History of the Holy Orthodox Church
Part III - Orthodoxy in Europe and America
- The Greek Orthodox Church
- The Greek Orthodox Church in America
- The Russian Orthodox Church in America (The Orthodox Church of America)
- The Albanian Orthodox Church
- The Albanian Orthodox Church in America
- The Bulgarian Orthodox Church
- The Bulgarian Orthodox Church in America
- The Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church
- The Romanian Orthodox Church
- The Romanian Orthodox Church in America
- The Serbian Orthodox Church
- The Serbian Orthodox Church in America
- The Syrian (Antiochian) Orthodox Church
- The Syrian (Antiochian) Orthodox Church in America
- The Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- The Russian Orthodox Synod in Exile
The Orthodox Church in Greece traces its history back to the time of the Aposde Paul who was the first to preach Christianity in that country. St. Paul preached the Gospel at Philipi Salonika, Verria, Athens, Corinth and Crete. From these centers, Christianity spread to all parts of Greece.
At the beginning of the Christian era, the Church of Greece comprised a diocese with Corinth as its center. At that time Corinth, known as Achaia, was the most important city in Greece.
After the Roman Empire had been divided by Constantine, Greece and Macedonia constituted the diocese of Eastern Illyricum which was self-governing. For a time, jurisdiction was subordinated to the Roman Bishops but from the time of Emperor Leo the Third, in 733 A.D., Greece was acknowledged as a part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and thus the history of the Orthodox Church in Greece follows closely the history of the Church in Constantinople.
The Turkish Empire in the Balkans began to fall apart in the nineteenth century as one by one the provinces fought for political independence. Each new state wanted religious as well as national autonomy.
The first of the national Orthodox churches to come into existence was the Church of Greece. The spirit of Hellenism had been kept alive by the Greek Orthodox Church for several centuries and after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, the Orthodox clergy of Greece had worked constantly to prepare the people for rebellion against the Turkish yoke. When the Greek nation was ready to wage an unequal war for independence, it was Germanos, the Archbishop of Patras, who raised the standard of revolution and proclaimed the Greek rebellion against the Turks on Annunciation Day, March 25, 1821.
After the successful fight for freedom, it was apparent that the Orthodox Church of the free Greek people could no longer remain under the Patriarch of Constantinople who was still a captive of the Turkish Empire. Thus, from the time of the reek War of Independence, the Orthodox Church of Greece practically severed all relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Affairs of the church were unsettled until June 15, 1833, when a Synod of Bishops representing the liberated areas of Greece met at Nauplia and declared the church independent.
This action was taken without any previous agreement with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the result was that the independent Church of Greece was not recognized by the Patriarchate. After many debates and prolonged discussions over a seventeen-year period, the Greek government applied to the Patriarchate for recognition as independent while -giving justifications for the previous action.
In 1850, the Ecumenical Patriarchate issued a decree declaring the Church of Greece autocephalous. The Greek Church was to be governed by a Holy Synod composed of five members. In 1852 the parliament of Greece passed acts relating to Bishoprics, Bishops and the Clergy and enacted Statutes pertaining to the Church.
In 1864 the diocese of the Ionian Islands was added to the Church of Greece and in 1881 the dioceses of Thessaly and a part of Epirus were added.
The 1852 statutes passed by the Greek parliament, dealing with the government of the Church, had many faults and were unsatisfactory to the Church hierarchy. The law dealing with the selection of Bishops was particularly unsatisfactory, as under it the Synod could propose three candidates with the government making the final selection from these candidates. The result was that Bishoprics were often filled by those in favor with the government.
Success was not achieved until 1923, under Archbishop Chrysostom, when new acts were passed under which a Synod of Bishops, meeting once a year, replaced the old five-member Synod and constituted the highest authority of the Church. The selection of Bishops was also modified with Bishops selected by the Metropolitans assembled in a Synod.
During the dictatorship of General Pangalos, in 1927, the statutes regarding the Church were again modified with the result that the Greek Orthodox Church was again government controlled with the highest authority of the Church a permanent Holy Synod. Government representatives were to attend all meetings of the Synod.
Some years ago it was unusual to find educated priests among the clergy of Greece but now most of them are seminary educated in one of the twelve theological colleges of the country. There once were around 5oo monasteries and convents in Greece and there are still more than 250 of them in the country.
The present Orthodox Church in Greece is governed by a Holy Synod presided over by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Athens. The Patriarch of Constantinople, however, is regarded as the spiritual head of the church and the Holy Chrism used by the Greek Church is consecrated by him. This is a practical arrangement as the Patriarch is still required to be a citizen of Turkey.
THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
In 1866, the first Greek Orthodox Church in the United States was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Reverend Agapius Honcharenko, a Ukrainian Priest who came to Boston from Athens, Greece in i865, officiated at the blessing. He was the first Orthodox Priest to settle in the United States and he maintained a chapel in the residence of the Greek Consul-General in New York City.
After the American Civil War, immigration from Greece increased greatly and in 1891 a church was opened in New York. A second Greek Orthodox Church was opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1898.
The number-of Greek Orthodox Churches in America increased steadily until in 1910 there were around thirty-five congregations in various parts Of the country. Jurisdiction of the Greek Churches in America, under an agreement made in 1908 between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Holy Synod of Athens, was given to the Church of Greece but no definite steps were taken to organize an American diocese until 1918 when the Metropolitan of Athens visited the United States.
The Metropolitan of Athens, Meletios Metaxakis, on his visit to the United States, intended to establish an American Archdiocese with Bishops installed in five of the larger Greek centers of the country. His stay in this country was too short to enable him to accomplish this so he designated Bishop Alexander of Rhodostolos to carry out this work.
Bishop Alexander remained in the United States despite important political changes that were taking Place in Greece. The affairs of the Greek Church in the United States were greatly complicated by these political changes abroad. On December 8, 1921, Metropolitan Meletios became Patriarch of Constantinople and on May 14, 1972 the decree of igo8 was voided and the Patriarchate of Constantinople took over the jurisdiction of the Greek Churches in America. Alexander was elevated to the rank of Archbishop and in 1923 he consecrated Bishops for Boston and Chicago.
Despite the operations of a conflicting church hierarchy, whose followers sympathized with the Royalist political faction in contrast to the sympathies of the Patriarchal Church for the Venizelists, the Greek Church grew and prospered. Harmony was achieved through the agency of the Metropolitan Damaskinos of Corinth who came to the United States as Patriarchal Exarch in 1930. Archbishop Athenagoras Spyrou of Corfu was appointed to head the Greek Church in America and he arrived in New York early in 1931.
Under the leadership of Archbishop Athenagoras the Greek Church increased to 286 parishes in the United States with others in Canada, Mexico and South America. On November 1st 1948, Archbishop Athenagoras was elected Patriarch of Constantinople and was succeeded by Archbishop Michael Constantinides of Corinth. He was enthroned in the New York Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on December 18, 1949. With the death of Archbishop Michael in 1958, Archbishop lakovos was installed as Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America.
Since 1997, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America has a new Spiritual Father, in the person of Archbishop Spyridon, appointed by the Constantinople's Ecumenical Patriarch, leading the over 600 Greek Orthodox parishes and missions, divided in some 9 Metropolitanates, headed by the recently elevated Bishops to the positions of Metropolitanate Seats.
The Apostle Andrew, one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus, preached the gospel of Christianity in Greece and along the northern shores of the Black Sea. He continued his missionary work northward and visited the area known as Skiphia (now Russia). He journeyed as far north as the city of Novgorod.
Arriving in the region where the city of Kiev is now located, St. Andrew ascended the hills and planted a cross on the Mountainside. He then made an historic prophecy that from those hills would shine the light of divine grace, that many churches would be built, that a great city would arise and that Christianity would spread throughout the country.
The cross planted by Andrew was later preserved in a beautiful church built on the mountain in the area that bore his name. St. Andrew continued on through the Caucasus to the Southern shores of the Black Sea and then went on to Constantinople. There he ordained priests and deacons and to establish the church hierarchy in Russia.
Andrew was imprisoned in the city of Patara for bringing Christianity to the wife of a local magistrate and her brother. Later he was crucified on an "X" shaped cross which has since become known as the St. Andrew's Cross. For his work in bringing Christianity to Russia, St. Andrew is known as the Apostle to the Russians.
An interval of nine centuries passed before Christianity received its real start in Russia. In 866 A.D. two princes of Kiev named Askold and Dir became the first Russians to embrace Christianity. The Metropolitan Diocese of Russia dates from as early as the year 89i. Many of the Varagians who served in the Imperial body-guard were among the early Russian Christians.
