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. 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.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Peter (L'Huillier) of New York ordained him deacon in 1981 and he served at Holy Protection of the Virgin Cathedral in New York City.

Ordained a priest in 1984, Fr. John was sent on a mission assignment to Brisbane, Australia. After three years at the Holy Annunciation parish there, he moved back to the U.S., where he was assigned to Holy Trinity Church in Rahway, New Jersey. He served there until 1994 when 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 Bishop Basil (Osborne) of Sergievo, he and Denise began work to 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 teaches at St. Paul University's Sheptytsky Institute. Fr. John has published a number of scholarly articles and translations (especially of Fr. Alexander Schmemann's sermons), and has participated widely in inter-Orthodox and inter-Christian discussions.

He and Denise have three grown sons: Andrew, Alexander, and Anthony.

Fr. Symeon Rodger

The Rev. Dr. Symeon Rodger has served the cathedral since 1987: first as a deacon and, since 1994, as a priest. He is a graduate of Queens University (BA in international political science), St. Vladimir Seminary (MDiv.: magna cum laude and class valedictorian), and the University of Toronto (Th.D).

Father Symeon teaches theology (usually in French) at the University of Sherbrooke's Orthodox Studies Program in Montreal. He has written several articles on various aspects of Orthodox theology, history, and canon law. His main interests are in the traditions of hesychastic prayer / ascetic life and in the understanding of salvation (soteriology), as these affect day to day Orthodox life.

He speaks several modern languages and reads some ancient ones.

A student of Oriental martial arts since childhood, Father Symeon has extensive familiarity with many schools of Buddhism and Taoism, as well as a considerable background in Chinese medicine. He occasionally teaches various aspects of health maintenance, Taiji (Tai Chi) and Qi Gong (Chi Kung). He has also written extensively on the relationship between Oriental faiths and Orthodoxy.

Father Symeon works for the federal government in Ottawa, where he lives with his wife and three children. He is the author of a forthcoming book on how to transform your life using the inner principles common to Orthodoxy and other authentic spiritual traditions.

Deacon Gregory Scratch

Although born in Toronto in 1968, as a child Deacon Gregory moved throughout Ontario and Quebec with his family, while his father served in the Anglican church.

Eventually moving to Ottawa, the family converted to Orthodoxy, and worked at building Holy Transfiguration Mission, Ottawa's English - speaking Orthodox church. The mission later merged with the Russian - speaking St. Nicholas Parish, to become The Cathedral of the Annunciation to the Theotokos / St. Nicholas. It was there that he was ordained a Subdeacon.

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 actress 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 Deaconate by His Grace Bishop SERAPHIM.

Deacon Gregory is the eldest son of the late Fr. John Scratch. He and Taesia have four children: Maria-Suzanne, Seraphim, Elizabeth and Alexander.