Biographies of Serving Clergy

THE VERY REVEREND DAVID HESTER

The Very Reverend David Hester, an Archpriest of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, is the pastor of St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Wilkes-Barre. He was born in Baltimore, attended Mt. St. Joseph High School, St. Charles College, and has his BA from St. Mary Seminary College. He has an STB from the Gregorian University, Rome, an STM from the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley, California, and an SEOL and SEOD from the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Rome, Italy. He defended his Doctoral Dissertation on “The Monasticism and Spirituality of the Italo-Greek Monks—9th-12th centuries” in 1988.
Father David has served on the faculties of Theological College, Washington, DC, and of St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore, Maryland, where he taught Church History and Patrology.
In 1990 he became the pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he served as priest for ten years, and in 2000 became the pastor of St. Mary, Wilkes-Barre.
In addition to the parish, Father David is on the faculty of the Antiochian House of Studies, and of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Seminary, where he teaches Patrology and Church History.
Father David is married to Kh. Anne Hester, who has a Doctoral Degree in Counseling from Loyola College, Columbia, Maryland, and is a licensed couselor in Pennsylvania and a member of the American Psychological Association. Anne, who was born in Hazleton, is on the faculty of Penn State, Hazleton, where she teaches Psychology and is the director of the BA Program in Letters Arts and Sciences with a concentration in Psychology and Sociology. She also serves as a university faculty senator.

St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church • 905 South Main St. • Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702 • 570.824.5016