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*The name "The Orthodox Church in America" is a misnomer, as the body only comprises a minority of Orthodox faithful in America and is not representative of Orthodox America, but mainly represents a certain subsection of Slavic Orthodoxy in America (particularly ex-Uniate, Russianized Carpatho-Russians).
*Moscow's act creates confusion regarding the true nature of canonicity.
*Moscow's act is an attempt to extend Soviet influence into America (p. 20).
Fix a header typo.
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
The '''[[autocephaly]] of the [[OCA]]''' came into being with the signing of a [[tomos]] of autocephaly by Patriarch [[Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow]] on [[April 10,]], 1970. This status was has been recognized by some the Orthodox churches Churches of Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but either ignored or rejected by others.
==Responses to OCA autocephaly==
The autocephalous churches which oppose the OCA's autocephaly are the [[Church of Constantinople]], the [[Church of Alexandria]], the [[Church of Jerusalem]], the [[Church of Cyprus]], and the [[Church of Greece]]. However, these Churches recognize the OCA as a canonical church and their representatives concelebrate services with OCA clergy.
===Documents containing responses to OCA autcephalyautocephaly===
The primary documents detailing the response of the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus and Greece were published initially in the ''Orthodox Observer'', the official publication of the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]], and published in 1972 in book form as ''Russian Autocephaly and Orthodoxy in America: An Appraisal with Decisions and Formal Opinions''. The book also includes an introductory essay by Archbishop [[Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America]], a ''Prolegomena'' Fr. Nicon D. Patrinacos, and an appendix by Metropolitan Emilianos, permanent representative of the [[Church of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarchate]] at the World Council of Churches. The authors of the responses of the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and Greece are Pope Nikolaos, Patr. Elias IV, Patr. Benedictos and Abp. Ieronymos, respectively, the [[primate]]s of their respective churches. (All page references below are from this volume.)
*Recognition of autocephaly normally takes time but eventually always comes.
*The OCA's autocephaly promotes Orthodox unity in America.
*The OCA has many migrant churches within it: Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Georgian, etc.
*The OCA is the second largest in America (first is the Greek Orthodox Church, third is Antiochian)
*The OCA is the fastest growing jurisdiction
*The Metropolitan of the OCA is humble.
==Arguments against OCA autocephaly==
*Russian Orthodoxy remains disunified on American soil, remaining under three jurisdictions; the OCA's autocephaly failed to produce unity even for the Russians.
*The issue of unity in the [[diaspora]] had already been referred to the agenda of an upcoming Great and Holy Synod of the Orthodox Churches. Moscow's unilateral move was an affront to the community of the Church. "For this reason we are at a loss to explain the haste shown by the Russian Orthodox Church in announcing as Autocephalous a relatively small section of the Russian Orthodox Diaspora in America, and conferring upon this Church a title disproportionate with reality, after having only recently recognized her jurisdiction" (p. 43).
==Sources==
[[Category:Ecclesiology]]
[[Category:Jurisdictions]]
[[ro:Reacţia la Autocefalia OCA]]
