Came across this little gem while looking for something else... https://holysophia.university/ Unaccredited. Claims to be seeking accreditation through TRACS but is not on their candidate list. However... This is a seminary program of the Coptic Orthodox Church. I'm not sure why their faculty page doesn't list institutions. So to preempt the normal Levicoff objection, I looked at a few of them. Bishop David is, indeed, the Coptic Bishop of New York. And his degrees are from UToronto, Fordham and Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Certificates are pretty cheap. Masters programs are $4k. If one was into degree speculation (getting an unaccredited degree in hopes that it the school eventually gets accredited) then this would be an interesting bet. Coptic presence in the US seems to be growing. The New York diocese appears to be fairly new. They might just pull it off. Certificates, though, accreditation is far less of a concern. In any case, I just thought I would share as you all know I have a soft spot for religious programs that aren't evangelical christian.
That was not one of my objections to this obviously mickey-mouse school. And I happen to have the same soft spot since the majority of degree mills claim an evangelical orientation. So, then, what are my objections to this POS school? First, the notion that they only charge $4,000 for a master's degree. You know the old expression, you get what you pay for? As Madeline Kahn said in Blazing Saddles, "It's twue, it's twue." Second, the fact that their M.Div. is only 60 credits. An M.Div. is normally 90 credits. Period. This school is mickey-mouse. Third, I don't think they stand a snowball's chance in the lake of fire and brimstone when it comes to being accredited by TRACS. Whatever TRACS is these days, they are evangelical. And I don't see them accrediting any kind of Catholic or Orthodox institution, let alone any highly liturgical institution. Moreover, the school's claims regarding TRACS leads one to the conclusion that accreditation is inevitable, and that in itself can be construed as a violation of TRACS' policy. Finally, a subjective observation - I have nothing against traditional Orthodox churches, but this band of merrypersons looks like the Goyish (look it up) characters in the "Tevye, I went to see the priest" scene in Fiddler on the Roof. In my opinion, these people just look weird and whacked out. That's just my opinion, but I can't take these jokers seriously.
Sooooooooo . . . just for the halibut, I looked at the list of both accredited and candidate schools with TRACS, located on their website at https://www.tracs.org/TRACS_Institutions.html. And what did I find in terms of schools that could even be construed as being orthodox? Zip. Zilch. Nada. So, based on that plus my comments about their micke-mouse M.Div. stats (to which TRACS would also object), I feel comfortable at saying that Holy Sophia is a degree mill. And a sleazy one at that.
I'm, perhaps, a little less willing to write off an entire Orthodox church as being sleazy because of the lack of accreditation for one of their newer institutions. Though, admittedly, I realized that putting this here would probably draw opinions ranging from "Scam" to "Diamond in the rough." This is normally where I'd probably point out the similarities to the equally unaccredited St. Sophia's Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary in New Jersey which trains the clergy for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA. And, usually when I do that, Stanislav pipes in to buttress my generally favorable opinions of that school. I'm finding that these posts follow a similar pattern every time we do them. Honestly, I think it would be quite interesting if TRACS did accredit a school like this. However unlikely that may be. I recently made similar comparisons about the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools. It would be like if they turned around and accredited Hebrew Union College. Ain't gonna happen. FWIW, I'll take this opportunity to point out its similarity to Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary just a hop skip and a jump away from my present domicile (htc.edu). Their only DL offering is Certificate in Theological Studies which requires proctored exams (in person at the seminary or remotely). It, too, is rather cheap at $150/credit. It is also one of the 12 or so schools accredited by the New York Board of Regents, and the only seminary so accredited. I don't feel a need to defend either school for anything, really. Though it seems that their M.Div. is specifically for their diaconate program. So it doesn't appear to be intended as a general Master of Divinity like we would see in a traditional seminary setting. This, of course, ties to my most fervent wish that schools would stop offering academic degrees for things where a diploma or certificate would be sufficient. After all, Newman Theological College (Roman Catholic Canada) also offers an online certificate for deacons at $85/course which appears to be a bit more comprehensive than this M.Div. The former requiring courses in pastoral counseling, social justice and canon law, for example, and the latter not. In any case, the certificate in iconography caught my eye if anyone was into the visual arts. Video tutorials and you have to submit an icon for grading. Kinda neat. One of those situations where, if you only intend to use your credential within that particular denomination it's probably fine. But I don't want to turn this into another LBU debate where we all argue over again about how that one guy used an LBU degree to get into Regent Law School.
