Reverend Father Peter A. DeFonce

Priest

Fr. Peter serves as Proistamenos at Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church in Lubbock, TX and travels to Saint John the Prodromos in Amarillo, TX to serve as our priest on a bi-weekly basis.

The following is a brief bio provided by St. Andrew's:

"The Rev. Fr. Peter DeFonce was born and raised as a Roman Catholic in Upstate New York and was received by the Sacrament of Holy Chrismation into the Orthodox Church of America by His Beatitude Metropolitan +THEODOSIUS (Lazor) on December 5th, 1993, at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Washington, DC. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC with a Bachelor of Science in the Arabic Language and Literature in May of 1994 and completed the Master of Divinity degree at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY in May of 1997. He married Nadezhda Alexandrovna Smirnova, an elementary school teacher from Dzherzhinsky, Russia (a suburb of Moscow), on February 16, 2003, and was subsequently ordained to both the Holy Diaconate (9/21/03) and the Holy Priesthood (12/5/04) by His Eminence Metropolitan +PHILIP (Saliba) of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Having served briefly as an Associate Pastor at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA, Fr. Peter’s first full-time assignment was as Pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of El Paso, TX, under His Grace Bishop +BASIL (Essey), from September of 2005 until July of 2006."

"Now, after several years serving in Lubbock on loan from the Antiochian Archdiocese, Fr. Peter has been incardinated into the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and is officially the Proistamenos of St. Andrew parish. He and his wife, Prva. Nadia, welcomed baby Lydia Ann DeFonce into their life on June 13, 2011 and baby Tatiana Enrichetta DeFonce on August 27, 2018. More recently, Father Peter was elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter by His Grace Bishop +Constantine of Sassima, on November 29, 2022, and subsequently made the interim pastor of St. John Prodromos Eastern Orthodox Church in Amarillo, Texas, in addition to his current responsibilities at St. Andrew."

-Bio courtesy of St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church in Lubbock, Texas