Mission
MISSION STATEMENT
The Saint Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary is an institution of higher education that prepares students, through academic formation and immersion in the living Tradition of the Orthodox Faith, to participate more deeply in the life of the Church in a clerical or lay capacity.
The specific objectives of the Seminary are to ensure that its students graduate with a thorough knowledge and accurate comprehension of the primacy of Scripture and its expression in, and concord with, the teachings of the Church Fathers, Holy Tradition, and the sacred doctrines of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
“Seminary affected me in many ways, foremost by enhancing my spiritual and intellectual formation.”
—Timothy, Student
In the twenty-first century, Orthodox theological education is facing many special challenges. It must deal with the increasing deviations in the society around us from the religious and moral values of traditional Christian life. At the same time, it is confronted with deviations in the Orthodox world itself from the unified witness of Holy Tradition, the Patristic consensus, and the indispensable Biblical foundations of our doctrines, moral behavior, and Church polity. The Seminary clearly sees its role as an essential one in the defense of our Faith against innovation and the preservation of all that which we have inherited from Christ. Hence, the motto of the Seminary, from the words of the Holy Apostle Paul in his Second Epistle to the Greek Christians of Thessalonica: “Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught” (II Thessalonians 2:15).
STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY
The Saint Photios Orthodox Theological Seminary adheres to the Orthodox Christian ethos in all of its operations and policies. The Seminary’s stance on diversity is based on the recognition that we are “all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Therefore, all members of the Seminary—students, faculty members, administrators, staff members, and other members of the Seminary community—deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as members of the Body of Christ irrespective of sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, height, weight, disability, marital status, pregnancy, socioeconomic status, or veteran status.