With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Archpriest John Ealy, 90, who fell asleep in the Lord on March 5, 2026. Fr. John, an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary (’72), served in his retirement at St. Stephen’s Orthodox Church in Longwood (Orlando), FL.
Fr. John is survived by his wife Matushka Barbara Ealy (née Soroka), sister Kathleen Donmoyer, children Dr. Nicholas Ealy, Taisia Ealy, and Fr. Gregory Ealy (Miho), four much-loved granddaughters Hannah Mills, Emma Mills, Nino Ealy, and Mila Ealy, and many nephews, nieces, and cousins. Fr. Gregory is also a graduate of St. Vladimir’s (’07).
The Very Rev. John Ealy was born Watson Karl Ealy on May 1, 1935, in Lebanon, PA, to Watson Edward Ealy and Catherine Ealy (née Magyar). Fr. John (affectionately known as “Skip” by his close family and friends) was baptized and grew up at St. Gertrude’s Roman Catholic Church, where he served as an altar boy and attended parochial school. Since his elementary school days, he was always attracted to the Orthodox Church. Many of his childhood friends who lived in the same neighborhood attended the local Serbian Orthodox Church. The nuns at his school looked down on his friends’ church, and Fr. John could not accept this. Unintentionally, these nuns began Fr. John’s journey toward the Orthodox Church.
Fr. John graduated from Lebanon Catholic High School in 1953 and, after working a blue-collar job at a factory that summer, decided to enroll in college. He applied and was accepted to Millersville State Teacher’s College (now Millersville University) in Millersville, PA. In 1961, he received his master’s degree in science education from Western Maryland University and went on to teach for thirty-five years at private and public schools in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida.
Fr. John and Matushka Barbara with His Grace Bishop Gerasim at St. Stephen’s Orthodox Church in Longwood, FL, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Fr. John’s ordination to the Holy Priesthood.
In 1963 Fr. John enrolled in Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. In his fourth year at seminary, Frs. John Meyendorff and Alexander Schememann from St. Vladimir’s Seminary were invited to lecture. Their lectures were very well received by the students, something that proved detrimental to the seminary when more than half the students, Fr. John included, left for the Orthodox Church. After taking a teaching job near Harrisburg, PA, he met Barbara Soroka, the love of his life, while singing in the choir at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church. They married in August 1971 and immediately moved to Crestwood, NY, where Fr. John studied at St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
After completing his studies at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, the Ealys moved in 1973 to Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where Fr. John served at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church. Two years later in 1975, Fr. John was reassigned to a small mission near Orlando. It is there, at St. Stephen’s, where he would serve the next twenty-seven years as rector. At the time of the Ealys’ move to Central Florida, St. Stephen’s was a small mission and could not pay Fr. John a living wage, so he took a teaching job at St. Peter’s Catholic School in DeLand, FL. While Fr. John served at St. Stephen’s, the parish grew and became a well-established church in the OCA Diocese of the South. Starting with only twelve people in 1975, parish membership grew to well over 150 by the time he retired.
Fr. John’s ministry can be summed up with the word love. He loved the Orthodox Church, the Divine Liturgy and liturgical services, and its people. He spent countless hours meeting with parishioners, teaching, traveling and visiting missions and churches throughout the Central Florida Deanery as its dean, holding Divine Liturgies and Presanctified Liturgies in homes and churches, and running summer church school programs and summer camps. He was instrumental in establishing St. Justin the Martyr Church in Jacksonville, FL.
After retiring in 2002, Fr. John continued to serve as a supply priest throughout the diocese, filling in at missions and parishes in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. But, in retirement, he also found much time for reading, gardening, cooking, and baking, writing his memoir, spending time with his growing family, and traveling. He took pride in his Hungarian cultural roots, and his love for all things Hungarian—especially its cuisine—was a constant in his life. He was overjoyed to have visited Hungary twice during his retirement. It is quite possible that St. Stephen’s in Orlando is the only Orthodox church in North America where, every Pascha, parishioners would hear “Christ is risen” sung in Hungarian.
The number of lives Fr. John has touched throughout his life, both as a pastor and a teacher, is incalculable. From his early years as a schoolteacher until his retirement—and even during illness—Fr. John never stopped teaching. He firmly believed and taught that our encounter with the Word of God takes place at the liturgical gathering, as we partake of the Eucharist with our brothers and sisters.
May the memory of Fr. John be eternal!
Photos: St. Stephen’s Orthodox Christian Church
