Diocesan Seminarians

Luke Anderson

Home Parish: Holy Trinity Church, St. Paul, MN

Seminary: St. Vladirmir’s Seminary

Year & Program: 1st year M.Div.

Luke Joseph Anderson was raised as an Evangelical in rural Minnesota and has a Bachelors of Science in America history from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls. He intended to become a US history and civics high school teacher, but felt a calling to pursue seminary instead due to the greater depth of formation that the liturgy and the life of the Church can provide a child. He was received into the Church on Great and Holy Saturday at Holy Trinity in St Paul Minnesota in 2019. 
 
To prepare for seminary, he spent a 3.5 years doing live in care provider work with two different men as two consecutive terminal cases. Luke was also blessed by his priest to spend 4 years in Holy Trinity’s sanctuary as an altar server, primarily focused on helping their children acolytes. Luke always wanted to bring back the boys who struggled the most to stand still and feels a great amount of respect and fraternity for all of the children he served with. Luke also spent the past 5 years participating in the physical labor of the Church in her charitable work and the busy work needed to run a parish. 
 
From the formation of these three things, Luke Joseph Anderson hopes to be blessed to serve in the ministries of the Church and to have a work orientated vocation focused on helping people prepare themselves to offer themselves to Christ and to help participate in the process of forming males and females into Orthodox men and women.

Joseph Goshorn-Maroney

Home Parish: St Stephen the First Martyr Church, Crawfordsville, IN

Seminary: St. Tikhon’s Seminary

Year & Program: 1st year M.Div.

Joseph was raised on a family farm in west central Indiana near Crawfordsville. He and his home parish of St. Stephen the First Martyr were received into the OCA from the Evangelical Orthodox Church in 2001 by Archbishop JOB of blessed memory.

After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology at Hanover College, Joseph pursued a Master of Science in the same subject at Western Washington University in Washington. Having completed that degree, Joseph began attending St. Innocent Antiochian Orthodox Church in Everson, WA. There he met his wife, Margaret, a teacher, and moved back to Indiana and his home parish of St. Stephen’s to run the family farm. They married within the year and now have five children: Eleni, Macrina, Seraphima, Maria, and John.

They have been active members at St. Stephen the First Martyr, Crawfordsville, where Margaret has been involved in reading and singing, while Joseph has served on the parish council in various capacities, and in the Altar. Joseph was ordained to the subdiaconate in 2019 by Archbishop PAUL of blessed memory. Joseph, Margaret and their children begin the next chapter of their lives in the Fall of 2024 at St. Tikhon’s Seminary.

Jarrod Huffman

Home Parish:

Seminary: St. Vladimir’s Seminary

Year & Program: 2nd year M.Div.

Jarrod Huffman and his wife Emily were brought into the Church in 2014 at St Paul’s in Las Vegas, Nevada where they maintain a dear connection. A Midwesterner by birth, Jarrod attended college in Colorado. He was sent to Las Vegas as an Air Force Combat Rescue Helicopter Pilot after completing pilot training. Emily has an MFA in Writing, and has recently transitioned into software engineering.
 
Jarrod and Emily have spent the last ten years of their marriage living in Nevada and Alabama, where they served actively in parish life, contributing their time and talents to the choir and church school. In June of 2023, Jarrod left the military to pursue studies at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary. He and Emily have three bookish children, Ambrose, Theodora, and Elisabeth, and all are excited about the prospect of returning to the Midwest, which they continue to consider home.

Christopher Mescher

Home Parish: St. Gregory of Nyssa Church, Columbus, OH

Seminary: St. Tikhon’s Seminary

Year & Program: 2nd year M.Div.

Christopher was raised Roman Catholic around Columbus, Ohio. He
undertook his undergraduate studies in mathematics and linguistics in
Providence, Rhode Island where he attended a TLM Catholic parish.
After completing his undergraduate studies, he returned to Columbus,
Ohio to attend the Pontifical College Josephinum, a Roman Catholic
seminary, studying for B.Phil., M.Div., M.A., and S.T.B. degrees.

While at the Josephinum, Christopher became more aware of Orthodoxy,
eventually attending St. Gregory of Nyssa parish in Columbus, Ohio in
the beginning of 2019. He ended his study at the Josephinum, having
completed a B.Phil., and began graduate study in computer science
instead, while singing in the choir and serving in the altar at St.
Gregory, eventually being Chrismated on the Feast of the
Transfiguration 2020. He completed his M.S. in December of 2022, but
never lost the desire to continue his seminary studies, which he began
at St. Tikhon’s starting in the fall of 2023. He is now starting his
second year there.

