Its territory includes parishes, monasteries, and missions located in Washington, D.C., southern Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

The archbishop of Washington is Metropolitan Tikhon (Mollard), who is also the OCA's ruling primate.

The new diocese began functioning in 1981 as the see of the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

However, the national administrative offices remained at Syosset, within the Diocese of New York and New Jersey.

At its inception the new diocese included only a few parishes, those in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas.