01/30/2024
St Vladimir’s Seminary will hold Commencement for all mid-year graduates. Following the ceremony, the 41st Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture will begin. This year, Dr Robin Darling Young will deliver the keynote presentation, “Evagrius of Pontus at the Border of Cosmos and Aeon.”
Dr Darling Young describes her presentation with the following summary:
A shrewd reader of the Alexandrian tradition before him – principally of the works of Philo, Clement, and Origen – Evagrius of Pontus made it his life’s work to propose a carefully-articulated theory and practice of a Christian politeia reorienting all rational beings toward their original domain, union with God. Working in the late fourth century, as church and empire began fully to cooperate, Evagrius composed treatises, scholia, and kephalaia subtly to propose another path of cooperative politeia – that of ascetic teachers who would train students toward an alternative point of view and communal way of life. For Evagrius, it was necessary for that teacher to stand at the juncture of cosmos – the created world – and aeon, the full scope of which may become clear in this lecture. Thence, at the border of cosmos and aeon, the teacher could look and speak from and toward these two directions. In the words of Evagrius: “When the mind has put off the old self and shall put on the one born of grace, then it will see its own katastasis (state) in the time of prayer resembling sapphire of the color of heaven. This katastasis is called by scripture “the place of God.”
You are invited to attend the Liturgy, Mid-Year Commencement, and the lecture in person or watch live online. You will receive one link to watch both after you register. The lecture is free and open to the public.
