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Seminarians & Their Sponsors Reader Leonty Johnston Married: Katherine (1-4-81) Leonty was born in Bethel, Alaska and lived there until moving to Kwigillingok as a young boy to live with his grandparents. During his youth, Leonty moved several times living with family members. This was necessary since his parents were not able to give him good guidance. He graduated from Akula Heights High School in Kasigluk, a village he found to be very caring and providing much family to meet his needs. After graduation, Leonty continued to take care of his grandparents and pursued work in Alaska fish canneries. In 1994/95, Leonty enrolled at St. Herman's Theological Seminary in Kodiak and completed one year of studies. Returning to Kwigillingok, he assisted his Uncle Moses with church work. Uncle Moses had graduated from St. Herman's and was tonsured a Reader. He resumed the care of his grandparents, helped with general labor in the village, worked at light construction and fishing, for an income. In 1996 he joined the Army National Guard Reserves. In 1997, Leonty met Katherine in Kasigluk and they began going steady. As Leonty would travel from one village or to another for work, he and Katherine would write letters and often call one another. Leonty would always return to Kasigluk to be with Katherine and his close family there. Last summer, Bishop NIKOLAI was attending the Lower Kuskokwim Conference in Kasigluk. Some of the local clergy would talk about those in the area who had attended seminary but not completed the course of studies. One day during the conference, as Leonty was walking to church with Katherine's younger adopted brother, His Grace passed them and spoke to him saying: "You must be Laranell (Leonty)." Later Father Isidore, Bishop NIKOLAI's assistant, said to Leonty that he must introduce his wife to His Grace. He did this and during their meeting together, His Grace asked Leonty if he was going to return to seminary. This was a surprise to Leonty since many had mentioned furthering his education at St. Herman's but he had always said - "I will be ready if God calls me." To Leonty, this request from Bishop NIKOLAI was like the Holy Spirit telling him that it is now time. Several clergy began talking with Leonty to give support. Since they lived with Katherine's family, there were times clergy would come to visit and Leonty would be gone so they would stay and talk with the family and Katherine. They had very little money and it was hard to finance the plane fare to Kodiak. The Kasigluk Staraster and the Brotherhood helped pay for Leonty. Katherine was working in Kasigluk as a housekeeper for the medical clinic. After some money was saved, Katherine was able to join him in Kodiak on October 7. This became a very hard time for them since she is pregnant with their first child an d gets homesick - not used to being away from Kasigluk. She is due in March or April. Leonty is in classes and she takes care of him while he concentrates on his studies. He says they have worked through these things together and are much better now. Receiving the Alaska Dividend Check has made it possible for them to purchase a ticket to spend the Christmas holiday in Kasigluk. The biggest challenge for Leonty is slowly realizing that his life is not his own. He is looking forward to the priesthood and feels a great responsibility to be a Christian example to others. He wants this example to show the people that there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel. Leonty said, "We see so much in the world. When you enter the church you must learn that through the Church, God's teaching is revealed to us. We must learn when we exit the church to take the Church with us because this is God's instruction in how we must live. It is not good to say ‘Amen' and then go do other things that are not in the teachings of the church." *Written in Fall 2002. Leonty and Katherine now have a daughter
named Martha.
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