Metropolitan Longin
Our beloved Metropolitan Longin, is the bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America. His Eminence was Born in Serbia in 1955, ordained to the holy priesthood in 1975, and consecrated bishop in 1985. After the horrific events of 1995, during which he worked with refugees, visited the camps, and delivered help to those in need, His Holiness Patriarch Pavle appointed Metropolitan Longin as auxiliary in the administration of the Diocese of America and Canada. In 2009, Bishop Longin was elected Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America. His Eminence recently celebrated 40 years of the episcopacy in his earnest to labor for the Holy Gospel, at which he remarked: “I am concerned by how easily people are distracted from silence, from inner prayer, from patience. We live in an age of noise and self-promotion. But the Church’s work is never done in haste or through loud voices — it is done through patience, listening, and love. Over the years, I have learned that renewal happens one person at a time, through small steps and quiet perseverance. You must be willing to wait, to forgive, and to begin again. Yet I am filled with hope when I see young people come to confession, read the Fathers, or seek monastic life. The Gospel does not age. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and when He is preached with authenticity, hearts respond.“
Bishop Serafim
Our beloved Bishop Serafim (Baltić), the vicar of our diocese, was born 1978 in Serbia and relocated to American during the tumultuous years of war in 1995. While in the United States, he met Elder Ephraim of Philotheou, an Athonite elder whose spiritual influence would deeply impact his life. This encounter led him to explore various Orthodox monasteries in the United States, Serbia, and Greece. In the late 1990s, he met Bishop Longin (Krčo) of the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose blessing guided his monastic path. In 2006, he was tonsured a monk at the New Gračanica Monastery and graduated magna cum laude in 2008 from Holy Trinity Seminary (ROCOR). The same year of his graduation, Bishop Seraphim ordained a hierodeacon and not long afterwards a hieromonk. After spending some time on the Holy Mountain, translating works into English, and fulfilling various pastoral roles, he was consecrated Bishop by Patriarch Porfirije as Vicar to the Metropolitan of Midwestern America with the title of Bishop of Kostajnica.
Father Justin Havens
Our parish priest was born in 1980 in North Carolina, but raised in the Northeast mostly Long Island, NY. Father Justin completed his undergraduate studies at Saint John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, where he discovered the Orthodox Church for the first time and baptized in 2001. He met his future wife, Presvytera Seraphima in 2002. Immediately after graduation in 2003 Fr Justin and Presvytera Seraphima were married and relocated to Utah. Father Justin fell in love with mission work in and around the Salt Lake City area, desiring to serve the Church of Christ, and was ordained to the holy diaconate in 2007. A year later, Fr Justin was ordained to the holy priesthood and served at the Lord’s altar in the state of Utah with great zeal. During this time his church in downtown Salt Lake City, Sts Peter and Paul, filled with converts from Mormonism, Protestantism, and all other walks of life. This great boom of interest in Orthodox life attracted the media and gained attention in the Orthodox world. In 2019, Fr Justin began to plant a mission church south of SLC in Payson with the name of St Xenia Orthodox Church. A beautiful church was erected on barren land and within five years was packed full of people thirsty for Christ and Orthodoxy. During these years in Utah, his wife gave birth to 10 children whom they are raising in a vibrant home full of life. In 2025, through a series of hardships, the Lord moved Fr Justin’s missionary heart to the southwest to begin our mission parish and labor in God’s vineyard in Texas.
Please reach out to Fr Justin for any questions or concerns.
