On June 29, 2021, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Dn. Jeremy McKemy was ordained to the Holy Priesthood at St. Seraphim Cathedral in Dallas, TX by the hand of newly consecrated Bishop Gerasim of Fort Worth. 

The Feast was characterized by true apostolic joy and brotherly love, with concelebration by brother hierarchs from across the Orthodox Church in America, as well as other hierarchs from the wider Orthodox world. The Liturgy was presided over by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon with brother concelebrants His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of the Church of Georgia; His Eminence Archbishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West; His Eminence Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; His Eminence Archbishop Alexander of Dallas and the South; His Eminence Archbishop Paul of Chicago and the Midwest; His Grace Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa; His Grace Bishop James of Sonora of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; and His Grace Bishop Andrei of Cleveland. In the Divine Liturgy, Archimandrite Gerasim (Eliel) was consecrated Bishop of Fort Worth, as an Auxiliary to His Eminence Archbishop Alexander of Dallas and the South. Dn. Jeremy was then ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Bishop Gerasim as the first ordination conferred through the grace of his episcopacy. It was a truly historic and unforgettable day which now marks the beginning of Priest Jeremy’s priestly ministry. 

The following day, Priest Jeremy concelebrated his first priestly liturgy for the Feast of the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles at St. Barbara’s Orthodox Church in Fort Worth, in which Bishop Gerasim was enthroned as Bishop of Fort Worth. 

Many years to the newly ordained Priest Jeremy McKemy and his wife, Matushka Mai Lei. AXIOS!

By Deacon Maximus Gibson