Bishop Paul was a native of Catalonia, Barcelona, and previously a Franciscan monk. Upon turning to Orthodoxy he studied in seminaries at Athens and Halki. He was ordained in Athens as a Deacon in 1953 and as a Priest in 1954. His ministry as a priest was first in Constantinople (1954-1959) and then in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (1959-1984). In 1970 he was consecrated titular Bishop of Nazianzus (in New York) with its seat in Mexico. News of his murder was reported on the first page of the newspaper Kathemerini, on Saturday, February 4, 1984: