From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America
represents a
timeline
of the historical development of religious communities, institutions and organizations of
Eastern Orthodox Christianity
in
North America
.
Early visits and missions (1700?1900)
[
edit
]
- 1741
Divine Liturgy
celebrated on a Russian ship off the coast of Alaska.
- 1767 A community of Orthodox Greeks establishes itself in
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
.
- 1787 The US Constitution is drafted in Philadelphia.
- 1794 Missionaries, including St.
Herman of Alaska
, arrive at
Kodiak Island
, bringing Orthodoxy to Russian Alaska.
- 1796 Martyrdom of
Juvenaly of Alaska
.
- 1799 Ioasaph (Bolotov)
consecrated
in Irkutsk as first
bishop
for Alaska, but dies in a shipwreck during his return.
- 1803 Louisiana Purchase expands American territory beyond Mississippi River.
- 1804 The double-headed eagle became a motif widely used in
Tlingit
art, after the
Russian-Tlingit Battle of Sitka
in 1804, when
Aleksandr Baranov
, the first governor of colonial Russian Alaska and manager of the Russian-America Company, presented the
Kiks.adi
Sitka Tlingit leaders with a large medallion on which was found the Russian imperial symbol.
[1]
- 1812 Russian colony of Fort Ross established on the coast 60 miles north of San Francisco.
- 1816 Martyrdom of
Peter the Aleut
near San Francisco.
- 1819 Various Spanish territories ceded to United States, including Florida.
- 1824 Fr.
John Veniaminov
comes to Unalaska, Alaska.
- 1825 First native priest,
Jacob Netsvetov
.
- 1830 Saints Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church is founded on
Saint Paul Island (Alaska)
, in the
Bering Sea
.
[2]
- 1834 Fr.
John Veniaminov
moves to Sitka, Alaska; liturgy and catechism translated into Aleut.
- 1836 Imperial
ukaz
regarding Alaskan education issued from Czar Nicholas I that students were to become faithful members of the Orthodox Church, loyal subjects of the Czar, and loyal citizens; Fr. John Veniaminov returns to Russia.
- 1837 Death of St.
Herman of Alaska
on Spruce Island.
- 1840 Consecration of Fr.
John Veniaminov
as
bishop
with the name Innocent.
- 1841 Return of St.
Innocent of Alaska
to Sitka; sale of Fort Ross property to an American citizen; pastoral school established in Sitka.
- 1843 First mission school for the
Eskimos
was established at
Nushagak
by Russian-Greek Orthodox Church.
[3]
- 1844 Formation of
seminary
in Sitka.
[note 1]
- 1848
Consecration
of
St. Michael's Cathedral (Sitka, Alaska)
; Pacific Southwest won from Mexico by United States.
- 1850 Alaskan episcopal see and seminary moved to Yakutsk, Russia.
- 1858
Peter (Sysakoff)
consecrated as
auxiliary bishop
for Alaska with Innocent's primary see moved to Yakutsk.
- 1864
Holy Trinity Church
, first Orthodox
parish
established on United States soil in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Greeks.
- 1865 First Divine Liturgy celebrated in New York City, by Fr.
Agapius Honcharenko
.
- 1867 Alaska purchased by the United States from Russia;
[note 2]
Bp.
Paul (Popov)
succeeds Bp. Peter.
- 1868 First Russian parish established in US territory in San Francisco, California; St.
Innocent of Alaska
becomes Metropolitan of Moscow.
- 1870 Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska formed by the
Church of Russia
with Bp.
John (Metropolsky)
as ruling hierarch.
- 1872 See of the Aleutians diocese moved to San Francisco, placing it outside the defined boundaries of the diocese (i.e., Alaska).
- 1876 Bp.
John (Metropolsky)
recalled to Russia.
- 1878 Bp.
Nestor (Zakkis)
succeeds
John (Metropolsky)
.
- 1880-1920 Emigration of approximately
400,000 Greeks to the United States
, one-fifth of the total population, many as hired labor for the railroads and mines of the American West.
[5]
[6]
- 1882 Bp.
Nestor (Zakkis)
drowns in the Bering Sea.
- 1886-1895 In the face of their shamans' inability to treat Old World diseases including smallpox, many
Tlingit people
(an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America), converted to Orthodox Christianity.
[7]
[note 3]
- 1888 Bp.
