Biography of Rev. Protopresbyter, John M. Loejos, M.Div.
RIP Fr. John
Rev. Father John M. Loejos, was born April 30, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the son of the late, Michael and Nina Loejos and brother of Louise and the late Jerome. He has been married to his wife Paula, a Registered Nurse, since June 24th,1978. He is the father of three children, Anastasia, a Registered Nurse Practitioner, at the MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, Andrea, a Consultant, in Washington, DC, and Michael, a Chef, in Lakewood, Ohio. He also recently became a grandfather to Sebastian. Father John attended Cleveland Public Schools and graduated from John Marshall High School, in June of 1969. He graduated from the Physician Surgical Assistant program at Cuyahoga Community College, in 1972. He was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the National Honor Society for Junior Colleges. He graduated from Baldwin Wallace College, as a Psychology and Allied Health Technology major in 1976, being inducted into Psi Chi, the National Honor Society for Psychology. He attended and graduated from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, in Brookline, MA. in 1982, with a Master of Divinity degree. He is currently working on a doctorate degree in Theology, with SATS, The South African Theological Seminary, in Johannesburg, South Africa via distance learning. Prior to attending Holy Cross, Father John worked as a Physician Surgical Assistant, in Northeastern Ohio. He worked primarily in general surgery and orthopedic surgery. It was while he worked at St. Vincent Charity Hospital, he met his wife Paula, who worked as a RN in the Intensive Care Unit, They were married in 1978 and moved to Boston, MA., to attend Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.
Father John was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on May 1,1982 and the Holy Priesthood a month later on June 27, 1982, by His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos, of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh. He has completed nearly forty years as a priest. In October of 2004, Father John was elevated to the rank of Protopresbyter, the highest rank of the priesthood, for a married priest, again by Metropolitan Maximos. He has served as an assistant priest, at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Rocky River, Ohio, his home parish and also at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Akron, Ohio.
He has served as the pastor of Holy Cross, in Stroudsburg, PA, St. Spyridon, in Clarksburg, WV. and St. John the Baptist, in Omaha, NE. For the past twenty one years, Father John has been the pastor of St. E Premte Albanian Orthodox Church, on Cleveland's West side, serving on loan to the Albanian Archdiocese of America, under the Orthodox Church in America, although he remains under the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Metropolis of Pittsburgh.
Most recently, Father John has been serving as a chaplain for the Cleveland Police Division, for the past seventeen years. He has also served on the planning committee for the Albanian Cultural Garden. In the past, Father John and his parish, hosted, the former President of the Republic of Albania, Rexhep Meidani. He continues to serve on the Spiritual Court for the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh. He is the past board president of St Herman's Monastery and House of Hospitality, leading it through, a very turbulent time.
Under the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, Father John has served for six years, as the secretary of the Archdiocesan Presbyters Council. In 1997, he was a part of the delegation that traveled to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the historic center of Orthodox Christianity, in Istanbul, Turkey. He has held leadership positions, in diocesan and local clergy associations, throughout his nearly forty years as a priest. He also had the pleasure of being a speaker at two National Young Adult Conferences, in Washington, DC and in Chicago, Illinois.
In his free time, Father John has been interested in Clergy Advocacy, Pastoral Counseling, his computer and his 2003,100th Anniversary, Harley Davidson Sportster, as well as smoking fine cigars. In the past few years, he has served as the chaplain of the American Nationalities Movement of Cleveland, Ohio. Fr. John is grateful for the love, cooperation and respect he has enjoyed for the past twenty plus years, while serving his beloved parish of St. E Premte.