Parish Clergy and Leadership

The Most Reverend Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco and the West

Archbishop Benjamin was born in 1954 and was baptized and chrismated at Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 1972. In 1982, he was awarded a Master of Divinity degree and Certificate in Liturgical Music from Saint Vladimir Seminary.

A prolific musician, he served as choirmaster at parishes in Detroit, MI and Los Angeles and as chairman of the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Liturgical Music. He was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on November 15, 1987 by Bishop Tikhon at his home parish, which he served for 10 years as deacon and youth and education director. The following year he was tonsured a riasophore monk by Bishop Tikhon and further tonsured to the lesser schema by Archbishop [now Metropolitan] Herman at Saint Tikhon Monastery, South Canaan, PA. In 1991, he was elevated to the rank of archdeacon.

On July 19, 1997, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Bishop Tikhon. In 1999, Igumen Benjamin was transferred to the Diocese of Alaska, where he served as dean of Saint Innocent Cathedral and later as administrative dean of Saint Herman Seminary, Kodiak, AK. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite in 2002. In January 2004, he was reassigned to Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral, Los Angeles, and appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of the West.

Archimandrite Benjamin was elected to the episcopacy by the Holy Synod of Bishops at its Spring Session in March 2004 as Bishop of Berkeley, Auxiliary for the Diocese of the West. His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN presided at the consecration of Archimandrite Benjamin [Peterson] to the episcopacy at historic Holy Trinity Cathedral on Saturday, May 1, 2004.

Following the retirement of His Grace, Bishop Tikhon (Fitzgerald) of San Francisco, Los Angeles and the West in November 2006, a diocesan assembly nominated Bishop Benjamin as ruling hierarch on January 31, 2007. The Holy Synod of Bishops canonically elected him as Bishop of San Francisco and the West in March 2007. He was installed as ruling hierarch of the diocese on October 2, 2007. In addition to overseeing his own diocese, he provided archpastoral leadership for the Diocese of Alaska as its administrator in 2008-9 and as locum tenens from 2009 until early 2014.

He was elevated to the rank of Archbishop on May 9, 2012.

Priest Peter Runyon

Father Peter and Matushka Sophia Runyon met each other in Redding, CA when they were teenagers and were married before their 20th birthday. Both were raised as Protestants but were unable to find a church that seemed right. By the grace of God, they visited St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Redding, CA on the feast of Pentecost in the year 2000. After experiencing their first Divine Liturgy and the Vespers of Pentecost, they knew they had found their home. They were received into the Church with their three children Annastacia, Elias, and Nicholas.

Both Father and Matushka remained active in the parishes they attended having both been members of parish councils and singers in the choir. Father Peter began his work in Information Technology in 1998, and it was this work that led them to leave Redding and move to Plano, Texas in 2006 with his family. Once there, they began to regularly attend St. Sava's Orthodox Church. Matushka Sophia worked diligently homeschooling their three children while Father Peter obtained his undergraduates degree in Management of Information Systems and progressed in his career. Father Peter was made a subdeacon in January of 2011 and then a Deacon in July of 2014 after completing the Diaconal Vocations Program.

During their time at St. Sava's, they helped the parish move onto land the parish had purchased and into a temporary building. They actively helped the parish survive the loss of their parish priest in the middle of a capital campaign to build their temple. After years of laboring with the other faithful at St. Sava's, the new temple was finished in December of 2018 shortly after Father and Matushka left for seminary. They were able to return in January of 2019 to finally worship in the temple they had worked so hard to see built.

In 2017, with their youngest child about to graduate from high school, they began to wonder what the next chapter of their lives would be like. Father Peter worked as the Assistant Vice President of Information Technology for a financial holdings company in Dallas. His peers encouraged him to earn his MBA, but his heart was still at Church. Matushka began studying medicine and became a certified medical assistant, her heart also firmly planted in the Church. After a pilgrimage to Spruce Island to venerate the relics of their family Saint Herman of Alaska in the summer of 2017, they decided to pursue a blessing to attend Seminary.

With the blessing of Archbishop Alexander Golitzin, they moved to New York and began attending St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in August of 2018. Their youngest moved to St. Vladimir's with them to help them settle into their new lives. He moved back to Dallas in the spring of 2019 to continue the life he had already begun there. It was that semester that both Father and Matushka discerned the calling to the priesthood.

With the blessing of His Beatitude Tikhon, Father Peter was ordained to the presbyterate November 1st of 2020 by His Grace Alexei Trader (now the bishop of Sitka and all Alaska). Father Peter asked the blessing from His Eminence Alexander to transfer to the Diocese of the West so that he might be closer to his ailing parents. He was canonically transferred to the Diocese of the West with the blessing of both Archbishop Alexander and Archbishop Benjamin. His Eminence Benjamin assigned Father Peter to Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Mission June of 2024.

Father and Matushka have three adult children and three grandchildren.

Choir Director: Crystal Marie Roberts

Subdeacon Kevin Roberts

Reader Daniel Maximus Nicholas

Reader Brendan O’Neil

Reder Jason Riessland

Archpriest Isaac Skidmore

Fr. Isaac arrived in August of 2000 with his family after graduating from St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York. He worked diligently in the parish for over a decade and welcomed many new members into the community. His loving ministry has left a permanent mark on the community, and his faithful labor bore much fruit in the hearts of his flock. Fr. Isaac has also worked as a counselor in the Rogue Valley since 2008. He is currently attached to the parish and serves the community faithfully and with love.