Archbishop Dmitri (Royster)
August 28, 2011

Archbishop Dmitri was a member of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America and the founder of the Diocese of the South. Born Robert Royster in Teague, Texas, in 1923 to Baptist parents, he and his sister converted to Holy Orthodoxy in 1941 at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Dallas. During WWII he served as a Japanese interpreter on the staff of Douglas McArthur. After the war he continued his studies in languages, earning an M.A. in Spanish from the Southern Methodist University. He was ordained a priest in 1953 and made auxiliary bishop of Berkeley, California, in 1969, and in 1971 was elected bishop of Hartford and New England. In 1978 he was made ruling bishop of the newly formed Diocese of the South. During his tenure as hierarch, the diocese grew from 12 parishes to more than 70. Vladyka Dmitri was granted retirement in 2009 and reposed in the Lord on August 28 (old calendar Dormition), 2011. In 2016 his body was transferred from Restland Cemetery to a crypt built for him at St. Seraphim’s Cathedral in Dallas. During the process it was discovered that his relics had not decayed.