Reverend Father
James Pavlow

Father James Pavlow, who goes by Father Jimmy, was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1969. He felt called to the priesthood from the age of fifteen. He was born to Greek American parents and is the oldest of four sons. As young child, his mother of blessed memory, Lucy, read him stories from a children's bible. This was his earliest form of religious education that continued throughout his life. His early schooling was at the Greek Orthodox Parochial School, Kimisis tis Theotokou, which was from kindergarten to eighth grade. At the age of eleven, he began serving at the altar in the church, which the school was affiliated with. When he graduated as Salutatorian, he also received the religious award.He continued his education at an all boys Catholic high school, where a Greek Orthodox priest came and catechized the Greek Orthodox students regularly.

He went to college at NYU and Pace, finishing up with a business degree in economics. While in college, he was an active parishioner in his home parish and attended Bible study at the church weekly. He worked through college and one year full time. During that year, he applied for the Graduate Theological Program at Holy Cross in Brookline, MA. This was the beginning of what he felt compelled to do from his teenage years, to become a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church.

After graduating from theological school, he married his wife Antonia, who grew up in the Bronx in the shadow of the Greek Orthodox community of Zoodohos Peghe (Lifegiving Fountain), whom he got to know when they were both camp counselors at St. Basil's Academy, while she was working full time for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He got ordained to the deaconate and then, for the priesthood in August of 1998, one week apart. He then, was sent to serve as an assistant priest in one of the largest Orthodox communities in the United States, the Annunciation Cathedral in Houston, TX. After serving two years as an assistant, he was ready to take on a new challenge. He was assigned to a mission community, named St. Sophia, outside of philadelphia, to help them grow. He served there five years and time came for yet another challenge. In June 2005, Father Jimmy was assigned to our parish of Saint Nicholas in Virginia Beach, VA. He places heavy emphasis on preaching and the education of our young people.

Father Jimmy and his wife, Antonia, have been married for eleven years, and now have five children. He is very enthusiastic about serving our community and this beautiful area.