Fr. Athanasius Oweis, born as Khalid Jamil Oweis in December 1979 in Amman, Jordan. He lived his childhood and early life in Amman until he received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Jordan in 2002. He later went to the United States to pursue his post-graduate studies. He received his master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in 2004, and his PhD in in electrical/biomedical engineering from The George Washington University in 2011.

 

In 2008, He got married to Sara the daughter of Father Abdullah Al-Hamarneh. God has blessed them with two beautiful children Jamil and Maya. Khalid and Sara lived and worked in the United States until they returned to Jordan in 2012. They stayed there for seven years. During those years, Khalid worked as an Assistant Professor and a Department  Chair in the Electrical Engineering Department at the American University of Madaba, Sara worked as a Science Teacher. The parish Priest of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Amman, Father Alexious Kakish, gave Khalid the blessing to establish a fellowship ministry for college and working professionals. God has blessed this ministry where many young men and women came to the fellowship and the Church. Khalid was responsible of giving them the weekly lectures and devotionals as well as organizing activities with them. Khalid also served in the Divine Liturgy and Church services as a member of the choir. He completed two years of studying Byzantine music notation and chanting. He also served in several orthodox Committees in Amman. Khalid has a Master’s degree in Applied Theology from the Antiochian House of Studies, and currently pursuing his Master's in Divinity at the same institution. In 2018 and 2019, Khalid had served as the Office Director for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Amman, Jordan, under His Eminence Archbishop Christopher.

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Khalid and Sara moved back to the United States in July of 2019 to where Khalid works as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Mary, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

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Khalid was ordained as Deacon Damian on April 11th 2021, by the laying of hands of His Grace, the Right Reverent Bishop Basil at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, KS. He was given the blessing and the responsibility of establishing the first Antiochian Orthodox Church in Bismarck, in the Diocese of Wichita and Mid America. He was ordained as Priest Athanasius by the laying of hands of His Grace, the Right Reverent Bishop Anthony on June 12th 2022 at St. George Orthodox Church in West St. Paul, MN.