St. Nicholas Orthodox Church | 9650 Johnnycake Ridge Rd; Mentor, Ohio 44060 | 216-678-8181

In 1986, Fr Andrew Clements was assigned as the fourth rector of St Nicholas.

Fr Andrew was born in 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was raised at Sts Peter & Paul Orthodox Church in Lakewood where he served in the altar, sang in the choir, and became a parish reader. He graduated from John Marshall High School in Cleveland’s Westpark district in 1969 and entered Iona College in 1970. He graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Arts. He graduated with a MDiv from St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in May 1977. He then served as the Choir Director and Youth Leader at St John the Baptist Church in Warren. In February 1982, Father Andrew married Debbie Campbell, whom he met at St. John’s. He was ordained to the Priesthood in August of 1983 at that parish. Eventually, Fr Andrew (and his growing family) were sent to Byesville to begin his first pastoral duties. After three years in service there, he and his family moved serve to St Nicholas Church in Mentor, Ohio in October of 1986.

While serving at St Nicholas, Fr Andrew was elevated to the rank of archpriest. He also served three terms on the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of the Midwest, and was the dean of the Cleveland Deanery and a member of the Bishop's Council for more than fifteen years.

Having served the Diocese for more than forty years, Fr Andrew retired from active ministry on December 31, 2023. In retirement, he remains attached to the altar of St Nicholas, where his family members remain parishioners.

In 1984, Fr John Dresko was assigned as the third rector of St Nicholas Church.

Father John was born in 1957 in Rochester, NY. He married his wife, Elizabeth (Fedak) Dresko, September 4, 1977. Following graduation from St Vladimir’s Seminary in 1980, he served as first pastor of St Mark Church in Rochester Hills, MI before transfer to St. Nicholas in 1984. While assigned in the Diocese of the Midwest, he served as Youth Director and was a member of the Budget Committee and Diocesan Council. While serving at St Nicholas, he was commissioned as a Chaplain in the Air Force Reserve. In August 1986 he was assigned to active duty and so left St Nicholas. Following his tour of active duty, he subsequently served Holy Trinity Church in New Britain, CT (1989-2006), as Director of Development for the OCA (2006-2007), and then as Rector of St. Paul Church in Las Vegas, NV (2008-2022). He has served the OCA on the Metropolitan Council, Preconciliar Commission, and as Chairman of the Finance Committee. He and Matushka Elizabeth were awarded the Order of St. Innocent (Silver Medal) by Metropolitan Herman in 2004.

Fr John retired from active parish ministry on June 30, 2022, but remains active in the Church, currently serving as the President/CEO of the Orthodox Church Capital Improvement Fund, and also as a representative on the pension board of the OCA (until 2028).

When Fr John Mancantelli was reassigned to another parish in Hermitage in 1982, Fr Thomas Mueller was assigned as the second rector of St Nicholas.

Fr Thomas, along with His wife Gina and children Elijah, Savva, and Daria arrived in January, 1982. St Nicholas Parish welcomed them warmly and proved very receptive to Fr Thomas’ pastoral and liturgical ministry. He worked to maintain parish harmony throughout an ambitious and stressful building program. This bore fruit when St Nicholas moved from its rented Painesville chapel to its new church at a good location in Mentor. Fr Thomas and family left St Nicholas with great reluctance in July 1984 to be close to his parents in their need, but they maintained friendship with people at St Nicholas over the years as the parish grew and prospered. Gina fell asleep in the Lord in 2013. Fr Tom cares for new chapels in Waukesha and Plymouth, WI., among other pastoral ministries.

Fr John Mancantelli was installed as the first full-time priest of the newly-formed St Nicholas Church on June 16, 1974.

Fr John was born in Noranda, PQ, in 1946, of a Scottish-Canadian father and an Armenian mother.  As his father was a mining engineer, the Mancantellis lived in mining camps in the far reaches of Canada, where there were neither roads connecting to larger centers, nor churches in the vicinity of the camps. Thus Fr John, although baptized in the United Church of Canada, grew up largely unchurched.  While doing graduate work at UCLA in Byzantine History he discovered and was received into the Orthodox Church.  

Under the spiritual direction of Fr. Sergei Glagolev of St. Innnocent parish in Tarazana, CA, Fr John enrolled in St. Vladimir’s Seminary, NY, where he met and married an Armenian seminarian, Clara Takesian. In his last year at seminary, Fr John was ordained to the priesthood by +Bishop Dmitri of Dallas on January 26, 1974.  After graduating from St Vladimir’s in June, he and Matushka were assigned to St. Nicholas (then Painesville, OH) with their infant daughter, Rachel. Fr John and Matushka Clara had three children while at St. Nicholas: Nicholas, Juliana and Helena.  Nicholas (now Fr. Sava) and Helena (now Sister Arsenia) became monastics at St. Anthony in AZ and St. John the Forerunner in WA, respectively.  Rachel and Juliana have given their parents nine grandchildren.
 
In 1981, shortly after + Bishop Boris blessed the land for St. Nicholas and the plans for the construction of the present church, Fr John was transferred to Holy Cross parish in Hermitage, PA.