During the reign of Prince Vladimir, who was a zealous heathen, many attempts were made by neighboring nations to convert this powerful ruler to the faiths of their countries. He rejected all overtures until a representative from the Greek Orthodox religion, a philosopher named Constantine, eloquently portrayed the Orthodox beliefs. Vladimir then called his council to discuss this religion as the most suitable one for au Russia.
In 987 A.D., Vladimir sent ambassadors to different countries to examine their religions. These ambassadors ended up in Constantinople where the Patriarch called the clergy together to celebrate a festival according to the ceremonies of the Greek Orthodox faith.
Vladimir's envoys thus attended Divine Services in the Great Cathedral of Haggia Sophia (meaning Holy Wisdom) and returned to Russia with glowing reports. In part they said, "We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty and we .are at a loss to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty." These reports were strengthened by the fact that the Russian ruler's grandmother, Olga, who was renowned for her wisdom, had been baptized in the Greek Orthodox faith.
To serve as an example to his people, Vladimir accepted Christianity and was baptized in the city of Cherson in the Tauride. Returning to Kiev and then proceeded to destroy monuments to heathenism. He then issued a proclamation to the people telling them that, rich and poor alike, those who did not appear at the river the next day were to be considered enemies of the ruler.
Multitudes of the people flocked to the River Dnieper the next day, August 1st 988, and the men, women and children stood in the waters to receive baptism as a nation from the attending Greek bishops and priests. From that date on, the Greek Orthodox faith became the dominant religion of Russia.
In the year 990 A.D., Michael, the Metropolitan of Kiev, went to Novgorod accompanied by several bishops and Vladimir's uncle, Dobrina. They destroyed heathen idols in that city. Many were baptized, churches were erected and priests were ordained. A year later the Metropolitan went into the interior of Russia, journeying as far as Rostov where many were baptized as they accepted Christianity.
As paganism was being overthrown under Vladimir's direction, Christianity spread to all parts of Russia. Vladimir, later canonized by the church, died in the year 1015, thirty-nine years before the final separation of the Western Church from the Eastern Church.
Among the Slavonic peoples, the earliest Christians were two Greek Slavonic brothers named Cyril and Methodius who were from the Greek city of Solun. The Bulgarians, first of the Slavic nations to accept Christianity, petitioned the Greek Emperor Michael to send Christian missionaries to their country. Cyril and Methodius, the most learned of the Christian Clerics, were sent.
These two brothers compiled the Slavonic alphabet, using the Greek letters as the basis with additional characters added. They then translated the New Testament of the Bible and the books used in the Divine Liturgy into the new language. The Slavonic alphabet, consisting of forty letters, received the name (Cyrillic and was used in Russia for the printing of ecclesiastical publications. The Bible, printed in the city of Lyov, capital city of Russian i3alicia, by Ivan Fedorov, was the first book printed in Russia.
In the fourteenth century, the headquarters of the Metropolitan was moved from Kiev to Moscow and was given patriarchal dignity by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1582. Thus, the religious center of Russia replaced Rome as the fifth Patriarchate of Orthodoxy and remained as such in theory even after the office of Patriarch was abolished by Peter the Great in 1721.
Peter the Great set up a Holy Synod to replace the Patriarchate. This synod was composed of Bishops but was controlled by a layman (procurator) appointed by the Czar. Through this action, the Czar became the constitutional ruler of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In I917 the Holy Synod's power was diminished by assignment of full powers in the hands of a single man, the Patriarch's, but the vicissitudes of revolution from that time until the present have brought difficult times to the Church in Russia.
Only after 1986, through the Gorbachev's perestroyka, did the Russian Orthodox Church return to it rightful canonical norms of leadership: a Holy Synod of Bishops, presided by the Patriarch.
THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
(THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AMERICA)The Orthodox faith came to America by way of Alaska. Vitus Bering, a Dane who entered the Russian navy in 1704, was chosen by Peter the Great to explore the North Pacific. Before Bering left St. Petersburg in 1725, Catherine the Great, who had succeeded Peter, gave her support to the plan.
After an exploration trip during which he proved that Asia and North America were separate continents, Bering returned overland to St. Petersburg. He then built two ships, naming them the St. Peter and the St. Paul, and sailed eastward from Kamchatka in 1741. During the voyage the ships became separated and were never reunited.
Driven by storms and with his crew dying from scurvy, Vitus Bering landed on an island in the Commander Islands group. This island, where Bering died, was later named for him in his honor.
