American Orthodox Catholic Church

The American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC), or The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America (THEOCACNA), and sometimes simply the American Orthodox Patriarchate (AOP), is an independent Eastern Orthodox Christian church with origins from 1924 to 1927. The church was formally created on February 2, 1927, and chartered in the U.S. state of Massachusetts in 1928 with the assistance of Metropolitan Platon Rozhdestvensky of New York; the American Orthodox Catholic Church was initially led by Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh before his disputed suspension and deposition in 1933. The American Orthodox Catholic Church maintained communication with the remainder of mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy until the death of Sophronios Beshara.

The American Orthodox Catholic Church became the first attempted autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian jurisdiction for North America, though—according to mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy—it was originally intended to function as a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America (today the Orthodox Church in America). The American Orthodox Catholic Church originally functioned as an archbishopric before elevation to the patriarchate, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has recognized its continued existence in 2009 under Victor Prentice.

The purpose of the American Orthodox Catholic Church was to establish a new tradition in North America separate from any other particular ethnic or cultural traditions. It operated in the United States of America with initial support from the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, until Ofiesh assumed autocephaly and jurisdiction over the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, the Antiochian Archdiocese, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and others.