Dmitri (Royster)

His Eminence Dmitri
Dallas
Archbishop Dmitri
Diocese	Diocese of Dallas and the South, Mexican Exarchate (OCA)
See	Dallas, Texas
Predecessor	Diocese Created
Successor	Archbishop Alejo (Diocese of Mexico)
Other posts	Noted theological author, Orthodox liturgical text translator
Orders
Ordination	1954 (Holy Priesthood)
Consecration	June 29, 1969, May 9; 1993 (elevation to archbishop)
Personal details
Birth name	Robert Royster
Born	November 2, 1923 Teague, Texas
Died	August 28, 2011 (aged 88) Dallas, Texas
Buried	St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral (Dallas)
Nationality	American
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox, Orthodox Church in America
Occupation	Monastic
Profession	Archbishop

Archbishop Dmitri (November 2, 1923 – August 28, 2011) was a hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America. He served as archbishop of the church's Diocese of the South from 1978 to 2009 and was the ruling bishop of the Mexican Exarchate from 1972 to 2008. The territory of the diocese covered fourteen states in the United States – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Archbishop Dmitri was born as Robert Royster in Teague, Texas on November 2, 1923 and was raised as a Southern Baptist, being baptized (by single immersion) in the name of the Holy Trinity at age 12. Though his father was non-practicing, his mother was devout. Robert was instilled with a deep reverence for the Holy Scriptures at an early age. It was, for this reason, that he and his older sister became convinced that the spirit of Protestantism and the spirit of the Holy Scriptures were incompatible.

After finding incompatibility between Protestantism and the Holy Scriptures he and his sister began to search for "the original scriptural community and roots of the early church". He later stated: