Bishop Basil co-chaired the Joint OCA-Antiochian Canonization Commission which led to the glorification of Bishop Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn on

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1 Archbishop Joseph His Eminence Archbishop Joseph was consecrated to the Holy Episcopacy on June 30, 1991 at the St. Mary Cathedral in Damascus. From 1991 to 1995 he served as Bishop of Katana in Syria, Patriarchal Assistant, and Secretary of the Holy Synod of Antioch. He became Auxiliary Bishop in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1995 and was assigned to the West Coast Chancery by Metropolitan Philip. When Self-Rule status was awarded to the Archdiocese, His Eminence was chosen as bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West. On September 12, 2004 he was enthroned at St. Nicholas Cathedral by Metropolitan Philip. On December 11, 2011, at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon, Patriarch Ignatius elevated him to the rank of Archbishop, in honor of his many years of service as a bishop both in the archdiocese and in the patriarchate. Archbishop Joseph has served as dean of St. Mary Cathedral in Damascus, Syria and as overseer of Holy Cross Church and other parishes in the suburbs of Damascus. He pastored the Antiochian Orthodox Church in London from 1983 to 1986 and the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cyprus in Archbishop Joseph was born in Damascus, Syria on November 2, He attended the St. John of Damascus and al-alliyeh schools in Damascus and then the Our Lady of Balamand Monastery in Koura, Lebanon. He received a degree in philosophy from the Lebanese University in Beirut and a degree in music and languages from the University of Salonika in Thessalonike, Greece. In November, 1976, he was ordained a deacon. Patriarch Ignatius IV ordained him a priest in Damascus in His name day is the second Sunday after Pascha (Joseph of Arimathea). 1

2 Bishop Basil Bishop Basil was born in Monessen, PA on November 26, 1948, the only son and eldest of three children of William and Genevieve Essey. He was baptized on April 17, 1949 at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Monessen and raised at St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Church in Monessen. His Grace received his primary and secondary education in the public schools of Monessen, and in 1970 he received his B.A. in Psychology from California State University of Pennsylvania in California, PA. He entered St. Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY in 1970, from which he received his M.Div. in 1973 and, in 2010, was awarded a D.D. honoris causa. From 1973 until 1975 Bishop Basil served as pastoral assistant at St. George Church in Detroit, MI and from 1975 until 1986 he served as the first director of the Archdiocese s Department of Youth Affairs with offices at the main chancery of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in Englewood, NJ. While working in that capacity, he served as instructor of Contemporary Byzantine Chant at St. Vladimir s Seminary from 1980 until 1986; in 2010 the Seminary's Board of Trustees established the Bishop Basil Program in Byzantine Liturgical Music, a concentrated course of study in Byzantine chant. During 1986 and 1987 he resided at the St. John of Damascus Patriarchal Institute of Theology at the Balamand Monastery of the Dormition in the al-koura region of north Lebanon where he studied, taught and did research and translations for The Liturgikon: The Book of Divine Services for the Priest and Deaconwhich was published by the Archdiocese s Antakya Press in 1989 (reprinted in 1994 and 2010). Bishop Basil was tonsured a reader by the late Metropolitan Antony (Bashir) at St Michael Church in Monessen on October 27, 1964, and ordained to the subdiaconate and diaconate by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) at St Ignatius of Antioch Church at the Antiochian Village in Bolivar, PA on September 30, On January 27, 1980 he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Philip at St Anthony Church in Bergenfield, NJ and on October 9, 1988 was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite by Metropolitan Philip at St George Church in Wichita, KS. From July 1, 1987 until his consecration to the episcopacy in 1992, he served as priest at St. George Church in Wichita, KS. During his pastorate the new church temple was erected, consecrated and elevated to the status of Cathedral on April 21, He received monastic tonsure to the Lesser Schema at the Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knight by Maldon, Essex, England, during the night between January 19 and 20, 2003 by the monastery s abbot, Archimandrite Kyrill. His Grace was nominated for bishop (Auxiliary to Metropolitan Philip) by the General Assembly of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America on July 26, 1991, and was elected to the episcopacy (with the titular see of Enfeh al-koura in north Lebanon) by the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of the Great City-of-God Antioch and all the East on November 14, He was consecrated to the episcopacy on May 31, 1992 at St George Cathedral in Wichita, KS by Metropolitan Philip of the Archdiocese of North America, Metropolitan Elias (Audi) of the Archdiocese of Beirut, Bishop Antoun (Khouri) titular bishop of Seleucia and auxiliary of the Archdiocese of North America, and the late Archbishop Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo, OH, Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of North America. From 1992 until 1995 he resided at the Los Angeles Chancery, and in September 1995 he took up residence at the Wichita Chancery. By a decision of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate dated October 9, 2003, His Grace became a diocesan bishop and, since his enthronement on December 15, 2004, bears the title of Bishop of Wichita and the Diocese of Mid-America. 2

