Fr. Matthew Swehla, Proistamenos
Father Matthew was born in Modesto, C
alifornia. He grew up attending the Lutheran church, until his father, formerly a Lutheran pastor, became disillusioned by the direction of the national church and left the ministry. A few years later his family visited the Orthodox cathedral of St. John Maximovich in San Francisco—on a whim because of a Russian exchange student they were hosting—and began their journey to Orthodoxy. Father Matthew entered the Church, along with his immediate family, when he was 15 years old.
As a young college graduate, Fr. Matthew attended an Orthodox College Conference at St. Nicholas Ranch, where he renewed his acquaintance with, Annie Nieuwsma. The two knew right away that they were meant to be together and married in 2003.
After working in several professions—in journalism, restaurant fine dining, and commercial real estate development—Father Matthew was called to the priesthood. He entered Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2009, along with Presvytera Annie and their first three children. He received his M.Div. degree in May 2013. Fr. Matthew’s first parish assignment was St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on September 8, 2013 and served for four years as the second priest.
In 2017, Father Matthew was assigned as the proistamenos (presiding priest) of St. John the Baptist in Beaverton.
Father Matthew and Presvytera Annie have eight children: Dimas (married to Jessica), Débora (married to Nathaniel), Thomas, Peter, Nicholas, Joseph, Maria, and John.
Fr. Basil McAfee, Assistant Priest
Fr. Basil was born in Westlake, Ohio, but moved with his family to Beaverton, Oregon when he was 6 years old. While his mother is Lebanese and had grown up in the Orthodox Church, she began attending other churches in her adult life. Fr. Basil attended a number of different Protestant churches and, in high school, became involved in the youth ministry and the special needs ministry at his church. After graduating from Southridge High School, Fr. Basil left Beaverton for Waco, Texas to attend Baylor University where he studied History and Theatre Arts.
During his Junior year at Baylor, hemet his future wife, Pres. Mary, while working with her on a production of Fiddler on the Roof. After feeling a call to deepen his relationship with Jesus Christ, Fr. Basil began his search for the True Church. He attended many churches during the summer before his senior year, he found himself at a Vespers service at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Waco. After attending the service and meeting with the priest, Fr. Basil knew that he had found his home. He was catechized and received into the Church in December 2017; Mary was received into the Church in May of the following year.
After graduating from Baylor in 2018, he taught English in Thailand at a high school in a small rural town called Bamnet Narong. While in Thailand, Fr. Basil had the opportunity to attend a Russian Orthodox Churches and meet a number of Thai converts to Orthodoxy as well as a number of “cradle Orthodox” from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe. After returning home, he lived in Dallas for a year and worked as a children’s storyteller and performer, an SAT tutor, and as a valet at a hotel. Pres. Mary and Fr. Basil were engaged in late 2019 and planned to get married in May of 2020. He had decided to attend Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in the Spring of 2020 to pursue graduate studies in theology; Pres. Mary was living and working in Beaverton at the time and would join him on campus in married housing once they were married. With the COVID pandemic, Fr. Basil had to leave the school and opted not to return until classes were back in-person.
In the meantime, Fr. Basil and Pres. Mary were married at St. John the Baptist and lived and worked for three years in Beaverton. They became very involved in the life of the Church; they led GOYA, taught Sunday School, and chanted in the choir together. Fr. Basil also served on parish council before leaving again, with Pres. Mary, to resume his studies at Holy Cross in January 2023. Basil received the blessing from His Eminence to enter the M.Div. program as a seminarian and completed the program in December of 2025. During his time at the school, Fr. Basil served as the Ecclesiarch of the Holy Cross Chapel and, working under the direction of the Chaplain, organized altar service groups, set up for services, and was deeply involved in the robust liturgical life of the campus. In July of 2024, Fr. Basil and Pres. Mary were blessed with the birth of their first child, Evangelos John. They are expecting their daughter in May 2026.
Fr. Basil was ordained a Priest on March 8, 2026.
Dcn. Innocent Duchow-Pressley, Deacon
Deacon Innocent was born and raised in Southern California with his younger sister and brother. He began attending various Protestant churches when he was young, mostly through the influence and help of neighbors and friends.
He moved to Cottage Grove, Oregon for high school. After attending church with friends for a while, at the age of sixteen, he made his own decision to live for Jesus Christ. Deacon Innocent attended college at Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon, where he earned his degree in Chemistry. He then attended graduate school at both Lewis and Clark and Portland State University, where he received his teacher’s license and began teaching high school science. While in college, he met his future wife Sandy Duchow. They were married in 1987 in a small chapel in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Deacon Innocent remains a full-time high school science teacher, while Sandy is a neonatal intensive care nurse.
Both Deacon Innocent and Sandy attended various Protestant churches for the next decade, but never felt satisfied with their spiritual experience or the spiritual foundations of any of the churches they attended. With their son, Teddy (born in 1995), they began to look into the Orthodox Church. They were all received in the Orthodox Church in 1999. They had their second son, Samuel later that same year. Deacon Innocent was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on the Third Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross, in 2004.
In addition to his duties as a deacon, Deacon Innocent has been active at St. John in both Youth Ministry and in the area of Missions and Evangelism.
