What’s Your Ministry? Fighting for Freedom: An Orthodox Approach to Combating Human Trafficking

Fr. Peter Spiro speaks at the United States Attorney General conference in Arlington, Virginia.

OYM recently had the opportunity to speak with Father Peter Spiro, a priest in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and founder of the Aristevi Foundation, about his work supporting survivors of human trafficking. Combining his pastoral calling with years of experience in law enforcement, Father Peter has developed a ministry that addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of victims while raising awareness about an often-hidden global crisis. In this conversation, he shares the story behind his calling, how the Orthodox faith informs his approach, and the lessons he has learned about balancing compassion, action, and personal renewal in a demanding and vital ministry.

OYM: Could you share a bit about yourself—your background in the Orthodox Church and how you came to the priesthood?

Fr. Peter Spiro: I’ve been a priest for twenty-eight years in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. I was born Orthodox. Interestingly, I didn’t initially plan on becoming a priest. I thought I was going to be a musician, and at one point I was actually pursuing a career in finance. I was studying for my Series 7 license to become a stockbroker and already had a job lined up.

It was during that time that I clearly heard the call to go to seminary. I ended up leaving that path entirely. My plan had been to be a stockbroker by day and a musician by night—but instead, I left everything to attend seminary.

After ordination, I served in several large parishes in the Chicago area. My first parish had about 1,500 families, and the next had around 1,000. While serving as a parish priest, I was approached by the Illinois State Police and invited to serve as a chaplain. I did that for five years alongside my parish work. After that, I was asked to serve with a sheriff’s department just outside Chicago, where I spent eight years.

Academically, I completed my doctoral dissertation on the theology of lethal force for law enforcement and the military. The military formally acknowledged that work, and I was named an honorary colonel in the U.S. Army, serving as a deputy chaplain while continuing my work as a clergyman.

I first became involved in human trafficking awareness around 2010. In 2012, Archbishop Demetrios reached out to me about potentially representing the Archdiocese in anti–human trafficking efforts. We had some early discussions, but the initiative stalled for a time. I went through several parish transfers and continued my work in law enforcement chaplaincy.

Currently, I serve as the Chief Chaplain for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. I oversee seven field offices, nearly 800 employees, and the other chaplains within the Bureau.

In 2022—about ten years after those initial conversations—I revisited the issue of human trafficking with Archbishop Elpidophoros. He was very supportive of launching a national ministry and aligning it with the work I was already doing in law enforcement. Alongside my role at the Bureau, I work as a trainer with a human trafficking unit.

I also founded the Aristevi Foundation—which stands for Active Response in Supporting Trafficked Victims’ Educational and Vocational Initiative. This past year alone, we assisted 254 survivors of human trafficking and interpersonal violence.

Within the Bureau, we have St. Barbara Chapel, which the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has designated as the Shrine for Human Freedom. The chapel specifically serves human trafficking survivors, while also addressing the spiritual needs of Bureau personnel.

Fr. Spiro receives an award from the Nashville court system acknowledging his work in the anti-human trafficking arena

OYM: How do you balance the pastoral side of your work with the law enforcement side?

Fr. Peter Spiro: One concept that comes up in both law enforcement and pastoral work is culpability—when a person’s actions are weighed against their circumstances. That question exists in both realms.

I don’t make arrests or engage in enforcement directly. My role within the Bureau focuses on spiritual care and psychological support. I also work with the human trafficking unit as a trainer, particularly training faith-based organizations.

That balance is always difficult. You see the full spectrum of outcomes. Some survivors recover and rebuild their lives, and some don’t. This past year, we lost two survivors—one to suicide and one to overdose. We also had a couple of cases where things simply fell apart.

At the same time, we had successes. This year, two survivors completed their education—one became a dental hygienist and another a phlebotomist. So you really see everything.

Human trafficking involves profound trauma. The abuse can come from family members, from people the victim knows and trusts, or from circumstances that led them into exploitation. No one chooses this life. Recovery is incredibly difficult—it takes years, often a lifetime, of working through what they’ve endured.

We had one survivor who was trafficked and also run over by her father and left for dead on the side of the road. When we talk about spiritual recovery, we are rebuilding a person’s understanding of who God is and where God was in their suffering.

