Paul L'Huillier (December 3, 1926,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

– November 19, 2007, Bronxville, New York) was a prominent

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and the archbishop of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA is partly recognized as autocephalous and consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions ...

's Diocese of New York and New Jersey.

Biography

Paul L'Huillier converted to

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

in 1945 while enrolled at St. Denys Institute in Paris. On August 30, 1954, he was

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice i ...

d as a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

and took the name of "Peter". On September 4 and 5, 1954, he was ordained hierodeacon and

hieromonk A hieromonk ( el, Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; ka, მღვდელმონაზონი, tr; Slavonic: ''Ieromonakh'', ro, Ieromonah), also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church an ...

by Archbishop Boris (Vik), Exarch of the Russian Patriarchate in Europe. In 1960, L'Huillier was elevated to the rank of

archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") wh ...

. On September 12, 1968, L'Huillier was consecrated Bishop of

Chersonesus Chersonesus ( grc, Χερσόνησος, Khersónēsos; la, Chersonesus; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, ''Khersones''; also rendered as ''Chersonese'', ''Chersonesos'', contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson Χερσών; ...

(Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe). In 1979 he was invited to serve in the Orthodox Church in America by Metropolitan

Theodosius (Lazor) Metropolitan Theodosius (secular name Frank Lazor; , Canonsburg, Pennsylvania) was the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) from 1977 until his retirement in 2002. On , Metropolitan Theodosius (who had suffered a series of strokes) s ...

. L'Huillier accepted and was installed as Bishop of

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that year. Two years later, he succeeded Metropolitan Theodosius as Bishop of New York and New Jersey. In 1990 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. The author of several books, L'Huillier's final volume spurred some disagreements in Orthodox circles. Published by St. Vladimir's Press, it urged the Orthodox Churches to adopt the Western Christian calculation of Easter, aka '' Paschalion''. This has been a controversial topic for some time in Eastern Orthodox discourse. Some critics of the book emphasized that only the Eastern Paschalion holds to the Nicene Council's 4th century prohibition on celebrating the resurrection before the Jewish Passover. Some argued that abandonment of that stipulation could even imply a subtle subtext of antisemitism, since it would further decouple the connection between Christianity and Judaism. This criticism is made on both historical and contemporary grounds, the latter because Western Christianity annually ignores contemporary Jews' calculation of Passover. Subsequent to L'Huillier's retirement from the episcopate in 2005, the Diocese of New York and New Jersey was combined with the Diocese of Washington ( D.C.) to create the Diocese of Washington and New York. Both during his episcopate and subsequent to his retirement, L'Huillier taught

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Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is an Eastern Orthodox seminary in Yonkers, New York. It is chartered under the State University of New York and accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. It is a pan-Eastern Or ...

. L'Huillier died in Bronxville, New York on November 19, 2007. He was buried at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Episcopal succession

References

1926 births 2007 deaths Clergy from Paris Eastern Orthodox Christians from France 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops French emigrants to the United States Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America Bishops of New York Burials in Pennsylvania 21st-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops 20th-century American clergy 21st-century American clergy {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub