Burbank, Illinois, March 13, 2022
Photo: wp.com
The Orthodox Church in America’s ruling hierarch of the Diocese of Chicago and Midwest has been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer.
His Eminence Archbishop Paul, 69, has been the Bishop of Chicago for just over seven years, having served as a priest for 20 years before his episcopal ministry.
Unfortunately, His Eminence received a diagnosis of an aggressive form of brain cancer last week. The diocesan press service reports:
This past week, His Eminence Archbishop Paul was diagnosed with Multiforme Glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable brain cancer. His Eminence has chosen to work with his oncologists in order to slow the progress of his cancer, for as long as possible, through radiation and chemotherapy.
The clergy and faithful of the diocese are asked to increase their prayers for His Eminence during this trying time.
The good work of His Eminence will continue through the Chancery staff as usual.
May God grant His Eminence peace, safety, honor, health, and length of days, rightly to divide the word of Thy truth.
Last year, it was reported that His Eminence Archbishop Benjamin, the OCA’s hierarch of the Diocese of San Francisco and the West was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
His Eminence Archbishop David, the OCA’s Bishop of Sitka and Alaska, reposed in the Lord in November 2020, following a short battle with aggressive renal cancer. May his memory be eternal!
***
Abp. Paul’s biography from the site of the Orthodox Church in America:
Archbishop Paul was born in 1953 to Nicholas and Georgia Gassios, natives of Castanea, Greece. He, his parents, and his sister Agatha lived in Detroit until their move to the suburbs in 1973.
As an infant, he was baptized with the name Apostolos, in honor of the holy Apostle Paul, at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Detroit, MI—his home parish for the first 28 years of his life.
He graduated from Detroit’s Cooley High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, in 1971, after which he enrolled in Wayne State University as a history and psychology major. After his graduation in 1976, he worked with emotionally and physically abused children. He furthered his education at Wayne State, from which he received a Master of Social Work degree in 1980, and continued to work in his chosen field.
In the mid-1980s, he became a member of Holy Transfiguration Church, Livonia, MI. He began theological studies in September 1991 at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY, from which he received his Master of Divinity degree summa cum laude and served as valedictorian in 1994. He was ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence, the late Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest, on June 25, 1994.
After ordination, he was assigned Priest-in-Charge of Saint Thomas the Apostle Church, Kokomo, IN, which he served until June 2005, after which he resided at Saint Gregory Palamas Monastery, Hayesville, OH until May 2006. He briefly served as Rector of Archangel Michael Church, St. Louis, MO and the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Church, Desloge, MO before his transfer to the OCA’s Bulgarian Diocese and assignment as Dean of Saint George Cathedral, Rossford, OH in 2007. In August 2014, he was named Administrator of the Diocese of the Midwest and relocated to Chicago.
On October 20, 2014, he was tonsured to monastic rank with the name Paul, in honor of Saint Paul the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople. On October 21, 2014, the Holy Synod elected him to fill the vacant Episcopal See of Chicago and the Diocese of the Midwest.
Archimandrite Paul was consecrated to the Episcopacy and enthroned as Bishop of Chicago and the Midwest at Chicago’s historic Holy Trinity Cathedral on Saturday, December 27, 2014. Concelebrating at the Consecration Liturgy were His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon; His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the Romanian Episcopate; His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West; His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; His Eminence, Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas; His Grace, Bishop Irénée of Ottawa and Canada; His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey; His Grace, Bishop Alexander of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese; and His Grace, Bishop David of Sitka and Alaska. On Thursday, May 28, 2020 he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
Follow OrthoChristian on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
