Biography
I drew before I could speak and took a keen interest at an early age in comics, anime and graphic art associated with pop culture, especially video games.
I pursued this passion to the point of completion when I received my Bachelor of Computer Arts from Abertay University in 2020, with a focus on character Concept Art.
By the end of my degree I found my self completely disillusioned with both the games industry and the Arts as a whole.
In April 2021, I had the privilege of meeting His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas (Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain) received his blessing to pursue the study of Iconography and his offer to send me to the monastic community of Mount Athos to learn the craft from the masters.
Six months later in October of the same year, I took my preliminary visit and took home with me my first 3 crude Icons.
Upon the encouragement of my spiritual father, I returned for an intensive study. For twelve weeks in the late winter to spring of 2022, I had the great blessing of living with the Fathers of Xenophontos Monastery in Mount Athos.
My time under the guidance of Fathers Loukas and David as well as the many friendships I formed, sustain me to this day as both an iconographer and as a Christian.
I started taking commissions for icons at the beginning of 2023. God willing, I will one day make it a full-time profession.
I was raised in a Presbyterian background where I never took much interest, preferring to doodle on sticky notes and gobble Werther originals during most of the service.
When I was 8 years old my beloved Grandma, who was the spiritual rock of our family, reposed I became angry with God and fell away from any kind of faith. Later as I entered high school, I was swept up in the angsty Atheism of the early 2010s.
I struggled deeply with depression and suicidal thoughts which led me to pursue various political and philosophical positions. Ultimately I was entirely disillusioned with the sand that the World is built upon and sought a true spiritual foundation.
Between 2018 & 2019 I explored various Christian denominations going to any service I was invited to.
I was most interested in the Orthodox faith for its apostolic and epistemological claims but it was only in October 2019 when I attended my first Divine Liturgy in Perth I knew I had found the rock to build my house.
Amidst the panic and confusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was catechised and then on the 27th of March 2021, I was received into the one holy catholic and Apostolic Faith.
In my short time within the faith, I have been given many blessings from the Lord. I have visited the Holy Mountain several times and as of now have three wonderful Godchildren. And had the even greater blessing to be tonsured a Reader on the same day as my brother Finbar and Godson Jeremiah.
The greatest of all my blessings is to be able to call the Saint Andrews Orthodox Church in Edinburgh my home.
I have been raised in the faith under Father Luke Jeffrey and kept under a watchful and loving eye by our Bishop Raphael of Illion.
The parish is an incredibly close knit and loving family where I have made countless friends and the love of my life, my wife Ulya.
Outside of this I have found a wonderful and rich community spanning our entire Archdiocese and beyond. I have attended, assisted and organised many and various events, which has given me the opportunity and great gift of knowing and befriending many of our wonderful clergy and laity alike.
I strive to produce works true to the rich Athonite tradition whilst also taking inspiration from the early Celtic and Anglo-Saxon churches of the first millennia.
With Love in Christ,
