Father John was born in Kodiak Island, Alaska, where his father, also an Orthodox priest, was doing missionary work. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Manville, New Jersey, where he was raised as a member of Ss. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church. After completing high school, Father John studied at Montclair State University, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Following graduation, he embarked upon the first of two pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where he began to feel and discern the Lord’s call to serve Him in the priesthood. When he returned from Israel, he enrolled in Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan, PA, where in 2005 he received his Master’s of Divinity Degree.

While studying at the seminary, Father John was also making good use of his technical training, writing computer software which would allow Orthodox churches to easily and effectively manage their parish websites. In 2003, he launched Orthodox Web Solutions, a web design and hosting company which today serves hundreds of such parishes. A week before completing his theological studies, Father John was pleased to announce the release of a new website dedicated to Orthodoxy in America. This website, located at orthodoxyinamerica.org, uses mapping software to show where all the Orthodox churches in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are located, and is linked to Google to provide driving directions and satellite imagery. About ten years later, Father John would launch Orthodox 360, an Orthodox media company offering fully interactive 360° virtual tours and professional video services to Orthodox churches.

Two weeks after graduation from St. Tikhon's Seminary, Father John married his wife, Emily, herself a daughter of a priest and a first grade teacher in the NJ school system. Together they live at the Parish Center in Berlin, MD, with their three children: Elisabeth, Alexander, and Nicholas.