Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
This article forms part of the series Orthodoxy in America | |
History | |
American Orthodox Timeline American Orthodox Bibliography Byzantines on OCA autocephaly Ligonier Meeting ROCOR and OCA | |
People | |
Saints - Bishops - Writers | |
Jurisdictions | |
Antiochian - Bulgarian OCA - Romanian - Moscow ROCOR - Serbian Ecumenical Patriarchate: | |
Monasteries | |
Seminaries | |
Christ the Saviour Holy Cross Holy Trinity St. Herman's |
St. Tikhon's St. Sava's St. Sophia's St. Vladimir's |
Organizations | |
Assembly of Bishops AOI - EOCS - IOCC - OCEC OCF - OCL - OCMC - OCPM - OCLife OISM - OTSA - SCOBA - SOCHA | |
Groups | |
Amer. Orthodox Catholic Church Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black Evangelical Orthodox Church Holy Order of MANS/CSB Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil | |
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The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) was an organization founded in 1960 under the leadership of Archbishop Iakovos (Coucouzis) of America and designed to help cooperation among the several Orthodox Christian jurisdictions to be found in the Americas. It acted as a clearinghouse for educational, charitable, and missionary work in the Americas. Its member hierarchs met semi-annually for discussion and decisions on inter-Orthodox and ecumenical matters, to review the work of its commissions and dialogues, and to plan future events.
By a vote of its members, SCOBA was dissolved in 2010 and its ministries, agencies, etc., assumed into the work of the Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America.
Profile
The members of SCOBA were represented by archbishops, metropolitans, and bishops of Orthodox churches in North and South America that are in communion with the four ancient Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, and those that are in communion with them. Four of the member jurisdictions are canonically subject to the Church of Constantinople. Not all jurisdictions on American soil which are in communion with these patriarchates were members of SCOBA (e.g., the churches in the US belonging to the Church of Jerusalem or the ROCOR).
In November of 1994, at the famous Ligonier Meeting at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, the hierarchs of SCOBA voted together in terms of forming an Orthodox Church of America, a single holy synod and church administration for all Orthodox Christians living in America, declaring themselves no longer to be a diaspora but rather a missionary church.
Members
- Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America
- American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese
- Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
- Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia
- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
- Orthodox Church in America
- Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada
- Russian Orthodox Church in the USA
- Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA
Officers at Dissolution
- Archbishop Demetrios (Trakatellis), Chair
- Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), Vice-Chair
- Metropolitan Christopher (Kovacevich), Secretary
- Metropolitan Nicholas (Smisko), Treasurer
Staff
- Bishop Dimitrios, General Secretary
Agencies
- Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting (EOCS)
- International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
- Orthodox Christian Education Commission (OCEC)
- Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF)
- Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC)
- Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) [1]
- Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) [2]