Seminary at a Glance
Founded in 1938 as a Pastoral School by resolution of the 6th All-American Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America (North American Metropolia), the Seminary has historically grown on the fertile soil of the Orthodox faith, supported by the deep faith and love of several generations of Orthodox people, nourished by its Russian Orthodox roots, and reaching into the deep-flowing waters of a 2000-year spiritual and cultural tradition. Officially transformed from a Pastoral School into a Seminary by the Holy Synod of the Metropolia in 1942, the Seminary has visibly progressed along the educational path determined by its founders.
In 1967, the Seminary was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A formal credit transfer agreement with Marywood College (now Marywood University), in nearby Scranton, was articulated and signed in 1975. In 1988, the Seminary was authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to award the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree to its graduates. The first M.Div. degrees were conferred on the graduating class of 1989. In June 2004, the Seminary was accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS).
Identity and Mission of the Seminary
St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary is an institution of professional Orthodox Christian theological education, chartered by the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and affiliated with the Orthodox Church in America. In a rural environment conducive to spiritual growth and academic study, the Seminary nurtures the theological vocations of its students and faculty, who share the unique opportunity of learning and teaching Orthodox theology in the framework of their daily experience of a rich heritage of Russian Orthodox spiritual and liturgical tradition.
The primary mission of the Seminary lies in providing the necessary theological, liturgical, spiritual, and moral foundations for Orthodox men to become, as God so wills, good shepherds of His Holy Orthodox Church. At the same time, however, the Seminary also recognizes that many individuals choose to enroll in a professional theological training program for the fulfillment of needs other than those of ordained ministry. Among these are: preparation for general religious leadership responsibilities in parishes and other settings; advanced theological study; specialized ministry as religious educators or choir directors; and personal spiritual enrichment. Therefore, St. Tikhon’s Seminary continues to support all honorable reasons for matriculation at the Seminary and participation in class.
Statement of Purpose
In the 200-year history of Orthodoxy in America, Orthodox theological education has continually had to face and meet special missionary challenges. The living tradition of Orthodox spiritual life, however, firmly and deeply rooted in the Church’s experience in the Old World, remains for us a source of inspiration and energy, courage and wisdom, patience and tolerance, and moves us to do the work of God here in the twenty-first century.
As a community we are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by the Apostles, articulated by the Holy Fathers, and manifested fully in the Orthodox Church. Holding fast to these commitments, we believe that it is essential to provide an educational experience that fosters the personal, spiritual, and pastoral formation of our students in preparation for service to Christ in ordained and lay ministry. At St. Tikhon’s we embody the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church in a lived community as the authentic means of acquiring the Orthodox spiritual, theological, and pastoral ethos. Thorough participation in this community, our students acquire that which is necessary to carry out the divine ordained task of the Church in contemporary society.
Because of its well-known faculty dedicated to the Patristic Tradition, and through its close relationship with the St. Tikhon’s Monastery, our Seminary has gradually emerged as a significant center of Orthodox theological education and spiritual formation that serves the pressing needs of the Church in North America. Through our relationship with the Monastery, we provide our students with an ideal environment for pastoral formation that integrates worship, theological study, field education, and personal transformation in the context of authentic Christian community. With God’s blessings we can expect the continued growth and spiritual enrichment of the institutional life of the Seminary, and the increase of its sustaining contribution to the life of the broader Church community.
Institutional Effectiveness Statement
As an institution of higher education of the Orthodox Church in America, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary seeks to fulfill its guiding mission – “The primary mission of the Seminary lies in providing the necessary theological, liturgical, spiritual, and moral foundations for Orthodox men to become, as God so wills, good shepherds of His Holy Orthodox Church. At the same time, however, the Seminary also recognizes that many individuals choose to enroll in a professional theological training program for the fulfillment of needs other than those of ordained ministry.”
Fulfilling this mission since 1938, St. Tikhon’s Seminary has acted as a major center of formation for those seeking to serve the Orthodox Church in various ministry capacities within North America and abroad. Our effectiveness in fulfilling this mission is manifest in several ways.
We can first point to the findings of our most recent self-study process with the Association of Theological Schools that concluded in the Fall of 2023. In recommending St. Tikhon’s for a reaffirmation of accreditation for 10 years, the Comprehensive Site Visit Committee made several significant and positive references to the teaching and learning process here at St. Tikhon’s. In spending time on campus and reviewing the Schools Self-Study report and numerous data points provided within its documentation, the Site Visit Committee noted that the present work of community of scholars and practitioners “has led to a palpable enthusiasm for the mission of the school and its formation goals. The quality of full-time and adjunct faculty, as evidenced by their scholarship in publications, and effectiveness in the classroom, as evidenced by the feedback gathered from current students during the visit, is significant. Both faculty and students report their studies and coursework encourage positive interaction and theological conversation within the wider learning community.” Among the Seminary’s inherent strengths the Comprehensive Committee spoke of the Seminary as: “A strong community of formation that is enhanced by the integral relationship with the monastery affording students a profound practice of liturgy, ascetics, and music.” And finally the Seminary community was possessed of “a highly committed and qualified faculty, a talented leadership team, and dedicated students.”
Tikhon’s Seminary Master of Divinity Program has consistently a tight-knit community of learning, which members have consistently described as allowing for significant interaction between faculty and students. As reported in our last self-study, over our last period of accreditation we have seen an average Student-Faculty ratio of 12:1 for all courses taught at the Seminary during this period. This relatively small class size allows our students to have significant interaction with dedicated Faculty, expert in their respective fields, both inside and outside the classroom. As our program also incorporates a field education component, the student-faculty ratio provides for close supervision and guidance in practical, hands-on experiences within ministry settings (i.e., prison, nursing home, and hospital). Of this tight knit environment the 2023 ATS Site Visit Committee noted: “Students consistently reported that the degree program faculty were accessible and supportive in their academic and formational progress.”
The success of our M.Div. Program is also manifest in the degree completion rate of our program and placements of our students in positions of ministry from our graduating classes. Looking at data from 2021-2026 we see that all class years have a 99.8% degree completion rate within the expected three years of full-time M.Div. study. This completion rate tracks with a 100% retention rate of students across all class years during the same period of time.
In the way of placement, over the period of 2021-2026 the Seminary has sent out 80 Graduates, 61.2% of which are presently serving as priests within the Church, 11.2% as Deacons, and 11% in minor orders of the clergy. Ninety-five (95%) percent of those ordained to the Holy Priesthood are actively serving in ministry as rectors, assistant priests, and/or military chaplains. Eighty-six (6) percent of the deacons are actively serving in ministries that include youth director/pastoral assistant, diocesan administration, and parish deacons.