In mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy the hierarchy of authority is based on belief in an unbroken line of apostolic succession, from which the appointment of bishops proceeds.

Jack Sparks argued that any attempt to trace such a succession inevitably included false apostles and bad men.

[14][15][16] The EOC was plagued with internal problems, one notable case involving disclosure of confidential communications from a penitent in confession which was taken to civil court.

[21][22] Growing impatient with the lack of progress in dialogues with the OCA and Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the EOC bishops travelled to Istanbul where they were turned away and not given an audience with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

John Bartke, who had been a member of the Christian World Liberation Front with Jack Sparks and had acted as the primary intermediary with the AOCANA, served as host for the initial set of chrismations and ordinations of the EOC at St. Michael's Church in Van Nuys, California.

The Antiochian Evangelical Orthodox Mission lasted until 1995 when it was disbanded and the parishes put under the standard diocesan framework of the archdiocese.

[29] On September 8, 1986, the majority of the EOC became part of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America under Metropolitan Philip Saliba.