Bering's voyages clarified the geography of the entire North Pacific and were the basis for Russian claims to the northwest coast of America. Alaska, later purchased from Russia by the United States in 1867 for $ 7,200,000 was included in Bering's discoveries and became known as Russian-America. The first Russian colonization took place in 1783.
Russian trading expeditions worked down the coast of America and in 1809 a Russian settlement was established in California, located about sixty miles north of San Francisco and named Fort Ross.
The Russians who settled in Alaska and California founded churches soon after their arrival. The first Russian Orthodox missionaries arrived at Kodiak Island, off the Alaskan mainland, in August of 1794. This first mission had a two-fold purpose: to give spiritual service to the men of the Russian Trading Company and to evangelize the native Aleuts. The leader of this first mission was Archimandrit Joasaph.
The Orthodox religion flourished and soon spread to all parts of the Aleutian Islands and to the Alaskan mainland. In Alaska, a Russian Orthodox Church was built on the present site of Sitka in 1815. This edifice became the Cathedral for the first Russian Orthodox diocese on the American continent. Innocentius (Veniaminoff), who was ordained on December 5th, 1848, became the first-Bishop of this diocese.
In 1869, two years after Russia had sold Alaska to the United States, a Russian Orthodox Church was built in San Francisco, California and in 1871 Bishop John transferred the seat of his cathedral from Sitka, Alaska to San Francisco.
Bishop Nestor, who succeeded Bishop John, received official permission from the Russian Synod in i88i to establish his diocese headquarters in San Francisco and property at 1715 Powell Street was purchased for $38,000 for this purpose.
In 1888, Bishop Vladimir came to San Francisco to succeed Bishop Nestor and during his administration the first Russian-Uniate parish, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, returned to the Orthodox fold. The Very Reverend Alexis Toth was the priest of the Minneapolis congregation which became the Mother Parish of all Orthodox churches in the United States and Canada located east of San Francisco.
Bishop Nicholas succeeded Bishop Vladimir in i8gi and in 1898 Bishop Nicholas was succeeded by Bishop Tikhon who later became the Patriarch of Russia. Tikhon founded the first Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1905. This seminary building was tom down in 1956 and replaced by a new parish center for St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Church. The first missionary school was also established in Minneapolis in 1897.
Bishop Tikhon also transferred the Episcopal See and its Ecclesiastical Consistory from San Francisco to New York City where the Russian Orthodox headquarters for this hemisphere are still located. Under Tikhon, St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York was built in 1901. He was elevated to the rank of Archbishop in 1903 with jurisdiction over all of North America. Successors to Tikhon were Archbishops Platon and Eudokim. Under Platon's administration more than a hundred new parishes were formed.
In 1919 the Russian Church in America held its first Sobor or general council at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A second Sobor was held in Detroit in 1924 at which time Metropolitan Platon was chosen as the ruling Bishop. He had previously headed the Russian Orthodox Church in America from 1907 to 1914. The same council declared that henceforth the Church in America was to be autonomous.
Metropolitan Platon died in April, 1934. He was succeeded by Bishop Theophile under whose tenure the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs were founded. After the death of Theophile in 1950, Metropolitan Leonty became head of Russian Orthodox churches of North and South America. He died on May 14, 1965 and was succeeded by Metropolitan Ireney, elected in September, 1965.
On May 18, 1970, a delegation of hierarchs, clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Metropolia in America, headed by Bishop Theodosius (presently Primate of the Orthodox Church of America), went to Moscow to receive the Thomos of Authocephaly, from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Pimen, locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of Moscow. Thus, the Orthodox Church of America was born.
In 1972, His Beatitude THEODOSIUS was elected as the Primate of the Orthodox Church of America, an Autonomous and Authocephalos Church, with some five hundred parishes and missions, in the United States and Canada.
The last of the national Orthodox churches in the Balkan area to come into existence was the Albanian Orthodox Church. Albania declared its independence from Turkey on November 28, 1912, and that status was confirmed at the close of World War I.
A church council convened at Berat in 1922 with a proclamation issued on October 26 declaring the church independent. The Reverend Fan S. NOIL leader of the Albanian Church in America, returned to his homeland to head the Albanian delegation to the League of Nations in 1920 and he subsequently became the Liberal Prime Minister in the new government, assuming that
post in 1924.In 1923, Father Noli was consecrated Archbishop of Durazzo but his plans for the welfare of the church couldn't be carried out due to armed invasion of the country by the Moslem Ahmed Zogu who later became King Zog. Bishop Noli returned to the United States and the Orthodox Church in Albania was finally officially recognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on April I 2, 1937.
