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'''The ROCOR and the OCA''' have a complicated history of cooperation, rivalry, and sometimes outright hostility. These two [[jurisdiction]]s, the '''[[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]''' (ROCOR) and the '''[[Orthodox Church in America]]''' (OCA), both have their origins in the [[Church of Russia]] (a.k.a. the ''Moscow Patriarchate'' or ''MP''), and their histories as clearly distinct and identifiable entities both stem from the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in the early 20th century.
In examining this history, other names are used for the pre-1970 OCA, the ''Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America'' (its official name) and the ''Metropolia'' (its common name). The ROCOR is also referred to as the ''Karlovtsy Synod'' (from its seminal [[All-Diaspora_CouncilsDiaspora Councils#I_AllI All-Diaspora_CouncilDiaspora Council|formations in Serbia]]) or simply ''the Synod'', the ''Russian Orthodox Church Abroad'', or ''ROCA''.
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[[Image:John Maximovitch.jpg|right|thumb|150px|St. [[John Maximovitch]]]]
ROCOR historian Fr. Alexey Young, in his history of the ROCOR, writes: "In the early 1920s, the American Church came under the jurisdiction of the Administration Abroad, which took an active administrative role in overseeing its American 'branch'—particularly on disciplinary questions such as divorce and the establishment of a new See in Alaska" (Young, p. 33). Young then writes that Platon was appointed by the Church Abroad as the leader in North America, but unbeknownst to his fellows in the Synod, "was at the same time seeking official appointment directly from Patriarch Tikhon himself. When the Patriarch refused to interfere in the decision of the Church Abroad, saying he 'did not wish to go over their heads,' Platon suddenly produced an ''ukaz'', allegedly from Tikhon, appointing him as sole and independent head of the Church in America" (ibid.). Young continues, writing, that at first the ROCOR synod accepted the decree in good faith, but its authenticity was called severely into question when in 1924 "an actual decree from the Patriarch in Moscow deposed Platon 'for having engaged in public acts of counter-revolution directed against the Soviet government'" (ibid.). An American court also ruled subsequently that the ''ukaz'' produced by Platon was a forgery. "To deal with this embarrassment, Platon convoked the Detroit ''Sobor'' in April of the same year, with the purpose of declaring the Russian Church in America 'temporarily autonomous'—that is, free of ''both'' Moscow and Karlovci" (ibid.). This sobor is listed in the archives of the OCA as the "[[All-American_SoborAmerican Sobor#Fourth_AllFourth All-American_SoborAmerican Sobor|4th All-American Sobor]]."
In 1926 in Karlovtsy, the ROCOR bishops met together. Platon was present and asked to renounce the "temporary autonomy" that had been proclaimed by his council in 1924. Upon his refusal, the assembled bishops condemned the Detroit sobor as "extremely dangerous and harmful for the interests of the Russian Church in America" (quoted in Young, p. 34). Platon responded with another sobor in America in January of 1927 which labelled the ROCOR as "uncanonical." One of Platon's bishops, [[Apollinary (Koshevoy) of San Francisco|Apollinary (Koshevoy)]], dissented, proclaiming his loyalty to the ROCOR, and was expelled from the Metropolia.
[[Image:Theophilus Pashkovsky.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Metr. [[Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco|Theophilus (Pashkovsky)]]]]
However, on the OCA website in the section regarding the [[All-American_SoborAmerican Sobor#Sixth_AllSixth All-American_SoborAmerican Sobor|6th All-American Sobor]] of 1937 in New York, the claim is made that the ROCOR actually was made part of the Metropolia, confirming a 1935 agreement made in Serbia between the Metropolia's primate and the ROCOR synod:
: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/doc-aas-06-synopsis.asp?SID=8]
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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_SoborAmerican Sobor#Seventh_AllSeventh All-American_SoborAmerican 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/doc-aas-07-synopsis.asp?SID=8].
The nature of the association between the Metropolia and the ROCOR is characterized quite differently by ROCOR writers:
