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Orthodoxy in America began with the arrival from Russia of Orthodox missionaries at Kodiak Island in 1794. The administrative center of the mission in America, with the eventual sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, moved from Sitka to San Francisco in 1872. By the time that Bp. Tikhon arrived to administer the mission in 1898 and had made several extended pastoral journeys in North America, it was obvious to him that the concentration of parishes and faithful was in the eastern United States. He recommended that the official name of the mission be changed to the "Diocese of the Aleutians and North America" and suggested that the diocesan [[see]] be transferred to New York. This occurred in 1905. From that time until 1980 the parishes in the New York-New Jersey geographic area, and later those in the Washington, DC area, were officially under the auspices of the ruling hierarch of what is now the Orthodox Church in America ([[OCA]]).
The formal establishment of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey occurred after the grant of autocephaly in 1970. As the diocese was the see of the ruling [[hierarch]] of the mission, and later of the autocephalous church, it supported the national Church's administration. The administrative offices were located, first, in New York City at the Holy Protection Cathedral and later, since about 1967, in [[Chancery office of the Orthodox Church in America|Oyster Bay Cove/Syosset, NY]]. The location of the national administration in the Diocese as well as the presence of [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St. Vladimir's Seminary]] allowed the Diocese to benefit from the leadership of the Church in America.
At the 6th All-American Council, [[Holy Synod]] of Bishops decided to form a new Diocese of Washington, DC by splitting off the Washington area of the diocese. The new diocese in the nation's capital city began functioning in 1981 as the see of the [[Primate]] of the Orthodox Church in America. However, the national administrative offices remained at Syosset, within the Diocese of New York and New Jersey.