THE ALBANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
The Albanian Orthodox Church in America was organized by Dr. Fan S. Noli in Boston in 1908. Father Noli was ordained in 1908 by Russian Metropolitan Platon and elected Bishop by his people. As has been noted, Bishop Noli returned to Albania to lead his country5s fight for freedom. When his work in Albania was interrupted, he spent a period of time organizing Albanian congregations in other European countries.
Bishop Noli returned to the United States in 1930 to resume leadership of the Albanian Orthodox Church in America, serving as Bishop until his death on March 13, 1965. There are thirteen Albanian orthodox churches in the United States with the Cathedral located in Boston. The Albanian Orthodox Church in America is a completely self governing group with no connection with any church abroad. Another Albanian Orthodox Diocese is headed by Bishop Mark I. Lipa.
The Bulgarians waged a long drawn out struggle against Imperial Byzantium during the Middle Ages. From 1204 until 1393 the Episcopal See of Tirnovo enjoyed independence but conquest by the Turks followed. The Turks, as they did with Orthodox Christians elsewhere, put the Bulgars under the Patriarch of Constantinople and they remained in that status until 1856 when Turkish control relaxed.
On April 3, 1860, Bishop Hilarion gave an open declaration of independence by omitting the name of the Patriarch from the Divine Liturgy. The Bulgars wanted a national church with jurisdiction over their own people everywhere. The Patriarch refused to recognize the new administration and accused the Bulgars of heresy. The Turkish government added fuel to the fire by recognizing, a Bulgarian Exarch in Constantinople on March 11, 1870.
Patriarch Anthimios VI excommunicated the Bulgars in 1872 but recognition of this banishment was mainly by the Greeks and not by the Slavic churches. The strained relationship was not remedied until 1945 when communion was restored.
THE BULGARIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
The first Bulgarian Orthodox Church in America was built in Madison, Illinois, in 1907. Bulgarian immigration to the United States had increased greatly after 1903 with most of the Bulgarian Orthodox Christians attending Russian Orthodox churches.
In 1922 the Bulgarian Orthodox Mission of the Holy Synod of Bulgaria began attempts to organize the Bulgars. In January, 1938, a Bishopric in the United States was established with Archbishop Andrey, the present head of the churches, appointed in July, 1938.
There are now twenty-three organized parishes of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the United States with two more in Canada. There are also fifteen communities that are not yet constituted as parishes. The cathedral is located in New York City and jurisdiction of the Metropolitan includes North and South America and Australia.
THE CARPATHO-RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
The people who migrated from the province of Hungary which became the eastern part of Czechoslovakia after World War I make up the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church. Many of those coming to America from Carpatho-Russia after 1886 were Roman Catholics of the Greek Rite whose ancestors had once been of the Eastern Orthodox faith.
A return to Orthodoxy by various Unite groups began in 1891. It was only in February of 1936, however, that the American Carpatho-Russian Diocese was organized at a meeting of clergy and laymen in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
At a second meeting, held in Pittsburgh in November of 1937, the Most Reverend Orestes P. Chornock was chosen as Bishop and an appeal was subsequently made to the Ecumenical Patriarch, Benjamin I, for canonical recognition.
Bishop Orestes went to Constantinople where he was consecrated Titular Bishop Agathonicea on September 18, 1938, and given jurisdiction over the Carpatho-Russian Diocese in America. Three Metropolitans, Germanos, Constantine and Dorotheos, were the consecrating Bishops. The following day, the Diocese was canonically established by a decree of the Patriarch.
Bishop Orestes still heads the Carpatho-Russian Church in America with the Diocese including fifty churches and missions. The Cathedral and Seminary are located at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Established as a Principate in 1856, Romania became an independent kingdom in 1881. While the country was a Principate, an independent church was desired by Prince Couza and laws to establish a national church were passed by the Romanian Parliament in 1864 and 1865. Twenty years passed, however, before recognition was given by the Ecumenical Patriarch.
When Romania became a kingdom in 1881, there was increased incentive for a separate Romanian Orthodox Church and in 1885 Patriarch Joachim IV granted recognition to the national church of Romania.