One of the most important things I tell survivors is this: when you were crying, God was crying too.

Many ask, “Why was God quiet? Where was He? Did I do something wrong?” Pastoral work is about rebuilding a simple theology—helping them reconnect with faith and understand God’s presence in a way that does not blame them for their trauma.

Beyond the spiritual side, survivors have educational, vocational, physical, and practical needs—healthcare, housing, substance abuse treatment, basic necessities. There are many moving parts.

From a law enforcement perspective, most trafficking units today operate from a victim-centered approach. The goal is to advocate for victims, bring resources to them, and avoid prosecuting them for crimes committed while they were being trafficked. Culpability is considered, but compassion comes first.

At national conferences—like the International Association of Human Trafficking Investigators—you see this mindset clearly. Investigators approach survivors the way EMTs approach someone at an accident scene: first asking, What do you need? Have you eaten? Do you have clothes? Do you have a safe place to go?

Law enforcement works alongside NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and survivor organizations to move people from victims to survivors. That’s where the pastoral and law enforcement worlds meet—both focused on healing, restoration, and dignity.

Aristevi provides offerings such as equine therapy for survivors (left), as well as a boutique where they can receive free clothing (center and right)

OYM: Would it be okay if I referred to what you do as your “ministry”—specifically Aristevi—or would you prefer a different framing?

Fr. Peter Spiro: That works stylistically, but what I actually do spans three areas.

First, I work within government law enforcement. Second, I’m the Director of the Archdiocese’s Freedom Ministry, which is the Church’s faith-based response to eradicating enslavement through outreach and education. And third, I run an NGO — Aristevi.

So my work connects the NGO world, faith-based ministry, and government. As far as I know, I’m the only clergyman, across denominations, working fully within all three spaces at once.

OYM: Could you share the story behind how you became involved in anti–human trafficking work—particularly through Aristevi? What inspired you to begin this work and focus on helping survivors?

Fr. Peter Spiro:  Recently, through Aristevi, we helped a survivor have the names of her traffickers removed from her body — tattoos that had been forced on her. She wanted to be able to look in the mirror without seeing their names, especially as she prepares for court proceedings.

That raises a simple but important question: Who helps with that? Who provides something like that?

Our goal is to restore dignity—to bring peace, spirituality, and ultimately joy back into their lives. We want survivors to understand that there are good people in the world who care for them, who want to help, and who want to provide a future beyond what they endured.

This work is about taking away the nightmare of what they’ve been through and helping them imagine a life with hope—one where they can dream again.

OYM: Was there a specific moment you can recall when you realized this was your calling — something that made you say, this is what I have to do?

Fr. Peter Spiro:  I don’t know if there was one single moment, but after working in law enforcement for so many years, you see a tremendous amount of suffering — especially among children. You see it in violent domestic situations, in the foster system, and in the tragic reality that many children aging out of foster care end up in the hands of traffickers.

One experience that really stayed with me happened while I was serving at a parish where we were helping provide resources for children in the local school system who were less fortunate. I was speaking with a woman who worked for Metro Nashville Public Schools, and she told me that there were about 4,000 homeless children in the system. This was several years ago.

When I heard that number, I immediately thought about the statistics — roughly 20% of homeless children are trafficked. That means around 800 of those children were at risk. That’s a staggering number.

And these children weren’t homeless because their parents were lazy or struggling with addiction. It was largely due to gentrification. Families were living in lower-cost rental housing, those homes were bought up, torn down, and suddenly these families were pushed into rent brackets they simply couldn’t afford. Many became homeless almost overnight. That’s been the reality in downtown Nashville and many surrounding neighborhoods.

Thinking about those children — their age, their vulnerability, and how quickly their dreams for the future could be taken away — was a major turning point for me. It made clear that we need prevention through education, which is part of the work of the Archdiocese’s Freedom Ministry at the parish level. Through the Bureau, I also educate faith-based organizations and work alongside government agencies and NGOs.

But education alone isn’t enough. We also need aftercare. We need to be able to offer survivors something tangible — an Orthodox expression of care, love, and support that helps restore dignity and hope.

OYM: Could you go into more detail about the Orthodox approach — how Orthodoxy specifically shapes the way you do this work?

Fr. Peter Spiro: Being a priest, you can’t really separate the priesthood from your approach. I wear a collar, they know I’m a priest, and they know I represent the Church. That’s simply part of who I am in these spaces.

One of the things that’s really striking, especially here in the South where Protestantism is predominant, is how unfamiliar people are with the richness of the Orthodox Church — particularly the saints and the early tradition of the Church. When I was in Chicago, Catholicism was much more present culturally, so there was at least some shared understanding. Here, that’s often not the case.

When people come into the chapel and see the icons, when they hear about the saints, it’s often the first time they’ve encountered anything like this. I have relics of Saint Barbara and Saint Vitalis. Saint Vitalis was a monk who would go into brothels, pay for a woman’s freedom for the night, and tell her to rest while he spoke to her about Christ. He was eventually martyred because people misunderstood his actions. At his funeral, women came forward and testified that he had saved their lives. I was blessed to receive a relic of Saint Vitalis through Jerusalem.

When survivors hear these stories — when they learn about Saint Barbara and what she endured at the hands of her own father — it resonates deeply. It helps them understand that the saints are not abstract figures. They are models for our lives. They experienced real trauma, real suffering, and yet became vessels of grace, healing, and hope for future generations.

That’s powerful for someone who has never seen this before. Many of the survivors we work with have had no church experience at all. Not Protestant, not Catholic — nothing. Some were trafficked at such a young age that their happiest memories are tied to childhood themes. We’ve had birthday parties where the themes were things like Hello Kitty or Cookie Monster, because those were the last times they remember feeling safe.

So you have adults whose spiritual lives never had the chance to develop. Bringing them into a chapel rich with iconography, incense, candlelight — engaging all the senses for the first time — is incredibly powerful. It’s not just informational; it’s experiential.

For me, as a priest, it’s a gift to be able to present the Orthodox Church to someone who has never encountered it. And what’s beautiful is that it doesn’t just impact the survivors — it rekindles faith in the volunteers and others present as well. They’re reminded of the depth and beauty of our faith, sometimes in ways they had taken for granted.

That’s one of the great blessings of this work: Orthodoxy doesn’t just inform healing — it participates in it.

An icon depicting St. Vitalis (left) and St. Barbara (right)

OYM: You mentioned earlier how human trafficking is often hidden in plain sight. We hear so much about national tragedies that dominate the news, but this doesn’t always get the same attention. Raising awareness feels incredibly important. With that in mind, —what does a typical day look like for you?

Fr. Peter Spiro: I used to think that when I was assigned to a parish, my day was unpredictable because parish life is always reactive. Now, I really don’t know what I’m going to get at all.

There are so many moving parts. One day might involve dealing with an issue at the Bureau that requires traveling across the state — sometimes a three-and-a-half-hour drive, sometimes a flight to a field office. Another day might involve responding to the needs of a survivor, whether that’s the Bureau reaching out to me or a survivor contacting us directly for help.

On the Archdiocese side, I travel extensively. In 2025 alone, I was on 36 planes — 34 of those were for Archdiocesan speaking engagements at parishes. In January alone, I’ll be in four states in four weeks: Oregon, California, New York, and Florida.

Some days it feels like drinking from a fire hose — but honestly, I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

And to be very candid, there are days that unfold in ways you could never anticipate. I was once attacked by someone who came to one of our facilities looking for a girl and was shot at multiple times. That was certainly not a day I expected.

OYM: What are some of the other challenges you’ve faced — either when you were first starting this work in anti-trafficking, or challenges you continue to face now?

Fr. Peter Spiro: There are several challenges. One of the biggest is that some clergy and parishes believe, “This can’t happen here.” They might be in an affluent area, or assume that trafficking only affects certain kinds of communities. But the vulnerabilities that lead someone into trafficking are not only financial.

It can be domestic violence in the home, sexual abuse, depression, bullying at school — things that have nothing to do with socioeconomic status. Trafficking doesn’t discriminate based on zip code.

Another major challenge is helping clergy understand the demand side of trafficking, and knowing when not to handle something alone. Faith leaders need to feel empowered to refer people for professional help rather than trying to carry everything themselves.

For example, if someone comes to a clergyman and admits to struggling with child pornography, that is not something a priest can — or should — handle on his own. Priests need to be well-equipped to utilize outside resources and referrals for deeper psychological help. Often, what begins as pornography escalates into active abuse. That person needs to be referred immediately to systems that can address the issue appropriately. Clergy need safeguards and referral networks in place.

This isn’t about blaming pastors or priests. It’s about education — helping them understand the vulnerabilities connected to trafficking so they can respond wisely and responsibly. If we don’t know what to look for, how can we protect people? It’s like termites: if you don’t know the signs, the damage is already happening behind the walls.

That lack of awareness is one of the reasons trafficking has grown to the scale it has. It operates quietly, in the background. Once faith leaders understand that, they can begin adjusting pastoral practices, putting safeguards in place, and supporting parishioners before they fall into danger.

Funding is another constant challenge. Everything we do costs money—and there’s no revenue coming in. We’re not selling anything. We’re just giving.

We’ve put survivors through higher education, including a master’s degree at Oxford. We’ve paid for full dental restoration, tattoo removals, medical care, legal support, documentation services, car repairs, housing, clothing — whatever is needed to restore dignity and stability.

At our chapel, we had 36 trafficking survivors attend the Christmas service. They don’t pay stewardship. We don’t pass a tray. We often give them Uber money just to get there. We provide meals, Christmas gifts, and gift cards for medications or necessities.

So the dynamic is completely reversed from parish life. Instead of asking people to give, we’re constantly giving to people who have nothing left to give — and that’s as it should be. But it does mean we have to pace ourselves carefully and steward resources wisely.

The table is turned in a very different way.

Survivors approach Fr. Spiro at the end of a church service to receive a blessing.

OYM: Based on your experience, what advice would you give to a young person who wants to start or get involved in a ministry, while remaining rooted in the Orthodox faith?

Fr. Peter Spiro: I would say, first and foremost: pace yourself.

I’ve seen many people enter ministry with a lot of zeal and then burn out because they take on too much, too quickly, without establishing a sustainable rhythm. That doesn’t just affect the individual — it can be devastating to a ministry if someone commits to something and then can’t carry it through.

Any ministry should be approached with the long game in mind. It’s not about how much you can cram into your schedule, but about balance — serving the ministry while also fueling yourself spiritually, emotionally, and personally.

For me, one of those counterbalances is music. I’m a musician, and playing guitar helps offset the weight of the work I do. Ministry gives a lot, but it also takes a lot. You can finish a marathon and feel proud of the accomplishment, but you’re still exhausted afterward — you need hydration, rest, and recovery.

Ministry is the same way. It should bring you peace, even if it’s draining at times. St. Seraphim of Sarov says, “Acquire inner peace, and thousands around you will be saved.” If you don’t have inner peace, you don’t really have anything to offer.

Everything needs balance — pan metron ariston, “all things in moderation.” Don’t go too far in one direction or another. Someone who can give one focused, fully present hour is far more effective than someone who’s there all day but distracted or burnt out.

That balance is what allows you to serve well and to serve long.

Fr. Spiro after speaking to students at Saint Demetrios High School in Astoria, New York

OYM: Are there any concluding thoughts you’d like to leave with our readers? And for those who want to learn more or get involved, where can they find additional information about your work?

Fr. Peter Spiro: Yes. The Archdiocese’s website for this work is freedom.goarch.org, and my email is frpeter@goarch.org. Anyone is welcome to reach out—whether they have questions, want to schedule a training or presentation, or are part of a local young adult or youth group interested in learning more.

I’ve done presentations for young adult groups before, including multi-parish gatherings. Young adults are at a great age — not only to become aware of these issues, but also to respond proactively. I’m always happy to guide people on what they can do locally or how they might support the work in a meaningful way.

I’m always open to emails and conversations, and I’m grateful for opportunities to speak and share this work wherever there’s interest.

(From left:) Fr. Peter speaks on how to combat human trafficking at the United Nations Church in New York, the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland