Archbishop Leonty of Chile and Peru passed away on this day in 1971. When I came to the seminary in Jordanville in 1990, I was interested in everything connected with the Russian “anti-Sergianist” Catacomb Church. With this in mind, I came across the issue of the above pictured journal Orthodox Word (July-August 1981) containing the article with the subtitle “Archbishop Leonty of Chile: Confessor of Heartfelt Orthodoxy.” The connection between the underground church and the Russian Church Abroad, which I found there, was facinated and I decided to write an article on him for the monastery’s Russian language journal Pravoslavnaia Rus’ [Orthodox Russia] for which I was an editor. While I kept receiving more and more materials, this article assignment turned into a bachelor’s in theology graduating thesis. Archbishop Laurus, Editor in Chief of Pravolsavnaia Rus’ was my academic supervisor and librarian Mrs Larisa Ivanovna Litwinonowicz (a daughter of the Ukrainian scholar Metropolitan Hilarion Ohienko of Winnipeg) instructed me about the paper’s format. This work was serialized in 1996 March-May issues of Pravoslavnaia Zhizn’ [Orthodox Life], a monthly supplement to Pravoslavnaia Rus’. After this publication, materials were still coming in. My signature lack of good planning skills played its role. I was diving deeper and deeper into Archbishop Leonty’s life exploring on foot Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, but failing to begin writing. However, I am still not giving up, and the biography of Archbishop Leonty occupies a prominent spot on my “bucket list.” But why is he important? Archbishop Leonty was born in 1904. 18 years old, he came to Kiev Caves Lavra to become a monk there. He knew church people of the old disappearing Russia and was actively involved with defending the Church against the Soviets and schismatics. In the midst of post-revolution circumstances, Archbishop Leonty did not get solid theological education and this fact is also telling for post-World War Two events of the history of the Russian Church Abroad. Having found himself in emigration, Archbishop Leonty continued to struggle for Orthodoxy, although often seeing complex matters in binary black and white. This mind set would at times lead him to disagreement with Metropolitan Anastassy and consequences of this attitude left a lasting impact on the ROCOR. It is enough to say that Archbishop Leonty inspired Gleb and Eugene Rose with the idea of “Independent Orthodox Workers.” No one deserves to be patronized including Archbishop Leonty. Please say a prayer that I may complete this book before I die. He was an ascetic figure, a co-struggler of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, and passed away on the same day with him, but five years later. Relevant Resources in English, more are in Russian, on ROCOR Studies. | 
