Houston, February 11, 2026
Photo from the Celebration of the Second Feast Day of the Parish of Saint John Cassian and Saint Andrei Șaguna, Metropolitan of Transylvania, San Antonio, Texas, November 28-30, 2025. Pictured from L-R: Fr. Gabriel Ilieș, Fr. Peter Heers, Bishop Gerasim (Eliel), Metropolitan Nicolae, Fr. Dimitru Ilieș, Fr. Valentin Ilieș.
After several years, Archpriest Peter Heers’ ecclesiastical situation has been resolved.
According to an announcement yesterday on Fr. Peter’s Orthodox Ethos, he is now a cleric of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, under His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae.
In the official communique from the Archdiocese to Fr. Peter, the V. Rev. Fr. Stefan Dragoi, secretary of the Archdiocesan Council, wrote:
On behalf of His Eminence, the members of the Eparchial Council, as well as all the brother clergy, we would like to welcome you into the Archdiocese. We pray that our good and loving Lord, through the intercessions of His Most Holy Mother, will grant you every success as you endeavor to preach the Gospel of Salvation and serve the faithful entrusted to your care.
Met. Nicolae has assigned Fr. Peter as assistant priest at Holy Protection of the Mother of God Orthodox Christian Church in Houston, a very active parish with services five days a week. He will serve under Fr. Iulina Anitei, with a blessing to explore missionary opportunities in central Texas.
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Fr. Peter, the founder and head of Uncut Mountain Press and Orthodox Ethos, was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 2003, in the Diocese of Kastoria, Greece. From 2006-2017 he was the rector of the parish of the Prophet Elias in Petrokerasa, Greece, Diocese of Ierissou and Agion Oros, and in 2014 he was made Protopresbyter and Spiritual Father.
From January 2017 until May 2018, Fr. Peter was the instructor of Old and New Testament at Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, New York. He also served as the first headmaster of Three Hierarchs Academy in Florence, Arizona, founded in 2018, under Bishop John of Naro-Fominsk, who was at the time administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA of the Moscow Patriarchate.
In March 2021, Fr. Peter was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, then the First Hierarch of ROCOR, as a cleric of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville.
However, seven months later, in September 2021, two weeks after Fr. Peter published a viral video about churches’ response to the COVID pandemic, the ROCOR Holy Synod resolved to “defer” his reception, but without releasing him to any other jurisdiction.
Fr. Peter then began dedicating more time to his Orthodox Ethos ministry while continually working to resolve his ecclesiastical situation.
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