St. Ephrem Seminary opens its year with nine new students

2 October 2026

Seminarians and lay singers of the Seminary Choir in rehearsal.

The academic year at St. Ephrem Major Seminary opened on Thursday 1 October with the Holy Qurbana in the cathedral, celebrated by Mar Ephrem with the rector, Fr. Ishak Tashiev.

Nine new students begin the two years of philosophy this autumn, bringing the seminary to 48 students for the four eparchies. Four of the new students come from parishes of the Chatkal Highlands, two of them from villages on the tribal side of the line, who will return home each summer to serve the yurt liturgies with their parish priests.

The rector told the students that the first language they would learn was not Syriac but patience. “Our fathers kept this faith for fifty years without a seminary, without a cathedral and without a bishop,” he said. “You have all three. Use them well.”

The Seminary Choir, which welcomes new lay singers each autumn, rehearses on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in the cathedral. Men and women who would like to sing may speak to Fr. Daniyel Omurov after the Sunday Qurbana.