Our Clergy
His Eminence SERAPHIM, Archbishop of Ottawa and Canada
His Eminence Seraphim, Archbishop of Ottawa and the
Archdiocese of Canada, was born in Edmonton, Alberta, of Norwegian
and Scottish parents.
A former Anglican rector and accomplished musician, he is also
a graduate of St Vladimir's Seminary in Crestwood, New York.
He has lived at New Valaam monastery in Finland, and served as
a parish priest in communities throughout the United States and
Canada.
He was consecrated auxiliary Bishop of Edmonton in 1987, and
became ruling Bishop of the Archdiocese in 1990. In
March 2007, Vladyka Seraphim was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by His
Beatitude Metropolitan HERMAN.
As member of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America,
he has served in a number of administrative capacities for the
Synod, and also travelled extensively in Russia, Ukraine, and
throughout Europe.
Although often on the road visiting the many and far-flung communities
of the Archdiocese, his residence is an hour south of Ottawa,
near Johnstown, at the Archdiocesan Centre 'Fair Haven'.
Fr. Alexander (Pihach)
Igumen Alexander was born Dennis Alexander Pihach on June 27/1952 in Saskatoon, SK and aised in an Orthodox family with 2 brothers. He entered the seminary in Winnipeg- St. Andrews and graduated in 1973. He continued studies in Sociology and Slavic Studies graduating from the University of Saskatchewan. He was employed with Social Services in the corrections and psychiatric services. In 1986 he was ordained to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Canada (OCA) and assigned to organize a mission in Yorkton, now St. Mark's Church while working in Youth Addictions Services.
He was elected Dean of Manitoba, Sask. for the Archdiocese and appointed Chancellor of the Archdiocese in 1996. In 1998 he became Rector of St. Herman of Alaska Sobor in Edmonton and remains so to the present.
On July 11, 2009 he was tonsured a monk and elevated to Igumen of St. Elias Skete in Dickie Bush, AB. On Sept 1st 2009 he was appointed Interim Dean of the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Ottawa.
Fr. James Griggs
Fr James Griggs began attending the Cathedral with his family in 1991. In the fall of 1994, the family moved to St Vladimir’s seminary in New York where Fr James began theological studies. While attending seminary, Fr James was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by Archbishop Seraphim in November 1995.
Returning to Canada in June 1996 he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Archbishop Seraphim and was assigned as priest in charge, and later rector, of St Gregory of Nyssa mission in Kingston Ontario. Fr James began serving a small Greek parish in Brockville Ontario on a part time basis in the winter of 2004 while continuing to serve the mission in Kingston. He continued to serve this Greek parish two Sundays of each month until August 2010 when he took up a full time position at the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Ottawa.
After serving for a short period as assistant priest with the Greek Orthodox community in Ottawa, Fr James was assigned to the altar of Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in March of 2008. He is married to Tena and they have one daughter and three sons who are all members of the Cathedral parish.
Fr. John Jillions
Fr. John Jillions was born in Montreal in 1955, and was baptised there at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral. In 1963, he moved to the U.S. with his family.
After living in California, Connecticut, and New Jersey, he returned to Montreal to attend McGill University, 1973-77, receiving a B.A. in Economics. He attended the Cathedral (and the English mission led by Fr John Tkachuk), and in 1977 he was tonsured a reader by the late Archbishop Sylvester. That fall he entered St Vladimir's Seminary in New York.
In 1979 he married Denise Melligon and in 1980, after graduating from the Seminary with a MDiv., he went to work in New York as Administrator of SS. Cosmas and Damian Adult Home and later, with Bankers Trust. He was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 1981, and the Holy Priesthood in 1984. He served in Brisbane, Australia, and New Jersey.
In 1994 he moved to Greece with his family to begin a PhD. in New Testament Studies at the University of Thessaloniki, where he was also attached as a priest.
In 1995 Fr. John and his family moved to Cambridge, England, to continue his research. In 1997, with the blessing of all the Orthodox bishops in England, and collaborating closely with Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia and Metropolitan Basil (Osborne) of Sergievo, he and Denise worked found the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge. He was appointed the Institute's first Principal when it opened in 1999. At the same time he also served as priest of St Ephraim parish in Cambridge (under the late Metropolitan Anthony Bloom). He completed his PhD dissertation in 1998 (Divine Guidance in Corinth: Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Pauline Views); it was translated into Greek for official submission to the University of Thessaloniki and he received his PhD in 2002.
Returning now to North America, in addition to serving as dean of the Ottawa Cathedral and the Ontario Deanery, he is a tenured professor at St. Paul University's Sheptytsky Institute. He served as Dean of the Cathedral through August 2009 and is now attached to the Cathedral. Fr. John and Denise have three sons.
Protodeacon Nazari Polataiko
Protodeacon Nazari and Matushka Tatiana were born in Chernivtsi, Ukrain. Protodeacon Nazari then came to Canada, and graduated from St Andrew’s College, University of Manitoba, Theological school of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada.Later in 2003-2006, he was accepted to continue his theological studies and received a doctoral-equivalent degree in Theology from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Theological Academy in Kiev, Ukraine. In addition to his liturgical ministry, Protodeacon Nazari and Matushka Tatiana are accomplished iconographers.
On August 1, 2008 Protodeacon Nazari was assigned to the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Ottawa. Protodeacon Nazari is appointed to assist Archbishop SERAPHIM as the Episcopal secretary.
Deacon Gregory Scratch
Deacon Gregory Scratch was born in Toronto in 1968, to the late Igumen John Scratch (06) Suzanne Scratch (98), the eldest of six children, Deacon Gregory moved throughout Ontario and Quebec with his family, while his father served as a priest in the Anglican church.
It was in Ottawa that his family was received into Orthodoxy, and worked at building Holy Transfiguration Mission, Ottawa's English-speaking Orthodox Church, which later merged with the Russian speaking St. Nicholas Parish, to become the Annunciation Cathedral. It was there that he was ordained to the Sub-diaconate traveling with His Eminence Archbishop Seraphim on some of his early trips across the country.
Deacon Gregory received his post-secondary education in Vancouver, obtaining a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Emily Carr Institute of Fine Art in 1995. In 1997, he married Taesia Jacobson, and the couple returned to Ottawa in 1998.
In 2001, Deacon Gregory began attending St. Paul University's Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies part-time, while working to support his family. In February 2003 he was ordained to the Diaconate, and assigned to the Cathedral. In addition to his responsibilities at the Cathedral he was elected as the lay representative (as per OCA statues) for the Ontario deanery within the Archdiocese of Canada, and the Chair for the St. Tikhon Archdiocesan Stewards Vision committee.
Deacon Gregory and Taesia have been blessed with four children.
Deacon Alexander Moisa
The Rev. Dn. Alexander Moisa has served the Cathedral in Ottawa since 1998: first as a choir member and reader and, since February 2008, as a sub-deacon. He was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in the Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Ottawa ON, to which he was assigned, on the 2nd of November 2008, by His Eminence Archbishop SERAPHIM.
Deacon Alexander, originally from Romania, holds three degrees: in Aerospace Engineering (M.Sc.), in Water Resources Engineering (DEA, in France) and in Computer Science (M.Sc., in Canada). Before moving to Canada in 1995 with his family, he worked as a scientist for various research institutes. Deacon Alexander is currently employed by one of the biggest software companies in Ottawa, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
In 2003, Deacon Alexander was encouraged to enroll into the Late Vocations Program of the OCA (New York), by Vladyka SERAPHIM, Igumen John Scratch (Papa John) and the former Dean of the Cathedral, Archpriest Andrew Morbey. Deacon Alexander finished his theological studies and pastoral and liturgical training in September 2008, receiving high remarks. His main interests are in orthodox hesychasm, monasticism and soteriology.
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