Orthodox America

The patriarch of Antioch has granted autonomy to the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (AOA). The news story notes that this comes on the eve of the key national congresses of both the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) and the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). There are many signs that the AOA and GOA are interested in working together with the OCA as an autocephalous church. (The OCA has been autocephalous for more than 30 years.) In a June 2001 interview, Metropolitan Philip of the AOA makes it clear that he has been thinking about autocephaly for a while. An autonomous AOA seems to be a step in the right direction.