
St. Nersess Seminary was host to twenty students from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY on Tuesday evening, November 18. Accompanied by Dr. Paul Meyendorff, Professor of Liturgy at St. Vladimir's, the seminarians participated in the St. Nersess community's daily Evening Prayer (Yeregoyan Zhamerkootyoon) in the seminary chapel, and then enjoyed dinner with their St. Nersess classmates and the St. Nersess faculty.
St. Vladimir's, a seminary of the Orthodox Church in America, is St. Nersess' sister seminary. It is located just ten minutes away from St. Nersess. St. Nersess students take about 40% of their course load at St. Vladimir's. These include courses in general church history, dogmatic theology and sacred scripture. St. Nersess seminarians complete the lion's share of the joint Master of Divinity program at St. Nersess, where they focus on the Armenian Church's theology, liturgy, history, canon law, music, languages, and parish ministry and leadership.
Earlier in the day V. Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan, Dean and Associate Professor of Liturgy at St. Nersess, lectured at St. Vladimir's on the History and Theology of the Daily Services of the Armenian Church.
The St. Vladimir's seminarians seemed genuinely attracted to the Armenian Evening Service, which differs from the Byzantine Orthodox Evening Service known to them. "Here in Armenian Vespers you see the pure Cathedral character of daily worship — psalms, hymns and prayer," Professor Meyendorff commented, referring to the traditional structure of the Armenian Church's daily services.