STUDENT LIFE

 

1. Social Life
2. Student Life Chart
2.1. Section One: Requirements of Living in an Educational Community
2.2. Section Two: Requirements of Living in a Sacramental Community
2.3  Section Three: Requirements of Living in a Shared Community

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. SOCIAL LIFE

The uniqueness of student life at the Institute of St. John of Damascus is based on the parallel growth of the student in academic scientific knowledge, ecclesiastical awareness, and the embodiment of the living faith. The academic theological curriculum, which is inseparable from the students’ life in the academy, aims to create a knowledgeable and empowered future generation.

The study of theology in Balamand is different from other academic branches in the university. It does not settle for only intellectual dialogue, but seeks to foster authenticity in people’s relationships. The students reside in the Institute for a period of four years, representing a phase of abstract intellectual and applied practical preparation to those who are getting ready for a life of consecration, service, and instruction in the Church.

The Office of Student Life consists of the assistant dean, the supervisor of interior life and the supervisor of student activities. It attends to - and supervises - all that is related to student life and interaction with colleagues, planning activities that enrich his or her experience in order to ensure that the student is spending a constructive and an enjoyable time in the Institute and making friendships not only with his fellow colleagues but with friends of other backgrounds and fields.

The students of the Institute live together in a true partnership. Its main components are group prayers and the communal dining hall. Various student activities are based upon collaboration between teachers and students in an effort to enrich daily life in the Institute by utilizing talents and finding spiritual, cultural, parochial, and recreational opportunities that will activate student life and impart to it a positive ambience of dialogue, broadmindedness, and creative interaction with the ecclesiastical, social, intellectual and environmental milieu.

Every student has his or her own room, and it is the place where he expresses his individuality at the Institute. He is entitled to arrange it as he pleases, so that it may mirror his or her personality, be an atelier for his studies, a chamber of prayer, or a place of rest.

 Perhaps the setting of daily liturgical prayers, which encompass life in the Institute, is the best field for student education and application of worship ceremonies in our Church. Indeed, it is a crystal fountain from which they savor the sweetness of Orthodox liturgy and the theology of prayer and worship.

 The traditional celebrations that the Institute holds or participates in, such as the feast days of St. John of Damascus and St. Ignatius of Antioch, and Holy Week and Holy Pascha, strengthen the joy of belonging to the family of the Church and life under its auspices.

 The choir of the Institute is famed for the beauty of its performances and its skilled mastery of the art of Eastern Byzantine chant. The choir comprises those students of the Institute who are fond of chanting. They dedicate a number of hours every week to practice towards a harmonious and thorough performance led by the choir master, who is often a talented student of the Institute. The choir does not only commit itself to the duty of liturgical performance in the Church of the Balamand monastery, but also, when the need arises, performs to other parts of the Antiochian community, or even to other Orthodox Patriarchates, giving recitals and participating in ceremonial services.

 In Balamand, the student finds himself thrust into a focal ecclesiastical Orthodox center that assembles the children of the Church, and the workers in it, who flock to it not only from all areas of our Patriarchate, but also from other churches in the Christian world. This provides the student with a unique opportunity to become closely acquainted with the message of the Church, its concerns, aspects of work in it, and the true meaning of service. The student also gets to meet eminent theologians, scholars, and workers servicing the Church in the global outreach of the Orthodox Church.

 

2. STUDENT LIFE CHART

 The St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology is a University institution aiming to serve the Church of Antioch through the preparation of ecclesiastical, intellectual and scientific resources meant to support the Church’s life in its witness journey. Therefore, the uniqueness of Institute and student life therein arises from the need of balanced student development in knowledge, ecclesiastical sense and the incarnation of their faith. The students’ growth in Christ is what grants their theological knowledge the tincture that enables them to assume all kinds of ecclesiastical responsibilities, to apply their theology to real life, and to draw up a flexible and modern religious speech to go with the Church’s presence in today’s world.

 The organization of student life at the Institute completes the educational aspect of the community. This is revealed through the Institute’s curricula and in the academic systems in force in the university (to read more about this organization, refer to chapter 8: Rules and Regulations in the University of Balamand), and which is implemented by the Institute as one of its faculties.

 This organization is divided into three sections:

 This statute applies to all students following the full university program and getting prepared to handle pastoral and leadership responsibilities in the Church.

 

2.1 FIRST SECTION: EDUCATIONAL LIFE REQUIREMENTS

 The necessities of educational life require that the Institute student deal with educational attainment as part of their qualification for service in the Church. Accordingly, the student is expected to abide by the following:

 Article 1:
Use of the library and modern technology available in the University is necessary to expand students’  horizons and to prepare them for free and open discussions. Being limited to the themes given in class by teachers is a weakness that negatively affects students’ performance and productivity. The Institute encourages its students to consult books and to get acquainted with recent scientific developments with the spirit of responsibility promoted by the Institute.

 Article 2:
In case of the abuse of technologies at the disposal of the student, the latter are held accountable. That which is considered an abuse of available technologies is the promotion and copying of immoral items or items contrary to intellectual property and scientific accuracy, or items that provoke disputes within the university or that affect people regardless of their position, or items that make up false and biased information.

