Orthodox Church in America

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The Orthodox Church in America (OCA, sometimes TOCA) is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, currently led by Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko). Its autocephaly is not universally recognized.

It began with the missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands with the arrival of eight monks, led by Archimandrite Ioasef, at Kodiak Island on September 24, 1794. This mission was created as a separate Diocese of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands on June 10, 1870 after the sale of Alaska to the United States. By the late nineteenth century, the center of church activity moved to the northeastern United States as Slavic immigrants, largely of Carpathian and Galician stock, returned to the Orthodox Church from the Unia under the leadership of Father Alexis Toth (canonized in 1994 by the OCA as St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre).

As the diocesan bishop from 1897 to 1907, Bishop Tikhon (Belavin) led the expanding growth of the church in the United States; in recognition of the expansion of the diocese beyond Alaska, he petitioned the Holy Synod in Moscow to change the diocese's title to the Diocese of the Aleutians and North America. This was approved in February 1900.

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution brought communication between the churches in North America and Russia to an almost complete halt. In the early 1920s, Tikhon (then Patriarch of Moscow) directed all Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia to govern themselves autonomously until regular communication and travel could be resumed. (He died in 1925, and was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1989). At that time, parishes that had been part of a single North American Diocese organized separate dioceses and placed themselves under various other mother churches, giving rise to the current situation of multiple overlapping jurisdictions in North America.

In the early 1960s, the Orthodox Church in America (then using the name Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America) resumed communication with the Patriarch of Moscow, and in 1970 full communion was restored. At that time, the Patriarch of Moscow officially granted the OCA autocephaly, or self-governing administrative status. The OCA's autocephaly is not currently recognized by all other autocephalous Orthodox Churches (e.g., the Church of Constantinople). This is essentially an administrative matter, however, and most of these churches recognize the OCA as canonical and its sacraments as valid.

Within the past twenty years, the OCA has established more than 220 new parishes. It is a member of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA), together with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOCA) and the other member jurisdictions. Serious consideration has been given recently to a possible merger between the OCA and the AOCA. Both groups share a significant common history, in that a Syrian priest, Father Raphael Hawaweeny, was sent by the Moscow Patriarchate in the late 19th century as a missionary to Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians living in North America. Raphael was ordained a bishop in 1904, and his flock eventually became the AOCA. Bishop Raphael was canonized in March of 2000 by both the OCA and AOCA as St. Raphael of Brooklyn.

1 Name
2 Structure and administration
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Name

According to the April 1970 Tomos of Autocephaly granted by the Russian Orthodox Church, the official name of the Church is The Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America.^[1] The more comprehensive March 1970 Agreement of Tomos of Autocephaly, however, states in Article VIII that the legal name of the Church was changed to "Orthodox Church in America" (with no definite article).^[2]

In 2005, Tikhon (Fitzgerald), Bishop of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the West, commented that the official name of the jurisdiction is The Orthodox Church in America (TOCA), but the definite article was dropped due to a printing error.^[3] There has not yet been any official announcement from the central administration of the Church, and the former uses (Orthodox Church in America and OCA) remain the most common both within and outside the jurisdiction.

[edit] Structure and administration

[edit] Episcopacy

The supreme canonical authority of the OCA is the Holy Synod of Bishops, comprised of all the Church's diocesan bishops. The ex officio chairman of the Holy Synod is the metropolitan, currently Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko). The Holy Synod meets twice annually, however special sessions can be called either by the metropolitan or at the request at least three diocesan bishops.^[4]

[edit] Metropolitan

See also: List of primates of the Orthodox Church in America

The primate of the OCA is the metropolitan. He also serves as the bishop of one of the Church's dioceses. With the other bishops of the Church, the metropolitan is considered the first among equals. His official title is "Metropolitan of All-America and Canada." His role is to manage the welfare of the Church, and to act as its representative with other Orthodox Churches, religious organizations, and secular authorities. The metropolitan is elected, when necessary, by the Holy Synod at an All-American Council (a general council of OCA clergy and laity). There are no age or term limits for the metropolitan, and he may retire at any time, but usually does so only for health-related reasons.^[5]

[edit] Dioceses

For more details on this topic, see List of the dioceses of the Orthodox Church in America.

The diocese is the basic church body that comprises all the parishes of a determined geographical area. It is governed by the Diocesan Bishop, with the assistance of a Diocesan Assembly and a Diocesan Council. The OCA is currently composed of twelve geographic and three ethnic dioceses. The boundaries of the ethnic dioceses overlap those of certain geographic ones. These dioceses are the result of smaller ethnic jurisdictions joining the OCA at some point in its history, usually after having broken from other bodies. Dioceses are established by the Holy Synod whenever needed, and the Synod may also modify the boundaries of an existing diocese.^[6]

Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches of Eastern Orthodoxy

Autocephalous Churches