Metropolitan Leontius (born Leonid Ieronimovich Turkevich, , 1876 in Kremenets, Volhynia

Volhynia

Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...

 - d. May 14, 1965) was the Metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 of the North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

 from 1950 until his death in 1965. He was succeeded by Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish)

Ireney (Bekish)

Metropolitan Ireney or Irenaeus was the primate of the Orthodox Church in America from 1965 until his retirement in 1977. He was succeeded by Metropolitan Theodosius .Metr...

. Metropolitan Leonty should not be confused with Archbishop Leonty (Filipovich), a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who died in 1971.

Leonid Ieronimovich Turkevich was ordained to the priesthood in 1905, and succeeded his father as parish priest of Kremenetz. He was transferred, along with his family, to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in October 1906 and became the rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of the newly established Orthodox seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 (St. Platon's) in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

. Fr. Leonid represented the American diocese of the Russian Church at the All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918 in Moscow, Russia.

Fr. Leonid, whose wife had died in 1925, was consecrated Bishop of Chicago in 1933. He was given the name Leonty during his tonsure as a monastic. Archbishop Leonty was elected Metropolitan of the diocese nearly unanimously during the 8th All-American Sobor, held in December 1950. He succeeded Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky), who died in June of that year.

In July 1988, Metropolitan Leonty's granddaughter, Tamara Turkevich Skvir, donated 50 bound volumes of diaries

Diary

A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...

 and papers covering the period from 1906—1964 to the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

. The collection also included approximately 2,000 poems as well as other miscellaneous memoranda and historical documents.