archbishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey; His Grace, Bishop John of Worcester and New England of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America; and Archpriest Dr. Alexander Atty, Dean of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary.

Commencement day opened with the celebration of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Monastery Church, at which Metropolitan Jonah presided. During the Liturgy, Deacon Benjamin Huggins was ordained to the Holy Priesthood and Brother Konstantin (Kasovac), Class of 2012 was ordained to the Holy Diaconate. After the Liturgy, there was a short brunch in the monastery refectory.

The graduation procession was led by the miraculous myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos from Hawaii.

The commencement speaker for this year was Bishop John of Worcester and New England. He gave a moving address on human nature and the freedom of mankind to embody Godly principles or to place himself as a stumbling block to his brother.

The valedictorian, Andrew Temple, spoke on the value of anonymity and how it is through humility that we attract the grace of God.

Receiving the Master of Divinity degree were Priest Nicklas J. Aiello, Priest Andreas F. Blom, Priest Philip M. Halliwell, Priest John C. Hogg, Hierodeacon Konstantin (Kasovac), Deacon Matthew K. Markewich, Arseny Mikhalev, Todd Justin Mokhiber, Priest Milorad Orlic, Roman Ostash, Deacon Abraham Philip, Priest Ian Shipley, Keith Andrew Temple and Deacon Joel T. Wilson.

Those receiving a Certificate in Diaconal Formation were Gregory Aidinov, Ilya Arnopolskiy, Mark Bohush, James Carpenter, David Y.K. Chow, Theodore Gregory, Gregory Hubiak, Sean McNulty, Symeon Terry Peet, Michael Pylypsiw and Gregory White.

A reception immediately followed the commencement ceremony at Saint Michael’s Center, East Jermyn, PA. There, as is traditional, the graduates each shared a few words regarding their personal journey during their time at the seminary.

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