3 Bishop Basil co-chaired the Joint OCA-Antiochian Canonization Commission which led to the glorification of Bishop Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn on May 29, His Grace oversaw the publication of the book containing St. Raphael s Vita, Akolouthia and Akathist (Antakya Press 2000), arranged the hymnography for St. Raphael to Byzantine melodies, and directed the Clergy Brotherhood Choir which recorded an audio CD of the hymns for the feast of St. Raphael (Antakya Press 2001). In November 2002 His Grace headed the delegation from the Archdiocese of North America which met in Geneva, Switzerland with the delegation from the Patriarchate of Antioch to reach agreement on the basic principles of Self-Rule for the Archdiocese of North America. In May 2010 he was elected Secretary of the Assembly of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. His name day is January 1 st (Basil the Great). 3

4 Bishop Thomas His Grace, the Right Reverend Thomas (Joseph) is a bishop of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, serving in the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic. Of Arab-American heritage, Thomas Joseph was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in He attended John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, graduating in He went on to college at William Paterson College, graduating in After college, he worked in the Department of Community Improvements in Paterson, then served as a teacher for the Paterson Board of Education. When the Antiochian Village camp opened in the late 1970s, he was recruited by Fr. John Namie to serve as one of the original camp counselors from 1979 to In the fall of 1979, Thomas began part-time study at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and was made a subdeacon by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of New York in July of He continued his studies until the spring of 1983, when he was assigned to Virgin Mary Church in Yonkers, New York. In 1984, Metr. Philip assigned him to St. George Church in Houston, Texas, where he served as Director of Christian Education and Youth Services. While in Texas, the Archdiocese also assigned him to oversee Christian Education and then later teen activities for the churches in the Southwest Region (now the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America). In July of 1988 Thomas was ordained to the diaconate by ArchbishopMichael (Shaheen) of Toledo. On August 28, 1994, Bishop Antoun (Khouri) ordained Dcn. Thomas to the priesthood, and Fr. Thomas served as assistant pastor at his parish in Houston until August of 1996, when he was appointed pastor of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Pinellas Park, Florida (near St. Petersburg). Between 1996 and his consecration to the episcopacy, Fr. Thomas served in multiple capacities aside from his work as a pastor. He was an appointed member of the Archdiocese Youth Department Board; Spiritual Advisor to the Teen SOYO (Society of Orthodox Youth Organization) Southeastern Region; Chairperson of the Tampa Bay Orthodox Clergy Association; Director of Programs in Pastoral Bioethics for the International Academy of Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine in the United States; Speaker at Braunels, Germany, and at City University of Hong Kong on Bioethics; author of published articles on Christian Bioethics; Speaker at Antiochian Village and third session camp priest for many years; past President and Vice President of the Tampa Bay Council of Orthodox Churches. In July 2002, Fr. Thomas was granted a Master of Arts degree in Applied Orthodox Theology jointly from the Antiochian House of Studies and the St. John of Damascus School of Theology of the University of Balamand in Lebanon. On February 15, 2004, Fr. Thomas was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by Bp. Antoun, and on December 5, 2004, he was consecrated to the episcopacy by Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch in Damascus, Syria. Bp. Thomas was enthroned as Bishop of Oakland and the East at St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh (Borough of Oakland), Pennsylvania, on May 6, In August of 2006, Bp. Thomas was awarded a Doctorate in Education from California Coast University. His Grace also sits on the editorial board of the journal Christian Bioethics, which is published by Oxford University Press. His Grace is also the author of several published articles, including Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Its Importance in the Culture Wars,Training Up a Child: Educational Options for Orthodox Christians, An Orthodox University: Higher Education for Orthodox Christians and Sanctified Schooling: Working out Salvation Within Education. He also coauthored The Emergence of Local Orthodox Christian Societies in America. 4

5 In 2006, the Church of St. George in Charleston, West Virginia, purchased a chancery for the diocese, and in October of that year was elevated to a cathedral, thus adding another see to the diocese and renaming it to the Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic. His Grace's residence is at the diocesan chancery in Charleston. In addition to his duties in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, Bp. Thomas also served as the locum tenens of the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest from December 2010 to December Within the Archdiocese, His Grace assists Metropolitan Philip in overseeing the Antiochian Village, the Christian Education Department, the Youth Department and the Antiochian House of Studies. Since 2011, he has also chaired the Committee for Youth of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. Bishop Thomas's name day is October 6 (Thomas the Apostle of the Twelve). 5

6 Bishop Alexander His Grace Bishop Alexander was consecrated to the Holy Episcopacy on December 5, His consecrating bishops included His Beatitude Ignatius IV at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus, Syria. He was enthroned as the first Diocesan Bishop of Ottawa, Eastern Canada, and Upstate New York at St. Elias Cathedral in Ottawa on June 12, Bishop Alexander served as priest of St. Mary s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Hunt Valley, Maryland from Bishop Alexander was born into an Orthodox Christian family in north Lebanon in He attended Tripoli Boys School and after passing the Lebanese Baccalaureates I and II, he enrolled in the American University in Beirut. Due to fighting in Lebanon, he was unable to continue his education there and instead moved to the U.S. to attend the University of North Texas. He graduated with a B.A. in 1978 and an MBA in He returned to Lebanon, where he worked from 1981 to 1985 for a company that imported raw materials for factories. In October 1985, he returned to the U.S. and found work as a supply manager at Prince George s Hospital in the Washington, D.C. area. After eight years in that job, he worked for a local company that exported medical supplies to the Middle East and then in 1995 was hired by Federated Stores to work as a sales associate for Bloomingdale s in Rockville, Maryland. While there, he wrote to Metropolitan PHILIP requesting his blessing to enter seminary. He was directed to attend St. Vladimir s Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, from which he graduated in Bishop Alexander was ordained to the Diaconate on January 9, 2000 and to the priesthood on April 9, He was elevated to the Archimandrite on July 4, Bishop Alexander s namesday is August 30 (St. Alexander, Archbishop of Constantinople). 6

7 Archimandrite Daniel S. Griffith Son of Daniel T. and Grace G. Griffith, Fr. Daniel was born in Nanticoke, PA, April 11, 1946, and grew up in rural Northeastern Pennsylvania. Baptized in a local Protestant church on June 7, 1957, he diligently sought the true Church. While a college student, shocked by the heretical teachings of James Pike, then Episcopal bishop of San Francisco, and even more so by the total doctrinal capitulation of the Episcopal bishops and realizing that that body, which he had believed to be the living continuity of the ancient Catholic Church, in no way upheld the apostolic faith, he began to study Holy Orthodoxy and by God grace was received into the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church by Chrismation at St. John the Baptist, Russian Orthodox Church (OCA), in Nanticoke, December 23, Following graduation from Wilkes College (now Wilkes University), Wilkes-Barre, PA, in June, 1968 with a BA in Sociology (minors in Philosophy-Religion and French), he entered St. Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY. Graduating with an M.Div. in 1971, with the encouragement of his spiritual father, Fr. John Meyendorff, he entered the Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies of the Ecumenical Institute (Celigny, Switzerland) of the World Council of Churches, receiving a Certificat in Ecumenical studies from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. As part of the year-long program, he did three months of field-work, researching monastic communities in France while a resident of Le Centre S. Dominique (a retreat house of the Dominican Province of Lyons), in Eveux sur l Arbesle (near Lyons). Returning to the States in 1972, he did further studies at St. Vladimir s. In 1973, with the encouragement of fellow students, especially Fr. Thomas (then Issani Bitar, now abbot of the Monastety of St. Michael, Mount Lebanon) and of Fr. Paul Schneirla, he approached Metropolitan Philip and was received into the Antiochian Archdiocese and ordained a celibate by his Eminence, deacon at St. Mary s, Cambridge, MA, October 7, 1973, and presbyter at St. Mary s, Wilkes-Barre, PA, October 21, Between , he pastored the following parishes: St. George, Albany, NY ( ), Ss. Constantine and Helen, Dallas, TX ( ) and St. George, Lowell, MA ( ). During his last two years in Albany, he was dean of the Up-State New York Deanery. In Lowell, he was instructor in Liturgical Theology in the St. Stephen s Course. On Pentecost, 1986, he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite by Metropolitan Philip. On October, 1986, with the blessing of his Eminence, he went to Greece to gain a better knowledge of Greek and to understand more deeply the Orthodox Church in context. After a very difficult but spiritually fruitful year in Thessalonica, he moved to Athens in 1987, where, with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius and, with the support of Dr. Constantine Scoutaris, professor of Symbolics and the History of Dogma, Theological School of the University of Athens, he was appointed assistant priest in the parish of St. Anne, Chalandri, in the archdiocese of Athens, a position which he held until returning to the US. While studying Modern Greek and working as a Th.D. candidate in the University of Athens, he resided at and was celebrant of daily services at the Metochian of the Ascension, a dependency in Athens of Simonopetra Monastery, Mount Athos. He also served as supply-priest in the Church of St. George, Karitzi (the church of the former royal court), in Athens. Feeling constrained to return to active service within the Antiochian Archdiocese, he 7

8 returned to the US. In 1994, after a brief pastorate at St. George, Utica, NY, in 1995, He became pastor of St. Michael s, Geneva, NY. He served as dean of the Can-Am Deanery, Can- Am Region ( ); Regional Spiritual Advisor for the Antiochian Women ( ) and Regional Spiritual Advisor for the Fellowship of St. John the Divine ( ). In 2002, he was assigned to the pastorate of All Saint s, Salina, KS, and its daughter-mission of St. Mary Magdalene, Manhattan, KS. Fr. Daniel is fully conversant in Modern Greek and has a sound knowledge of New Testament Greek. His knowledge of French has slipped a bit over the years. He is still a proficient reader. He has studied Latin. Fr. Daniel s interests lie mainly in the fields of the History of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology, Byzantine and Eastern Church History, Patristics, Canon and Moral Theology and Comparative Religion.

9 Archimandrite Daniel Keller Fr. Daniel Keller was born August 9,1940 in Baltimore, MD. He attended Roman Catholic elementary school and high school and Towson State University in the same city. He graduated on June 10,1962 with a BS in education. After graduation he taught social sciences and English on the secondary and college level while doing graduate work in history at Towson State and Morgan State Universities in Baltimore as well as taking theology courses at St Mary s Seminary and University in the same city. In 1978 he entered Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, as a student the Melkite Diocese. In 1980 after completing two years of study, Fr. Daniel took a oneyear leave of absence from Holy Cross. During this year s leave, after much prayer and refection, being convinced of the truth of the Orthodox faith he was received into the Orthodox church at St. Mary s in Hunt Valley, MD on Orthodox Sunday, At St. Mary s he served as chanter and coordinator of Christian education and later as sub-deacon. In the fall of 1981 with the blessing of Metropolitan PHILIP, he returned to Holy Cross as a student for the Archdiocese. He finished his studies at Holy Cross in May, 1982 and was graduated with a Masters of Divinity (cum laude). He had, in the mean time, been ordained to the holy diaconate on Pascha (April 18) 1982 by Metropolitan PHILIP at St. Nicholas Cathedral, NY. He was subsequently ordained to the holy priesthood on June 27,1982, at the New England Parish Life Conference, hosted by St. Mary s of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, by Archbishop MICHAEL of blessed memory Following his ordination to the holy priesthood, he served as interim priest at St George Church in Lowell, MA, after which he was assigned as assistant to Fr. James Meena at St George Church in Cleveland, OH. At St George he worked primarily with the youth and young adults of the parish, as well as in adult education. After one year at St George, he was transferred to the pastorate of St John Chrysostom in Fort Wayne, Indiana. During his time at St. John s the parish made a number of improvements to the interior of the church and began developing plans for the expansion of their church and the construction of a parish hail and education wing. After three year s service at St. John s he was transferred to Holy Spirit in Huntington,WA. During his tenure at Holy Spirit many converts was received in Holy Orthodoxy. The parish also undertook the renovation and expansion of its fellowship hail. After eleven and one half years at Holy Spirit Fr. Daniel was transferred to St George parish in Upper Darby, PA. During the 80 th Anniversary of the parish, in May of 1999, he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite By Bishop ANTOUN. Alter four years at St George he was transferred to Our Lady of Walsingham Church in Mesquite, TX, Where he currently serves as pastor. During his two and a half years here, many new members have been received into Holy Orthodoxy. Also, during his tenure the parish has developed plans far their new church facility which they hope to begin building in the spring of 2004.

