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{{inprogressdiocese|username=ASDamickThe Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the United States of America|jurisdiction=[[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]]|type=Archdiocese|founded=1923, 1929, 1996|bishop=[[Constantine (Bahan) of Irinoupolis|Metr. Constantine]]|see=Irinoupolis|hq=South Bound Brook, New Jersey|territory=United States|language=Ukrainian, [[Church Slavonic]], English|music=[[Ukrainian Chant]]|calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|population=''unknown''|website=[http://www.uocofusa.org/ UOC-USA]}}
==History==
Around the same time formed the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America]], an organization of former [[Uniate]] parishes who had disputed with the Vatican over the issue of parish property ownership and enforced [[clerical celibacy]]. On [[April 9]], 1929, a meeting of 15 [[clergy]] and 24 [[laity]] was held in Allentown, Pennsylvania, at St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, in which those attending agreed to form a diocese of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, though unlike those who had affiliated themselves with the UAOC, they wished to be part of a recognized canonical authority.
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
Another meeting took place in New York City two years later, at which Fr. [[Joseph (Zuk)]] was nominated to become their bishop. He was ordained in September of 1932 to be the bishop of the new group, becoming an [[auxiliary bishop|auxiliary]] of Archbishop [[Aftimios Ofiesh]], the primate of the [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]] (an early attempt at an autocephalous church in America by the [[OCA|Russian Metropolia]]). Bishop Joseph died only two years later, however, and in 1937, through the leadership of Joseph's successor, [[Bohdan (Spylka) of Evkarpia|Bohdan (Spylka)]], the diocese was received into the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]] by Archbishop [[Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople|Athenagoras (Spyrou)]] (then head of the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]), who ordained Bohdan in New York City. Bp. Bohdan at one point had rule over around 45 parishes, also having some initial success in attracting parishes away from the UAOC in America, due to his more moderate views.
:Bp Bogdan, with what backing the Greek could give him, which was mostly moral and very little financial, continued to give some competition to the organization of Theodorovitch, now commonly called the "Ukrainian Metropolia," but it was a losing battle. In addition to the administrative ineptitude of Bp Bogdan, his very moderation in matters Ukrainian seemed to work against him. Bp Bogdan did succeed in attracting some Americans who were interested in Orthodoxy and most in ordination. Bp Bogdan ordained over a dozen native converts to the Orthodox priesthood without requiring any theological education and as might be expected the results were disastrous (an exception was Fr. [[Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas|Dmitry Royster]] who later transferred his allegiance to the Russian Metropolia and was consecrated Bishop in 1969) (p. 113).
In 1942, when persecution of the Church in Ukraine eased under the German occupation, a number of bishops were consecrated for the Ukrainian Orthodox there. One of thesebishops, [[Mystyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mystyslav (Skrypnyk)]], came to America and joined the jurisdiction of the UAOC, serving in Canada. After some time, however, he came to the US and joined Bp. Bohdan's group. He desired the unity of the two jurisdictions and worked to convince Metr. John to accept re-consecration as a condition for union.
In 1949, Metr. John (Teodorovich) was re-consecrated privately by apparently canonical Orthodox bishops, thus ending some of the questions regarding his previous consecration and attracting a number of the parishes of Bp. Bohdan into his flock. Despite becoming the largest Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdiction in the United States at this point, the diocese was still not recognized as canonical by the rest of the Orthodox Church, and the hierarchs who re-consecrated John ([[Mystyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mystyslav (Skrypnyk)]] and [[Christopher (Contogeorge) of Pentapolis|Christopher (Contogeorge)]], [[exarch]] for the [[Church of Alexandria|Patriarchate of Alexandria]])) were themselves considered dubious by some (ibid., 113).
In 1950, the two rival jurisdictions held [[sobor]]s (in the same cathedral in New York) at which unification was approved by both, and on [[October 13]], a combined unification sobor was held, with both groups signing onto union. A number of clergy and parishes under Bohdan were unconvinced of the sincerity of the UOAC group, however, and convinced him to reject the union. Union was proclaimed, but it was not complete, lacking the support of Bohdan and those who had convinced him to remain separate. Mystyslav essentially returned to the UAOC jurisdiction, along with a number of Bohdan's parishes, while the union was celebrated on [[October 14]] by those who participated.
In 1958, at the twentieth anniversary celebration in Allentown of the consecration of Bohdan, the sobor there raised him to the status of [[metropolitan]] and elected three candidates for consecration to to the episcopacy to assist him (in Canada, Western Europe, and England). Constantinople did not, however, recognize the elevation or choose to consecrate the candidates elected there. After 1957, Bohdan became less and less active, due mainly to advancing age, all the while continuing to lose parishes to the UAOC. He died on [[November 1]], 1965, leaving no successor.
On [[March 12]], 1995, all the Ukrainian hierarchs outside of Ukraine which had not yet done so were received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The following year, in November, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA (formerly under the UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America (under Constantinople since 1937) were finally united, with Vsevelod becoming one of the new jurisdiction's diocesan bishops.
The same year as the unity was achieved, a [[tomos]] was issued by a metropolitan of the UAOC establishing a parish in Cleveland, Ohio, and ordaining a local priest with the title of Metropolitan [[Stephan(Petrovich) of Toronto|Stephan (Petrovich)]]. Additionally, in 1998 four parishes of the united jurisdiction (whose priests had been [[suspension|suspended]]) left Constantinople to become part of another unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox group, the [[Church of Ukraine (Kiev Patriarchate)|Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate]] (UOC-KP).
==Current structure==
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA is divided into three [[eparchy|eparchies]]:*Central Eparchy (Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania), headed by Metr. Constantine of Irinoupolis (Parma, Ohio)*Eastern Eparchy (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia), headed by Abp. Antony of Hierapolis (New York, New York)*Western Eparchy (Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin), headed by Abp. Vsevelod of Scopelos (Chicago, Illinois) In total, there are about 105 parishes, two [[monastery|monasteries]], and one seminary, [[St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Bound Brook, New Jersey)|St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary]] in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. Besides the three hierarchs, the clergy consist of 106 [[priest]]s and 15 [[deacon]]s.[http://uocofusa.org/diodirect/clergy_dir.shtml] 15 of the parishes currently have either no pastor or are served by clergy in their [[deanery]].[http://uocofusa.org/directory/]
==Sources==