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Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA

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History
: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 these bishops, [[Mystyslav Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mystyslav Mstyslav (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, 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 Mstyslav (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.
After the death of Bohdan, the Greek episcopacy resident in North America attempted to promote unity between the different Ukrainian factions, but met with failure. Eventually, Fr. [[Andrei (Kuschak) of Evkarpia|Andrei (Kuschak)]] was elected by six parishes of the Constantinopolitan Ukrainians and consecrated to the episcopacy on [[Januray 28]], 1967, by Abp. [[Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America|Iakovos (Coucouzis)]] and other bishops of the Greek Archdiocese. Bp. Andrei then ruled about a dozen parishes.
Metr. John was succeeded in 1971 by [[Mystyslav Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mystyslav Mstyslav (Skrypnyk)]], who served as head of the diocese until 1990, when he was elected as patriarch of the UAOC, being succeeded by Bp. [[Vsevolod (Maidansky) of Scopelos|Vsevolod (Maidansky)]]. (In the same year, the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada]] was received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate.) Mystyslav died only three years after his election as patriarch, followed by enormous division in Ukraine. Ukrainian Orthodoxy in America, however, generally stayed out of the disputes there.
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 Vsevolod becoming one of the new jurisdiction's diocesan bishops.
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