10 Bishop Nicholas Bishop Nicholas was born in Damascus, Syria, January, He attended the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. He also attended the French Lycée Laïque elementary and middle school, and the Omia High School. In February, 1981, he emigrated to the US, where he began a course of study at Northeastern University. Eventually he earned several degrees, including Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering; Master of Science in Computer Engineering; and a Specialization Certificate in Object-Oriented Design, Architecture, and Coding. He has also attended many professional engineering conferences and courses and conferences on psychology and human behavior. Bishop Nicholas worked for nearly 20 years as a Computer Engineer at several companies, such as ViewLogic Systems and Synopsys Co. in the Electronics Design Automation industry. He was also promoted to the highest technical ranks as a Lead Software Architect, Principal Software Engineer, and Software Engineering Manager. He represented his companies in many conferences in Sweden, France, England, Germany, Italy, and USA, and also served as a lecturer on Electronics Circuitry, Circuit Theory, and Digital Computers, to EE Bachelor of Science students at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA. Bishop Nicholas also holds a Master of Divinity degree, awarded with Highest Distinction, from studies undertaken between September 2002 to May 2005 at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. He speaks Arabic and English fluently. His second language in Syria was French, which he has used, along with Hebrew, Ancient Greek, New Testament Greek, and Modern Greek, to conduct research on theological subjects. Bishop Nicholas was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan Philip, April 23, 2004, and to the Holy Priesthood by His Grace Bishop Antoun, January 9, He was assigned to St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by His Eminence Metropolitan Philip for the period August 2005 to December He was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite by His Eminence Metropolitan Philip on February 14, 2010, and was consecrated to the bishopric as the Bishop of Brooklyn on Sunday, December 11, 2011 at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon. Bishop Nicholas resides at the Archdiocese Headquarters, Englewood, NJ, serves the Diocese of New York and Washington DC, and is the Assistant of Metropolitan Philip. Bishop Nicholas plans to complete, in the 2016, the Doctor of Ministry program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His name day is December 6 (St. Nicholas the Wonderworker).

11 Bishop Anthony Bishop Anthony was born Richard Anthony Michaels on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great (January 17, 1956) to parents Anthony and Gertrude Michaels and was baptized at St. Symeon the Stylite (also St. Simon the Zealot is commemorated) Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Ironwood, Michigan. Rick was raised with his sister, Joanne, and brother, Craig. The Orthodox church in Ironwood is pan-orthodox and, therefore, included all ethnic Orthodox communities in the city. Fr. Anthony s father is Lebanese and his mother is Serbian. As a teen-ager, he was active in all varsity athletics at Ironwood High School, including his role as the starting quarterback of his football team. Bishop Anthony attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.A. in Literature, Science and the Arts, having a double major in History and English literature. Following his university degree he attended St. Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree and graduated as a valedictorian of his class. Besides English, he has a reading knowledge of biblical Greek and is currently learning Arabic, at the request of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip. He taught modern philosophy at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Michigan, before becoming a pastoral assistant and youth director at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for two years. He and fellow seminarian Fr. Patrick Kinder held positions of youth coordinators at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Akron, Ohio, while they toured the country giving concerts and retreats as part of the group KERYGMA. Fr. Anthony also spent two years based in Nashville, Tennessee, at St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Franklin, Tennessee, recording for KERYGMA with Fr. Patrick and Fr. Michael (Alan) Shanbour. Bishop Anthony has lectured extensively in North America, speaking to youth groups and church retreats for various jurisdictions besides his own. His Grace was ordained to the diaconate on September 18, 2004, and to the priesthood on September 19, 2004, at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota, under the pastorate of the Very Rev. John Khoury, of blessed memory, and by the laying on of hands of Bishop Antoun. He was able to serve his home parish for seven months before he was given his current assignment to lead the faithful of St. John Chrysostom Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bishop Anthony inspired and oversaw the design and construction of the new church facilities at St. John Chrysostom Church in Fort Wayne. On the sixth anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood, he had the great honor of hosting Metropolitan Philip for the consecration of the new church on September 19, 2010, at which time he was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite by the laying on of hands of the Metropolitan. He was subsequently appointed dean of the Indiana Deanery by Metropolitan Philip. On Sunday, December 11, 2011, Bishop Anthony was consecrated as Auxiliary of the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest, for the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox

12 Christian Archdiocese of North America. The consecration took place at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon. Bishop Anthony continues his pastoral ministry in Fort Wayne, providing a consistent liturgical life for the faithful. It is his honor to serve the parish family of St. John Chrysostom Church. His name day is January 17 (St. Anthony the Great).

13 Bishop John Bishop John holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Care from Pittsburgh Theological School, a Master of Divinity from St. Vladimir s Seminary, a Master s equivalency certificate in Pastoral Counseling from Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Throughout Seminary and following his studies, he also studied Arabic. Bishop John is a clinical member of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. He taught Pastoral Counseling in the graduate program at the St. John of Damascus Institute at the Balamand in Lebanon. For 33 years, he served as a priest of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America; he has been Dean of St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the past 16 of those years. Before that, he served 16 years in New Kensington, and one year in Little Falls. Additionally, Bishop John has also edited The Word magazine, has been the Spiritual Advisor for the Antiochian Women, and has served as Dean of the Western Pennsylvania clergy and churches for many years. Bishop John also served for nearly ten years as NAC Spiritual Advisor for the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and he teaches Priestly Formation for the Antiochian House of Studies, while mentoring the full-time seminarians in the Antiochian House of Studies programs. Married to Joanne Josephs until her repose on May 25, 2008, Bishop John is the father of Gregory (29) of Worcester, Massachusetts, Joseph (26) of Houston, Texas and Maria (22) of Pittsburgh. He grew up at St. George Orthodox Church in Boston and has two siblings, Ernest of Westwood, Massachusetts and Khouria Janet Shadid of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On Sunday, December 11, 2011, Bishop John was consecrated as Auxiliary of the Diocese of Worcester and New England, for the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The consecration took place at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon. Bishop John's name day is September 26 (St. John the Theologian).

14 Hieromonk Jeremy Davis Fr. Jeremy Davis was born in Iowa in 1976, and raised in Wichita, Kansas. He and his family were active members of Evangelical Protestant churches. During his high-school years, he felt a calling to professional Christian ministry and subsequently enrolled as a Religion major at Friends University in Wichita to prepare for this vocation. Fr. Jeremy s studies at Friends University opened his eyes to the breadth and depth of Christian tradition. As the greater potential of Christian life grew more and more intriguing, he became dissatisfied with Evangelical Protestantism and began to investigate alternatives. In his final year of college, he attended Divine Liturgy at St George Cathedral in Wichita at the suggestion of a friend. Though he knew next to nothing about Orthodoxy, he was left in wordless wonder by the experience of its rich theology and genuine spirituality, as they came to life in the piety and love of this parish community. After a period of catechism he was chrismated on Holy Saturday in Fr. Jeremy enrolled at St Vladimir s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2001 as an archdiocesan seminarian. After three years of intense, challenging and enriching study, he received his Master of Divinity degree in During the following summer, he traveled to Australia for a yearlong mission in the Antiochian Archdiocese of Sydney. He taught and counseled the youth and young adults in the Australian Archdiocese, helping them to understand Orthodoxy s relevance to their modern, New World lives. After returning to Wichita, he was ordained a deacon by His Grace Bishop BASIL at St George Cathedral on January 1, He worked fulltime at the Cathedral until being ordained a priest there on July 16, Fr Jeremy began serving as Assistant Priest of St Elijah Church in Oklahoma City in August 2006, under the guidance of Fr Constantine Nasr. He continues in ministry at St Elijah today. In addition to being a priest, Fr Jeremy is also a tonsured monk (riasaphor) and a member of the Monastic Brotherhood of St Silouan the Athonite, within the Diocese of Wichita.