Metropolitan Theodosius ( secular name: Frank Lazor; 27 October 193319 October 2020,

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Canonsburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 9,735 at the 2020 census. Canonsburg was laid out by Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 180 ...

) was the

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

(OCA) from 1977 until his retirement in 2002. He was the first primate of the OCA who was born in the United States. On 2 April 2002, Metropolitan Theodosius (who had suffered a series of strokes) submitted a petition to the Holy Synod of the OCA, requesting his retirement. The Holy Synod granted his request, and announced an election for his replacement to be held on 22 July 2002, at the OCA's Thirteenth All-American Council in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. He was succeeded by Metropolitan

Herman (Swaiko) Metropolitan Herman (born Joseph Swaiko, 1 February 1932 – 6 September 2022) was the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). As the head of the OCA, he was the Archbishop of Washington and New York, and Metropolitan of All America ...

. On 19 October 2020, Theodosius died following an "extended illness" in his hometown of Canonsburg just 8 days shy of his 87th birthday.

Notes and references

1933 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American clergy 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops 21st-century American clergy 21st-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops People from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Primates of the Orthodox Church in America Religious leaders from Pennsylvania {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub