Each year, the Byzantine Studies Byzantine Association of North America holds an interdisciplinary conference that attracts scholars from the United States, Canada, and Europe. On each occasion, the conference is held in a new location. This year’s conference was hosted on October 26-29 by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. A total of 63 papers were presented on topics in history, archaeology, paleography, art history, cultural studies, and theology.
Protodeacon Andrei Psarev (HTOS Class of 1995), Professor of Russian Church History and Canon Law at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (HTOS), spoke at the panel “Law and Authority” on “What Was the Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority According to St. Theodore of Studious?”
On the evening of October 28, Fr. Andrei went to the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Vancouver for the All-Night Vigil. For more than 30 years, Archpriest Serge Overt, a HTOS alumnus (1985), has been rector at this church. Fr. Serge grew up in California and is an expert on the history of the ROCOR in North America. He personally knew the builders of the hermitage of St. Herman in Platina, Frs. Seraphim and Herman, both Archbishops Anthony of California, and many others.
The next day, Protodeacon Andrei, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, concelebrated with Archpriest Evstafij Hripunov, rector of St. Nicholas Church in Vancouver. During his 18 years of service in this parish, with God’s help, Fr. Evstafij has managed to create a dynamic parish uniting Orthodox Christians of different nationalities. Protodeacon Christopher Birchall (d. 2022), an HTOS alumnus (Class of 1976) and historian of the London parish of the ROCOR, served here for many years. After the service, Fr. Andrei gave a crash course in ROCOR History, describing the journey of the Russian Church through the tumultuous events of the 20th century. The ensuing conversation about the centennial journey of the ROCOR was lively, with Fr. Evstafij and his parishioners joining in.
The talk in Vancouver echoed Fr. Andrei’s meeting with parishioners of Holy Trinity Church in Toronto on October 22, en route to the conference in Vancouver. The Toronto parish is one of the very largest in the Russian Church Abroad. After the Divine Liturgy there, Father Andrei spoke about the ROCOR Studies conference in Serbia in November 2021 on the centenary of the ROCOR, which brought together experts on ROCOR history from Ukraine, Russia, the United States, Canada, Belarus, and Serbia. Mitred Archpriest Fr. Vladimir Malchenko (HTOS Class of 1973), who has served in this church since 1975, found Fr. Andrei’s answers to parishioners’ questions to be competent and thanked him for coming to speak.
