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Following the untimely death of St. [[Raphael of Brooklyn]] in 1915, Archimandrite Aftimios (Ofiesh) was elected to serve as his replacement in caring for the Arab Orthodox faithful in America under the [[Church of Russia]]'s canonical authority. He was consecrated by Archbishop [[Evdokim (Meschersky) of the Aleutians|Evdokim (Meschersky)]] as an auxiliary bishop in 1917 with the title of ''Bishop of Brooklyn''. In 1923, in recognition for his work in America, he was elevated by Metropolitan [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York]] to the rank of [[archbishop]].
In 1924, in the canonical chaos of American Orthodoxy following the onset of the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] in Russia, the Arab Orthodox faithful split into two factions, one which wished to go under the canonical authority of the [[Church of Antioch]] and another which wished to stay faithful to the [[Church of Russia]]. The former group was organized by Bishop [[Victor (Abu Assaly) of New York]], thus beginning the official presence of the Church of Antioch on American soil.
[[Image:Aftimios Ofiesh2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Aftimios in [[mantiya]]]]
