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:We hereby, on this 2nd day of February (new Style) in the year 1927, charge one of our number, His Eminence the Most Reverend Aftimios, Archbishop of Brooklyn, with the full responsibility and duty of caring and providing for American Orthodoxy in the especial sense of Orthodox Catholic people born in America and primarily English-speaking or any American residents or parishes of whatever nationality or linguistic character or derivation not satisfactorily provided with proper and canonical Orthodox Catholic care, ecclesiastical authority, teaching and ministrations of the Church or who may wish to attach themselves by the properly and legally provided means to an autonomous, independent, American Orthodox Catholic Church.... a distinct, independent, and autonomous branch of the Orthodox Catholic Church... (pp. 34-35).
Signed by the entire Metropolia synod at the time—Metr. [[Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York|Platon]], Aftimios, [[Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco|Theophilus]], Amphilohy, [[Arseny (Chagovtsov) of Winnipeg|Arseny]], and Alexy—it further named Aftimios as the [[primate]] of the new church and elected and gave order for "the Consecration of the Very Reverend Leonid Turkevitch to be Bishop in the newly-founded [church]... as assistant to its Governing Head..." (p. 35). Fr. Leonid eventually did get consecrated to the episcopacy, though not in the new church body, and is better known as Metr. [[Leonty (Turkevich) of New York]], primate of the Russian Metropolia. His refusal at the time was based mainly on a "press of family obligations" which led to his insistence on "a specific stipulated salary which could not be met" (p. 36). To replace Fr. Leonid as the first assistant to Aftimios, Platon chose Archimandrite [[Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab) of MontrealBrooklyn|Emmanuel (Abo-Hatab)]], who was consecrated on [[September 11]], 1927, by Aftimios, assisted by Theophilus and Arseny.
The constitution which was drawn up for the church by the Metropolia is twenty-eight pages long and quite detailed, indicating a great deal of thought went into its drafting. Though it was dated [[December 1]] of 1927, it was not made public until the following spring. Two significant passages are noted by Fr. Serafim in his book. From Article III: "This Church is independent (autocephalous) and autonomous in its authority in the same sense and to the same extent as are the Orthodox Patriarchates of the East and the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches now existing." From Article IV: "This Church has original and primary jurisdiction in its own name and right over all Orthodox Catholic Christians of the Eastern Churches and Rite residing or visiting in the United States, and Alaska and the other territories of the United States, in Canada, Mexico, and all North America" (p. 37). Fr. Serafim then comments: