SOUTH CANAAN, PA [DOM Communications] – On the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, and the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, Reverend Deacon Matthew McDonald was ordained to the Holy Priesthood. His Grace Bishop Alexis of Baltimore ordained Fr. Matthew on behalf of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon at the monastery church of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Archimandrite Sergius, Abbot of St. Tikhon Monastery and Archpriest John Parker, Dean of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary were among those who also served at the service. Following the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Alexis offered words of encouragement and guidance to the newly ordained priest of the Church.
Fr. Matthew is completing his final year of seminary at St. Tikhon’s Theological Seminary as a seminarian of the Diocese of the Midwest. Upon completion of his studies, Fr. Matthew and his family will return to the diocese and wait for assignment from His Eminence Archbishop Paul.
Matthew was born in 1981 in San Jose, CA. He was raised attending mostly Baptist and Pentecostal churches. He first encountered the Orthodox faith in college, when he was brought by a friend to a Vespers service. He did not begin attending the Church at that time, but a year later began to become more fixated on the idea of a historical Christianity. This led him to St. Thomas, Springfield, MO, and he began attending at that time. After he was married, both he and his wife were baptized and chrismated in 2005 by Fr. Andrew Moore. Matthew and his wife, Christine, have three children.
Axios! and may God grant Priest Matthew and his family many years.
