Editing Orthodox Church in America (section)

===Move toward unity and independence===
Prior to the 13th All-American Sobor in November 1967, a proposal was prepared to change the name of the church from the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America to the "Orthodox Church in America".  The Council of Bishops, already aware of the proposal, forbade a vote on the matter. After much debate however, a non-binding [[straw poll]] was permitted. The result of the poll was decidedly in favor of the name change. As a result, the decision to deal with the matter at another Sobor (to be held in two years) was made.{{r|stokoe}}{{refn|name="thirteenth"|{{Cite web |last=Liberovsky |first=Alexis |title=The 13th All-American Sobor |url=https://www.oca.org/history-archives/aacs/the-13th-all-american-sobor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801020342/https://www.oca.org/history-archives/aacs/the-13th-all-american-sobor |archive-date=2019-08-01 |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=OCA |language=en-US}}}}

In the early 1960s, the Metropolia resumed communication with the Patriarch of Moscow. In 1968, the Metropolia and the Russian Church communicated informally to resolve long-standing differences. Representatives from the Metropolia sought the right of self-governance, as well as the removal of Russian jurisdiction from all matters concerning the American Church. Official negotiations on the matter began in 1969. On 10 April 1970, [[Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow|Patriarch Alexius I]] and fourteen bishops of the Russian Church's Holy Synod signed the official ''Tomos of Autocephaly'', which made the newly renamed Orthodox Church in America the fifteenth autocephalous Orthodox Church.{{r|stokoe|twentieth}} The name change, as well as the granting of autocephaly, was officially accepted at the 14th All-American Sobor (also known as the 1st All-American Council in recognition of the Church's new-found independence) in October 1970.{{refn|name="fourteenth"|{{Cite web |last=Liberovsky |first=Alexis |title=The 14th All-American Sobor / The 1st All-American Council |url=https://www.oca.org/history-archives/aacs/the-1st-all-american-council |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404035815/https://www.oca.org/history-archives/aacs/the-1st-all-american-council |archive-date=2022-04-04 |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=OCA |language=en-US}}}}

The granting of autocephaly by the Moscow Patriarchate was strongly condemned by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as an act that exceeded the former′s authority and violated the canons.{{refn|name="athenagletter"|{{Cite web |date=2018-09-21 |title=1970 Letter from Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras on Autocephaly |url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2018/09/21/1970-letter-from-ecumenical-patriarch-athenagoras-on-autocephaly/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504161149/https://orthodoxhistory.org/2018/09/21/1970-letter-from-ecumenical-patriarch-athenagoras-on-autocephaly/ |archive-date=2019-05-04 |website=Orthodox History}}}} [[Apologetics|Apologists]] for the OCA's autocephaly claim that the decree did not need the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as it was an internal matter for the Russian Orthodox Church to decide. Many autocephalous churches, the Russian Church included, were not recognized as such for many years, albeit their autocephaly was granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.{{r|recognition|theodosius}} All canonical Orthodox churches recognize the OCA as [[canon law|canonical]] and its sacraments as valid, however.

The OCA was a member of the [[Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America]] (SCOBA), together with the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]], the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]] (AOCA) and the other member jurisdictions. In 2010, SCOBA was dissolved with the creation of the new [[Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America]], which was mandated by Orthodox patriarchates in 2009 at a meeting in Switzerland. Serious consideration has been given recently to a possible merger between the OCA and the AOCA. Both groups share a significant common history, in that a Syrian priest, [[Raphael of Brooklyn|Raphael Hawaweeny]], was sent by the [[Moscow Patriarchate]] in the late 19th century as a missionary to [[Arab Christians|Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians]] living in North America. Raphael was ordained a bishop in 1904, and his flock eventually became the AOCA. Bishop Raphael was canonized in March 2000 by the OCA as St. Raphael of [[Brooklyn]].