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The first council (Sobor) was held at [[St. John the Baptist Russian Tikhon's Orthodox Church Monastery (now Cathedral) MayfieldSouth Canaan, Pennsylvania] on March 5th throught the 7th, 1907. The Council in 1907 was a natural outgrowth of the history of the North American Mission that we have reviewed and contributed to the Church’s vision that was further developed by the Council. When the First All-American Council (Sobor) gathered on March 5th through the 7th, 1907, it became the culmination and conclusion of |St. Tikhon’s archpastoral service in North America. In fact, by the end of March, Saint Tikhon did leave America, never to return again. Several weeks before the Council, it was announced that Saint Tikhon hadreceived news of his transfer to the ancient see of Yaroslavl, and thus, he no longer had the authority to preside over the Council. However, as he had not yet departed to his new assignment 's Monastery in Russia and his successor - Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) - had notyet arrived in AmericaSouth Canaan, auxiliary Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) of Alaska, who was the temporary administrator of the diocese, asked Saint Tikhon to preside over the Council that his vision had conceivedPennsylvania]]. The assembly of clergy and laity gathered in Mayfield was humble yet it was significant for it met under the leadership of its visionary archpastor to address the needs of the Church’s continued missionary expansion throughout North America, and to bid a fond farewell to their beloved diocesan hierarch. Among the highlights of its deliberations, the Council recognized that to further the Church’s mission, it was essential to create a permanent and orderly administrative structure in the diocese. To enact this, it was decided that a statute should be drafted.Furthermore, the Council realized that the regular convocation of Councils was vital to the development of the Church’s mission. Additionally, the Council sought to create a solid and equitable financial infrastructure for the diocese and its parishes. Such asystem, that would among other things provide subsidies for smaller parishes and uniform clergy compensation, was deemed indispensable for missionary expansion. In addressing the issue of differences in liturgical practice across the North American Diocese, the Council’s consensus was to follow St. Tikhon’s wise conclusion that these are to be council accepted as, in part, a reflection of the various ethnicities of the clergy and faithful autocephaly Tomos and that they do not contravene approved the essence new name of the ''[[Orthodox faithChurch in America]]''. As the Council’s meetings, taking place between sessions of the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society (ROCMAS) convention, lasted only After approving a few new short hoursconstitution, the Council was not able council decided to deliberate in great detail. However, the Council did delineate convene a decisive course of action on several issues as outlined above. The foremost significance special session of the 1907 Council was council the precedent it set by its very convocation for the future All-American Councils, which continue following year to this day. The life of revise the North American Church was further stabilized and fortified by Statutes to reflect the Mayfield Council, which resulted in remarkable continued growth over the next decade. Just after the czarist regime was overthrown in Russia in 1917, the long awaited All-Russian Church Council finally convened in Moscow. Perhaps the Mayfield Council in America a decade earlier played a part in paving the way for the Moscow Council. In any case, the influence of the Mayfield Council is clear. Saint Tikhon, formerly Archbishop of North America, was elected the first Patriarch of the Russian Church inmore than two centuriesnew status as an autocephalous church. The Moscow Council adopted many far-reaching innovative transformations for incorporation into the life of the Russian Church. Among them was a highly acclaimed parish statute. This document was clearly influenced by the Church statute drafted in America by decision of the Mayfield Council. (1)------------------------------------------------------------------------1- [Excerpts from Alexis Liberovsky's Banquet address at the 100th anniversary celebration of the First All American Sobor (Council) at Saint John teh Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Mayfield, PA on October 28, 2007]Alexis LiberovskyOCA ArchivistDirector – Department of History and Archives