Clergy

His Beatitude Patriarch John X
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
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​Patriarch John was born in the city of Latakia, Syria, in the year 1955.  He was raised in a home known for education, virtue and faith. His father, Manah Yazigi, a Syrian, was a teacher of Arabic and a poet. His mother, Rozah Moussi, is of Lebanese origin. His Beatitude has three siblings, one of whom became a Metropolitan and another a nun.
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His Beatitude was ordained deacon in 1979 and then priest in 1983 in the Archdiocese of Latakia by His Eminence Metropolitan Youhanna Mansour. From 1981, His Beatitude taught courses on liturgy in the Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology. He was in due course appointed Dean of the Institute of Theology in the University of Balamand, his first appointment being from 1988 to 1991 and second from 2001 to 2005. In addition, he served as Abbot in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand from the year 2001 to 2005. He served as Abbot of the Saint George Al Humayrah Patriarchal Monastery in Wadi Al-Nadarah, Syria, from 1993 to 2005. He founded a monastic community there and established a School of Ecclesiastical Studies that serves the Patriarchate as a whole. In addition, he participated in the founding of the Convent of Our Lady of Blemmena in Tartous, Syria.

His Beatitude was elected by the Holy Antiochian Synod Bishop of Al Husun, Wadi Al-Nadarah in the Archdiocese of Akkar in the year 1995. He served in this position until 2008, when the Holy Synod elected him Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Europe. In addition to his work within the Orthodox Church, His Beatitude also played an important role outside the Church, not least through attending religious seminars and international conferences.

His Beatitude is famed for the clarity of his views and his strict adherence to all that is true and just in human relations. He has excelled in bringing people together, through dialogue and conciliatory approaches to people of differing views. He is known for his compassion, friendliness, generosity, social concern and, last but not least, readiness both to listen and to offer help.

   Wherever His Beatitude has served, he has brought revival, awakening the youth and calling them to the service of both Church and society. He is particularly noted for his wisdom in managing institutions and conducting church affairs. He has played a crucial role in encouraging vocations to the ordained ministry, maintaining leadership in this regard.
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His Eminence Metropolitan Saba
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of North America

Metropolitan Saba was born in Latakia, Syria in 1959. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Tishreen, and a bachelor's degree in theology from the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology.  His Eminence was ordained a priest in 1988 and elevated to the dignity of archimandrite in 1994. He pastored St. Michael the Archangel Church in the Archdiocese of Latakia until 1998.  In 1998, Metropolitan Saba was elected and consecrated as an auxiliary bishop to His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV of thrice-blessed memory. In 1999, His Beatitude and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected him as metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Bosra, Hauran and Jabal Al-Arab in Syria.  Simultaneously with his pastoral and episcopal duties, from 1995-2006, His Eminence served as instructor of Pastoral Care and Introduction to the Old Testament at the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Balamand.  He has authored a number of books in pastoral life and theology and has also translated a number of titles from English to Arabic, including works by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev and Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko.  Patriarch John X and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected His Eminence to lead the Archdiocese of North America on February 23, 2023.

Archimandrite Jeremy (Davis)
Archiepiscopal Vicar of the Diocese of Toledo and the Mid-West

Archimandrite Jeremy (Davis) grew up in Wichita, Kansas. When he studied at Friends University, his eyes were opened 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. Although 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 received in the Church by Holy Chrismation on Holy Saturday in 1998.
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From 2001-04, Fr. Jeremy attended St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, earning his Master of Divinity degree. In August 2004, he traveled to Australia for a year-long mission in the Antiochian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, where he taught and counseled youth and young adults, helping them to understand Orthodoxy's relevance to their modern, "new world" lives.

After returning to Wichita and St. George Cathedral, he was ordained by His Grace Bishop Basil to the Holy Diaconate on January 1, 2006, and to the Holy Priesthood on July 16, 2006. He then served as second priest of St. Elijah Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma until March 2016, when he became proistamenos of Holy Ascension Church in Norman, Oklahoma. He was elevated to the rank and dignity of Archimandrite by His Grace Bishop Basil on March 19, 2017. While in the Diocese of Wichita, Fr. Jeremy also served as the spiritual advisor of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine and its successor, the Diocese Council, from 2007 to 2021. 

On September 1, 2021, Fr. Jeremy was transferred from Holy Ascension Church to serve as Hierarchical Assistant at the Archdiocese Headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey. On October 31, 2021, he was appointed Protosyngellos of the Archdiocese. On June 10, 2024, Metropolitan Saba appointed Fr. Jeremy as Archiepiscopal Vicar for the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest effective August 1, 2024. In this role, he oversees this Diocese on behalf of the Metropolitan, based at the chancery in Toledo.
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Fr. Jeremy is the author of Welcoming Gifts: Sacrifice in the Bible and Christian Life (Ancient Faith, 2022) and the children's book The Cellarer's Celery (Ancient Faith, 2021). He also serves executive board chairman of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.

Priest Symeon Kees
Proistamenos
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​Father Symeon is a native West Virginian. After High School, he entered United States Air Force training and served in the West Virginia Air National Guard, completing his service as a Staff Sergeant. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Basic Humanities, Religious Studies concentration, from Marshall University (WV). He holds two Master of Divinity degrees. His first MDiv is from Asbury Theological Seminary (KY), a school following the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. Several years after his reception into the Holy Orthodox Church in Houston, Texas, Fr. Symeon studied at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (PA), where he earned his second MDiv, graduating with Distinction in Scripture. Fr. Symeon’s thesis, completed under the supervision of OCA Archbishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, focused on the centrality of the Biblical narrative in Orthodox education from the Apostolic era until today.  While a seminarian, Fr. Symeon began serving as an assistant to Bishop THOMAS of Oakland, Charleston, and the Mid-Atlantic and continued to assist Bishop THOMAS for many years. 

Fr. Symeon was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and the Holy Priesthood by Bishop BASIL of Wichita and Mid-America in 2010. He served as Deacon and then Associate Pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, the largest of the five Antiochian parishes in the Greater Houston area. He spent three years as the priest of the Church of St. Paul in Katy, Texas. He also served as an attached priest at St. George, where he dedicated his time to evangelism and outreach projects.
 
Fr. Symeon was a founding Director of The Saint Constantine School, an Orthodox K-12 school projected to educate more than 500 children next year. He served as an officer of the Board of Directors, the first Campus Spiritual Director, and, currently, as Chaplain of the school. He also taught as an Instructor of Orthodox Studies in the undergraduate program of Saint Constantine College.

In addition to military service, Fr. Symeon’s professional experience includes pastoral ministry in a Protestant denomination and civilian federal service in the United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, as well as in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. 
Fr. Symeon has also served on the international Board of Trustees of the Fellowship of All Saints of China and on the Council of Presbyters of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. He served as a Spiritual Advisor for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship in Houston. Fr. Symeon holds particular interest in Orthodox approaches to mission, evangelism, and church growth, Orthodox education, the intersection of Orthodoxy and medicine, and East Asian (especially Chinese) literature and culture from an Orthodox perspective. He hosts podcasts and a Youtube Channels dedicated to introducing non-Orthodox people to the Orthodox Way.

In 2023, Metropolitan Antonios, Patriarchal Vicar of New York and All North America, with the agreement of Metropolitan Saba, appointed Fr. Symeon as proistamenos of our parish in Iowa City. 
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Fr. Symeon is married to Kh. Jing (Anastasia) Kees, a physician specializing in Internal Medicine, who previously served on faculty of Baylor College of Medicine and now as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Iowa. Fr. Symeon and Kh. Jing have three children.

Our Patron, Saint Raphael of Brooklyn

​      Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny) was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1860. He received his primary and secondary education in the parochial schools of Damascus, Syria, and his first theological training was at the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Theological School at Halki in Constantinople. He later studied at the Kiev Theological Academy in Imperial Russia, served as the rector of the Metochion of the Patriachate of Antioch in Moscow, and taught at the Theological Academy of Kazan.
     In 1895, Raphael left Russia to aid the Orthodox parish in New York City, which later became St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn. He traveled widely throughout the United States in 1896 to organize parishes. In 1898, as the representative of the American mission, Raphael greeted Saint Tikhon (Bellavin), the new diocesan bishop. At Saint Tikhon’s request, Raphael was consecrated bishop at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn in 1904. For the next 16 years, he continued his work with Syrian Orthodox and helped administer the mission. He consecrated the grounds of St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, the first Orthodox monastery in the New World.
    After 20 years of service in North America, at the age of 55, in 1915, he fell asleep in Christ. At the time, he administered 30 Syrian Orthodox congregations with 25,000 faithful. His relics were finally moved to the Holy Resurrection Cemetery at The Antiochian Village near Ligonier, Pennsylvania. His sanctity was officially proclaimed and his glorification celebrated in 2000.