GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
10 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021 (212) 570-3500 CABLE:
ARCHGREEK.NEWYORK
NEWS RELEASE
For
Immediate Release February 1, 1984
Greek Orthodox Bishop Paul Succumbs to Assailant's Bullets
NewYork, NY -
Bishop Paul of Nazianzos, 56, Auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop Iakovos
responsible for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, succumbed
January 31 to bullet wounds suffered on January 22 in Mexico City. Bishop
Paul had been in critical condition since he was shot as he left Saint
Sophia Cathedral after celebrating the Divine Liturgy by 70-year old Rafael
Roman Mondrago who then shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt.
Archbishop Iakovos presided at a memorial prayer service for the repose of
the soul of Bishop Paul in Saint Paul's Chapel at Archdiocesan headquarters
here at noon, January 31, and in his eulogy said: "Our beloved Bishop Paul,
whose body was ravaged and brought to an earthly end, is whole again as his
soul lives in the eternal and heavenly Kingdom of the Father of us all."
Archbishop Iakovos also announced that Metropolitan Silas of New Jersey
would officiate at the funeral services to be held Thursday, February 2 at
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Mexico City with the participation of Bishop
Gennadios of Buenos Aires and Bishop Anthony of the Syrian Orthodox Church
serving in Mexico. Investigating officers have established that the
assailant, who is reported out of danger, was a retired army officer who had
undergone brain surgery 12 months ago and had attacked Bishop Paul for
unknown reasons.
The
Rt.
Rev. Paul de Ballester, a former Roman Catholic monk, was the first convert
to Greek Orthodoxy to become a bishop in the Western Hemisphere when he was
elevated to the episcopacy on March 15, 1970. A native of
Barcelona, Spain, he received his primary and secondary education there.
In 1952, he entered the Theological School of the University
ofAthens and then later the Halki School of Theology of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate (Constantinople, Turkey) where he received a Master's Degree
in Orthodox Theology in 1958.
He was ordained a deacon in 1953 by Metropolitan Dionysios in Athens and on
June 26, 1954 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Chrysostomos in Athens,
Greece. He arrived in the United States in the fall of 1959 and was assigned
by Archbishop Iakovos to serve the Annunciation parish in Scranton, PA,
where he was afforded the opportunity to learn English.
In addition, he spoke Greek, Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Italian and Latin. In August 1966, he was named Archdiocesan
Vicar for Central America.This was preceded by a period of missionary
activity in which he visited most of the areas of Central and South America.
Active in ecumenical affairs, Bishop Paul attended the Uppsala general
Assembly of the World Council of Churches and represented Archbishop Iakovos
as an official observer at the Roman Catholic International Eucharistic
Congress in Bogota, Columbia.
He was a professor of ancient Greek and Greek civilization at the national
University in Mexico City and made frequent appearances on television and
radio where he discussed moral and religious issues.
Bishop Paul translated the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy into Spanish and
was the author of several
books and publications including: Our God, Your God, and God, The Journey
and the Work of Saint Paul of Spain, and My Conversion to Greek Orthodoxy1
(which has been translated into several languages).
During his service in Mexico City, he was instrumental in building a parish
complex which includes a community center, a parochial school and a parish
house. He also organized the Greek Orthodox youth and the Ladies
Philoptochos Society (Friends of the Poor).
1. Present text. It is the publisher's
sincere hope that with the broader title of "My Exodus", the amazing and
most powerful testimony of our blessed Bishop Paul will challenge readers
and attract seekers of the true Church of Christ, who may be disenchanted by
the present day impasse of their religious institutions, to follow his great
example. May his memory be
eternal!