On Thursday, May 14th, St. Tikhon’s Seminary hosted a Symposium on the life, witness, and service of Metropolitan Leonty. The day began with Divine Liturgy, and a graveside Memorial Service celebrated by Metropolitan Tikhon at Metropolitan Leonty’s tomb. Fr. John Jillions, OCA Chancellor, read a eulogy written by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann.

During the course of the day we had five presentations, that included:  

1. “The Life and Legacy of Metropolitan Leonty,” by Mr. Alex Liberovsky, OCA Archivist

2. “Metropolitan Leontii and St. Tikhon of Moscow,” by Dr. Scott Kenworthy Dept. of Comparative Religion, Miami University, Oxford, OH

3. “The Diaries of 1917-1918,” by Mat. Tamara Turkevich Skvir, Princeton, NJ

4. “Metropolitan Leonty as a Man of Letters,” by Dr. Leonid Turkevich, Cincinnati, OH.

5. “The Metropolitan Leontii Papers at the Library of Congress: a Brief Introduction,” by Harold Leich, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Later in the evening, after Vespers, a reception and time of informal sharing followed in the Monastery Museum. Archpriests Sergei Glagolev, Daniel Hubiak, and John Nehrebecki shared their remembrances, along with Constantine Kallaur and many others. The evening ended with reflections and a prayer that had been written by Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko before he reposed, read by Dr. David Ford.

Participants received individually numbered copies of a Homiletics Course that Metropolitan Leonty taught that were designed and produced in commemoration of the event.  Clergy participants who registered and attended this symposium are approved for 3.5 hours of continuing education credit.

On behalf of the entire St. Tikhon’s Community we would like to thank each one of the presenters for being with us to share their contributions and reflections on this most beloved leader of our Orthodox Church in America. We would also like to thank each of the participants for traveling to be with us for this “Time of Holy Remembering.”

Finally we would like to thank the event committee: the V. Rev. Steven Voytovich, the V. Rev. Dennis Swencki, Fr. Leonid Schmidt, David Ford, Sergei Arhipov, Christopher Patton, Teresa Vaux-Michel, as well as Innocent Neal for his contributions.

Video recordings of the event will be made available to the public in some form in the near future. Information will be forthcoming on the seminary website.

The following except is from the remembrance of Metropolitan Leonty by Archpriest Thomas Hopko on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Metropolitan’s Repose.

“Through his weakness, Your divine strength has established the Church in this land. Through his folly, Your divine wisdom has guided her destiny. Through his humility, You have exalted her with divine glory. Through his poverty, You have filled her with the riches of Your divinity.  Through his obedience, You have granted her freedom from the powers of this world. Through his fidelity, You have counted her worthy to remain faithful to her calling to be the Kingdom of Heaven in the midst of the earth.