Vladimir (Sokolovsky)
becomes Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska.
- 1890 The first Orthodox arrived in
Saskatchewan
.
[9]
- 1891 Fr.
Alexis Toth
, a
Uniate
priest, petitions to be received along with his parish in Minneapolis into the Russian Church; Bp. Nicholas (Adoratsky) assigned as Bishop of Alaska but is transferred before taking up his post;
Nicholas (Ziorov)
becomes ruling bishop of the Alaskan diocese;
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox parish-community
is founded in New York.
[note 4]
- 1892 Fr.
Alexis Toth
and his parish in Minneapolis received into the Russian Church; Carpatho-Russian
Uniate
parishes in Illinois, Connecticut, and several Pennsylvania soon follow suit; first Serbian parish established in Jackson, California; first American-born person ordained, Fr. Sebastian Dabovich.
- 1895 Archim.
Raphael (Hawaweeny)
arrives in America; first Syrian parish in Brooklyn, New York, founded by St.
Raphael of Brooklyn
; Fr.
John Kochurov
arrives in America and becomes priest of the Russian parish in Chicago; Fr. Anatolii Kamenskii arrives in Alaska; first clergy conference, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
- 1896 Bp.
Nicholas (Ziorov)
reports to the
Holy Synod of Russia
that
"the commemoration of the Emperor and the Reigning House during the divine services brings forth dismay and apprehension among Orthodox in America of non-Russian background"
; St.
Alexander Hotovitsky
appointed as
rector
in New York;
Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
is chartered by a special act of the
New York State Legislature
, being the first Greek Church founded in New York, and the second Greek Church founded in the Americas.
[note 5]
- 1898 Bp.
Nicholas (Ziorov)
returns to Russia;
Tikhon (Belavin)
becomes Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska; American annexation of Hawaii.
Beyond Alaska (1900?1918)
[
edit
]
- 1900 Name of Russian mission diocese changed from
the Aleutian Islands and Alaska
to
the Aleutian Islands and North America
, thus expanding its territorial boundaries.
- 1901 First Orthodox church in Canada, in Vostok, Alberta.
- 1902 Building of St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York; first Romanian parish in North America founded in Regina, Saskatchewan.
- 1904
Raphael (Hawaweeny)
consecrated as Bishop of Brooklyn, becoming the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in America;
Innocent (Pustinsky)
consecrated as Bishop of Alaska; first Romanian parish founded in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1905
St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)
founded; Bp.
Tikhon (Belavin)
raised to the rank of archbishop; seminary opened in Minneapolis; Russian Orthodox see transferred to New York; Fr.
Sebastian Dabovich
elevated to
archimandrite
and given charge over Serbian parishes by Tikhon; Episcopal priest of nearly 30 years Dr.
Ingram Irvine
converted to Orthodoxy, assigned to "English work."
- 1906 In an
ukaze
dated January 27, addressed to Archbishop Tikhon, the Holy Synod of Russia confirmed the practice of commemorating the American president by name, and not the Russian Tsar, during divine services; blessing of
St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery
by hierarchs Tikhon, Raphael and Innocent; translation of
Service Book
by
Isabel Hapgood
.
- 1907 1st All-American Sobor held in Mayfield, PA, at which the name of the Russian mission was declared to be
The Russian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church in North America under the Hierarchy of the Russian Church
; Abp.
Tikhon (Belavin)
returns to Russia and is succeeded in his see by
Platon (Rozhdestvensky)
as Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America; Uniate Bp. Stephen Ortinsky sent to the US by Rome to stem the tide of Uniate returns to Orthodoxy; Papal decree
Ea Semper
issued, mandating all Uniate priests in American be celibate; first
Sunday of Orthodoxy
service in New York; first Bulgarian parish in Madison, Illinois; ordination in Constantinople of first African-American Orthodox priest, the Very Rev. Fr.
Raphael Morgan
,
Priest-Apostolic
to America and the West Indies.
- 1908
Church of Constantinople
gives care for Greek Orthodox parishes in the US to the
Church of Greece
; Fr.
Theophan Noli
celebrates first Divine Liturgy in the Albanian language; first Albanian parish in Boston.
- 1909 Bp.
Innocent (Pustinsky)
transferred to Russia, succeeded by
Alexander (Nemolovsky)
as Bishop of Alaska; death of Fr.
Alexis Toth
.
- 1911 Minneapolis seminary transferred to Tenafly, New Jersey.
- 1913 Serbian clergy vote to come under
Serbian Orthodox Church
but meet with no official response.
- 1914 Abp.
Platon (Rozhdestvensky)
recalled to Russia and made bishop of Kishinev, after having received 72 communities (mainly ex-Uniate Carpatho-Russians) into Orthodoxy during his rule;
Antiochian
Metr.
Germanos (Shehadi) of Zahle
comes to US to organize parishes without the approval of his synod.
- 1915 Death of St.
Raphael of Brooklyn
; Abp.
Evdokim (Meschersky)
succeeds Platon; first
monastery
for women in Springfield, Vermont.
- 1916 Consecration of
Philip (Stavitsky) of Sitka
;
Alexander (Nemolovsky)
appointed Bishop of Canada with his see in Winnipeg; organization of
Syrian Holy Orthodox Greek Catholic Mission in North America
by
Germanos (Shehadi)
with founding of St. Mary's Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York; death of Rev. Agapius Honcharenko.
- 1917 Ex-Uniate priest
Alexander Dzubay
consecrated with the name Stephen as Bishop of Pittsburgh; Archim.
Aftimios (Ofiesh)
consecrated as Bishop of Brooklyn; St.
Tikhon (Belavin)
elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the All Russian Sobor of 1917?1918.
- 1918-24 Emigration of 70,000
Greeks
to the United States.
Revolution and rivalry (1918?1943)
[
edit
]
- 1918 The Bolshevik Revolution throws the
Church of Russia
into chaos, effectively stranding the fledgling Russian mission in America; Metr.
Meletios (Metaxakis)
of Athens arrives in America to organize Greek parishes; Constantinople rescinds temporary transfer of Greek parishes in US to Greece.
- 1919 Southern Church Council meets in Stavropol at which Higher Church Administration was formed in Southern Russia; 2nd All-American Sobor meets in Cleveland, electing Alexander (Nemolovsky) as its new diocesan bishop, and also electing bishops for the Albanian and Serbian communities, pending approval from Moscow (which never comes); Germanos (Shehadi) receives Ukrainians in Canada.
- 1920 St.
Tikhon of Moscow
issues
Ukaz No. 362
; first session of the Higher Church Administration outside borders of Russia.
- 1921 34 bishops of The
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
(ROCOR) meet in synod in Karlovtsy, Serbia, including Metr.
Platon (Rozhdestvensky)
, primate of the
Russian Metropolia
; death of Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine; in New York City,
George Alexander McGuire
founded the non-canonical "
African Orthodox Church
" (AOC), envisaged as a home for Blacks of the Protestant Episcopal persuasion who wanted ecclesiastical independence, based on
Apostolic tradition
.
- 1922
Church of Greece
transfers control of its parishes to the
Church of Constantinople
; founding of
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
; Russian Metropolia convenes 3rd All-American Sobor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1924 4th All-American Sobor of the
Metropolia
votes to establish "temporary self-government," breaking administrative ties with Moscow;
Victor (Abo-Assaley)
consecrated as the first Antiochian Archbishop of New York and All North America; Bp.
Stephen (Dzubay)
returns to the
Unia
; Ukrainians in Canada join
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
(UAOC) (non-canonical).
- 1926 Metr.
Platon (Rozhdestvensky)
of the Metropolia breaks ties with the
ROCOR
synod; founding of Serbian diocese.
- 1927 ROCOR synod sends epistle to American parishes
suspending
Platon and his
clergy
; founding of the
American Orthodox Catholic Church
by the
Russian Metropolia
under
Aftimios Ofiesh
; founding of
Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs
(FROC) in Pittsburgh; consecration of Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab).
- 1928 Ukrainian diocese established; consecration of Sophronios (Beshara).
- 1929 Romanian Orthodox Episcopate established, under the
Romanian Orthodox Church
.
- 1930 Abp.
Joasaph (Skorodumov)
("The Enlightener of Canada") becomes the founding bishop of the Canadian Diocese of
ROCOR
; Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) leaves the American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC) and returns to Metropolia, re-establishing Brooklyn diocese.
- 1931
Abp. Athenagoras (Spyrou)
becomes primate of
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
(1931?1948).
- 1933 Metr.
