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==Prologue: Contrasts and Stereotypes==Numerous stereotypes exist regarding the ROCOR and the OCA. The ROCOR is monarchist ("white"), while the OCA is associated with Russian Communism ("red"). The OCA is modernist, but the ROCOR is traditionalist. The ROCOR is "Great Russian," while the OCA is "Little Russian." These stereotypes have their origins in the history of Russian Orthodoxy in the West, a history which, like much of the history of the Russians, is complex and often sad.

:Moreover, Metropolitan THEOPHILUS had traveled to Serbia where, under the leadership of the Serbian Patriarch, an agreement was signed by the leading hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) along with other exiled Russian hierarchs throughout the world forging a peaceful coexistence. Under this agreement, the American Church was to retain her administrative autonomy while maintaining close relations with the ROCOR Synod and being accountable to it only in matters of faith. The parallel jurisdictions of the Metropolia and ROCOR were thus eliminated and the four ROCOR hierarchs in North America along with their clergy and parishes were integrated into the Metropolia. The vote of the Sixth Sobor on this loose affiliation with the ROCOR was as follows: 105 for, 9 against, 122 abstentions. The large number of abstentions reveals that there was much apprehension on this issue at the council. However, in approving the matter, the council delegates showed respect and obedience to Metropolitan THEOPHILUS' primatial leadership.[http://www.oca.org/dochistory-archives/aacs/the-aas6th-06all-synopsis.asp?SID=8american-sobor]

The website then goes on to describe this "integration" as merely a "loose affiliation," which seems to contradict the notion that the two bodies were truly integrated, eliminating "parallel jurisdictions" and making the Metropolia accountable to the ROCOR in matters of faith. On another portion of the website, regarding the [[All-American Sobor#Seventh All-American Sobor|7th All-American Sobor]] in 1946, the relationship then being severed with the ROCOR is described as having been a "temporary arrangement"[http://www.oca.org/dochistory-archives/aacs/the-aas7th-07all-synopsis.asp?SID=8american-sobor].

:...in In Octoberof 1970, 1969, Metropolitan Nicodemus gave communion to Catholic students in the Russicum in Rome. This was followed, on December 16, by a decision synod of the Russian Holy Synod to give permission to Orthodox clergy ROCOR sent the following declaration to administer the sacraments to Old Believers and Catholics... The decision bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate to give communion to Catholics put the other Russian jurisdiction in North America, the Metropolia, into a difficult position; for in the early 1960s the Metropolia (a body in schism from the ROCA since 1946) had been, through Fathers [[John Meyendorff]] and [[Alexander Schmemann]], among the most conservative participants in the ecumenical movement.[http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP3.htm] He further writes that the autocephaly about to be received from Moscow was part of a secret deal between the Metropolia and Moscow, and that the price of the Metropolia's autocephaly was response to be the newly revitalized [[Church news of Japan]]: :However, this Church had been secretly negotiating with the Moscow Patriarchate for having granted them a grant Tomos of autocephaly. According to the deal eventually agreed upon, the patriarchate was to declare the Metropolia to be the autocephalous Orthodox Church of America (OCA) in exchange for the Japanese parishes of the Metropolia coming within the jurisdiction of the patriarchate. This deal, which was recognized by none of the other Autocephalous Churches and was to the advantage, in the long run, only of the patriarchate and the KGB, was made public in December, 1969 – just at the moment that the patriarchate announced that it had entered into partial communion with the Catholics. Thus the former Metropolia found that it had been granted autocephaly by a Church that was now in communion with the Catholics.[http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/History/OrthodoxChurch20thCenturyP3.htm] In October of 1970, the synod of the ROCOR sent the following declaration to the bishops of the Metropolia:

Since After the election of Metropolitan [[Laurus (Skurla) of New York]] as First Hierarch of the ROCOR and that body's subsequent ongoing movement towards rapprochement with Moscow, signs have appeared of better relations between the OCA and ROCORbegan to appear. Seminarians studying at OCA seminaries have attended retreats at the ROCOR's [[Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)]], and ROCOR seminarians have also participated in [[OISM]] events at OCA seminaries. The first member of the OCA to study at Holy Trinity Seminary, Vitaly Efimenkov, graduated in 2002. It is also worth noting that several graduates of Holy Trinity Seminary, upon receiving their Bachelor of Theology, went on to receive Masters Degrees from [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|St. Vladimir's Seminary]]. The most recent graduate of both Holy Trinity and St. Vladimir's is Andrei Psarev, instructor of Russian Church History at Holy Trinity.

Warmly worded letters from the OCA hierarchy have also been sent to the ROCOR hierarchy.[http://www.oca.org/Docs.asp?ID=49&SID=12] Further, pilgrims from the ROCOR have visited the OCA [[metochion]] in Moscow [http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0118.htm] and Metropolitan Laurus has received representatives of the OCA for informal discussions.[http://www.st-catherine.ru/en/news/0113.htm] Additionally, the OCA's [[chancellor]] and one of its senior priests have attended a banquet at a ROCOR [[clergy]] conference.[http://www.orthodoxnews.netfirms.com/53/OCA%20Chancellor.htm]