OCA Metropolitan and Chancery relocating to Washington, D.C.

Syosset, New York, March 24, 2022

Photo: sobortoronto.com Photo: sobortoronto.com     

With the blessing of the Holy Synod, the primate and chancery of the Orthodox Church in America will relocate to Washington D.C. from Long Island this year.

His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada, who is the ruling hierarch of the Archdiocese of Washington, will thus reside within the territory of his diocese beginning in June, the OCA reports.

The Metropolitan and OCA Secretary Fr. Alessandro Margheritino will set up temporary Chancery offices, while the rest of the administration will remain in Syosset, New York, until the beginning of next year.

The OCA has been working on the move for several years now, though according to the minutes of the February session of the Metropolitan Council, no viable offers have as yet been received to purchase the 15-acre property and mansion in Syosset that currently serves as the OCA Chancery.

In a reflection on the relocation of the Chancery offered in September 2020, Met. Tikhon noted that the main impetus is ecclesiological—that a hierarch should reside within the territory of his diocese—but there are also serious economic concerns about upkeeping the sizable property on Long Island.

The Synod also decided that the OCA’s archives, currently housed at the Syosset Chancery, will be relocated to St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood, New York.

Interestingly, the Board of Trustees of St. Vladimir’s itself voted in November to relocate to a to-be-determined location.

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3/24/2022

See also
OCA puts Syosset chancery up for sale, Metropolitan to relocate to D.C. OCA puts Syosset chancery up for sale, Metropolitan to relocate to D.C. OCA puts Syosset chancery up for sale, Metropolitan to relocate to D.C. OCA puts Syosset chancery up for sale, Metropolitan to relocate to D.C.
The property has long served as the chancery of the OCA, as well as the primatial residence and home of the Church’s extensive archives.
Comments
Hal3/25/2022 4:49 pm
My disappointment and 50 years is a priest is that the administration might really do something that matters. I proposed to the next all American Council that we send the bishops on sabbatical for the next three years and see if there’s any difference.
Joseph Lipper3/25/2022 2:06 pm
Dionysius Redington, the OCA's Metropolitan has the title "of All America and Canada", suggesting that somehow Canada is not part of America. The reality is the OCA has presence only in North America and nothing in South America, while many jurisdictions have had a presence in South America for quite some time. "All America" is certainly a misnomer. Although it might make sense to change the title to "of North America", that wouldn't actually solve any jurisdictional problems either. "Of All America" is really just a pompous title of the OCA's heritage. Metropolitan Platon Rozhdestvensky was first given the title at the Third All-American Sobor held in Pittsburgh in 1922. It's been used ever since.
Dionysius Redington3/25/2022 6:58 am
Although I do not admire everything about the OCA, I admire its name. This wasn't always the case: when I was in the OCA, I would complain about how it ought to be the American Orthodox Church. However, I now think the opposite: all jurisdictions should use 'Orthodox Church in Greece', 'Orthodox Church in Ukraine', 'Orthodox Church in Russia', etc. Such a usage would emphasise the universality of the Church, which is not confined to any nation. It would link the local church to its territory, and reduce the temptation to set up ecclesiastical colonies and 'diasporas'. Although there is room for debate about whether Canada and Mexico are 'in America', there will probably never be an entity called the Orthodox Church in America Outside America. New Passion-bearer Daniel Sysoyev the Uranopolite, pray to God for us! --Dionysius Redington
Raphael3/25/2022 12:10 am
Isn't Metropolitan Jonah the real ruling primate of the OCA anyway?????
David3/25/2022 12:09 am
With all due respect...WHO CARES?
Ilya Zhitomirskiy3/24/2022 10:57 pm
Isn't this what Metropolitan Jonah tried to do a while back? It's crazy that the idea has been embraced, and will be going into effect 10 years later. I'm supportive of having a bishop actually reside in his diocese, as His Beatitude Jonah did, but I have left the OCA over how +Jonah was treated by his own. Perhaps His Beatitude Tikhon and His Eminence Hilarion will have good fraternal relations, because they at least have common ground over the need to support Metropolitan Onuphry in Ukraine.
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