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The expanse of the mission placed by the Church of Russia slowly expanded from the distant outpost in Alaska to a diocese that covered Alaska and the eastern expanse of northern Siberia. This diocese then developed two vicariates that eventually became separate dioceses. This list of hierarchs presents those bishops who provided the leadership in the development of this mission in North America until the mission was granted its autocephaly.

Starting as a vicariate in a distant diocese, the mission soon became part of the large missionary diocese that included Alaska and the northeastern part of Siberia where initially the seat of the ruling bishop was in Alaska but was moved to Siberia before Alaska was sold to the United States. After the sale of Alaska the vicariate in Alaska was reformed as an autonomous diocese with the bishop’s seat moved to California, outside the territory of Alaska. With the growth of the Orthodox population in the eastern part of North America, the name of the diocese was changed to include all North America and the ruling bishop’s seat was moved to New York. As the diocese grew auxiliary bishops were consecrated to cover the vast area and the cultural needs of the faithful. In the closing decades of the mission many of the auxiliary bishops began to function as autonomous dioceses.

The information following lists the bishops that occupied the ruling and vicar bishop positions during the era of the mission. The first column denotes the See of the diocese or vicariate, The second column notes the sitting hierarch, and the last two columns note the years holding the office.

Early Years

• Diocese of Irkutsk
• Vicariate of Kodiak Joasaph (Bolotov) 1799-1799
• Diocese of Kamachata, Kurile Islands, and the Aleutian Islands
• See: New Archangel: Innocent (Veniaminov-Popov) 1840 - 1852
• See: Yakutsk: Innocent (Veniaminov-Popov) 1852 - 1868
• Vicariates: Two vicariates established 1858: New Archangel and Yakutsk
• New Archangel: Peter (Ekatrinovsky) 1859 - 1867
• Yakutsk: Peter (Ekatrinovsky) 1867 - 1882
• Sitka/New Archangel: Paul (Popov) 1867 - 1870
• Diocese of Aleutian Islands and Alaska
• See: Sitka, formerly New Archangel, from 1870
• See: San Francisco from 1872
  • John (Mitropolsky) 1870 - 1876
  • Nestor (Zass) 1879 - 1882
  • Vladimir (Sokolovsky-Avtonomov) 1888 - 1891
  • Nicholas (Ziorov) 1891 - 1898
  • Tikhon (Bellavin) 1898 - 1900

Maturing Church

• Diocese of Aleutian Islands and North America
• Change in the name of the diocese in 1900
• See: New York from 1905
• New York: Tikhon (Bellavin) 1900 - 1907
• Vicariates: First Vicariates established 1903: Alaska and Brooklyn
• Alaska: Innocent (Pustynsky) 1904 - 1909
• Brooklyn: Raphael (Hawaweeny) 1904 - 1915
• Alaska: Alexander ( Nemolovsky) 1909 - 1915
• Canada: Alexander ( Nemolovsky) 1916 - 1919
• New York: Platon (Rozhdestvensky) 1907 - 1914
• Alaska: Philip (Stavitsky) 1916 - 1917
• New York: [[Evdokim (Meschersky) of the Aleutians | Evdokim (Mischersky) 1915 - 1917
• Pittsburgh: Stephen (Dzubay) 1916 - 1924
• Brooklyn: Aftimios (Ofiesh) 1917 - 1933
• New York: Alexander ( Nemolovsky) 1919 - 1922
• Canada: Adam (Philipovsky) 1922 - 1943?
• New York: Platon (Rozhdestvensky) 1922 - 1934
• Chicago: Theophilus (Pashkovsky) 1922 - 1931
• Alaska: Amphilokhy (Vakulsky) 1923 - 1931?
• Canada/Winnipeg: Arseny (Chavtsov) 1926 -1936
• Montreal: Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) 1927 - 1931
• San Francisco: Alexis (Panteleev) 1927 - 1931
• Detroit: Paul (Gavrilov) 1928 - 1933
• San Francisco: Theophilus (Pashkovsky) 1931 - 1934
• Alaska: Antoninos (Pokrovsky) 1931 - 1934
• Brooklyn: Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) 1931 - 19
• Chicago: Paul (Gavrilov) 1933 - 1933
• Chicago: Leonty (Turkevich) 1933 - 1950
• Pittsburgh: Benjamin (Basalyga) 1933 - 1946
• Alaska: Alexis (Panteleev) 1934 - 1944
• New York: Theophilus (Pashkovsky) 1934 - 1950
• Boston: Makary (Iliyinsky) 1935 - 1937
• Brooklyn: Makary (Iliyinsky) 1937 - 1946
• Alaska: John (Zlobin) 1945 - 1952
• Tokyo: Benjamin (Basalyga) 1946 - 1952
• Brooklyn: John (Shahovskoy) 1947 - 1950
• Pennsylvania: Nikon (de Greve) 1948 - 1959
• Canada: Dimitry (Magan) 1948 -
• Detroit/Cleveland: John (Garklavs) 1949 - 1957
• New York: Leonty (Turkevich) 1950 - 1965
• San Francisco: John (Shahovskoy) 1950 -
• Washington, DC Jonah (?) 1951 - ?
• Pittsburgh: Benjamin (Basalyga) 1952 - 1963 Tokyo: Ireney (Bekish) 1953 - 1959
• Alaska: Amvrossy (Merejko) 1955 - 1967
• Chicago/Minneapolis: John (Garklavs) 1957 -
• Tokyo: Nikon (de Greve) 1959 - 1963
• Boston: Ireney (Bekish) 1960 - 1965
• Washington, DC Kiprian (Borisevitch) 1961 - 1964
• Kyoto: Vladimir (Nagorsky) 1962 - 1964
• Montreal/Canada: Sylvester (Haruns) 1963 -
• Philadelphia: Kiprian (Borisevitch) 1964 -
• Tokyo: Vladimir (Nagorsky) 1964 -
• New York: Ireney (Bekish) 1965 -
• Washington, DC Theodosius (Lazor) 1967 - 1967
• Sitka/Alaska: Theodosius (Lazor) 1967 - 1972
• Pittsburgh: Amvrossy (Merejko) 1967 -
• Edmonton: Joasph (Antonuk) 1968 -
• Berkeley: Dimitri (Royster) 1969 -

Tomos of Autocephaly, signed April 10, 1970 by Patriarch Alexis of Moscow, formally ending the mission and granting self-rule to the Russian North American diocese.