Fr. John Black was born in New York City in 1973 and was raised in the Orthodox Church, first in OCA parishes in the NY & NJ areas where his father directed choirs, then his teenage years in the Antiochian Archdiocese in northern NJ. He studied Music Composition and Conducting at Lebanon Valley College in central Pennsylvania while attending Christ the Savior Church (OCA) in Harrisburg. Fr John and Matushka Alexandra met while at LVC, married in 1997, and settled in the greater Philadelphia area.

Fr John spent about 20 years directing choirs; in OCA parishes in Wilmington, Pottstown, and St Stephen's Cathedral in Philadelphia. During this same time, he developed a career as a software engineer throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. From 2011-2013, Fr John attended St Tikhon’s Diaconal Extension Program in Philadelphia, and was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 2017 in Pottstown. In 2020 the family moved to St Vladimir’s Seminary where Fr John began a three-year MDiv program. He was ordained to the priesthood in January 2023 and graduated in May 2023. Fr John has been Rector of St Michael's Orthodox Church in Jermyn, PA since June 2023.

Mat. Alexandra has worked in healthcare for almost 25 years, mostly in women’s health; first for ten years as an Registered Nurse in Labor & Delivery, then earning a Master’s degree in Midwifery from Philadelphia (now Jefferson) University in 2014. Mat. Alexandra has worked as a midwife for over a decade; in Reading PA, Manhattan (Lenox Hill), and Scranton (Geisinger).

Fr John and Mat. Alexandra live in Jermyn with their two younger children in middle and high school; they also have two adult children living in Pennsylvania. They plan to relocate to St Herman's full-time in the summer of 2025.