St. Gregory Nazianzen Orthodox Theological Institute

Thank you Dave! I'll just add that UCU enjoys sterling reputation in Ukraine. In addition to being the only recognised Catholic University in the former USSR, it has government accreditation for Theology, History and Social Education. It is arguably the best school in humanities and social studies in the country and, notably, is considered corruption-free. Fun fact: the school's future cornerstone was blessed by (newly glorified) Pope St. John Paul II "the Great". UCU in Lviv is a successor of UCU in Rome, founded in 1963 by Patriarch (or officially, Major Archbishop) Josyp Cardinal Slipyj. The late Cardinal is, of course, a renowned GULAG survivor and an inspiration for fictional Pope Cyril Lakota from the bestseller novel and major movie, The Shoes of the Fisherman. The man is still not at least a Blessed only for petty political reasons. Quite the legacy for such a new university!
As for the Ecumenism program, it looks extremely interesting and has great faculty roster. Interestingly, it shares a faculty member with SGNOTI - the first English-language graduate, our friend Fr. Laurent Cleenewerck.

 

Oh a whim, I visited the site of this school again. No major changes. Degree offerings seem to tighten - the only major is "Orthodox Studies" now. This makes perfect sense.
Fr Andrew, OTOH, keeps himself busy. Now, he is the " Ambassador-at-Large of The Royal House of Georgia" and got himself a couple of decorations from different royal pretenders. Gee-whiz!
BTW, he claims to be an "Ambassador" of Prince Nuzgar Bagrationi-Gruzinsky. This elderly gentleman is indeed known as one of the two major claimants to the Georgian throne (illegally abolished by Russia in 19th century). His daughter married (and later divorced) the second major claimant, a union in part engineered by Patriarch Ilia of the Georgian Orthodox Church (His Beatitude is a well-known monarchist). The marriage produced a son who can theoretically unite both claims in his person. Until recently, Prince Nuzgar didn't feel the need to have "Ambassadors", but now several such representatives appear on the Web. I wonder what's going on?

Remember that this is a recognized Greek Orthodox clergyman and academic with 3 accredited Doctorates. He runs a school that boasts valid ecclesiastic endorsement, (claimed) status as a unit of recognized university, and a faculty list full of colorful but credentialed people. Still, he looks and acts as a millist. Bizarre.

 

Stanislav,

Thank you for the updates. Although I have personally known someone to have completed the undergraduate program (and later use the degree to enter a RA Roman Catholic theological program), you have outlined some of my serious reservations about entering this program.

Messdiener

 

...and I can tell you categorically that he is NOT the Lord of the Manor of St John's and Castlerigg in Derwentwater - I am. I hold the Lordship of the Manor of Castlerigg and Derwentwater (incorporating St Johns) and it has been in my family since the 1920s. The Lordship was acquired from the family of Mr John Marshall who, himself, acquired it from Greenwich Estates in the mid 1800s. Greenwich Estates had held the title since the lands and titles of James Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, were sequestrated by the Crown in 1716. I have the original conveyamces to prove it.

In September 2013, having lost their records, Greenwich Estates mistakenly put up for sale the Lordship through the Manorial Auctioneers (part of The Manorial Society) despite the fact that the Manorial Society had my Father recorded as being the Lord of the Manor. That unlawful sale has subsequently been reversed but this erroneous claim is still being made on the internet.

 

I never knew this existed. But the guy at the Manorial Society says I can pick one of these up for 5,000 - 10,000 pounds and apparently the title can be added to a UK passport or bank card.

I've never been so tempted to burn through my children's 529 plan for my own selfish gain as I am with this. Sorry kids, you were college bound but Daddy wanted to be Lord of a Manor!

I really feel like I'm missing out by not living in the UK, sometimes.

 

Think again. Watch a few episodes of Coronation Street. Might change your opinion. :smile:

I'm from there - but it's been a very long time. I'd never go back - unless the Canadian Government deports me - and I've been careful not to do anything to make that likely. From what I've seen recently, living costs (especially housing) are astronomical compared to where I live.

Some people say there's a lot of chicanery in most of the title-selling, especially over the Internet. Having seen some websites, I'd agree. I've seen "Knightships" etc. (not Knighthoods) for sale which are said to be completely bogus titles. I think title-addiction tends to diminish, rather than augment, one's profile. I also know of degree mills where one can buy a phony title - Knighthood etc - to go with a phony Ph.D.

Extremely good University education can be had from the UK, though. If you must raid your kids' college fund (and I'm sure you're not serious) :smile: it's better to sink that 10,000 pounds into tuition - You'll get WAY more out of that than a pretentious title that's likely not real at all.

Johann - Pfalzgraf, Landgraf, Markgraf and jest plain ol' Graf (Count) of Schloss Johannstein
Grand Knight of the Eparchy of Minsk, Pinsk, Omsk & Tomsk.
Supreme Voivod of Tobolsk :smile:

 

How interesting! This would explain why Fr. Andrew felt the need to add two "orders of chivalry" and "ambassadorships" to his list of achievements. Internets suggest that the US-based former King of Rwanda is down on his luck and accepts "donations"; I'm not sure what might motivate the respected Prince Nugzar, but he is a Georgian artist and is not wealthy.
Come to think of it, the site seems to downplay manorial titles now and merely say the Rector obtained the title, not that he currently possess them. I have not read a statement from Fr. Dr. Andrew and his crew that would be verifiably false, and tend to think they are honest if boastful. OTOH, I am not able to verify his, or yours, statements online; to me, this suggests that no one really cares about these things one way or another, at least not enough to set the record straight online (which is not a high bar nowadays).
Strange thing is, he is, indeed, a Mitered Archimandrite. While these tend to be a dime a dozen, especially in diaspora Churches, it is nevertheless a high ecclesial rank that is both canonically lawful and legitimate. In my book, this is way more impressive than a purchased, obsolete, medieval oddity. Not to mention his priestly faculties, and the fact that he has multiple real degrees (3 doctorates) that qualify him in 3 different professions (ESL teaching, counseling, and ministry). Why all the accessories?

 

The school now is "St. Gregory Nazianzen Institute for Eastern Christian Studies". Apparently, the Rector, along with his parish (where another Institute administrator is also a priest) switched to Byzantine Catholic Church:
https://holysynergy.wordpress.com/2017/07/11/breaking-news-the-orthodox-church-of-puerto-rico-enters-into-communion-with-the-catholic-church/

Not sure which Eastern Catholic Church they plan to join now, or if they decided yet. That's unexpected, and fascinating.

 

The school is now an "academic unit of Nikola Tesla Union University", a private school in Serbia. Which makes sense, given His Rectorness' background; it also doesn't, given geography.
I didn't research NTUU's accreditation. If it is solid, and if the partnership sticks, this might be a decent option. If one is OK with the now Uniate affiliation of the principals (doesn't matter for academics, but might be problematic in some Eastern Orthodox circles; especially seeing how Fr. Andrew is a jurisdiction-hopper). Funny: they still have Prince Nuzgar Bagrationi as a "Royal Patron"; Georgia is very, very Eastern Orthodox country not too open to any kind of Eastern Catholicism. Come to think of it, Serbia is like this, too.

 

Also, Laurent Cleenewerck disappeared from the Faculty page. He is still claiming a PhD from this school, Guatemala version (which is not surprising, since in all likelihood he did earn one).

 

Wandered back to DI after having noticed that this school changed names and changed affiliations/accreditation, but it seems Stanislav beat me to it a few weeks ago.

In any case, I looked briefly at NTUU's English site, and I saw some remarks that their last accreditation (check?) was in 2011. Did some Googling on the Serbian "Comission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance" and really only found this. Per the CAQA's own announcement:

Taking into account the Government’s decision (in Serbian) no. 02-371/2018-1 as of January 31, 2018. regarding the establishment of the National Accreditation Body (“Serbia’s official informer” No. 9, dated February 2, 2018), the Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance (CAQA) hereby informs Higher education institutions it is authorized to perform only technical tasks from now on. This means that it can no longer make any decisions about the accreditation of higher education institutions and study programs, nor accept new accreditation requests, until corresponding authorities decide otherwise (National Council for Higher Education or National Accreditation Body).​

What would this mean for NTUU? And what of St. Gregory Nazianzen's? Any ideas? Calling Stanislav.

 

Without doing deep research, this seem to be a reorganization within Serbia's educational authorities, and mean very little for NTUU. As for St. Gregory's, this makes clear that it was not included in the 2011 accreditation review; I'd feel much better about this linkage if it was. NTUU is a private school that seem to be owned by a commercial company and is focused on the construction industry. I wish that the Institute will maintain the affiliation until the next review and have everything explicitly confirmed. Given Fr. Andrew's history, however, this may not happen.

 

I keep checking on this interesting school. They added another affiliation: Carpathian University in Ukraine. This is a school ran by Bishop Viktor (Bed') of Mukacheve nd Carpathia, who is in many ways like Archimandrite Andrew: a man of cloth with many academic titles and his own school. Bishop Victor is a colorful figure: he started out as a lawyer, journalist, and entrepreneur in the 1990ies, branched into politics (was a Member of Parliament), then joined Church under Moscow Patriarchate and started his schools (university and Theological Academy). At some point, he traveled to Greece to be tonsured a monk and elevated to Archimandrite. As he returned to Ukraine, his boss Met. Volodymyr died, and the new (more pro-Russia) bosses tried to fire him as the Academy Rector. In response, he claimed that he is still under Church of Greece and thus Russo/Ukrainian Synod can't fire him, and promptly changed allegiance to one of two major Autocephalous (independent, technically "in schism") Churches, taking his schools with him - and getting ordained Bishop. Then in 2018, Constantinople took away Russia's charter to Kyiv Metropolis, "forgave" Autocephalist bishops (including Vladyko Victor), and allowed them to form the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
In short, people have some critical things to say on Victor Bed', but you can't argue with success - he's a real Bishop (well, not according to Russia), heads small but real Diocese, a University, and Theological Academy (the latter two government-recognized). Kind of like Fr. Andrew, but with more tangible success.
What does this agreement mean for St. Gregory Institute - I don't know. Diploma validation is not a usual practice in Ukraine. But if there's a scheme to do it, Bp. Victor Bed' is the right person to try - he got his small Theological school accredited before the bigger schools in Kyiv had it.