Bishop Alexei of Sitka & Alaska
Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska
Upon the repose of His Eminence, the Most-Reverend DAVID, on November 27, 2020, Metropolitan Tikhon appointed the Right Reverend Alexis, Bishop of Bethesda to be the locum tenens of the diocese of Sitka and Alaska. AXIOS!
Bishop Alexei was appointed administrator of the Diocese of Alaska upon the recommendation of Archbishop David since October 2020. On March 15, 2022, he was elected as Bishop of Sitka and Alaska and was enthroned at Saint Innocent Cathedral, Anchorage, AK, on March 27, 2022, formally taking the name of Alexei.
Bishop Alexei’s First Letter to the Clergy and Faithful of the Diocese of Alaska is available here.
Priest Simeon B. Johnson
Parish Rector
Fr. Simeon B. Johnson was born and raised in Colorado. He Attended Englewood High School and received a B.A. in Political Science from the university of Regis in Denver Colorado. He converted to Orthodoxy at St. Herman Orthodox Church in Littleton Colorado on Lazarus Saturday 1997 and was tonsured a reader in 2001. In 2007, at the suggestion of the Very Rev. Joseph Hirsch at Transfiguration Cathedral, he and Matushka Mary matriculated to St. Vladimir’s seminary, where Fr. Simeon was ordained to the Diaconate in 2009 and to the Priesthood on May 23, 2010. Graduating with an M.Div in 2010, Fr Simeon was assigned to Juneau, where he served from 2010-2012. In 2012, Fr Simeon was relocated to Calhan Colorado, where he served at St. Mary’s Holy Dormition Orthodox Church in Calhan from 2012-2017. In 2018, he was assigned to Holy Theophany Orthodox Church in Colorado Springs, Co, where he served until December 2019, when he was released from the Diocese of the West and reassigned to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Juneau. In July of 2023 Fr. Simeon relocated to Wasilla to take on duties as Rector of St. Juvenaly Orthodox Church.
Priest Peter Kamilos
Associate Priest
Fr. Peter Kamilos was born in Seattle, the son of a protestant minister. He lived in many places during his early childhood—Seattle; Dallas/Fort Worth; Austin, Minnesota; Iowa; and Oregon. He attended George Fox University for his undergraduate degree in Writing and Literature, graduating in 2001. He and Matushka Michele met at university and were married in January of 2000. He earned a Master’s Degree in Education, Secondary Education from Grand Canyon University in 2009.
He was an English and History teacher with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District for many years before being ordained a Deacon in the Church on July 14, 2019.
Even as the young son of a protestant minister, Father Peter showed deep interest and yearning for Holy Orthodoxy. He was encouraged by his family to pursue the Orthodox Church. He finally converted and was baptized on Lazarus Saturday of 2011. Matushka was baptized a year later. Father served as a reader and a subdeacon at Saint Innocent Cathedral in Anchorage for many years before being asked to attend seminary.
In 2018/19, Father attended Saint Tikhon’s Seminary and was ordained to the Deaconate shortly after. Father left public school teaching in the Spring of 2022 and was ordained to the Priesthood on July 3, 2022. Father Peter served his Deaconate and initial years as a priest at Saint Innocent Cathedral in Anchorage. In August of 2025, he was reassigned to Saint Juvenaly and his Companion Orthodox Church in Wasilla, Alaska to assist with the growing community of faithful there.