Laurus (Škurla)
Russian bishop
Died when: 80 years 75 days (962 months)Star Sign: Capricorn
Metropolitan Laurus (Slovak: Metropolita Laurus, secular name Vasily Mikhaylovich Shkurla, Russian: Василий Михайлович Шкурла, or Vasil' Škurla in Slovakian;
January 1, 1928 – March 16, 2008) was First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), the fifth cleric to hold that position.
Born in Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to the United States in 1946 after World War II with brothers from his monastery.They joined the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, established in 1928 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
Father Laurus was ordained to the priesthood in 1954 and advanced within the church.Late in his life, after the fall of the Soviet Union, he negotiated the fourth ROCOR agreement, which reunited ROCOR to the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate based in Moscow.
In 2007 he participated in a joint celebration of the Divine Liturgy with the Patriarch of Moscow at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow.
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