Clergy

Father Joseph and Presvytera Melanie Collins grew up in Mauston, WI, a rural farm community in central Wisconsin. They were married in February of 2005, and in June of 2006 they received Ty, the oldest of their three children into the world.

One year later they moved to Brookline, MA to attend Hellenic College in order for Father Joseph to begin working on a church history degree. They were not orthodox. During their first year in Brookline their daughter Mikayla was born in the spring of 2008, and the entire family was received into the church that summer.

Father Joseph graduated from Hellenic College and Holy Cross in the summer of 2013. While at the schools he earned both his Bachelor of Arts (with minors in Greek classics and Russian literature) and Master of Divinity degrees. Upon his graduation in 2013 they moved to Saint Basil Academy in Garrison, NY and served there until June of 2016. While at Saint Basil Academy several major events happened.

First, in 2014 their youngest child, J.D. (Joseph-Dmitri), was born. Then, Fr. Joseph was ordained to the holy diaconate on Evangelismos (the Annunciation), March 25th of 2015. He was ordained to the holy diaconate by the hand of His Grace Bishop Andonios of Phasiane at the Church of Our Savior in Rye, NY, where he served on Sundays and major feast days as a deacon until spring of 2016, under the guidance of Father Elias
Villis.

On May 15th, 2016 Father Joseph was ordained to the holy priesthood by the hand of our former Archbishop, Demetrios of America, at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, NY. That particular Sunday, by God's wondrous grace, was the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearing Women, which is also a feast day of Father's patron saint, Joseph of Arimatheas.

Beginning in June of 2016 The Collins family was assigned to the Kimisis tis Theotokou in Poughkeepsie, NY. From March of 2020 until July of 2025 the Collins family served the parish of the Holy Twelve Apostles in Cheyenne Wyoming.

Ty and Mikayla are enrolled in school and venturing out into the world on their own. Father, Presvytera, and J.D. are excited to serve the community of the Holy Archangels in Stamford. As a family they are dedicated to the Holy Church of Jesus Christ, to love His church,
to care for it, and to grow it by faithfully and fearlessly preaching the Gospel of the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Lord. Working to live lives exemplary of their Christian faith and values, wanting to be beacons of faith and love in all that they do and say.