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==Archbishop Anthony of San Francisco==
=== Introduction ===
On September 23, at 12:10 pm, the Ruling Archbishop of the [http://www.wadiocese.com|Western American Diocese] of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]], His Eminence Archbishop Anthony, died. Vladyka Anthony led the Western American Diocese over the course of 32 years—not one Orthodox bishop in the USA held a cathedra for such a long period of time. With the death of Archbishop Anthony, one of the last threads connecting us to [[pre-revolutionary Russia]] has been broken, a bond to the tradition of old Russian monasticism, with a direct succession of the spirit of the founders of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Archbishop Anthony was the last bishop of the Russian Church born and raised in pre-revolutionary Russia, having assumed the monkhood at an early age, and who knew the great abba, [[Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky)]] of blessed memory.
Thirty-two years ago, on the [[Veneration of the Cross]] during Great Lent, Vladyka Anthony, newly appointed by the Council of Bishops, arrived from Australia. There were 16 parishes in the Western American Diocese at the time. The Parish of the [[Catheral]] had not yet recovered from the difficult period of the construction of the new church. In the 1960's, the Diocese was divided into two parts, the Western American Diocese and the Southern Californian Diocese. There were a few parishes directly subject to the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. There were two cadet organizations and two scout organizations. With the arrival of His Eminence Archbishop Anthony in San Francisco, a period of healing, a period of the restoration of peace and unity began. [[Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky)]] of blessed memory would speak of the main, brightest and most endearing trait of Archbishop Anthony, his love: "It makes peace among those who quarrel and softens angry and spiteful hearts, it acts upon them like a balm poured into roiling seas."
