Carl G Purvenas-Smith
| Styles of His Beatitude, the Most Reverend Metropolitan Carl Gregory | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | Your Beatitude |
| Spoken style | His Beatitude |
Carl G Purvenas-Smith, OSB (His Beatitude, the Most Reverend) is an autonomous Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop.
His biography reads: "His Beatitude, the Most Reverend Carl Gregory, OSB, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Orthodox Apostolic Vicariate of the Holy Protection has lived a rather interesting life, if he does say so himself! Born in Stockholm, Sweden, to an American mother and a Lithuanian father, he grew up and had his first birthday in a three-generation household in Washington, DC. He stayed in DC except for two European adventures.
His Beatitude speaks eight languages well and accepts being called a polyglot. Linguistically, he felt somewhat impoverished as his aunt spoke 23 languages plus dialects and had a hobby of learning one language a year. He lived with her in Germany from 1958 to 1959, just one of his many European adventures.
From a religious standpoint, he was baptized in the Swedish Lutheran Church, a part of the Anglican Communion. His mother divorced and married a devout Roman Catholic, and they were received into the Roman Catholic branch of Christianity. He attended Roman Catholic schools through elementary school, high school, and three years of seminary college. In the second semester of his junior year at St. Mary's Seminary and University, he developed duodenal ulcers and spent his last two weeks of seminary in a hospital bed. At that point, he took a leave of absence from the educational portion of his seminary training. He moved back to Washington and rented an efficiency apartment next to Walter Reed Hospital, where he did chaplaincy work and served in the parish. The pastor was thrilled to have a "freebie" deacon equivalent.
In 1991, he was ordained a deacon, six months later ordained to the holy priesthood, and two years after that, he was elected Bishop.
His Beatitude is a cancer survivor and continues doing multiple strength training and Zumba sessions weekly. He is a licensed Zumba and Zumba Gold instructor and even acquired the name "the Dancing Bishop!"
His Episcopal motto says, "I come to serve, not to be served!" So he is here to walk with you, to be with you, and to help you in whatever way he can, especially to bring you to meet God face to face. Peace!
His Beatitude serves as the Ecclesiarch for the Orthodox Community of Saint Brigid[1] and Saint Dymphna Orthodox Church[2], as Metropolitan Archbishop of the Orthodox Apostolic Vicariate of the Holy Protection[3], as the Bishop's Representative to the Leadership Council of the Mother Church - the United American Catholic Church[4], he is the Abbot of the Contemporary Benedictines of Peace[5], and is the National Church representative of the International Council of Community Churches[6].
Eucharistic Communities[edit]
| Title | Community | City | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-Founder | New Creation Abbey | New Tripoli, PA | Present |
| Abbot | New Creation Abbey | New Tripoli, PA | Present |
| Bishop | United American Catholic Church | Americas | 1991-Present |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Orthodox Apostolic Vicariate of the Holy Protection | Americas | 2024-Present |
| Ecclesiarch | Orthodox Community of Saint Brigid | Americas | 2024-Present |
| Ecclesiarch | Saint Dymphna Orthodox Christian Church | Phoenix | 2024-Present |
- ↑ https://www.ocsb-monastics.org/community
- ↑ https://www.stdymphna.org/people/metropolitangregory
- ↑ https://uacatholicchurch.org/news/most-rev-carl-gregory-first-metropolitan-of-the-uacc
- ↑ https://uacatholicchurch.org/people/most-rev-carl-purvenas-smith-osb
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/BenedictinesOfPeace/
- ↑ https://www.icccnow.org/hp_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-ICCC-Membership-Directory.pdf
