St. Mary’s Antiochian Orthodox Church celebrates the Very Rev. Michael Ellias
On Sunday, May 22, St. Mary’s Antiochian Orthodox Church celebrated the Very Rev. Michael Ellias’ 60th birthday and the 30th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. The event was held in St. Mary’s newly renovated hall and was attended by over 150 guests and parishioners.
Ellias will have been pastor at St. Mary’s for 14 years this coming August, and he was surrounded by his wife Laila, his son Matthew, his daughter Marie and his father-in-law Dr. John Dalack at the celebration.
Ellias studied Greek and Latin at Dickinson College in Carlise, Pennsylvania, and graduated magna cum laude before attending Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he received his master’s degree in 1982. He enrolled at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y. in 1982 and graduated cum laude with a Master of Divinity degree in 1985.