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Genuine Greek Orthodox Church of America

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The '''Genuine Greek Orthodox Church of America''' (now know as the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of America) is the largest and oldest [[Old Calendarist]] church in North America, and is a member of the [[Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece]], under the presidency of Archbishop Kallinikos of Athens.
== Introduction ==
In 1951, [[Archimandrite]] [[Petros (Astyfides)]] arrived in New York at the invitation of [[Arsenios Saltas]], whom he understood to be the Greek Old Calendarist [[bishop]] of America. Soon learning that this was not the case, Archimandrite Petros resolved to return to Greece. However, a number of Greek Old Calendarist families in Queens persuaded him to begin services for them, and by 1954 [[Saint Markella's Cathedral]] was established.
Archimandrite Petros began to gather various independent parishes until a diocese was formed. During this time, he was under the [[Metropolia]] and then the [[ROCOR]]. Two ROCOR bishops, [[http://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/synod/engdocuments/enart_archbpseraphimmemory15yrs.html| Seraphim (Svezhevsky) of Chicago]Caracas] and [[http://www.rocorstudies.org/church-people/archbishop-leontii/2010/06/09/on-the-pastoral-activity-of-archbishop-leontii-of-chile| Leonty (Filippovich) of Chile]], [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] him to the episcopacy in November 1962 as Bishop of Astoria. This consecration was initially considered irregular, as it was done in secret. However, in 1969 the ROCOR Synod ruled to recognize this act as well as the restoration of the episcopacy of the Genuine Greek Orthodox Church of Greece performed earlier by ROCOR hierarchs. At this time, Bishop Petros of Astoria joined with the Synod in Greece officially.
== Dispute over Grace ==
In February 2006, Metropolitan Pavlos suffered a stroke and was temporarily incapacitated. Archbishop Chrysostom II of Athens was appointed provisional administrator of the Holy Metropolis of America. After substantially recovering, Metropolitan Pavlos was restored as full ruling hierarch of the Holy Metropolis in 2007.
 
In December 2013, Metropolitan Pavlos retired from his position for health reasons. In February 2014, Bishop Demetrius (Kyriakou) of Boston was elected by the Holy Synod to succeed him as Metropolitan of America and President of the Eparchial Synod of the Church of the GOC of America.
== Progress toward Old Calendar Unity ==
In 2011, Metropolitan Moses of Portland and Bishop [[Sergios (Black) of Loch Lomond ]] from the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]] were received into the Genuine Greek Orthodox Church of America, along with several HOCNA parishes and clergy from both the United States and Canada. In 2012, Bishop Demetrios of Carlisle from the [[Holy Orthodox Church in North America]], along with many parishes and clergy, and along with over half the monastics from Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, MA, were received by the Genuine Greek Orthodox Church of America, with Bishop Demetrios being given the title Bishop of Boston. In 2014, after several years of negotiations, full unity was achieved between the [[Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece]] (Synod of Archbishop Kallinikos) and the [[Holy Synod in Resistance]] with the latter ceasing to exist as a separate administrative entity. This unity also established full communion between the largest factions of Old Calendarists in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, along with the remnant Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (Synod of Metropolitan Agafangel), made up of those who refused to reunite with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007.
== Diocesan and Parish Organization ==
In 2002, the [[Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece|Holy Synod of Greece]] granted the Metropolis of America the status of a semi-autonomous eparchy, which included the establishment of an Eparchial Synod along with a local Ecclesiastical Tribunal. The Eparchy of America is comprised of two Metropoleis (America and Toronto) and two Dioceses (Boston , and Etna and Portland), whose ruling hierarchs are suffragans of the Metropolitan of America based in New York City. Currently there are 30 50 parishes and 4 missions and 11 monastic communities in the U.S, United States and 6 parish and 2 monasteries in Canada.
==Current hierarchs==
*Metropolitan Demetrius of America*Metropolitan Pavlos of America, ''emeritus'' (retired)*Metropolitan Moses of Toronto*Bishop Auxentios of Etna and Portland*Bishop Sergius Sergios of Loch LomondPortland, ''emeritus'' (retired)
*Bishop Christodoulos of Theoupolis
*Bishop Demetrios Maximus of BostonPelagonia
== Source and external link ==
[[Category:Old Calendarist Jurisdictions]]
 
*[http://hotca.org/eparchial-synod/announcements/529-announcment-concerning-the-union-of-the-synod-in-resistance-with-the-church-of-the-goc Announcement Concerning the Union of the Synod in Resistance with the Church of the GOC], from the Press Office of the Holy Synod of the G.O.C.
 
*[http://hotca.org/pdf/TrueOrthodoxOppositionEcumenism.pdf The True Orthodox Church in Opposition to the Heresy of Ecumenism: Dogmatic and Canonical Issues], a text drawn up by the Churches of the True Orthodox Christians of Greece and Romania, and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
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