Check.Church

Orthodox Church in America

Eastern Orthodox · 1970 · United States; Canada; Mexico

The American church of the Russian mission line, granted autocephaly by Moscow in 1970 with a vision of a united territorial church for North America; the grant's disputed recognition is itself a live datum about how autocephaly works.

Orthodox Church in America was formed in 1970. Orthodox Church in America continues today. Orthodox Church in America's institutional line runs back through Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Orthodox Church in America stand 1 division along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1970
Family
Eastern Orthodox
Region
United States; Canada; Mexico
Cause tags
Geography, Governance
Also known as
OCA; the Metropolia (pre-1970)

What it was organized out of

On the tree

Orthodox Church in America and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145198810541970The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxRussian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox)Russian Orthodox ChurchEastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredOrthodox Church in America (Eastern Orthodox)Orthodox Church inAmericaEastern Orthodox

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.