Orthodoxy in America

The History of Orthodoxy in America

This article will cover common American Orthodox history

17th Century

Dezhnyov's 1648 expedition
Dezhnyov's 1648 expedition


Dezhnyov's 1648 expedition's believed to had reached the American shore and that their men had founded a Russian settlement there.


Dezhnyov later founded the Anadyr Ostrog. Thus the Russian (and Orthodox) quest for new lands on the East and Alaska has begun.


Such a colonies were established by many Russian expeditions launched by the Russian-American Company from 1818 on and during the early 1820s.

18th Century

In 1732 the first well-documented Russian expedition headed by Mikhail Gvozdev (Михаил Гвоздев) on a ship St Gabriel (Святой Гавриил) built on the orders of Vitus Bering sailed towards Alaska. Afterwards, new settlers and traders streamed to Alaska. Settlers shared the Holy Gospel with locals and baptized them according to laymen rule in absence of clergy. There were no permanent missions at the time. Sometimes priest accompanying ship crews would come and minister. The first Native Americans to become Orthodox Christian were the Aleuts.


On 24 September 1794 Archmandrite Joasaph Bolotov and a group of missionaries from the Valaam Monastery in 1794. Under very primitive conditions he and his monastic companions established the foundations of an Orthodox presence in North America. Fr. Joasaph and his party of monks were very successful in evangelizing the natives and expanded their preaching and efforts to the mainland. Yet, reaching out to the natives involved dangers. Witness the martyrdom of Fr.Juvenaly in 1796.

Greek Orthodox immigrants settle in Florida in the middle of 18th Century

19th Century

In 1868, the first Orthodox church in the continental United States was established in San Francisco, California. Numerous parishes were established across the country throughout the rest of the 19th century. Although these parishes were typically multi-ethnic, most received support from the missionary diocese. In 1872 the diocesan see was relocated from Alaska to the city of San Francisco, California in the United States. The mission itself was instituted as a separate Diocese of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands on June 10, 1870, subsequent to the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867. In November 1870, the first Orthodox church in New York City was consecrated.



The 19th and 20th Century


St. Tikhon, then Archbishop of north America, with his two vicar bishops, Innocent (Pustynskii) of Alaska and Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn

Per requests of American Orthodox Christians in New York, in 1895 Father Raphael Hawaweeny, was sent by the Moscow Patriarchate and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to administer the local Orthodox Christian community and to serve Arabic- and Russian-speaking Orthodox Christians. See article in The New York Times

Later he became the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America; the consecration was performed by Archbishop (Saint) Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Innocent in New York City. He served as Bishop of Brooklyn until his repose. The Church recognizes him as St. Raphael of Brooklin. The Word Magazine article.

st.Tikhon.png

It was St. Tikhon (Patriarch of Moscow) who proposed the multi-diocese model of American Orthodoxy due to Orthodox America's diverse ethnic and patriarchal representations. This model reflected ethnic rather than territorial distinctions, as practiced in the Old World. This helped American Orthodox to stay united and in peace, -- the Orthodox way.
During this period, education and charity was a focus of the diocese. In 1905, Archbishop Tikhon oversaw the creation of an Orthodox seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. St. Platon's Seminary moved from Minneapolis to Tenafly, New Jersey in 1912 and enrolled 78 students from then until 1923. In 1916, an unaccredited Russian Women's College was established in Brooklyn. An immigrant society and orphanage also were established, as well as the first Orthodox monasteries in the United States - Saint Tikhon's Monastery for men in 1905 and Holy Virgin Protection for women in 1915).

Prior to the 13th All-American Sobor in November 1967, a proposal was prepared to change the name of the Church from the "Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America" to the "Orthodox Church in America." The name change, as well as the granting of autocephaly, was officially accepted at the 14th All-American Sobor (also known as the 1st All-American Council in recognition of the Church's new-found independence) in October 1970.


The first permanent Greek Orthodox community was founded in New York City in 1892, today’s Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and the See of the Archbishop of America. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America was incorporated in 1921 and officially recognized by the State of New York in 1922.

Due to lack of communication, turmoil in Russia and Europe, missionary work slowed down

1922 a new Orthodox body emerged. Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) was formed by exile clergy and laity as an entity free from the new Soviet regime. ROCOR reunited with Moscow Patriarchate in Moscow on May 17, 2007


http://orthodoxwiki.org/ROCOR


The first Diocesan Council-Sobor of Carpatho-Russian Churches in the United States was called in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 23, 1937 by Father Orestes P. Chornock who was appointed administrator of the Diocese being formed. The Sobor abrogated the 300-year old "Unia" and returned the Carpatho-Russian people to the ancestral Orthodox Faith. The clergy at this Sobor elected the Rt. Rev. Orestes P. Chornock as the Bishop-Nominee of the new Diocese.





Archimandrite Mardary was consecrated by the Serbian Patriarch Dimitriye in April 1926 as head of the Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of America and Canada, After his return to the United States, Bp. Mardary convened the first Church Assembly in Chicago May 29-30, 1927.
21st Century


American Orthodoxy composed of Orthodox Church in America, Dioceses and Archdioceses of Local Orthodox Churches from around the world. This is due to historical circumstances. All canonical Orthodox bishops participate in the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (former SCOBA)


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