Vassa Larin (born Varvara Georgievna Larina, russian: Варвара Георгиевна Ларина; December 11, 1970) is an American

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

rassophore The degrees of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic monasticism are the stages an Eastern Orthodox monk or nun passes through in their religious vocation. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the process of becoming a monk or nun is intentionally slo ...

nun, the host of the popular show "Coffee with Sr. Vassa", author of many scholarly articles and a monograph on Byzantine liturgy and theology, and an outspoken public intellectual on current issues of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

(ROCOR). She teaches Liturgical Studies at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

in Austria. Larin is a member of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church: the Commission on Liturgy and Church Art, and the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church: the Commission on Canon Law.

Biography

Born to the family of a Russian Orthodox priest in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a Village (New York), village located primarily in the Town (New York), town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, it retai ...

, Larin graduated from

Nyack High School Nyack High School is a secondary school serving parts of the Town of Orangetown and Town of Clarkstown, New York, United States. The original Nyack High School building is now part of BOCES. Since 1990, Nyack High School has been located less t ...

and entered

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It i ...

, at the age of 16. She left college to enter the Lesna Convent of the ROCOR in Provement, France, at age 19. After ten years in France, she spent two years at the Mount of Olives Convent in Jerusalem. Following a long spiritual and academic novitiate training, involving the study of Greek, Latin, German, Patristic Theology and Church History, Vassa was eventually enrolled by Archbishop

Mark (Arndt) Metropolitan Mark (secular name: Michael Arndt; born 29 January 1941, Chemnitz, Saxony) is the Metropolitan of Berlin and Germany of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and Overseer of the Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jeru ...

of Berlin and Germany to study Orthodox Theology at the Orthodox Institute of the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, Germany. There she received a master's degree in Orthodox Theology, having written a Master’s Thesis on the “Royal Office” at the beginning of Byzantine

Orthros ''Orthros'' (Greek: , meaning "early dawn" or "daybreak") or ''Oútrenya'' ( Slavonic Оўтреня), in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices (church services) ...

. In 2006-2008 she worked as the Graduate Assistant of the renowned expert on Byzantine Liturgy, Professor

Robert F. Taft Robert Francis Taft (January 9, 1932 – November 2, 2018) was an American Jesuit priest, first in the Russian Greek Catholic Church and later an archimandrite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. An expert in Oriental liturgy, he was a pro ...

, S.J., at the

Pontifical Oriental Institute The Pontifical Oriental Institute, also known as the Orientale, is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome and focusing on Eastern Christianity. The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had been ...

in Rome. Taft directed Sr. Vassa’s doctoral dissertation on the Byzantine hierarchal liturgy, which she defended ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' at the Orthodox Institute of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in December 2008. Larin’s dissertation, ''The Byzantine Hierarchal Divine Liturgy in Arsenij Suxanov’s Proskinitarij'', was published in 2010 as volume 286 of the academic series ''Orientalia Christiana Analecta''. Beginning in January 2009 Larin taught Liturgical Studies at the Catholic Faculty of the

in Austria. She now works full-time on her on-line catechetical ministry 'Coffee with Sister Vassa'. She is a founding member of the Society of Oriental Liturgies, and a member of the

North American Academy of Liturgy The North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL) is an ecumenical and inter-religious association of liturgical scholars who collaborate in research. "Academy members are specialists in liturgical studies, theologians, artists, musicians, and persons in ...

. In 2012 Larin was included in the 30th Anniversary Edition of '' Marquis Who’s Who in the World''.

Writings

Her numerous publications, written in English, Russian, or German, include scholarly studies based on original manuscript-research, as well as articles on controversial topics in contemporary Orthodoxy. Especially noteworthy are her following publications: * ''The Byzantine Hierarchal Divine Liturgy in Arsenij Suxanov’s Proskinitarij'' (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 286) Rome 2010. * “What is Ritual Im/Purity and Why?” ''St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 52'': 3-4 (2008) 275-92. * “The Dikerion and Trikerion of the Byzantine Pontifical Rite: Origins and Significance,” ''Orientalia Christiana Periodica'' 74 (2008) 417-430. * “The Ecclesiastical Principle of Oikonomia and the ROCOR,” electronically published in Russian original and English translation on the ROCOR’s official website.

References

External links

Full CV and Bibliography on the website of the Catholic Theological Faculty of Vienna UniversityWorks available online on personal website of Michael Zheltov Video of Sr. Vassa’s lecture, “Why Study the History of the Liturgy?” (June 2012)Audio of Sr. Vassa’s lecture, “The Active Participation of the Laity and the Byzantine Liturgy” (June 2012) on Ancient Faith RadioInterview for ROCOR-Studies website, “Orthodoxy is Not a Religion of Fear” (May 4, 2009) Interview for ROCOR-Studies website, “Orthodoxy: Affirmation, Not Negation” (September 4, 2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larin, Vassa 1970 births Living people People from Nyack, New York Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni American people of Russian descent 20th-century American nuns Academic staff of the University of Vienna Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States 20th-century Eastern Orthodox nuns American women academics 21st-century American nuns 21st-century Eastern Orthodox nuns