Platon

Seminaries Christ the Saviour "Christ the Saviour Seminary (Johnstown, Pennsylvania)") Holy Cross "Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (Brookline, Massachusetts)") Holy Trinity "Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York)") St. Herman's "St. Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Kodiak, Alaska)") St. Tikhon's St. Sava's "St. Sava's Serbian Orthodox Seminary (Libertyville, Illinois)") St. Sophia's "St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Bound Brook, New Jersey)") St. Vladimir's "St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)") Organizations Assembly of Bishops AOI - EOCS - IOCC - OCEC OCF - OCL - OCMC - OCPM - OCLife OISM - OTSA - SCOBA - SOCHA Groups Amer. Orthodox Catholic Church Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black Evangelical Orthodox Church Holy Order of MANS/CSB Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of New York was primate of the Russian Metropolia (the former name of the OCA) twice, from 1907 to 1914 and then from 1922 to his death on April 20 , 1934. A controversial figure, he presided over the declaration of "temporary self-government" for the Metropolia in 1924 and over the creation of the short-lived American Orthodox Catholic Church in 1927. With Metr. Platon's return to the United States in 1921 and Abp. Alexander of the Aleutians "Alexander (Nemolovsky) of the Aleutians") 's return to Europe, the Third All-American Sobor (Council) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in September 1923 elected Metr. Platon as the ruling bishop of the North American diocese. Although this election was confirmed by the Russian Church, Metr. Platon would spend over the next decade great effort maintaining the unity of the diocese, particularly against attacks by the Living Church , fending off financial crisis, and sporadic cooperation and disjunction with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). With the breakdown in communications with the Church in Russia, he felt compelled to declare the North American diocese temporarily autonomous. This was done by the Fourth All-American Sobor held in Detroit, Michigan in February 1924. At this council Metr. Platon also received the title Metropolitan of All America and Canada , while simultaneously earning himself the indictment of the ROCOR, which came fully to a head two years later. In a ROCOR synod meeting in 1926 in Karlovtsy, Serbia, Platon was asked by his fellow hierarchs on the synod to renounce the "temporary self-government" which his jurisdiction had declared. When he refused, the ROCOR bishops condemned the Detroit sobor as "extremely dangerous and harmful for the interestes of the Russian Church in America." In January of the following year, Platon convened another sobor in America, which labelled the ROCOR as "uncanonical." One Metropolia bishop dissented, Apollinary (Koshevoy) of San Francisco "Apollinary (Koshevoy) of San Francisco") , and he was subsequently expelled from the Metropolia. The ROCOR synod then deposed Platon as primate of the Metropolia and appointed Apollinary in his place, who had some success, persuading 62 parishes to accept his authority in the six years of his reign. In 1927, Platon, free of the strictures of both the Moscow Patriarchate and the ROCOR synod, attempted to form an autocephalous Orthodox Church in North America by blessing the creation of the American Orthodox Catholic Church , whose constitution gave it authority over all Orthodox Christians living on the continent and was led by Aftimios Ofiesh , Archbishop of Brooklyn. The new jurisdiction collapsed on itself in a matter of six or seven years, however, as Platon soon withdrew his support in the wake of internal pressures and conflicts as well as external pressures from the Episcopal Church U.S.A.") , which felt that the new church constituted competition with it (the Episcopalians regarded themselves as the "senior Orthodox church" in the US). Additionally