The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

This grew into a full diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867.

These immigrants, regardless of nationality or ethnic background, were united under a single North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

After the Bolshevik Revolution, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow directed all Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia to govern themselves autonomously.

While the subject of political and ecclesiastical dispute, this controversy does not impair the communion between the OCA and the wider Eastern Orthodox Church.

[13] The first Eskaleut peoples to become Eastern Orthodox Christians were the Aleuts living in contact with Siberian fur traders in the mid 18th century.

They had been baptized mostly by their Eastern Orthodox trading partners or during occasional visits by priests serving aboard exploring vessels of the Russian navy.

[14] The volunteers, led by Archimandrite Joasaph Bolotov, departed Saint Petersburg on 21 December 1793, and arrived at Kodiak Island on 24 September 1794.

[17] Eastern Catholicism was viewed with suspicion by several Latin Church bishops in the United States; some, such as Archbishop John Ireland of Saint Paul, Minnesota, were actually hostile, especially concerning the matter of married clergy.

Additionally, he called for the formation of a governing council, composed of clergy and laity, which would meet to discuss administrative and canonical issues.

In the United States, a group of Living Church clergy led by John Kedrovsky attempted to depose ruling American hierarch Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky).

This was meant to be necessary only until relations with the Russian Church could be normalized, and the justification for the move was the earlier decree by Patriarch Tikhon.

Following Patriarch Tikhon's death, the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Sergius, began cooperating with the Soviet government.

[25] In 1935, an agreement entitled "Temporary Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad" was signed that normalized relations between the Metropolia and the ROCOR.

[14][20][27] The ROCOR, forced to leave Yugoslavia toward the end of World War II, eventually established its base of operations in New York City.

Since many Russian immigrants to America aligned themselves with the vocally anti-Communist ROCOR, the Metropolia experienced its growth increasingly through the addition of English-speaking converts.

As a result, the ethnic makeup of the Metropolia began to shift away from a purely Slavic one that had included mainly Russians, Ukrainians, Galicians,[clarification needed] and Rusyns.

Representatives from the Metropolia sought the right of self-governance, as well as the removal of Russian jurisdiction from all matters concerning the American Church.

[31] Apologists for the OCA's autocephaly claim that the decree did not need the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as it was an internal matter for the Russian Orthodox Church to decide.

Both groups share a significant common history, in that a Syrian priest, Raphael Hawaweeny, was sent by the Moscow Patriarchate in the late 19th century as a missionary to Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians living in North America.

[33][34] The same report recommended then-primate Metropolitan Herman immediately resign or retire from his post or risk being defrocked.

Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) was chosen because he had recently been appointed as a bishop (only 11 days prior) and was viewed to not be involved with the previous financial scandal.

[citation needed] Less than four years after his election, Metropolitan Jonah was asked by the Holy Synod, in a unanimous decision, to resign from his position.

The statement they released on the official website of the OCA detailed several administrative decisions Metropolitan Jonah had made that the Holy Synod felt put the church and its members at risk.

On 13 November 2012, an extraordinary All-American Council elected Archbishop Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania as the Metropolitan of All-America and Canada.

[citation needed] On 24 February 2022, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Metropolitan Tikhon issued a statement saying, in part, "I ask that the hostilities be ceased immediately and that President Putin put an end to the military operations.

"[38] On 28 February 2022, he made an urgent appeal for OCA members to contribute to a fund to aid Ukrainian refugees to be administered by the Orthodox Church of Poland.

[43] In 2000, a study by Alexei D. Krindatch, of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, presented a substantially lower figure — 115,100 adherents (baptized Orthodox who attend services on at least an occasional basis and their children) and 39,400 full members (persons older than 18, paying annual Church membership fees).

"[45] In 2004, Jonathan Ivanoff stated in a presentation at the OCA's Evangelization Conference that the church's census population in 2004 was 27,169, and that membership from 1990 to 2000 declined 13 percent.

The Council is headed by a chairman (the current Metropolitan), and is composed of the OCA's chancellor, secretary, treasurer, and selected clergy and lay delegates.