Fr. Joseph Gleason, formerly a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, has been officially received as a priest in the Moscow Patriarchate. On September 1, 2021, he was formally welcomed into the Pereslavl Diocese.
In America, Fr. Joseph was ordained as a priest in 2014, after spending two years in the diaconate. He served as the rector for an Orthodox mission in southern Illinois until he and his family relocated to Russia.
On January 1, 2017, Fr. Joseph boarded an airplane headed for Moscow, along with his wife and eight children. They initially settled about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of Moscow, in Rostov the Great. With the blessing of his American bishop, Fr. Joseph served in Rostov as a visiting priest.
Two years later, Fr. Joseph and his family bought a house out in the country, near Borisoglebsky, about a half hour drive west of Rostov. He continued serving in local churches as a visiting priest.
Fr. Joseph requested and received a canonical release from his bishop in America, enabling him to become a member of the clergy in Russia. On September 1, 2021, he was warmly received into the Russian Orthodox Church.
September 1, 2021 — Fr. Joseph (left), serving his first liturgy as a Russian Orthodox priest