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Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA

22 bytes removed, 04:05, July 28, 2006
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The huge white gaps in this article (too much on the right) were driving me crazy.
{{diocese|name=[[Image:Uocusacross.gif]]The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States of America|jurisdiction=[[Church of Constantinople|Constantinople]]|type=Archdiocese|founded=1923, 1929, 1996|bishop=[[Constantine (Bahan) of Irinoupolis|Metr. Constantine]]|see=Irinoupolis|hq=South Bound Brook, New Jersey|territory=United States|language=Ukrainian, [[Church Slavonic]], English|music=[[Ukrainian Chant]]|calendar=[[Julian Calendar|Julian]]|population=''unknown''|website=[http://www.uocofusa.org/ UOC-USA]}} The '''Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA''' ('''UOC of USA''') is a [[jurisdiction]] of the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]] in the United States. It consists of three eparchies ([[diocese]]s), ruled by three diocesan [[bishop]]s, including about 105 [[parish]]es and missions. Its current [[primate]] is His Beatitude, [[Metropolitan]] [[Constantine (Bahan) of Irinoupolis]]. [[Image:UOC of USA (3).jpg|rightleft|thumb|Bishops: Abp. Antony of Hierapolis; Metr. Constantine of Irinoupolis; Abp. Vsevolod of Scopelos]]
==History==
The UAOC sent Metr. John (Teodorovich) in 1924 to head an American-Canadian diocese, arriving amid questions about the validity of his [[consecration of a bishop|consecration]], given that he had been [[ordination|ordained]] by UAOC bishops, whose consecrations were unrecognized by the mainstream of the Orthodox Church. John had great success in organizing parishes, due to his considerable administrative skill and his insistence on the liturgical use of Ukrainian (rather than [[Church Slavonic]] or English) as well as other Ukrainian cultural identifiers. In the aftermath of Ukrainian independence, nationalist feelings ran strong, and so an emphasis on Ukrainian identity was welcome to those who gathered under John.
Around the same time formed the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America]], an organization of former [[Uniate]] parishes who had disputed with the Vatican over the issue of parish property ownership and enforced [[clerical celibacy]]. On [[April 9]], 1929, a meeting of 15 [[clergy]] and 24 [[laity]] was held in Allentown, Pennsylvania, at St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church, in which those attending agreed to form a diocese of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians, though unlike those who had affiliated themselves with the UAOC, they wished to be part of a recognized canonical authority.{{orthodoxyinamerica}} 
Another meeting took place in New York City two years later, at which Fr. [[Joseph (Zuk) of New Jersey|Joseph (Zuk)]] was nominated to become their bishop. He was ordained in September of 1932 to be the bishop of the new group, becoming an [[auxiliary bishop|auxiliary]] of Archbishop [[Aftimios Ofiesh]], the primate of the [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]] (an early attempt at an autocephalous church in America by the [[OCA|Russian Metropolia]]). Bishop Joseph died only two years later, however, and in 1937, through the leadership of Joseph's successor, [[Bohdan (Spylka) of Evkarpia|Bohdan (Spylka)]], the diocese was received into the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]] by Archbishop [[Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of Constantinople|Athenagoras (Spyrou)]] (then head of the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]), who ordained Bohdan in New York City. Bp. Bohdan at one point had rule over around 45 parishes, also having some initial success in attracting parishes away from the UAOC in America, due to his more moderate views.
In 1958, at the twentieth anniversary celebration in Allentown of the consecration of Bohdan, the sobor there raised him to the status of [[metropolitan]] and elected three candidates for consecration to to the episcopacy to assist him (in Canada, Western Europe, and England). Constantinople did not, however, recognize the elevation or choose to consecrate the candidates elected there. After 1957, Bohdan became less and less active, due mainly to advancing age, all the while continuing to lose parishes to the UAOC. He died on [[November 1]], 1965, leaving no successor.
After the death of Bohdan, the Greek episcopacy resident in North America attempted to promote unity between the different Ukrainian factions, but met with failure. Eventually, Fr. [[Andrei (Kuschak) of Evkarpia|Andrei (Kuschak)]] was elected by six parishes of the Constantinopolitan Ukrainians and consecrated to the episcopacy on [[Januray January 28]], 1967, by Abp. [[Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America|Iakovos (Coucouzis)]] and other bishops of the Greek Archdiocese. Bp. Andrei then ruled about a dozen parishes.
Metr. John was succeeded in 1971 by [[Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of Kiev|Mstyslav (Skrypnyk)]], who served as head of the diocese until 1990, when he was elected as patriarch of the UAOC, being succeeded by Bp. [[Vsevolod (Maidansky) of Scopelos|Vsevolod (Maidansky)]]. (In the same year, the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada]] was received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate.) Mystyslav died only three years after his election as patriarch, followed by enormous division in Ukraine. Ukrainian Orthodoxy in America, however, generally stayed out of the disputes there.
On [[March 12]], 1995, all the Ukrainian hierarchs outside of Ukraine which had not yet done so were received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The following year, in November, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA (formerly under the UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America (under Constantinople since 1937) were finally united, with Vsevolod becoming one of the new jurisdiction's diocesan bishops.
The same year as the unity was achieved, a [[tomos]] was issued by a metropolitan of the UAOC establishing a parish in Cleveland, Ohio, and ordaining a local priest with the title of Metropolitan [[Stephan (Petrovich) of Toronto|Stephan (Petrovich)]]. Additionally, in 1998 four parishes of the united jurisdiction (whose priests had been [[suspension|suspended]]) left Constantinople to become part of another unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox group, the [[Church of Ukraine (Kiev Patriarchate)|Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate]] (UOC-KP). [[Image:Wasuoc.jpg|thumb|left|St. Andrew's Cathedral, Washington D.C.]][[Image:SA-SBB.jpg|thumb|left|St. Andrew's Memorial Church, South Bound Brook, New Jersey]]
==Current structure==

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