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→History: Americanized spelling (since this is an article about an American group)
The OCA began with the missionary work of the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution brought communication between the churches in North America and Russia to an almost complete halt. In the early 1920s, Patriarch [[Tikhon of Moscow]] directed all Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia to govern themselves autonomously until regular communication and travel could be resumed. (He died in 1925, and was glorified as a [[saint]] by the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]] in 1989.) At that time, parishes which had been part of a single North American [[diocese]] organized separate dioceses and placed themselves under various other mother churches, giving rise to the current situation of multiple overlapping jurisdictions in North America.
In the early 1960s, the Metropolia (as it was then known) resumed communication with the Patriarch of Moscow, and in 1970 full communion was restored. At that time, the Patriarch of Moscow officially granted the OCA [[autocephaly]], or self-governing administrative status. The OCA's autocephaly is not currently recognized by all other autocephalous Orthodox Churches, including the [[Church of Constantinople]]. Churches that do recognize its autocephaly are mainly those in former Communist lands (most of which had thus come under the influence of the Church of Russia), including the [[Church of Russia]], the [[Church of Bulgaria]], the [[Church of Poland]], the [[Church of Georgia]], and the [[Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia]]. According to apologists for OCA autocephaly, it is common for recognition of autocephaly to be recognised recognized belatedly; however, according to opponents, the granting of autocephaly to the former Metropolia, being a recent group out of communion with Moscow, was not justified.
=== List of primates and ruling bishops===