Platon (Rozhdestvensky)
refuses to pledge loyalty to Moscow, which declares the Metropolia to be in
schism
and establishes the Russian Exarchate of North America (1933?1970); Platon grants canonical release to Syrian parishes remaining under the Metropolia to come under the
Church of Antioch
;
Germanos (Shehadi)
returns to Lebanon; consecration of
Leontius (Turkevich)
; marriage and apostasy of Ignatius (Nichols) (first with Living Church and then independently).
- 1934 Death of Platon;
Theophilus (Pashkovsky)
of San Francisco elected primate of
Metropolia
at 5th All-American Sobor in Cleveland, Ohio; death of
Germanos (Shehadi)
in Lebanon;
Abp. Athenagoras (Spyrou)
established the
"
Orthodox Observer
"
, providing a wide range of news and information about the Church, its ministries, and the activities of its many communities to a readership that now exceeds 500,000.
- 1935 "Temporary Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad" signed by
ROCOR
synod in Karlovtsy, Serbia, including Metr.
Theophilus (Pashkovsky)
of the Metropolia, thus renewing relations; ROCOR is divided into four regions, including North America with Theophilus as the regional primate.
- 1936 Metr.
Anthony (Bashir)
consecrated for the
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of New York
; on the same day (April 19), three Metropolia bishops consecrate rival Abp.
Samuel (David)
for the Syrians, thus solidifying the developing
schism
in the Antiochian faithful in the US (the "Russi-Antaaki" split).
- 1937 6th All-American Sobor of the
Metropolia
declares itself to report to ROCOR in matters of faith;
Holy Cross Theological School
founded in Pomfret, Connecticut; Ukrainian diocese established by
Church of Constantinople
.
- 1938
St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)
and
St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)
founded; Abp.
Samuel (David) of Toledo
excommunicated by the
Church of Antioch
for disobedience to canonical order;
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
founded the Bulgarian Church Mission Diocese in North America, appointing Bp. Andrey Velicki administrator;
Carpatho-Russian diocese
established by
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
with second wave of Uniate returns to Orthodoxy.
- 1941
Church of Antioch
restores Abp.
Samuel (David) of Toledo
to communion and declares his diocese to be the
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Toledo and Dependencies
.
Emergence of American Orthodoxy (1943?1970)
[
edit
]
- 1943 Founding of
Federated Orthodox Greek Catholic Primary Jurisdictions in America
, a proto-
SCOBA
body.
- 1944
Canadian Council of Churches
is formed.
- 1946 7th All-American Sobor of the
Russian Metropolia
breaks all ties with the
ROCOR
;
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
moved to Brookline, Massachusetts.
- 1947 Death of Ignatius (Nichols).
- 1948 Abp.
Michael (Konstantinides)
heads the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
(1948?1958); as a result of political events in the Balkans, Bp. Andrey Velicki rejected the jurisdiction of the Holy Synod in Bulgaria.
- 1950 Formation of the Romanian Orthodox Missionary Episcopate in America, chartered by a decision of the
Romanian Holy Synod
; ROCOR moves headquarters to New York; Metr.
Leontius (Turkevich)
becomes primate of Metropolia at 8th All-American Sobor in New York City;
National Council of Churches
, USA, is organized.
- 1951 Arrival of Fr.
Alexander Schmemann
in the United States from Paris, taking up teaching duties at
St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)
.
- 1954 Recognition of Toledo Archdiocese by
Church of Antioch
.
- 1955 Founding of the
Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts
; 9th All-American Sobor of Metropolia held in New York City.
- 1956 Dr.
Constantine Cavarnos
founds the
Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
in
Belmont, Massachusetts
.
- 1958 Death of Metr.
Samuel (David) of Toledo
; reception of
Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil
into Antiochian New York Archdiocese, forming
Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate
.
- 1959 Archbishop
Iakovos (Coucouzis)
is elected and enthroned as Primate of the
Greek Archdiocese of North and South America
(1959?96); 10th All-American Sobor of the Metropolia was held in New York City.
- 1960 Founding of the
Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
(SCOBA);
Romanian Orthodox Episcopate
received into the
Metropolia
.
- 1961 First ever visit of a Greek Orthodox Patriarch to Canada, as Patr.
Benedict of Jerusalem
begins a North-American tour to raise funds for the restoration of the shrines in the
Holy Land
; consecration of Antiochian Abp.
Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo
.
- 1962 Antiochian Toledo archdiocese recognized by the
Church of Antioch
as equal to the New York archdiocese.
- 1963 Autonomous Serbian diocese created; beginning of
rapprochement
between Metropolia and
Moscow Patriarchate
(MP); arguing that the Metropolia's 1924 declaration of "temporary self-government" amounted to a canonical declaration of
autocephaly
,
Toward an American Orthodox Church
is published by St. Vladimir's professor Alexander Bogolepov, galvanizing the Metropolia to seek autocephaly; Abp.
Iakovos (Coucouzis)
vigorously supported the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
that was introduced by President
John F. Kennedy
in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963.
- 1964 Metr. Andrei Velicki petitioned the Holy Synod of the Church of Bulgaria for his return to the Bulgarian episcopacy, forming the
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia
;
Philaret (Voznesensky)
becomes First Hierarch of the
ROCOR
(1964?1985).
- 1965 Bulgarian Diocese in Exile established under
ROCOR
(1965?1976);
SCOBA
appeals to mother churches to allow concrete steps to be taken toward American Orthodox unity; at 12th All-American Sobor,
Ireney (Bekish)
succeeds Metr.
Leontius (Turkevich)
as
primate
of the
Metropolia
;
North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation
founded, meeting twice yearly; Abp.
Iakovos (Coucouzis)
marched next to Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
in the
Selma to Montgomery marches
, captured on the cover of
LIFE Magazine
, March 26, 1965.
- 1966-1980 About 160,000
Greeks
emigrated to the US.
[6]
- 1966 Death of Metr.
Anthony (Bashir)
; election and consecration of
Philip (Saliba)
as Metropolitan of the
Syrian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York
; founding of
Hellenic College (Brookline, Massachusetts)
; death of St.
John Maximovitch
; death of
Aftimios Ofiesh
; Fr.
Alexander Schmemann
travels to Constantinople to intercede for Metropolia but is rebuffed; first founding of
Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement
(OISM).
- 1967 Consecration of
Theodosius (Lazor) of Sitka
;
Church of Constantinople
orders
Greek Archdiocese
to suspend communion with the
Metropolia
; 13th All-American Sobor of Metropolia held in New York City.
- 1968 Meeting between Metropolia representatives and Moscow Patriarchate in Upsala, Sweden, discussing
autocephaly
for the Metropolia; Synod of Bishops of the Metropolia decides to start official exploratory negotiations with MP.
- 1969 Consecration of
Dmitri (Royster)
(seen by many to be first convert bishop); official autocephaly meetings of Metropolia with Moscow Patriarchate take place on New York City, Tokyo and Geneva; Metr.
Philaret (Voznesensky)
of New York issues the first of a series of "Sorrowful Epistles" (1969,1971,1975) to the primates of the local Orthodox Churches, condemning forays into
ecumenism
.
Union and division (1970?1994)
[
edit
]
- 1970 Russian Metropolia reconciles with the
Church of Russia
and is granted
autocephaly
, changing its name to the
Orthodox Church in America
(OCA), an act accepted by some Orthodox autocephalous churches worldwide, but condemned as uncanonical by the majority, including all four ancient
patriarchates
and the
Church of Greece
;
Constantinople
ceases all official contact with the
OCA
and declares it uncanonical; 14th All-American Sobor/1st All-American Council accepts autocephaly Tomos and approves new name of Orthodox Church in America (OCA); the
Russian Exarchate of North America
is dissolved, but the majority of its parishes remain under the Church of Russia;
glorification
of St.
Herman of Alaska
in separate services by the
ROCOR
and the
OCA
.
- 1971 ROCOR denounces
Moscow
's grant of
autocephaly
to the Metropolia; OCA receives rebel ROCOR
parish
in Australia;
Albanian Archdiocese
received into the OCA at 2nd All-American Council held at St. Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, PA.
- 1972
OCA
receives the Mexican National Catholic Church, creating its
Exarchate of Mexico
.
- 1973 The 3rd All-American Council of OCA held in Pittsburgh, PA.
