Introducing Deacon Peter Longan

We are pleased to introduce Deacon Peter Longan and his family.

Deacon Peter was born in Michigan in 1994 to an American father, Nathan Longan, and Russian mother, Ludmila Vergunova. Both of his parents were converts to the Orthodox Church but Deacon Peter was blessed to be baptized shortly after his birth. When he was young, his family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, and it was there that he spent his childhood. He returned to Michigan as a young adult and it was there, at St. Vladimir parish (Ann Arbor), that he met his wife, Elizabeth Kiseleva.

In 2014, Deacon Peter was tonsured a Reader at St. Vladimir parish by Archbishop Peter (then Bishop of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America). In 2016, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in the Classics from the University of Michigan. In the winter of 2017, he and Matushka Elizabeth were married. In 2018, Deacon Peter graduated from the Master’s Program at the Moscow Theological Academy; and it was at that time that he was ordained a Deacon by Metropolitan Eugene (then Archbishop of Vereya, Rector of the Academy).

The year of 2018 also brought Dn. Peter and Mat. Elizabeth their first child, Euphrosyne. They quickly added three more children: Charity (2019), Luke (2021), and Zach (2024). Their family enjoys music, Latin, and reading books together. And, of course, the center of their family life is prayer — conducting reader services at home and praying together as a family.

Deacon Peter always intended to return to our Diocese as he was first tonsured here by Abp. Peter. It was through his interest in Living Latin that Dn. Peter was offered a teaching opportunity at a classical school in Paris, TN. It was this opportunity which brought he and his family to the Mid-American Diocese this summer. He also teaches Church Slavonic and Ancient Greek at our Diocesan Pastoral School. Deacon Peter is still considered a cleric of St. Vladimir Parish but is currently attached to St. Justin in Cape Girardeau.