As a result of World War I, the land area and the population of Romania were greatly increased with the result that the church was strengthened as most of those added were of the Orthodox faith. In 1925 the Orthodox Church of Romania became a Patriarchate.
THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
The first Romanian Orthodox Church to be established in the United States was St. Mary's in Cleveland, Ohio, which was organized on August 15, 1904. Earlier, in 1901, two Romanian Orthodox churches had been organized in Canada.
The first Romanian priest to visit the United States was the Reverend George Hertea but his stay in this country was only temporary. Father Moses Balea, who became the pastor of St. Mary's in Cleveland in November, 1905, was the first of the clergy to come to the United States to stay.
Until the time of World War I, all Romanian clergymen came from the Romanian homeland but with the war cutting off immigration, a number of Americans of Romanian origin were ordained by Russian Orthodox bishops in America. Several years after the termination of World War I, the Metropolitan of Sibiu in Transylvania sent eleven priests to America with five of them remaining in the United States permanently.
Beginning in 1911, several attempts were made to organize an American diocese of the Romanian Orthodox Church. On February 24, 1918, a group of delegates who met in Youngstown, Ohio, voted to establish a United States Episcopate. This Episcopate was incorporated and its establishment was confirmed at a subsequent meeting held in Cleveland in April, 1923. The organization, however, did not become active.
The need for a unified Romanian church organization in America became more apparent m 1924 when it was found that three sources of ecclesiastical authority were recognized by Romanian Orthodox clergymen. Those ordained in Romania considered themselves under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Transylvania, those ordained in America recognized the Russian American Bishop Adam, and those of the clergy in Canada considered themselves under the authority of the Metropolitan of Moldavia.
A Romanian Orthodox Episcopate was organized at a church congress held in Detroit, Michigan, in April, 1929. This new Romanian Orthodox Diocese in America was headed by a provisional commission composed of four priests and eight laymen with the Very Reverend John Trutza of Cleveland as president. Repeated requests were made for a bishop to be sent to the United States.
On March 24, 1935, the Right Reverend Policarp Morusca was consecrated bishop for the American Diocese. He was installed on July 4, 1935, in St. George's Cathedral in Detroit. Under Bishop Policarp the Romanian Orthodox Church in America grew to more than forty parishes.
Bishop Policarp returned to Romania in August, I939, to attend a meeting Of the Holy Synod. The outbreak of World War 11 shortly after prevented his return to America and the political changes which followed World War II complicated matters further and he remained in Europe. Bishop Policarp is still the canonical head of the American Episcopate.
The American Romanian churches decided recently to return to their al autonomous status. On July 2, 1951, the Right Reverend Valerian D. Trifa was elected as an Auxiliary-Bishop at a church Congress held in Chicago, Illinois, and the name of the American Diocese was officially changed to the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America.
The Right Rev. Bishop Victorin heads a Romanian Missionary Episcopate.
Consecrated as an Auxiliary Bishop, on November 15, 1980, His Grace Bishop Nathaniel POPP, became the Diocesan Ruling Bishop in 1984.
The Romanian Orthodox Church in America is divided into six deaneries: Michigan Deanery, Atlantic Seaboard Deanery, Mid-West Deanery, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania Deanery, Pacific Coast Deanery and Canada Deanery.
In the year 1346 the first Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate was established at Pec with the consecration of Bishop Ioannikios. This action was protested by the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch was not officially recognized until 1375.
The Serbian Patriarchate went into decline after the defeat of the Serbs by the Turks in 13 89 and was not reestablished until 1557 when the Turkish Grand Wazir had his brother Makarios, an Orthodox monk, consecrated as Patriarch.
The Ecclesiastical See was suppressed again by the Turks in I766 and the Slavic Christians went under Greek control where they remained until 1829 when the Serbian revolt against the Turks was successful.
Sultan Murad at first allowed the Serbs to choose the Metropolitan of Belgrade and other bishops but insisted on having the Metropolitan consecrated in Constantinople. Autonomy was granted to the Serbs on November 1st, 1879, by Patriarch Joachim III.
Until the close of World War I, the ecclesiastical and political situation in the area of Europe which is now Yugoslavia remained turbulent and complicated. Attempts were made to unite several Orthodox groups into one church with these efforts becoming successful in June 30, ig2o, when the union of five autonomous bodies was proclaimed. On November I2, 1920, Metropolitan Dimitriji of Belgrade was appointed Patriarch, uniting in himself the historic titles of Archbishop of Ipek, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci and Patriarch of Serbs.
THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
Serbian immigration to the United States reached serious proportions about 1890 and four years later, in i894, the first Serbian Church m America was founded in Jackson, California, by Archimandrit Sebastian Dabovich. This church was dedicated to St. Sava, the great national Saint of Serbia. Until after World War I, the spiritual welfare of the Serbian Church in America was under the guidance of the Russian Bishop of San Francisco.
In 1900 there were six Serbian congregations in America and in 1906 there were ten. Fifteen years later this number had increased to twenty. In 1926, with thirty-five Serbian churches making up the American Diocese, Archimandrite Mardary Uskokovich was consecrated by Patriarch Dimitriji of Serbia as the first bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church of America. Under his guidance the diocese increased to forty-six parishes in the United States and Canada. The Cathedral of the Serbian Church, built and opened in 1945, is located in New York.
Presently, the Serbian Orthodox Church in America is an unified Church with over 150 parishes and missions.
THE SYRIAN (ANTIOCHIAN) ORTHODOX CHURCH
It is well known that it was at Antioch that the followers of Christ were first called Christians. The Church of Antioch was founded by the Apostle Peter who headed the church there for seven years, from 37 to 44 A.D.
In its early Christian days, Antioch was the richest city of All Syria and the Christians there supported many other communities of new believers.
A Synod held at Antioch in the year 341 issued twenty-five Canons dealing with ecclesiastical matters and these precepts were observed by both the Eastern and Western churches.
St. John of Chrysostom, the most eloquent preacher of all Christendom, was born in Antioch and began his religious career there. During his time, Antioch was a City of 200,000 inhabitants and was called the Athens of the East.
Antioch became the capital of the diocese of Anatolia when the Byzantine Empire was divided into prefectures by Constantine the Great. Thus all of Syria was included in the-jurisdiction 6f Antioch.
In the seventh century, Syria was overrun by the Arabs but the invaders gave the Christians personal and religious freedom. Damascus was proclaimed as the capital of Syria and of all the-Arabian Empire. The Patriarch was required to change his residence from Antioch to Damascus where the Patriarchate is still located.
Due to Moslem domination from the seventh to the eleventh centuries, the Church of Antioch became practically isolated from the other Eastern Orthodox churches. From the end of the eleventh to the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, Syria, along with Palestine, was under the dominance of Crusaders. During this period the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem lived in exile in Constantinople.
Early in the fourteenth century the Crusaders were expelled from Syria and a Moslem regime was again established. Later, in the seventeenth century, internal troubles in the Church of Antioch caused a division in the population with some becoming Uniate Romans.
For a long period time, the Patriarch of Antioch and his Metropolitans were elected in Constantinople. Now they are taken from the native population and are elected by the -Hierarchy of the Patriarchal throne of Antioch. Under the Patriarch there are fourteen dioceses each headed by a Bishop.
THE SYRIAN (ANTIOCHIAN) ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
In 1878 the first Syrian family of record came to America, but there was little immigration from Syria and Lebanon until around 1890. From 1900 to 1910, about 5,000 persons a year emigrated from these countries to the United States with a peak of about 9,000 arriving in 1913 and in 1914. The Syrian Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church, founded in 1892, took over the spiritual welfare of the Syrian Orthodox people in the new world, and the first Syrian Church Society was founder in-New York in 1892.
Archimandrite Raphael Hawaweeny was brought from the Academy of Kazan in October of 189S to oversee Syrian church activities in America. In 1904 he was consecrated as Vicar-Bishop to the Russian Archbishop and became the first Orthodox bishop of any nationality to be consecrated in the United States. He served capably until his death in 1915.
In 1914, Metropolitan Germanos, Bishop of Zahle, Lebanon, in the Patriarchate of Antioch, came to America and during his stay in the United States several parishes were organized. In 1924 there were seventeen Syrian Orthodox churches with resident pastors and seven more with a priest in attendance but without parish buildings. The Syrian Mission of the Russian Church consisted of an additional 22 parishes and one mission under the jurisdiction of Bishop Aftimios Ofeish who had been consecrated as Bishop of Brooklyn in 1917 to succeed Bishop Raphael.
For several years, the Syrian churches of America remained under separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions. In 1933, Archbishop Aftimios resigned and Metropolitan Germanos returned to Beirut where he died in 1934. Bishop Vistor Abo-Assaley, representing the Patriarch of Antioch in the United States, died in September of 1934.
