Young Adult Retreat
Spring 2025

Fr. John Lincoln Downie was born in 1971 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In 1992, he graduated from the Christian Geneva College in the same state (the Biology and Philosophy Department).

He spent two years at the Koutloumousiou Greek Monastery on Mt. Athos (1999-2001), where he was received into Orthodoxy through Baptism. Fr. John then studied at the Department of Orthodox Theology at Bucharest University (2001-2006), where he defended his thesis on “The Doctrine of Creation According to Fr. Dumitru Staniloae,” getting a Master’s Degree in Biblical Theology (2006-2008). The professor coordinator for his master thesis was Fr. Dr. Professor Gheorghe Holbea, the disciple of St. Dumitru Staniloaie, who was canonized by the Romanian Orthodox church in 2024. Fr. John also completed his theological studies defending his PhD studies in the Gospel of St. John on “Relations between the Father and the Son in the Gospel of St. John.” The professor coordinator for his PhD was Fr. Dr. Professor Constantin Coman, also a disciple of a recently canonized saint, Saint Sophian (Boghiu) of Antim.

Fr. John’s PhD thesis will be published in the Biblical & Orthodox Mission of the Romanian Patriarchy, one of the most important publishing houses in Romania.

Fr. John was ordained as a deacon in December 2007 and as a priest in March 2008. He served as a missionary honorary priest at the University Paraklisis of St. Nicholas, known as the Russian Church.

He moved backed to America together with his wife Presbytera Camelia, and his three sons, Gregory, Symeon, and Dimitry, in January 2016. Since then Fr. John has been the Presiding Priest of the Holy Archangel Orthodox Church, under the spiritual leadership of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae Condrea, the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas.

Fr. John is the founder and host of the Miracles Among Us podcast, which can be accessed at www.miraclesamongus.net.

Fr. John has been working as a Group Therapist for a Behavioral Health Hospital specializing in dual diagnosis and substance abuse since 2023.

He has translated many spiritual books and art books from Romanian into English. The most recent translation is a new edition of Elder Cleopa. The book will be published this year by Patristic Nectar Publication, under the name Saint Cleopa of Sihastria. Saint Cleopa was canonized in 2014.