St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - Press Releases

Press Release
Annual Retreat for High School and College-aged Students

St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
575 Scarsdale Road, Crestwood, NY 10707-1677
Contact person: Fr Steven Belonick
tel +1.914.961.8313, ext. 328 / email info@svots.edu

Annual Christmas Retreat Focuses on Prayer

Crestwood, NY—Each December high school and college students congregate at SVS for the annual Christmas youth retreat. This year forty high school and college students from all over the country—including, Florida, Missouri, and California—enjoyed several days of fellowship, worship, and learning with a special focus on the topic of prayer.

The retreat, which went from December 26-28 was themed "Lord, Teach Us To Pray." Mother Raphaela, Abbess of the Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in Otego, New York, opened the retreat with a talk about the context of prayer, namely, the need for silence in our noisy world, and the need to bring before God the truthfulness of our life, its virtue and vices.

Professor Peter Bouteneff, Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the seminary, gave the second presentation and focused his remarks on the theme "Developing a Rule of Prayer." He emphasized primarily that a "rule" should be short, regular, and be prayed at the same time of the day. He also commented on the set prayers of the Church and their place within the "rule."

Dr Albert Rossi, Adjunct Professor in Pastoral Theology, presented the final talk entitled "Using the Jesus Prayer," in which he discussed the prayer's history and use. He encouraged participants to practice the Jesus Prayer and gave them an opportunity to do so during his time with them.

The retreat provided participants the opportunity to attend the seminary's Sunday cycle of services and to participate in them by reading and chanting. The membership of the choir for Saturday night Vespers and Sunday Liturgy also was made up of the retreat participants.