 Article 3:
Pastoral training that falls within the framework of the curricula or organized by the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, in coordination with the Institute administration, constitutes one of the major qualifications of students. Institute students are expected to contribute to this training in all its aspects, considering the positive reflection on their educational attainment on the one hand, and on their future pastoral work on the other hand. Non-compulsive absence from participation in this training requires special authorization from the Institute Council based on a warranting request.

 Article 4:
The Institute has a private Choir that contributes to the training of the students on solo and communal chanting. It also helps the Convent of Our Lady of Balamand in assuming its pastoral role amid its environment and in the Patriarchate of Antioch. Students can join the choir according to the order mentioned in the curricula. Exemption from joining requires a special decision from the Institute Council upon the suggestion of the choir’s trainer in the Institute.

Article 5:
Attending all courses is compulsory, as is participating in various educational attainment activities. Accepted absence rate in any course is 10%. If this is exceeded, the student is considered withdrawn from the course, scores a WF grade, and may repeat the course no more than once.

Article 6:
Any student proven to have attempted to cheat in the Institute will be definitively dismissed from the Institute. The Institute Council is entitled to consider and settle these cases.

Article 7:
Students are expected to fully abide by the timing set by the teachers to submit their assignments as established in the syllabi distributed to the students in the outset of the semester. Students are liable to obtain a grade of 40 for work they do not submit on time.

 

2.2 SECOND SECTION: SACRAMENTAL LIFE REQUIREMENTS

 Life within the Institute is characterized by both its personal and communal character. Institute students are called upon to progress their private lives through their training on consecrating themselves and participating in the sanctification of others. Students are expected to live up to the following:

Article 8:
Prayer is a root of the Institute’s student life. Besides individual prayer, each student is called upon to take part in group prayer held by the Institute in coordination with Our lady of Balamand Convent. Prayer takes place on, but is not restricted to, the following occasions:

Failing to attend the prayers regularly is viewed as a major obstacle for affiliation with the Institute, by virtue of a decision from the Institute Council upon the suggestion of the supervising father of student life.

Article 9:
Besides prayer, students in the Institute are trained in sacramental life as a major dimension in their sanctification journey. In this framework, the Institute and the Convent represent together a unity that aims at consecration via communal endeavors, and therefore:

 Article 10:
The Institute conforms completely with fasting times and arrangements. At the same time, and in observance of fast spirituality, students are trained in the Institute in personal austerity, generosity, and adhering to the service of the needy and weak by contributing effectively to social activities organized by the Institute and/or the Monastery.

 

2.3 THIRD SECTION: COMMUNITY LIFE REQUIREMENTS

Life in the institute over years of theological studies constitutes a distinct experience within a community united by the concern of serving the Church. Therefore, the students must stay at the Institute during this entire period, according to the following regulations:

Article 11:

Students shall reside in the Institute during their time in school except for the following periods:

However, if any student has other requirements inhibiting his ability to regularly attend the Institute and on specific times, the Administration Council will take a decision at the recommendation of the student life superintendent, based on a justifying request.

Article 12:

Life in the Institute is a test for living with others and interacting positively with them. Hence, Institute students are expected to avoid anything that instigates conflict of whatever kind. The superiors of the Institute shall ensure that students are open to each other and accept differences as a source of enrichment in the Church instead of a source of discord.

Article 13:

Life in the Institute constitutes a place to practice service. Consequently, the student life superintendent shall ensure the organization of service groups to cover the various activities taking place under the same roof. This experience is considered an assessment scope to be taken into account when the Council drafts its annual observations regarding the students. The assessment is made in conformity with a special application documenting the observations in order to ensure the highest possible level of objectivity.

The superintendent of student life prepares in the beginning of each semester a list of the needed services and of the groups to be in charge of meeting them.

Article 14:

Communal life in the Institute requires love of the other through respect of different aspects of daily life, such as cleanliness, punctuality, harmony, etc. Not complying with these aspects of community life by students is seen as a violation of the principles. The student life superintendent shall follow-up the matter with fatherly care, and may refer this issue to the Institute Council if a response is not received promptly in this regard.

Article 15:

Institute students are entitled to take the initiative to establish clubs at the university according to the statutes of clubs. They may also participate in the clubs already established at the university and impart their own flavor as part of their witness in society.

Article 16:

Daily life order is in general as follows;

It is worth mentioning that using the reading room and computers halls is available all day long till 10 PM in general and till 11 PM during exams.

Article 17:
Enrollment at the Institute of Theological Studies entails an engagement by the students in their responsibilities with the Church and its affairs. Consequently, they are held accountable according to this spirit of responsibility, pursuant to the present regulations, far from any legal obsession.

Article 18:
The Institute Council is the referent for all matters related to student life and performance and it may set the regulatory framework for cases not specified in this regulation with complete respect for their spirit.

The Institute Council issues, at times, and according to the circumstances, guidelines necessary to improve life in the Institute.

Article 19:
The Institute Council is the proper referent for decision making and receiving complaints. The dean is the sole official spokesman thereof.

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