- 1974 The
Church of Romania
approved the elevation of the Romanian Orthodox Missionary Episcopate in America (formed in 1950) to that of an Archdiocese, forming the
Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Canada
; 3rd All-Diaspora Council of ROCOR held in Jordanville, New York;
OCA
Metropolitan
Ireney (Bekish)
goes into semi-retirement, while his duties are taken up by Archbishop
Sylvester (Haruns) of Montreal
.
- 1975 "Russi-Antaaki" division in the Antiochian church in North America overcome by Metr.
Philip (Saliba) of New York
and Metr.
Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo
by the uniting of the two Syrian archdioceses into one
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
, led by Metr. Philip; 4th All-American Council of OCA held in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1976 Reception into the
OCA
of the ROCOR's Bulgarian Diocese in Exile and its hierarch, Bishop
Kyrill (Yonchev)
, becoming the
OCA's Bulgarian Diocese
.
- 1977
OCA
holds its 5th All-American Council in Montreal, electing
Theodosius (Lazor)
as its metropolitan, replacing the retiring
Ireney (Bekish)
;
glorification
in Russia of St.
Innocent of Alaska
.
- 1981 The
Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
(PAOI) is founded in Berkeley, California;
OCA
primatial see transferred from New York to Washington.
- 1982 Calendar
schism
in
OCA Diocese of E. Pennsylvania
, ROCOR receiving multiple parishes in the area.
- 1985 Founding of
Orthodox Christian Mission Center
(OCMC) as Greek Archdiocesan Mission Center;
martyrdom
of Father
John (Karastamatis) of Santa Cruz
.
- 1986 8th All-American Council of OCA held in Washington, D.C.
- 1987 Majority of the parishes of the
Evangelical Orthodox Church
are received into the
Antiochian Archdiocese
by Metr.
Philip (Saliba)
, becoming the Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission (AEOM).
- 1988 Healing of schism between two Serbian dioceses.
- 1989
Glorification
in Russia of St.
Tikhon of Moscow
; controversial spiritual leader
Elder Ephraim
begins founding strict
Athonite
-style monasteries in North America; 9th All-American Council of OCA held in Saint Louis, Missouri.
- 1990 Contact between
Constantinople
and the
OCA
resumes.
- 1992 Founding of
International Orthodox Christian Charities
(IOCC); 10th All-American Council of OCA held in Miami, Florida.
Ligonier and beyond (1994?present)
[
edit
]
- 1994 Bicentennial of Orthodox Christianity in North America (1794?1994);
Ligonier Meeting
in Western Pennsylvania at the
Antiochian Village
held by the majority of Orthodox hierarchs in North America votes to do away with the notion of Orthodox Christians in America being a "
diaspora
" and pledges to work together in missions;
glorification
of St.
Alexis of Wilkes-Barre
by OCA;
Orthodox Christian Mission Center
becomes a
SCOBA
agency and changes to its current name; glorification in Russia of Ss.
John Kochurov
and
Alexander Hotovitsky
; glorification by
ROCOR
of St.
John Maximovitch
.
- 1995 Death of Bp.
Gerasimos (Papadopoulos) of Abydos
; 11th All-American Council of OCA held in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1996 Allegedly forced retirement of Greek Archbishop
Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America
, being replaced by
Spyridon (Papageorge)
;
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America
joins
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
, coming under
Constantinople
.
- 1997 Visit by
Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople
to US, heralded as a Bridge Builder and Peacemaker and awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal
by the U.S. Congress.
- 1998
Ben Lomond Crisis
in the (formerly
EOC
)
Antiochian
parish of Ss. Peter and Paul (Ben Lomond, California) gains national attention; multiple
clergy
are
laicized
and/or
excommunicated
; the
International Religious Freedom Act
is passed in the US to promote religious freedom as a
foreign policy of the United States
, and to advocate on the behalf of the individuals viewed as persecuted in foreign countries on the account of religion; the
Toronto Orthodox Theological Academy
is founded, under the auspices of the
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto (Canada)
; the Holy Synod of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate
formally accepted the
Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou
in
Astoria NY
as a Sacred Patriarchal and
Stavropegial
Institution, as well as its founders Metr.
Paisios (Loulourgas) of Tyana
and Bp.
Vikentios (Malamatenios) of Apameia
(formerly of the
Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece
).
- 1999 Retirement of
Spyridon (Papageorge)
, Greek Archbishop of America, being replaced by
Demetrios (Trakatellis)
; reception of dissident group from the
Ben Lomond Crisis
by the
Jerusalem Patriarchate
, including re-ordination of some of the excommunicated and/or deposed clergy.
- 2000
Glorification
of St.
Raphael of Brooklyn
at
St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)
by the
OCA
jointly with Antiochian hierarchs; reception of multiple former parishes of the Holy Order of MANS/Christ the Saviour Brotherhood into the
Patriarchal Bulgarian diocese
.
- 2001 Second meeting of most bishops associated with
SCOBA
; the 2001 data from
Statistics Canada
gives a total of 433,815 Orthodox in Canada.
[11]
- 2002 Retirement of
Theodosius (Lazor)
and election of
Herman (Swaiko)
as Metropolitan of the
OCA
at 13th All-American Council held in Orlando, Florida.
- 2003 The
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
is granted "self-rule" (similar but not identical to
autonomy
) by the
Church of Antioch
, establishing 9 new
dioceses
in North America and promoting its
auxiliary bishops
to diocesan ones; after years of inactivity, refounding of
OISM
.
- 2004 Consecration in Damascus of 3 new diocesan bishops for the
Antiochian Archdiocese
,
Thomas (Joseph) of Oakland
,
Mark (Maymon) of Toledo
, and
Alexander (Mufarrij) of Ottawa
.
- 2005 Death of Archbishop
Iakovos (Coucouzis)
; consecration of
Alejo (Pacheco Vera) of Mexico City
,
auxiliary bishop
of the
OCA
Exarchate of Mexico; OCA's New York
diocese
subsumed into its Diocese of Washington, creating the
Diocese of Washington and New York
, at 14th All-American Council held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- 2006 4th All-Diaspora Council of the ROCOR votes to restore
full communion
with
Moscow Patriarchate
; four priests and one deacon who departed the Antiochian Archdiocese during the
Ben Lomond Crisis
return to Antioch; major financial scandal in the
OCA
; third meeting of most
SCOBA
bishops agrees to work together on canonical and pastoral questions.
- 2007
OISM
holds first meeting at a ROCOR seminary,
Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary
;
ROCOR
reconciles officially with the Patriarch of Moscow under the
Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate
, with incorporation of the ROCOR as a semi-autonomous entity of the patriarchate.
- 2008
Jerusalem jurisdiction
transferred to
Greek Archdiocese
, forming
Vicariate for Palestinian-Jordanian Communities in the USA
; Metr.
Herman (Swaiko)
retired by OCA amidst financial scandal; Jonah (Paffhausen) elected primate of OCA; 15th All-American Council held in Pittsburgh, PA.
- 2009
Church of Georgia
names Metr. Dimitri (Shiolashvili) of Batumi and Lazeti as bishop for North America; the
OCMC
's
Archbishop Anastasios and Archbishop Demetrios Mission and Training Centre
is opened in
St. Augustine, Florida
, for the training of missionaries for global assignments, being the first permanent facility of the combined Orthodox churches in America; reciprocal visit of Abp.
Demetios (Trakatellis)
and a delegation from the
Greek Archdiocese
to Metropolitan
Hilarion (Kapral)
and hierarchs of the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
, marking the first visit of a Greek Orthodox Archbishop to ROCOR's headquarters in more than 40 years; Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference meets in
Chambesy
, Switzerland and mandates "Episcopal Assemblies" for various regions of the world, including North America; Metr.
Jonah (Paffhausen)
addressed the inaugural assembly of the newly founded
Anglican Church in North America
"seeking an ecumenical restoration"; an agreement was announced between
St. Vladimir's Seminary
and
Nashotah House
, an Anglican seminary, to guide ecumenical relationships and the new dialogue between the two churches; OCA Holy Synod reestablishes Diocese of Washington and Diocese of New York-New Jersey; Apostolic and Patriarchal Visit to the U.S. of Ecumenical Patr.
Batholomew I (Archontonis)
, meeting with the Orthodox Primates of the USA; Patr. Bartholomew I officially opened the 8th Religion, Science and the Environment (RSE) Symposium, entitled
"Restoring Balance: The Great Mississippi River,"
and is published in the Wall Street Journal in an op-ed piece entitled
"
Our Indivisible Environment
;"
Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
is issued, signed by more than 150 American religious leaders including Metr.
Jonah (Paffhausen)
and Bp. Basil (Essey) of Wichita.
