Archpriest John Reeves, noted missiologist in the Orthodox Church in America, fell asleep in the Lord, surrounded by family on Monday evening, August 22, 2022.
John Miller Reeves was born in Kerrville, Texas on September 3, 1950. His early years were spent in a modest farmhouse built by his parents, the late Royce E. Reeves and Dora Juanita Miller Reeves Maples. “JM” or “Butch,” as he was known by his relatives and childhood friends, was formed by the things he loved: the Texas Hill Country, the scriptures, and his family.
John graduated from Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas in 1968. He began his college career at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. There he met his wife of 52 years, Linda Joyce Zerr Reeves. In 1969, John transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he was accepted into the Plan II Honors Program. This interdisciplinary curriculum program encapsulated the essence of who John was, an avid learner of literature, the sciences, philosophy, and society as a whole. How these disciplines interconnected would inform his ideas and approach to church ministry.
In 1972, John started the Divinity Program at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Well before graduate school, ministry, evangelism, and serving Christ in his Church had always been John’s passion. His mother, a devout Presbyterian, provided him a Christian foundation through church services and youth programs. As an eighteen year old convert to the Episcopal Church, John felt called to the Priesthood: a vocation which never wavered throughout his life.
John was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1975, and from that day forward, he would be known as Father John by the many to whom he would minister over the next three decades. He served as the assistant rector at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in McAllen, Texas.
In 1977, Father John felt called to a different ecclesial path. After many inquiries about reception into Orthodoxy, his wife, Linda, received a phone call from the late Archbishop John (Shahovskoy) of San Francisco, who welcomed her family to the Church. In faith, Father John and his young family moved from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas to the northern plains of the state. Dallas became their new home; there the family was catechized and received into the Church at Saint Seraphim Cathedral (Orthodox Church in America).
From 1979-1995, first as a layman, then as a priest, Father John and his family moved back to South Texas. There he founded Saint George the Great Martyr Church in Pharr, Texas, serving the faithful in both English and Spanish. He was ordained to the Diaconate and Priesthood in 1981 and elevated to the rank of Archpriest in 1995 by the late Archbishop Dimitri (Royster), the hierarch who helped lead him and his family into the Orthodox Church. While in Pharr, he oversaw the purchasing of church property, supervised two building projects within a four-year span, and took up the challenge of forming a community in a region of the nation with few Orthodox Christians. In addition, he was the President of the Board, at Comfort House (Hospice Ministry) in McAllen, TX from 1992-1996. It was during these years that he dedicated his efforts to understand, both academically and practically, domestic mission work.
In 1996, Father John and his family left Texas and headed to State College, PA to begin a new chapter in his ministry as the first pastor of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. Tapping into his missionary research and firsthand experience, Father John guided the nascent mission church into a fully self-supporting parish in three short years. During his tenure, he oversaw the expansion of the parish by increasing its worship space, acquiring an administrative and educational building (Trinity House), and founding a new mission in 2008 (The Chapel of the Holy Spirit).
Seeking to minister to college students, Father John became the chaplain of the Pennsylvania State University chapter of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). The dedication he had to students was evidenced by leading bible studies, establishing an office space on campus, creating an OCF administrative position, dedicating office space in the parish itself, and sponsoring the countless “Penn State Dinners.” Father John and Matushka Linda made it their personal mission to provide a home cooked meal once a month for the student body seeking fellowship in the Orthodox Church. Their combined witness inspired many students to pursue a seminary education, ordination, and, in some instances, the monastic life.
Father John’s calling to mission work extended beyond the parish. He was Director of Missions for the OCA’s Diocese of the South from 1990-1996; the Director of the Office of Church Growth and Evangelism for the National Church from 1998-2002; a Metropolitan Council Charity Committee Chairperson from 2006-2009; and a member of the special investigation committee of the OCA.
Father John’s skills were utilized both domestically and abroad. In the United States, he lectured and hosted many Church Growth and Evangelism conferences for multiple Orthodox jurisdictions, some in conjunction with his esteemed colleague and friend, the late Archpriest Peter Gillquist. As a result, he was appointed by the Orthodox Church in America as one of its representatives to the board of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) from 1994-2000. Throughout the 1990s, with the blessing of the late Patriarch Teoctist (Arăpașu), he was part of various missionary trips to respond to the rise of sectarianism in post-Communist Romania. Archimandrite Joseph, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou (Mount Athos) invited Father John in 2004 to deliver a paper at the School of Pastoral Theology at The Aristotelian University (Thessaloniki, Greece) during a conference on the Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical movement. Father John authored several articles on these topics. In addition, he contributed to the Old Testament study notes of the Orthodox Study Bible (2008). Parishioners would attest to the love Father John had for the Old Testament as he would seize any opportunity to preach on them when appointed to be read during services.
In 2010, Father John had the unique experience of taking a much deserved sabbatical to Finland, Russia, and Alaska, following in the footsteps of Saint Herman of Alaska’s missionary journey to America. Some of his fondest memories from this time were serving as a supply priest in Alaska. He made a point to return in this capacity with parishioners from Pennsylvania to assist in constructing the floor of Saint Michael the Archangel Russian Orthodox Church in Marshall, Alaska. This pilgrimage truly typified Father John’s years as a priest as he always endeavored to pattern his life and ministry after Saint Herman and other missionaries of the Church.
Father John also had an affinity for music. Opening up the piano bench in his house one could attest to the wide variety of music he loved. Inside were scores ranging from old Protestant hymns to Joni Mitchell, country music to Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.” He would gather his family around the piano—sometimes to their chagrin—and coax them into singing and freely harmonizing whatever score was on the piano music stand. John dabbled in the banjo, loved Scott Joplin, and was a great admirer of the Blues, especially the music of Bessie Smith. His baritone voice and other musical talents were used for many purposes and venues, from a community chorus to church services.
In addition to music, languages were a lifelong pursuit Father John enjoyed. He studied French and Spanish in High School, the latter becoming a special focus of his. Father continued his study of Spanish in college in the US, as well as in Mexico after graduation. He studied New Testament Greek in graduate school and taught himself, with various grammar books, conversational Greek, Russian, and Romanian.
As a celebrant in the Holy Mysteries and preacher of the Gospel, Father John saw an intimate connection between divine services and sacred scripture as they applied to the actualization of the Christian community. His approach to parish life was greatly influenced by the missiological imperative to the poor, imprisoned, infirmed, and spiritually hungry found in the New Testament, the Liturgies, and the writings of the Church. He was convinced the Church did not express herself fully if Christ’s commission to “go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” was not a foundational principle–and acted upon–in every parish. Father John strove to realize this vision in his communities by instructing many catechumens, baptizing and chrismating seekers, spending countless hours hearing confession, and honing his rhetorical skills to craft impactful sermons to form his flock in Christ’s image and likeness. His love of music, language, and history synthesized into a ministry for a diverse congregation of myriad ethnicities and cultures, both within and outside of the Orthodox world.
Next to God, family was paramount to Father John. He found so much joy in visiting his relatives in the Texas Hill Country. He loved reminiscing about his rearing and family history, as genealogy was of great personal interest and importance. Father John began an ambitious text in college on the Reeves family history. Later in life, his thirst to learn more and understand his roots compelled him to seek out his ancestral homestead and cemetery in Blandford Forum, England. A deeper understanding of the self and its relationship with others was a lifelong quest on which he gladly embarked.
Spending time with his family and learning about the latest endeavors of his children and grandchildren brought Father John great joy. He is survived by his wife, Linda, his daughter Elisabeth (Douglas), sons, Patrick (Kelly), Nicholas (Deborah), and Christopher (fiancée, Caroline Creasman), his grandsons, Aidan Michael Craig, Brendan Philip Craig, Cullen Alexander Craig, Ian Michael Reeves, William Matthew Reeves, Evan Thomas Craig, Dylan James Reeves, George Reeves, his granddaughter, Natalie Reeves, and his brother, Robert E. “Bob” Reeves (Janet Goldman), as well as numerous cousins, nephews, and nieces. He was preceded in death by his sister, the late Ceilia ‘Ce-Ann’ Heimann (Rick).
As a young man, Father John’s initial steps in discovering his interests and talents did not suggest the life of an Orthodox priest. Likewise, the circumstances in which he found himself appeared at times to be fraught with more questions than answers. Yet he never viewed his life experiences as a series of haphazard convergences. Instead, with a deep thirst for God, the self, and his fellow man, Father John saw that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” When he felt the Lord calling him, his response was “Here am I; send me.”
Father John’s life and love transformed many communities and individuals over his thirty-five years in ministry. An excerpt from his journal sums up the essence of how he led is life:
You may mourn a while, don’t be mournful.
Grieve, but don’t be grief stricken.
I fear not my end.
It is only the beginning as the Apostle Luke said:
“For me to live is Christ and to die, gain.
So, thanks be to God who giveth us the victory.”
Services for Father John will be at Saint Sava Orthodox Church, Allen, TX.
Thursday, Aug. 25, 6:30 PM: Vigil–Burial of a Priest
Friday, Aug. 26, 9:30 AM: Hierarchical Divine Liturgy
Interment will be at The Nativity of our Lord Monastery, Kemp, TX with a mercy meal to follow.
Memorials can be given in Father John’s Memory to Saint Sava Orthodox Church, Allen, TX, The Nativity of our Lord Monastery, Kemp, TX, or MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center- Melanoma Clinic, Houston, TX.
May Father John’s memory be eternal!