19
edits
Changes
→History of the Archdiocese
However, after the Bolshevik Revolution threw the Russian Orthodox Church and its faithful abroad into chaos, the Orthodox Arab faithful in North America, simultaneously shaken by the death of their beloved bishop St. Raphael, chose to come under the direct care of the [[Church of Antioch|Patriarchate of Antioch]]. Due to internal conflicts, however, the Antiochian Orthodox faithful in North America were divided between two [[archdiocese]]s, those of New York and Toledo, generally representing those who were loyal to the [[Church of Antioch]] and the [[Church of Russia]], respectively. This division of the Arabic faithful resulted significantly from the division in loyalty to the bishops who aligned themselves at the time with the [[Orthodox Church in America|Russian Metropolia]], those who were involved with the formation of the now-defunct [[American Orthodox Catholic Church]], and those who chose to have canonical recourse directly to the [[Holy Synod]] of Antioch.
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
With the signing of the Articles of Reunification by Metropolitan [[Philip (Saliba) of New York|Philip (Saliba)]] and Metropolitan [[Michael (Shaheen) of Toledo|Michael (Shaheen)]] in 1975, the two Antiochian Orthodox archdioceses were united as one Archdiocese of North America (now with its headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey). Metropolitan Philip became the primate of the newly reunified archdiocese, and Metropolitan Michael became an auxiliary archbishop. Since then the Archdiocese has experienced rapid and significant growth through the [[conversion]] of a number of Evangelical Protestants—both individually and as congregations, especially with the reception of the majority of the [[Evangelical Orthodox Church]] in the 1980s—and also through ongoing evangelization and the immigration of Orthodox Arabs from the Middle East. Converts from Roman Catholicism as well have been significant compared to other jurisdictions in North America.
== The Archdiocese today ==