Community of Aspirants
When sponsored seminarians are discerning formation and a priestly vocation and have yet to meet the benchmarks for admittance into the configuration stage of priestly formation, admission to the Community of Aspirants will be required. The duration of this program varies based upon a man’s state in life and his status in regard to the benchmarks.
All aspirants on our campus must be at least 21 years of age. Associates are limited to two years in the community.
By agreeing to live on campus one accepts the common identity of the community and, as such, consents to living within the strict confines of the Seminary residence halls. The only activities from which non-seminarian residents are exempt are Rector’s conferences. All other house duties and obligations are incumbent upon those living in community as an expression of one’s desire to be formed by the experience of participating in Seminary life.
- Minimum three years of active discernment under the guidance of a vocation director
- Two-week minimum annual residency at B.C.S. (e.g. during diaconate studies weeks)
- Clear articulation of conviction of a priestly calling with reasonable presumption of permanency to formation and discernment toward presbyteral ordination
- Capacity to be an active and mature agent of his own formation.
- Capacity to significantly abstain from social and other media, especially during the fasting seasons and 2 or 3 days on a weekly basis
- Capacity to engage in community life in a mature, courteous, and contributing manner (incl. promptness)
- Capacity to manage personal finances without any strain on the Church
- Adequate psychosexual development and chaste Christian living
- Fidelity to routine meetings with the Director of Human Formation or Advisor at least every other week
- Fidelity to routine group classes with psychologist (monthly or bimonthly or weekly during propaedeutic time)
- Movement toward self-awareness, self-possession, self-mastery, and resiliency
- Adherence to self-established rule (or plan) for unscheduled time
- Evidence of courage in the face of vulnerability
- Evidence of Public Propriety: good hygiene; adherence to dress code; grooming; care for living quarters; etiquette; table manners
- Docility: openness to guidance and correction
- Maturity in marriage and parenting discernment
- Vision of growth for his family as a domestic church (for married men)
- Diligence in house chore area
- Cultural competency for those who haven’t been raised in an American context.
- Commitment to a nourishing personal rule of prayer that includes silence
- Engagement with the Byzantine Christian spiritual tradition according to its authentic practice in America
- Regular, full liturgical participation for a minimum of three years in a community of the student’s particular tradition
- Regular and stable relationship in spiritual direction
- Successful participation in retreats and days of reflection (which should be scheduled more frequently in the propaedeutic time)
- Completion of a prayerful reading of the entirety of sacred scripture that demonstrates introductory knowledge
- Evidence of an interiorly-based relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Completion of Bachelor’s degree
- Facility with the spoken and written English language
- Ability to “easily discern truth and falsehood with a sharp intellectual discretion” (Canon 349)
- Catechized according to the Byzantine tradition, including the study of Christ, our Pascha
- Introduction into Vocal Technique as it pertains to liturgical chant
- Liturgical competency in areas of responsibility for those in minor orders
- Completion of philosophical and introductory curriculum with a view to the Byzantine Christian tradition (for discipleship stage), i.e.
Sources from Antiquity [History of Philosophy] (2 semesters)
Introduction to Church History (1 semesters)
Catechetics (1 semester)
Greek (2 semesters)
Introduction to Music [Music Theory] (1 semester)
Logic (1 semester)
Epistemology (1 semester)
Ethics (1 semester)
Metaphysics (1 semester)
Natural Theology (1 semester)
Anthropology (1 semester)
Cosmology [Aristotelean Physics] (1 semester).
- Regular engagement in charitable works, with a special focus on service to the poor (e.g. poverty immersion, mission trips)
- Successful engagement in an internship or internships (e.g. O.R.E.)
- Successful holding of paying job or jobs understanding workplace as crucible of virtue
- Participation in 6-months with Laboure’ Society (July-December), if required by hierarch
- Teaching experience in faith formation
- Evidence of a capacity for pastoral leadership.