Archimandrite Antony Bashir was appointed as Vicar in America by the Patriarch and he was subsequently elected Bishop of the American Syrian churches. In I936 he was consecrated in New York by Metropolitan Theodosios of Tyre and Sidon who had been sent to the United States for this purpose.
In June of 1940, Archbishop Antony was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan Archbishop of New York and all North America. He died on Feb. 15, 1966 and was succeeded by The Most Rev. Metropolitan Philip Saliba.
In 1986, through the conversion the Orthodoxy of some 20 parishes, belonging formerly to the Evangelical Orthodox Church, thus adding to the existing Antiochian communities, presently the Antiochian Orthodox Metropolitanate of North America counts over 300 parishes and missions.
In the second half of the ninth century, Slavonic peoples in the vicinity of Kiev laid the foundation for the Kievian state. With the baptism of Prince Vladimir and his acceptance of Christianity, followed by his summoning the citizens of Kiev to a mass baptism, the Christian faith became officially accepted by the Ukrainians in 988.
Later, under Polish rule and subsequent Communist domination, the Orthodox church in the Ukraine became practically non-existent. The church, however, managed to send several bishops to the United States. The Independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, both in the Ukraine and America, came int6being after World War 1.
Several hundred thousand Ukrainians had migrated to the United States from 1870 until I 914 and many of the early Ukrainian congregations in this country entered the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. A later large migration, between I945 and I956, increased the number of Ukrainians in America.
In January of 1919, the Ukrainian National Republic proclaimed the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church as the official church of the Ukraine. In October of 1921 a council convened at Kiev with two Archpriests consecrated. One of these, Bishop Lypkiwsky, later became the Metropolitan of Kiev and all the Ukraine. In two years the church had grown to over two thousand parishes and about thirty bishops. The Communist government of Russia, culminating with the deposing of the Metropolitan in 1927, halted the progress of the Orthodox church in the Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America held its first convention in 193 1 - Congregations consisting of former Unites were added to the Ukrainian Orthodox parishes and the Very Reverend Joseph Zuk was chosen as 15ishopelect of the American Diocese in July, 19 3 2. He was consecrated in September of that year and served as the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches in America until his death on February 23, 1934.
Bishop Bohdan Shpilka, who succeeded Bishop Zuk, was consecrated by Archbishop Athenagoras of the Greek Orthodox Church on February 28, 1937. He still serves as the head of American Ukrainian Orthodox Churches under the Ecumenical Patriarch. Technically, Bishop Bohdan is a Suffragan of the Greek Archbishop within the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. There are forty-five parishes and missions under Bishop Bohdan with the Cathedral located in New York.
The American Ukrainian Orthodox Church was organized about 1919-1920 as an independent church, under the jurisdiction of the Syrian Orthodox Church; it remained in that status until 1924. In February of 1924, Archbishop John Theodorovich arrived in the United States from Kiev, Ukraine. He was chosen bishop-elect of the American Ukrainian Orthodox Church and also head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, Brazil and Argentina. The Ukrainian churches grew in number after the mass migrations to America after World War II.
In a convention held in 1949 at Allentown, Pennsylvania, Archbishop Mstyslaw S. Skrypnik was elected to head the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America with Bishop Bohdan as Suffragan Bishop. He later resigned from the united church and returned under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church.
In October of 1950, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America, headed by Archbishop Mstyslaw S. Skrypnik and the American Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by Archbishop John Theodorovich, merged to form the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America under independent jurisdiction. Bishop Bohdan did not join in this merger and he became head of Ukrainian churches remaining under Ecumenical jurisdiction, now headed by The Most Rev. Bishop Andrei Kuschak.
The United Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States has its headquarters in South Bound Brook, New Jersey, and includes 96 parishes in the United States under its jurisdiction. The Most Reverend Metropolitan John Theodorovich heads the church. Metropolitan Dr. Ilarion Ohienko, with headquarters in Winnipeg, heads the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, which is divided into three dioceses.
THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX SYNOD IN EXILE
There are several other national branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the United States. The Russian Synod in Exile, with headquarters in New York, is headed by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Anastassy. This group has more than sixty congregations. The Russian Patriarchal jurisdiction group, with forty-five churches, is headed by the Most Reverend Archbishop Makary with headquarters in New York.
