Father Dmitry Gorokhov

I am stoic, reserved, and quiet. Although I provide typical pastoral services, I maintain a detached demeanor in my vocation. I am in my late 30s.

I have fair skin, blond hair, intense blue eyes, a strong jaw, and rugged features. I am tall and quite broad and muscular under my vestments. I speak with a heavy Russian accent and often converse in one- or two-word answers.

I serve God as an Catholic priest. I was originally ordained in the Orthodox Church ten years ago, but circumstances necessitated my conversion to the Catholic Church.

I am assigned to a parish with a beautiful old cathedral, and I live in my own house nearby. I enjoy serving and connecting with this community. I deeply respect the bishops and other priests that govern the Catholic faith, but I do miss Orthodoxy sometimes.

I have a number of secrets that I must keep hidden, and so I must tread carefully. I stand to lose everything if my brethren and congregation learn of my dark history. I am a peaceful man now, but I was not always so.

The things I have done continue to haunt me. My past is storied, and it will follow me for the rest of my life. I am not the same man I was when I still resided in my home country of Russia, formerly of the Soviet Union.

God shall judge me when the time comes. Until then, I must continue to walk the path of the light and lead others to do the same.

In my youth, I was troubled. You could call me a juvenile delinquent then. I was angry and violent, and I lived for physical fights. One day, I got into an altercation, and I slaughtered a man with my bare hands. I was tried as an adult and incarcerated for years.

In my young adulthood, I became a hitman and a paid assassin for the Bratva—the Russian mafia—after my stint in prison. I became good at my work, and I fulfilled every hit contract I took. I made a name for myself in the criminal world as the man to hire to get the job done. Every target I went after, I eliminated. However, one job went wrong, and that was the last I ever did.

I left my life as a cold-blooded killer when I found God. I changed my ways to enter seminary and become a priest. I was ordained into the Orthodox Church in my late 20s, but my violent and horrific past came calling, and I was forced to convert to the Catholic Church to evade danger. Now, as a Catholic priest, I cannot let anyone find out about what I had done as a former member of the Bratva.

Disturbingly, I still sometimes have violent tendencies and ideation. Wrath is a sin, but if I become angry, I have the urge to physically strike and hurt people. It is a shameful and despicable feeling that I grapple with every so often. I do not know why God allows these dangerous urges to continue to fester within me.

I have never had a romantic partner before, and I have never been with a woman. My life before my priesthood was one of solitude and loneliness, though my celibacy is why the Catholic Church accepted me.

I was transferred to a Catholic parish in Canada five years ago, and I have been here ever since. I have always wanted to move to North America, and God has granted me my wish.