At the age of five, he wanted to be a nuclear physicist. Now he is the Senior Priest in a church where the Choir Director is a nuclear engineer. Keep reading!

Archpriest Stevan Bauman was born in 1944 of a father who spent his early years homesteading in New Mexico, raising cattle and doing dry land farming. It was there that his father, Leon, felt the presence of God while riding home on horseback after herding cattle, and Fr. Stevan never tired of hearing him tell the story.

Leon went on to be arguably the best wrestler in the world, coaching the Olympic heavyweight champion in 1932. Later he graduated from the University of Kansas medical school as an MD at age 44 and received a Master of Public Health from Harvard at age 50.

Fr. Stevan’s mother, after an interesting childhood in Iowa, made it to New York and joined Martha Graham’s dance company, participating in the formative years of modern dance. In 1936 she left the Big Apple for marriage and raising a family in Kansas but continued her involvement in the dance world in several ways. Freedom, accountability, discipline and hard work, with undoubting belief in the existence of God, were characteristics of the family, although church attendance was not.

Fr. Stevan declared to workmen outside the house at age 5 that he wanted to be a nuclear physicist when he grew up. This interest in science remains to this day, although while in college his academic interests began to focus on Psychology. He received a BA from Carleton College in psychology and a Master in Educational Psychology from Michigan State University, with an emphasis on how people learn, but did not continue in education as a career. Instead a series of encounters led him to join an international religious Brotherhood dedicated to teaching and service. He was ordained to the Brotherhood’s priesthood in 1972, was soon appointed Director of Education, then married his wife Margaret and moved to Germany where they served as co-directors of European Missions for the Brotherhood until 1979. Returning to the US, Fr. Stevan served as a pastor in Boston and Indianapolis and as the Brotherhood’s President.

During this time, the search for the fullness of truth on the part of the members of the Brotherhood eventually led to the discovery of Orthodox Christianity. Fr. Stevan was baptized into the Orthodox Church and was received into the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia – Bulgarian Patriarchate, under the omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph, who ordained him to the Orthodox Priesthood and assigned him to continue as the senior pastor of our church. In 2008 he received the honor of being made archpriest.

Fr. Stevan has been active in the affairs of the Bulgarian Diocese, serving as a member of its Mixed Council and various committees, and annually leading the business meeting at Diocesan Conventions. He has also served as a member of the Central Indiana Orthodox Clergy Association, including as Secretary-Treasurer for many years and as President from 2015 until 2017. He has been active in prison ministry at all levels of security for some 20 years, baptizing some 40 men behind the bars.

He currently serves as Senior Priest at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church at 16th& Delaware in Indianapolis. Fr. Stevan is happily married to Margaret. They have two daughters, and a grandson.

Father Stevan can be reached at fatherstevan@indy.net. Better yet, you can meet him in person when you attend a 9 a.m. Sunday service and stay for our community lunch afterwards.

Writer Anna Glass is a member of Joy and serves on the Church Board and Capital Campaign Steering Committee. BE AN ANSWER TO HER PRAYERS by sending a submission to the blog at annetteglass03@gmail.com!