Constantine Sarsama

Home Parish: St. Matthew Church, Green Bay, WI

Seminary: St. Tikhon’s Seminary

Year & Program: 2nd year M.Div.

Constantine was born and raised in Cleveland, OH; he grew up attending the Cathedral of the Falling Asleep of the Ever-Virgin Mary (OCA-ROEA). He met his wife, Keely Raphaella, while he was completing his bachelor’s degree at Cleveland State University and she was doing a year of service with Americorps in Cleveland. They have four children: Myla, Julian, Anastasia, and Sylvia.
 
The Sarsamă family attended St Luke Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chagrin Falls, OH before moving to Green Bay, WI in January 2018 and attending St Matthew Church. There, Constantine served in the altar, read at liturgical services, co-facilitated the youth and young adult group, and co-founded a small Byzantine choir; during COVID, he led a remote parish education course that explored the Old Testament as Church History. He was ordained a subdeacon by Archbishop Daniel in November 2022, and began his studies at St Tikhon’s Seminary in the Fall of 2023.
 

Cole Schlafer

Home Parish: St. Nicholas Church, Mentor, OH

Seminary: St. Tikhon’s Seminary

Year & Program: 2nd year M. Div.

Cole was raised in the Episcopal Church, first in Southeast Michigan and then outside Akron, OH. He met his now wife Sarah in High School and was introduced to the Orthodox Faith through her, at St. Nicholas in Mogadore, OH. Cole’s faith continued to grow through his college years at St. Gregory of Nyssa parish in Columbus, OH and he was Chrismated to the Orthodox Faith in December 2008.
 
Since their marriage, Cole and Sarah have been active members of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Mentor, OH. During their time there, Sarah served as Choir Director while Cole has served on parish council in various capacities. 
 
Cole worked for over decade in the software and insurance fields all the while feeling a call toward greater service to Christ’s Holy Church. Finally, that call pulled him to St. Tikhon’s Seminary in Fall of 2023. Cole and Sarah have 3 boys: Simon, Michael, and Nikolai.

Cuthbert Schreder

Home Parish: Holy Myrrhbearers Church, St. Cloud, MN

Seminary: St. Tikhon’s Seminary

Year & Program: 2nd year M. Div.

Eugene was raised in the small town of Paynesville, Minnesota, and grew up in the Restorationist denomination called the churches of Christ. He and Elizabeth were married after graduating high school in 2014. In 2020, Eugene received a Bachelor’s degree in History from St. Cloud State University. In his studies he encountered several Orthodox saints whose prayers brought him to the doors of Holy Myrrhbearers Orthodox Church, which was only a few blocks away from the SCSU campus. On the Sunday of All Saints in June of 2020, the Schreder family was baptized into Christ, and Eugene received the name of Cuthbert. Not long thereafter, with the help of Fr Andrew Jaye, Eugene began to discern a call to the Holy Priesthood, and Archbishop Paul of Blessed Memory ordained him a reader on the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women in May of 2021. Having served Holy Myrrhbearers in this capacity, Reader Cuthbert, Elizabeth, and their three children began the next chapter of their lives at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in the Fall of 2023. He is now going on his second year at seminary while he and his wife eagerly await the imminent arrival of their fourth child.

Paisios Winsler

Home Parish: St. Paul the Apostle Church, Dayton, OH

Seminary: St. Vladimir’s Seminary

Year & Program: Th.M.

Paisios is a member of St. Paul the Apostle Orthodox Church in Dayton, OH, currently living on campus at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. In the past, he has served in pastoral ministry in Protestant churches, as a Christian Studies educator at the high school level, and in diaconal ministry in an Anglican context. More recently, Paisios worked as a software engineer, but after a course of study with Fr. Silviu Bunta and with the counsel of his spiritual father, he and his wife agreed to pursue seminary studies. Paisios has been married to Sophia for 15 years; they have two daughters, Candice and Zenaida, and a newborn son, Oran. Upon completing the MA program at SVS, he enrolled in the advanced Master of  Theology program at the same institution, which he hopes to complete in 2025.

Support our Seminarians!

Use the links below to donate to the respective seminaries. You can make a note on your donation about which of our seminarians that you would like your donation to go to.
Donate to St. Herman's »
Donate to St. Tikhon's »
Donate to St. Vladimir's »

Are you interested in attending seminary?

The process for applying is simple, but very personal. Begin by praying, then speak with your parish priest today about your desire to attend seminary. If it is blessed, he will bring your desire to the bishop at an appropriate time and the Lord will take care of the rest.

Scroll to Top