- 2010 Consecration of Bp.
Michael (Dahulich) of New York
(OCA); formation of
Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America
;
ROCOR
marks its 90th anniversary; the Ministry of Education of the
Hellenic Republic
formally recognized
St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)
as an accredited institution of Higher Education, equal in standing to the schools of theology in the universities of Greece and the EU's member states;
Toronto Orthodox Theological Academy (Toronto, Ontario)
and
Saint Paul Catholic Pontifical University
in Ottawa sign cooperation agreement as twin institutions within the province of
Ontario
.
[12]
[note 6]
- 2011 Second gathering of the
Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America
, convened May 25?27 in Chicago.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
In 1844, St. Innocent (Veniaminov) organized the first Orthodox theological school in North America at Sitka, inaugurating a golden age of Orthodox educational ministry and mission in Alaska. This lasted until the catastrophe of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, when the last Russian-sponsored parochial school in Alaska closed.
[4]
- ^
October 18 is now celebrated as "
Alaska Day
."
[3]
- ^
Russian Orthodox missionaries had translated their liturgy into the Tlingit language. It has been argued that they saw Eastern Orthodox Christianity as a way of resisting assimilation to the "American way of life," which was associated with Presbyterianism.
[8]
- ^
"In the fall of 1891 there were about 500 male Greeks and perhaps 20 Greek women in New York. The establishment of the Athena Brotherhood intertwined Hellenism and Greek Orthodoxy; from these few sprung forth the first Greek association in this hemisphere and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox parish. A small part of an Evangelical church on West 53rd Street near Ninth Avenue was rented at $50.00 per month. Holy Trinity - the second Greek Orthodox church in the Americas and the first in New York City - had found its first home."
[10]
- ^
"Chartered by a special act of the New York State Legislature in 1896, it occupied several locations. In 1904 a permanent church building, an Episcopal church of Gothic architecture at 153 East 72nd Street, was purchased. The first service was held on April 3, 1904. Later that same year, the dynamic Father Methodeos Kourkoules assumed the pastorate and remained its benevolent and resolute spiritual leader until 1940."
[10]
- ^
Saint Paul University
in Ottawa is the home of the
"
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies
",
named after the primate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church,
Andrey Sheptytsky
(1865?1944). It specializes in Eastern Christian Studies, with special but not exclusive emphasis on the tradition of the
Church of Kyiv
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Two Views of Double-Headed Eagles
.
Northwest Coast Archaeology. Posted on March 1, 2010. Retrieved: 2013-10-05.
- ^
SS. Peter and Paul Church
.
Orthodox Church in America (OCA) - Parishes. Retrieved: 2013-10-06.
- ^
a
b
Alaska Native History - Timeline - Alaskool
.
Alaskool (Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage). Retrieved: 2013-10-06.
- ^
St. Herman's Seminary, Kodiak, Alaska
.
Orthodox Church in America (OCA) - Parishes. Retrieved: 2013-10-06.
- ^
Alexander Kitroeff.
The Story of Greek Migration to America
.
The Journey: The Greek American Dream (Documentary Film).
- ^
a
b
C. Moskos.
"The Greeks in the United States."
In: R. Clogg (cd.).
The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century.
St. Martin's Press, New York, 1999. p.105.
- ^
Boyd, Robert Thomas.
The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874
.
Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999. p. 241.
- ^
Kan, Sergei.
Memory Eternal: Tlingit Culture and Russian Orthodox Christianity Through Two Centuries.
Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1999. pp.xix-xxii.
- ^
Yaroslaw Lozowchuk and Gerald Luciuk.
Orthodox Churches
.
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Retrieved: 11 July 2014.
- ^
a
b
Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
Cathedral History: The Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
Archived
2012-12-07 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Retrieved 2013-02-02.
- ^
Subdeacon Kevin Wigglesworth.
Statistics of Orthodox Christianity in Canada
.
The Canadian Journal of Orthodox Christianity. Volume V, No 1, Winter 2010. p.33. (.PDF)
- ^
Pravoslavie.ru.
Toronto Orthodox Theological Academy & Saint Paul University sign cooperation agreement
.
16/12/2010.
Sources
[
edit
]
- This article incorporates text from
Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in North America
at
OrthodoxWiki
which is licensed under the
CC-BY-SA
and
GFDL
.