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==History==
===Within the Greek Archdiocese===
[[Archimandrite]] [[Panteleimon (Metropoulos)]], the leader of HOCNA, had grown up in the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]. During his time in the Greek Archdiocese, he was able to use his considerably charisma to attract many to the monastic life, founding [[Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, Massachusetts)|Holy Transfiguration Monastery]] along with a convent, and a number of [[parish]]es formed under his influence. He had been [[tonsure]]d as a monastic on [[Mount Athos]] where he was advised, because of the allegedly increasing [[modernism]] and [[ecumenism]] of Archbishop [[Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America]], the [[primate]] of the Greek Archdiocese, to break from that jurisdiction and join himself and his followers to the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]. And so in the mid-1960s, Panteleimon disavowed the authority of Iakovos and joined with the ROCOR.
In December 1986, despite the decisions of the Synod, the Holy Transfiguration Monastery elected Isaac as its superior. Then, on [[December 12]], 1986, the monastery notified Metropolitan [[Vitaly (Ustinov) of New York]] that it was leaving ROCOR because of modernism and ecumenism.
On [[August 19]] / [[September 1]], 1986, the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR formally deposed Panteleimon, Isaac, and all the clergy who followed them into the schism [http://www.hocna.info/ROCOR_Statement_December_1986.shtml]. The Synod stated that "...all the clergymen who have withdrawn with Archimandrite Panteleimon who dare to celebrate the divine services, ignoring their suspension, and thus violate the canons and pronounce upon themselves a sentence of condemnation."
Panteleimon and HTM then joined a synod of the Greek [[Old Calendarists|Old Calendarist]] movement headed by Akakios of Diavlia and Gabriel of the Cyclades. After ROCOR forwarded documents about Panteleimon to Akakios and Gabriel, the latter quit the synod. Finding itself with only one bishop, HTM started negotiations with another synod, that of Archbishop [[Auxentios of Athens]] (the so-called "Auxentiites"). Despite warnings from Akakios and Panteleimon's previous opinion of Auxentios, whom he called the "garbage pit of Orthodoxy" (Auxentios was deposed for ordaining a homosexual to the episcopate for an undisclosed sum of money), HTM quit Akakios and joined the Auxentiite synod.
In 1995, Maximos of Kephalonia replaced Auxentios. He then asked ROCOR for the same documentation that was provided to Akakios and Gabriel. Upon receiving the documentation, Maximos quit the synod, leaving HTM and the bishops ordained by Auxentios. The latter incorporated a new organization called the '''Holy Orthodox Church in North America''' or '''HOCNA'''.
