Peter L'Huillier (December 3, 1926 Paris, France – November 19, 2007) was a prominent scholar and the archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of New York and New Jersey.
Paul L'Huillier converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1945, while enrolled at St. Denys Institute in Paris. On August 30, 1954, he was tonsured as a monk, and took the name Peter. On September 4 and 5, 1954, he was ordained hierodeacon and hieromonk by Archbishop Boris, Exarch of the Russian Patriarchate in Europe. In 1960, Peter was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.[1]
On September 12, 1968, Archimandrite Peter was consecrated Bishop of Chersonese (Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe). In 1979, Bishop Peter was invited to serve in the Orthodox Church in America by Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor). Bishop Peter accepted, and was installed as Bishop of Brooklyn that year. Two years later, he succeeded Metropolitan Theodosius as Bishop of New York and New Jersey. In 1990, Bishop Peter was elevated to the rank of archbishop.[1]
The author of several books, Archbishop Peter's final volume spurred some disagreements in Orthodox circles. Published by St. Vladimir's Press, it urged the Orthodox Churches to adopt the Western Christian calculation of Easter, aka Paschalion. This has been a controversial topic for some time in Eastern Orthodox discourse. Some critics of the book emphasized that only the Eastern Paschalion holds to the Nicene Council's 4th century prohibition on celebrating the Resurrection before the Jewish Passover. Some argued that abandonment of that stipulation could even imply a subtle subtext of antisemitism, since it would further decouple the connection between Christianity and Judaism. This criticism is made on both historical and contemporary grounds, the latter because Western Christianity annually ignores contemporary Jews' calculation of Passover.
Subsequent to Abp. Peter's retirement from the episcopate in 2005, the Diocese of New York and New Jersey was combined with the Diocese of Washington (D.C.) to create the Diocese of Washington and New York.
Both during his episcopate and subsequent to his retirement, Abp. Peter taught canon law at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.
The Archbishop died in Bronxville, New York on November 19, 2007. He was buried at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.[2]
| Episcopal lineage | |
| Consecrated by: | Nikodim (Rotov) and Anthony (Bloom) |
| Preceded by ? |
Bishop of Chersonese 1968–1979 |
Succeeded by ? |
| Preceded by John (Shahovskoy) |
Bishop of Brooklyn 1979–1981 |
Succeeded by vacant |
| Preceded by Theodosius (Lazor) |
Archbishop of New York and New Jersey 1981–2005 |
Succeeded by Herman (Swaiko) |