Obituary: Metropolitan Nicholas / Leader of Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in U.S.
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Metropolitan Nicholas of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A.
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Metropolitan Nicholas, an Orthodox bishop whose Christian influence far outweighed the size of his American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in the United States, died Sunday of cancer.
Because of his heritage and education, Metropolitan Nicholas "bridged the Slavic and Greek worlds of Orthodoxy. He was a very unifying figure," said the Rev. Mark Arey, ecumenical officer of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.
The Rev. Frank Miloro, chancellor of the Carpatho-Russian diocese, said the metropolitan "was very much interested in the spiritual renewal of the people of the diocese, and he succeeded in that to a great extent. Secondly, he was interested in renewal involving other Christian churches. ... He was truly an ecumenist and not afraid to say so."
Bishop John Kudrick of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio -- a tradition with which Metropolitan Nicholas sought to rebuild ties 50 years after a bitter schism -- said, "All Christianity grieves the loss of an exemplary spiritual leader."
He was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., the son of immigrants from the Carpathian mountains of Eastern Europe. The family had been Eastern Catholic, loyal to the pope but maintaining Orthodox traditions that included a married priesthood. After the Vatican banned married Eastern Catholic priests for America in 1929, many Catholics left what is now the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh and formed the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, under the jurisdiction of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople.
Ordained in 1959, he attended the Orthodox seminary in Johnstown, where he later served as rector. He also studied at the Ecumenical Patriarchate's seminary in Halki, Turkey, spending time in the Holy Land and on Mount Athos, the monastic center on the Greek coast. He took monastic vows and was abbot of a monastery in New York when he was elected auxiliary bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in 1983. In 1985 he became the Carpatho-Russian primate.
He presided over a liturgical revival and promoted youth ministry and mission outreach. After an initial invitation from the late Metropolitan Judson Procyk of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh, Metropolitan Nicholas promoted a mutually supportive relationship between the estranged churches. He had represented the ecumenical patriarch at the Vatican's Synod of Bishops.
First Published March 15, 2011 12:00 am
