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Fr. Anthony Bio [Home] || <--Go to Chapter 7 || -->Go to Chapter 9
Autobiography of Father Anthony Kosturos
Chapter 8
Greek at the Seminary
From the moment I entered the grounds of the Seminary in Pomfret, Connecticut, it was made very clear to me that use of the Greek language
on a daily basis was required. Bishop Cavadas would say to us: "You speak English. Now you need to master the Greek language, because you
will serve congregations which are primarily dedicated to the use of Greek." We need to remember that I am referring to 1943, when use of
English in our churches was not prevalent. The Church was still undergoing its "immigrant" stage. The use of English would begin tangibly
after I had concluded my studies in 1948, and the actual use of English in our parishes began to take concrete shape from 1950 on. Well,
some of the seminarians who had come to study did not know any Greek. I remember one student, who later became fluent in the language, say
at his arrival: "Ego proseho to agelatha. I take care of cows." In Greek, you use the feminine article for the word cow, not the neuter
article as he did.
Seminary Attacked
The prevailing Reek newspaper at the time engaged in a vigorous attack on the existence of the Seminary. It attempted to convince its
readers and the Greek public at large that American-born young men could not learn the Greek language sufficiently to serve our parishes in
this country. Not only did it criticize Archbishop Athenagoras for initiating the founding of the Seminary in 1937, but it also waged an
ongoing attack on our Dean, Bishop Cavadas, whose first name too was Athenagoras. "He won't succeed," they proclaimed. "Greece is where
these young men should be to be imbued with Greek culture and the learning of Greek." Bishop Cavadas' response was to challenge us to hear
these attacks and urge us to face the "broadside" and prove to the naysayers that we could master the language and learn how to read, write,
and preach in Greek, as well as come to know thoroughly the basic theology of our Church with knowledgeable performance of the Sacraments.
It was a heavy task. It was faced, met head on, and proved beyond doubt that our Seminary was capable of training young men to serve as
priests of our parishes effectively and conscientiously. The Newspaper propagating false accusations against our Seminary eventually lost
the battle. The first Seminarians went to parishes, and proved dramatically that the Seminary had the capacity and the means to offer our
parishes pastors uniquely qualified to serve in both languages, in Greek and English. You see now why use of Greek was emphasized at the
Seminary. You might imagine how important the learning of Greek was by knowing that five years of Seminary life involved the speaking of
Greek every day, through the day. We had to prepare ourselves well to offset the propaganda of the day against the Seminary.
Seminary Study Program
Our day began at 6 a.m. with Chapel Service, then breakfast, then brief recess, the classes, until lunchtime. We had classes in the afternoon
too, but some of our time during the day was spent on taking care of the vast vegetable garden which provided what we needed. Of course, as
you recall, I was relegated to the office after my care of the rabbits proved deadly for four of them owing to my lack of knowledge in the
art of feeding rabbits.
I studied very diligently. Thirsty for knowledge in all areas of theology as well as appreciative of the need to round out and develop my
rudimentary understanding of Greek, I often found myself reading or reciting on the grounds of the Seminary, with constant declension of
nouns, verbs, and adjectives in my attempt to "master" the Greek language. Since chanting is an integral part of liturgical service in our
Orthodox Church, one could spot me in a field going over the scales of Byzantine music, called modes, hoping to catch each mode's basic
hymns, with the attempt to catch each mode with the very first notes of the hymn until I could identify the mode just by thinking it out in
my head or hearing it employed by someone else. I was truly trilled by theology. It teaches you how to reason, how to reach conclusions,
and how to respect the depth of mystery. So much of what we believe in religion is mysterious to us. Faith, reasonable faith is needed to
accept what we cannot see yet believe. In wintertime, we often wore a sweater, overcoat, hand gloves, and ear muffs to ward off the cold in
the classroom. Often, the heating system wasn't working.
Dining and Athletics, and Study
Eating communally, as per custom, was an experience. Sometimes, the food prepared by the cook was palatable. Other times, when the
cook's mood wasn't just right, the food was better left uneaten. That is when we would devour a half loaf of bread to satiate our stomach.
When Lenten seasons arrived, lentils or soups akin to it were offered. It took me many years to surmount the psychological block of not
wanting to eat lentils. We had been inundated with them at Seminary. That is when bread became even more important in our personal diet.
We played football on the grounds, and some baseball. Obviously, we were not fit to exert ourselves too much for two reasons: Our time for
athletics was limited, and our lack of practice made for games which were interesting, but, at best tolerable. Our real focus was study,
coupled with a chance to chat or rest. Our theology discussions among us often carried the exuberance of youth: Opinionated, hard to
convince of someone else's views, and fervent in our attempt to justify our own position on facets of theology. We were idealistically
young. This was our way of honing our understanding of basic Orthodox doctrine, and often we would find ourselves defending a position
without full comprehension of basic theological precepts. It was a time of thriving dialogue, debate, conversations. We would try to find
textbooks which supported our view. After all, we were young.
These two incidents reflect many more which took place in our attempt to distract ourselves from the routine of daily seminary life. They
were harmless, entertaining, and refreshing.
Move to Brookline
Some time during the end of my third year in Pomfret, Bishop Cavadas assembled all the students in the Seminary dining room (trapezaria) and
announced to us that the Seminary Board of Regents had decided that we were to move to Brookline, Massachusetts, a city near Boston and major
universities. Perhaps it sounds beyond belief, but most of us were disappointed. In spite of the hardships at Pomfret where water pipes
often froze, where heating the buildings often failed, where limited visits to the Seminary took place, where a fire destroyed our library,
most of us felt that moving to a metropolitan area would deprive us of privacy and might create an atmosphere more given to university
lifestyle with all its distractions, rather the kind of solitude and privacy we enjoyed at Pomfret. We had becomes so accustomed to where
we were that moving to a new location so different in ambiance caused concern. We expressed this to our Dean, and he assured us he understood
but felt that Brookline offered our Seminary more exposure to the "outside" world and augured well for the future development of the
Seminary. He too had his qualms about the move, but he felt that we must move on to broader horizons for development of the Seminary. He
emphasized, of course, that our time away from the Seminary would resemble the discipline of the prevalent policy governing limited time
outside the Seminary. A minority of the assembled expressed relief that we would be in a new facility which would guarantee us fewer
breakdowns of heat and water.
Relocation
Our arrival at Brookline required adjustments. On the whole, they went well. We still had to clean our room every Saturday and do
house-cleaning chores. Now the challenge was greater because the edifice in which we were housed was much larger than the one we occupied
in Pomfret.
We had one student who was obese and could not clean and sweep as quickly as expected by the assistant dean. One day, his slowness
exasperated the dean. He scolded the student and said: "If I ever become a bishop by grace of the Saints, I shall put your two feet in
one shoe." The student, unperturbed by the reprimand, looked up at the dean and said: "Father, if you ever become a bishop, it will not
be owing to the Saints' grace but by virtue of Satan's power." The Dean "hit the roof" by this act of impertinence. He ordered him to
Bishop Cavadas' office, where he reported him for his insolence and demanded harsh discipline. Bishop Cavadas knew that this student could
not work quickly even though he was very bright academically and cushioned the incident by speaking with the student privately. He
admonished him gently. The student said: "Your grace, I am being tormented."
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