The Diocese of the Midwest is a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

(OCA). Its territory includes

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es,

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

, missions, and chapels located in twelve states in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

–

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Its mother church is the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The

diocesan chancery A diocesan chancery is the branch of administration that handles all written documents used in the official government of a Catholic, Anglican, or Orthodox diocese. It is in the diocesan chancery that, under the direction of the bishop or his r ...

is located on North Wood Street also in Chicago.

History

The diocese stands out as one of the most historic in the OCA with many parishes dating back to the late 1890s, the diocese was also the epicenter of the mass conversion of

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

Americans to orthodoxy between the 1890s-1920s in much part thanks to the labors of the former Eastern Catholic priest St. Alexis Toth who brought more than 20,000 to the church by the end of his life. The first seminary was founded in 1905 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

by Archbishop Tikhon. It was later relocated to

Tenafly Tenafly () is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 15,409, an increase of 921 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 14,488, which in turn reflected an ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1912 until its closure in 1923 due to financial difficulties. The diocese was originally founded on 23 December, 1970 as the Diocese of Chicago and Minneapolis. On May 25, 1979 it was renamed to the Diocese of the Midwest.

Membership

The diocese of the Midwest is under the

omophorion In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgical tradition, the ''omophorion'' (, meaning " omethingborne on the shoulders"; Slavonic: омофоръ, ''omofor'') is the distinguishing vestment of a bishop and the symbol of his spiritual ...

of Archbishop of Chicago and the Midwest Daniel (Brum). There is more than a hundred full time clergy under the Diocese including 83 active priest and 63 deacons, alongside them are hundreds of part time choir directors, subdeacons and readers. The diocese is also the largest non ethnic diocese in the OCA on the continental United states and is the largest diocese in terms of active parishioners within the OCA. The size of the Diocese is often disputed a topic, well there is no official statistic by either the OCA as a whole or the diocese there is a number put forward by Alexei Krindatch's "Orthodox Reality" 2020 Census of Orthodox churches; That being 9,166 adherents, of which 5,158 are regular attendees. However, when asked about this figure Archbishop Daniel stated that not only was this number inaccurate but Krindatch had never received any data, either from him or to his knowledge any member of the diocesan council. His Eminence however did state that the Diocese had "A little over nine thousand official members of the diocese, but the diocese actually served close too twenty thousand". The difference in number of official members versus actual weekly attendees being due to the large number of

catechumen Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

, and non OCA Orthodox Christians; Well these parishioners may participate in services, tithe and (in the case of non OCA Orthodox Christians), take communion, they are not considered members of the diocese. This is due to them (in the case of Catechumen) being unbaptized. In the case of non OCA Orthodox Christians because they are under the authority of another bishop and would have to formally come under the authority of the OCA to be counted as an official member of the diocese. The increase in the number of catechumen can be attributed in large part due to the larger presence of Orthodox clergy and apologist on the internet drawing converts and in large part due to the decrease in the perceived "exclusiveness" that many formerly ethnic parishes had. The Increase in non-OCA Orthodox attending OCA parishes has a variety of reasons but the biggest is the recent influx of eastern Europeans to the diocese, especially Ukrainians.

Deaneries

The diocese is grouped geographically into six

deaneries A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a ...

, each consisting of a number of parishes. Each deanery is headed by a parish

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, known as a

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

. The deans coordinate activities in their area's parishes, and report to the diocesan bishop. The current deaneries of the Diocese of the Midwest and their territories are: *

Deanery, consisting of two Cathedrals, fourteen Parishes, two Missions and four Chapels �
Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin
*

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Deanery, consisting of one Cathedral, fifteen Parishes, one Chapel and one Church camp �
Ohio
*

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Deanery, consisting of seven Parishes, four mission, two chapels and one female Monastery �
Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska
*

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Deanery, consisting of five Parishes and one Mission �
Indiana and Ohio
*

Deanery, consisting of one Cathedral and five Parishes �
Michigan
*

Deanery, consisting of one Cathedral, eight Parishes, three Missions and two chapels �
Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin

Bishops

Theophilus (Pashkovsky) Theophilus (Pashkovsky), born Feodor Nikolaevich Pashkovsky () and commonly known as Metropolitan Theophilus (February 6, 1874, in Kiev, Russian Empire – June 27, 1950, in San Francisco, United States), was the Orthodox primate of the North Ame ...

1922-1931 * Paul (Gavrilov) 1933 *

Leonty (Turkevich) Metropolitan Leontius (Leonty, secular name Leonid Ieronimovich Turkevich, ; ; August 8, 1876 – May 14, 1965) was the Metropolitan of the North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1950 until his death in 1965. He was succe ...

1933-1950 ** John (Garklavs) 1949-1957 ''

locum tenens A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...

'' * John (Garklavs) 1957-1978 * Boris (Geeza) 1978-1988 *

Job (Osacky) Archbishop Job (Osacky) of Chicago (March 18, 1946 – December 18, 2009) was the archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the Midwest until his unexpected death. His territory included Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michig ...

1993-2009 * Matthias (Moriak) 2011-2013 * Alexander (Golitzin) 2013-2014 * Paul (Gassios) 2014-2022 * Daniel (Brum) 2022-Present

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official site

Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Diocesan See

Video About the OCA Diocese of the Midwest
{{coord, 43, N, 92, W, region:US-_scale:5000000, display=title

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

Eastern Orthodoxy in Iowa Eastern Orthodoxy in Illinois Eastern Orthodoxy in Indiana Eastern Orthodoxy in Kansas Eastern Orthodoxy in Michigan Eastern Orthodoxy in Minnesota Eastern Orthodoxy in Missouri Eastern Orthodoxy in North Dakota Eastern Orthodoxy in Nebraska Eastern Orthodoxy in Ohio Eastern Orthodoxy in Wisconsin