Nice find. For a denomination school, the bolded bit is a very strong argument for basic legitimacy. In fact, I'd have bigger reservations about a Coptic institution that is RA but doesn't have legitimate clergy (and, strongly preferably, a hierarchical blessing) on faculty. I don't know if I'd call them a "seminary" program since it doesn't seem Copts train their priests there, and more history to the place would make it seem more certain. Having said that, they might pull it off, they really might. I don't really see much point in "degree speculation", but one could choose worse if one had burning desire to study things Coptic. Not a big crowd outside of, well, Copts, but I can see an occasional inquirer into Eastern Christian tradition might give it a look. There are a few Western converts in various Oriental churches; in fact Copts have some presence in Britain and at one time accepted a small "British Orthodox Church" jurisdiction. Primate of that thing had broke away, again, but some people remained.
Well, the only degree that isn't Coptic or "Orthodox" specific is their M.Ed. I suppose if one really wanted a masters in Christian education that might be a path forward. Though I imagine that they will need to rework some of the curriculum if they actually want to get accredited. My point in all of this, though, was that while the Coptic Church might not be huge, they're also not something running out of a living room. They likely have enough followers to support these programs and enough money to have a go at accreditation. As for my "seminary" bit, that was a misstep in titling. Though they do seem to be using it to train deacons.
Thus buttressed. St. Sophia is unaccredited, and I don't think accreditation is much of a priority for them. Being the main seminary for UOC-USA, it's not like the main potential employer of their (very few, annually) graduates minds very much (as I said, UOCUSA's Director of Vocations also is an admin at St. Sophia). Pretty much everyone else in the Ortho world would pay much more attention of their status as an institution under the Ecumenical Patriarchate; that'll elicit various opinions (due to the current semi-schism related to His Holiness recognizing the Church in Ukraine), but no one would doubt basic legitimacy. I'm not a big fan of them (they're on the OTHER side of the Schism of 2019, being in the Russian fold). But yeah, Jordanville is both legitimate and enjoys certain prestige, especially among the more-conservative crowd and the enthralled-by-all-things-Russia crowd. One thing that distinguishes both schools from Coptic Holy Sophia is that both places are residential seminaries, and not new ones. They got known as that before ever trying DL. St. Sophia moved into the blended mode, my guess is out of necessity - serving a small and geographically-dispersed jurisdiction. This is the first time I see a Diaconal program offered as an MDiv. OTOH, St. Stephen's Course of the Antiochians is two years and is the biggest part of an MA program at Balamand, and that was initially a diaconal program.
Dude, charging more for a degree that qualifies you to be a deacon in a largely ethnic-based diaspora Church would be a rip-off. You are way off base here. There is no real need for this to be a "MDiv". On the other hand, it is more than adequate to train a deacon (who almost always work under supervision), while hinting that deaconate is, too, a honourable major Order. Adn something tells me that I could find multiple accredited MDiv programs that are less than 90 hours. That would reflect worse on TRACS than on Holy Sophia. I told about this to Pope Tawadros II. His Holiness, Pope of Alexandria, Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, Father of Fathers, Pastor of Pastors, Prelate of Prelates, the Thirteenth of the Apostles and Judge of the Universe (and one of no more than 10 people who can sport a title like that and still be universally respected) said he's devastated that mighty Levicoff regards his faith (and by extension the Coptic nation) with such scorn. Devastated, he was. Boy, you newfanged Protestants are full of yourselves.
I came back to DI after a long hiatus simply to share about this particular institute, but it looks like the old guard has already beat me to it. Not that it hasn't been said already, but I still think there is some value to the programs being offered here and that it's not a fly-by-night degree mill. While those involved may not yet understand the processes or requirements of accreditation like veterans of DI, I don't think they're entering into this education process with bad intentions. This is, after all, an approved educational institute of the Coptic Orthodox Church. That, again, says quite a lot already. Perhaps, a handful of Copts and a couple of Eastern & Oriental Catholics/Orthodox might be curious to learn a thing or two about Coptic Orthodoxy, and this is is niche that this school could fill in the United States (and perhaps for a few other students abroad). --- Also, it might be worth considering that the Copts in Australia didn't have accredited programs only a few short years ago and now manage to offer two distance learning programs for their two dioceses, one in Melbourne and another in Sydney.
