In Orthodox Christianity, spiritual life and practical life are inseparable. The spiritual life should form the basis for all that we do. What does that mean for a board?
At St. Tikhon’s Seminary, we are blessed to be across the road from St. Tikhon’s Monastery – the oldest Orthodox monastery in the United States. While the seminary and monastery are independent, we draw upon each other. From a seminary board perspective, that means that the monastery services and prayer help to ground us and guide us for our board work. It’s not uncommon to see board members and seminarians at the morning and evening monastery services.
While being next to a monastery makes us unique, there are many spiritual things we do together as a board that are common to most, if not all, Christian seminaries. We pray before and after our meetings. We sing the Lord’s Prayer before meals (alongside our students) and a hymn of thanksgiving after meals.
We often attend vespers with the students in the seminary chapel.
These spiritual practices become habit, and they work together to support us, reset us, and remind us that, even though the board oversees the business of the seminary, our true mission is to educate the next generation of Orthodox priests.
