SAINT SOPHRONY SCHOLARSHIP

We have already received a generous contribution to this scholarship fund of £14,500, but more is needed in order to secure £54,000 – an amount that would allow a scholar to finalize a doctoral project on the work, theology and vision of Saint Sophrony. Please contact the Institute if you feel able to sponsor this initiative. This is a blessed opportunity and an educational project worthy to be supported!

IOCS has established the “Saint Sophrony Scholarship” as a research / PhD scholarship at our Institute, with the blessing of St John the Baptist Monastery in Essex.

“All of us in the monastic Community of St John the Baptist were very happy to hear about the initiative of the Institute of Orthodox Studies in Cambridge. We believe that the theological legacy of St Sophrony the Athonite will contribute to maintain the good standard of theology of the Institute, adding a more experiential character, which is really what the people need and seek for in our times.”

The Abbot of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist, Archimandrite Peter

We appeal to all our friends and donors to support this extremely important avenue of research and to spread the idea about this unique opportunity!

You can contribute to Saint Sophrony Scholarship here:

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FOR OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS: US donors benefit of income tax deductions via Cambridge in America (CAm):

You can send a contribution to our Institute via Cambridge in America (CAm), which is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organisation (recognised by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service) which funds grants that benefit Cambridge University, its member Colleges and some of its allied institutions. In compliance with IRS regulations, the Board of Directors of Cambridge in America maintains complete discretion over the allocation of gifts to Cambridge. Should you chose to donate through CAm, you will receive a gift receipt letter from CAm that can be used for U.S. tax purposes.

ONLINE: You can make a gift through the ‘Cambridge in America’ website here.*

*Please write ‘The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies’ in the ‘College or University initiative you are supporting today’ box. In the box below ‘Special instructions/other designation’, please write again ‘The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies’.

CHEQUES: If you prefer to make your gift by check, cheques should be made payable to “Cambridge in America” with a memo noting the designation to the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, and sent to the following address: Cambridge in America, P.O. Box 9123 JAF BLG, New York, NY 10087-9123

To ensure your donation is processed more swiftly, please also drop a line by email about your kind donation via Cambridge in America to IOCS at info@iocs.cam.ac.uk and to CAm at giving@cantab.org.

The practical and theological aspects of this project:

The practical impetus is connected to the fact that in recent years there have been several students at the Institute researching the legacy and theology of Father Sophrony – some of whom visited and spent some time at the Monastery in Essex. The Saint’s work and teachings, although well known by some, warrant more research and to be known in depth – so that they can be disseminated even further. The Institute intends to provide the academic, study context for this kind of research. However, this is not seen just as an academic exercise. Such a project will end up as an aid to people’s coming closer to God and making known the work of the Holy Spirit in our times, through people and saints like Saint Sophrony.

The theological impetus rests in the hope that the existence and work of the Institute in the UK as a place of Orthodox life, learning, and witness is aligned with that of the Monastery which – through Saint Sophrony – has opened up Orthodoxy to the West, and the West to Orthodoxy, in a way that is both faithful to the Patristic legacy and the faith of our Fathers and contextually adapted to the Western context where we live.

Many of the Institute’s students and followers have long benefited (and continue to do so) from lectures and visits from the community of the Essex Monastery, like Father Nikolai, Father Zacharias, Father Kyrill, or Sister Magdalen (to name but a few) or by visits to the Monastery during our summer schools, over the course of many years.

The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Essex, UK.