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→History
Under the leadership of Fr. John Trutza, the efforts of the Moldovan episcopate were turned back and control of the properties remained with the older episcopate. Then, at the Council of [[July 5]], 1951, the episcopate declared itself completely [[autonomy|autonomous]] for both administrative and spiritual matters. The Council then elected a lay theologian, Viorel D. Trifia, as [[vicar bishop]] of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America. Thus, he came to exercise leadership of the diocese due to the continued absence of Bp. Polycarp who remained a political prisoner of the communist government of Romania.
The newly elected bishop was consecrated with the name Valerian on [[April 27]], 1952, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by three bishops from an uncanonical Ukrainian bishopschurch. Under Bp. Valerian the Episcopate entered a new era of activity, even as he came under continuous attack, first in the media and then in the courts. After Bp. Polycarp's death in 1957, Bp. Valerian then became the titular Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.
==Organization==
