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The UAOC sent Metr. John (Teodorovich) in 1924 to head an American-Canadian diocese, arriving amid questions about the validity of his [[consecration of a bishop|consecration]], given that he had been [[ordination|ordained]] by UAOC bishops, whose consecrations were unrecognized by the mainstream of the Orthodox Church. John had great success in organizing parishes, due to his considerable administrative skill and his insistence on the liturgical use of Ukrainian (rather than [[Church Slavonic]] or English) as well as other Ukrainian cultural identifiers. In the aftermath of Ukrainian independence, nationalist feelings ran strong, and so an emphasis on Ukrainian identity was welcome to those who gathered under John.
Around the same time formed the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America]]formed, 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) of New Jersey|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.
During and after World War II, Ukrainian Orthodoxy in America changed radically, as a number of bishops came over from Europe who had been connected either with the UAOC, the [[Belarusian Belarussian Autocephalous Orthodox Church]] (another unrecognized group), or the autocephalous [[Church of Poland]] (then unrecognized by [[Church of Russia|Moscow]], but recognized by [[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]]). These bishops tended to prefer Metr. John's organization over that of Bp. Bohdan, contributing to the swelling of the former's ranks to around 80 parishes, while the latter could claim perhaps only around two dozen (in both cases, however, many of these parishes were little more than missions or house [[chapel]]s).
Serafim Surrency writes:
:Bp Bogdan, with what backing the Greek Greeks 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, [[Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mstyslav (Skrypnyk)]], came to America and joined the jurisdiction of the UAOC, serving in Canada. After some time, however, he came to the US United States 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.
On [[August 27]], 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 (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).
