St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - Press Releases Press Release Honorary Doctorate presented to Fr John Breck

On November 11, 2003, Rev John Breck was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Babets-Bolyai in Cluj (Transylvania). Fr Breck is a former faculty member of the seminary. He currently teaches patristic exegesis and bioethics at the St Sergius Institute in Paris, while running the St Silouan Retreat in South Carolina. The ceremony, attended by a large crowd, was presided over by the university president, the dean of the theological faculty, as well as the entire teaching staff. All enjoyed a performance by the University Choir.

The conferral ceremony was preceded by an academic meeting of the theological faculty of Cluj. The laudatio was pronounced by Bishop Ireney of Bistrista, Auxiliary of the Archbishop of Cluj. Fr Breck delivered an address on the development of the embryo, citing different views on the beginning of life during various stages of its growth. Basing himself on scriptural and patristic witness, he insisted on the sanctity of human life, created in the image and likeness of God from the moment of conception. He also spoke of the ethical and pastoral consequences of this conviction.

Born in 1939 in New York, Fr Breck has been serving the Orthodox Church for several decades as priest and professor. He studied theology at Brown and Yale Universities, and received a doctorate from the Theological University of Heidelberg (Germany). He embraced the Orthodox faith soon after and taught for three years in the Theological Seminary of St Herman of Alaska in Kodiak where he was ordained to the holy priesthood. He moved to France in 1978 where for six years he taught biblical exegesis at St Sergius Institute. He is also responsible for developing the correspondence course for the Institute of Theology, an institution created in 1972 by the Orthodox Fraternity in Western Europe.

Upon his return to the United States he taught New Testament and Theological ethics at St Vladimir's Seminary from 1984 to 1996. Since 1999 he also teaches in several theological faculties in Rumania. In 1996, together with his wife Lyn, he founded the Pastoral Retreat Center of St Silouan in South Carolina - a retreat center for priests and lay people of the OCA. Fr Breck writes twice monthly for the series "Life in Christ: Pastoral Reflections," appearing on the OCA website and in the OCA publication The Orthodox Church.

Father John Breck is author of numerous exegetical studies, as well as essays on moral theology and biothetics published in St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly and many other publications around the world. He is the author of several books on hermeneutics and exegesis, such as The Power of the Word, and The Shape of Biblical Language, and Scripture in Tradition. His major work on bioethical challenges, The Sacred Gift of Life, has been translated into several languages including Romanian, and serves as the official textbook on the Orthodox approach to bioethics for students of theology in Romania. His latest book, God with Us, is a compillation of his essays for the "Life in Christ" series, and is scheduled for release in Romanian translation later this year.

The above is an adapted translation from a news release published in the French periodical Service Orthodoxe de Presse (SOP 284, January 04) -- see www.orthodoxpress.com. It is used by their kind permission.