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→History of the Archdiocese
''Main Article: [[History of Antiochian Orthodoxy in America]]''
The first Orthodox bishop [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated ]] in North America, [[Raphael of Brooklyn|St. Raphael Hawaweeny]], was consecrated by the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] in America to care for the Orthodox Arab faithful in the USA and Canada. The Antiochian Archdiocese in North America traces its genesis to his ministry. His initial arrival in America was not to serve in the episcopacy, however, but he came as an [[archimandrite]] in 1895 at the request of members of the Syrian Orthodox Benevolent Society, an ostensibly philanthropic group whose primary purpose was to maintain ties between Orthodox Arabs living in America. He thus came to the US and was canonically received under the [[omophorion]] of Bishop [[Nicholas (Ziorov) of the Aleutians]], the [[Russian Orthodox Church of Russia]]'s exarch in America at the time.
Upon arriving in New York, Fr. Raphael established a [[parish ]] in lower Manhattan, then the center of the Syrian immigrant community. By 1900, however some 3,000 of these immigrants had moved across the East River, shifting the center of their life to Brooklyn. Thus, in 1902, the parish purchased a larger church building in that borough on Pacific Street. The church was named for St. [[Nicholas of Myra|Nicholas the Wonderworker]], renovated for Orthodox [[worship]], and then consecrated on [[October 27]], 1902, by St. [[Tikhon of Moscow]]. St. Nicholas Cathedral was later relocated to State Street in Brooklyn and is today considered the mother cathedral of the Archdiocese.
At the request of St. Tikhon, Fr. Raphael was chosen as his [[auxiliary bishop]], consecrated at [[St. Nicholas Cathedral (New York, New York)|St. Nicholas Cathedral]] as Bishop of Brooklyn and given more authority for his care of Arabic Orthodox Christians in America. Not long after, he founded ''Al-Kalimat'' (''The Word'') magazine, published service books in Arabic which were used in America, the Middle East, and throughout the Arabic Orthodox diaspora. St. Raphael fell asleep in the [[Lord]] at the age of 54 on [[February 27]], 1915, after short, but fruitful, years of service.
[[Image:St Elias Ottawa.jpg|left|thumb|250px|St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Ottawa, Canada]]
However, after the Bolshevik Revolution threw the Russian Orthodox Church and its faithful abroad into chaos, the Orthodox Arab faithful in North America, simultaneously shaken by the death of their beloved bishop St. Raphael, chose to come under the direct care of the [[Church of Antioch|Patriarchate of Antioch]]. Due to internal conflicts, however, the Antiochian Orthodox faithful in North America were divided between two [[archdiocese]]s, those of New York and Toledo, generally representing those who were loyal to the [[Church of Antioch]] and the [[Russian Orthodox Church|Church of Russia]], respectively. This division of the Arabic faithful resulted significantly from the division in loyalty to the bishops who aligned themselves at the time with the [[Orthodox Church in America|Russian Metropolia]], those who were involved with the formation of the now-defunct [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]], and those who chose to have canonical recourse directly to the [[Holy Synod]] of Antioch.
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
With the signing of the Articles of Reunification by Metropolitan [[Philip (Saliba) of New York|Philip (Saliba)]] and Metropolitan [[Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo|Michael (Shaheen)]] in 1975, the two Antiochian Orthodox archdioceses were united as one Archdiocese of North America (now with its headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey). Metropolitan Philip became the primate of the newly reunified archdiocese, and Metropolitan Michael became an auxiliary archbishop. Since then the Archdiocese has experienced rapid and significant growth through the [[conversion]] of a number of Evangelical Protestants—both individually and as congregations, especially with the reception of the majority of the [[Evangelical Orthodox Church]] in the 1980s—and also through ongoing evangelization and the immigration of Orthodox Arabs from the Middle East.
The Archdiocese also includes one [[monasticism|monastic]] community, [[St. Paul Skete (Grand Junction, Tennessee)]], a community for women. It does not run any of its own seminaries, but sends its seminarians to theological schools run by other [[jurisdiction]]s or overseas. The Archdiocese does run various non-seminary educational programs, however, including the [[St. Stephen's Course in Orthodox Theology]].
The Antiochian Archdiocese is also a member of the [[Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America]] which superseded [[SCOBA]] and was formerly a member of the [[National Council of Churches]] (NCC), but on [[July 28]], 2005, its Archdiocesan Convention voted unanimously to withdraw fully from that organization, thus making it the first of the major Orthodox jurisdictions in the US to do so.
Additionally, the 2005 convention voted another first for a major American Orthodox jurisdiction: to alter the assessment-based model of archdiocesan revenue to a [[tithing|tithe]] (10%) of each parish's income (excepting building funds), to be phased in at 8% in 2007 and then followed by 1% increases in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Of the Archdiocese's 236 communities, 31 are already tithing.
===Diocesan structure===
*[[Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic (Antiochian)|Diocese of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic]]
*[[Diocese of Eagle River and the Northwest (Antiochian)|Diocese of Eagle River and the Northwest]]
*[[Diocese of Los Angeles and the West (Antiochian)|Diocese of Los Angeles and the West]]
*[[Diocese of Miami and the Southeast (Antiochian)|Diocese of Miami and the Southeast]]
*[[Diocese of New York and Washington, DC (Antiochian)|Diocese of New York and Washington, D.C]].
*[[Diocese of Ottawa, Eastern Canada and Upstate New York (Antiochian)|Diocese of Ottawa, Eastern Canada and Upstate New York]].
*[[Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest (Antiochian)|Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest]]
*[[Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America (Antiochian)|Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America]]
*[[Diocese of Worcester and New England (Antiochian)|Diocese of Worcester and New England]]
===Membership figures===
|-
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Diocese of New York and Washington, DC (Antiochian)|Archdiocesan District]]
| 15
| 4639
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Diocese of Ottawa , Eastern Canada and Upstate New York (Antiochian)|Ottawa]]
| 18
| 6617
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| [[Diocese of Charleston, Oakland , and the Mid-Atlantic (Antiochian)|Charleston and Oakland]]
| 29
| 5838
== The Episcopacy ==
===Current bishops===
===Primates===
