Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей
Chapel in ROCOR headquarters, 75 E 93rd St, New York.
Founder	Anthony (Khrapovitsky) Anastassy (Gribanovsky) others
Independence	1920
Recognition	Semi-Autonomous
Primate	Patriarch of Moscow & All Rus' Kirill Metropolitan Hilarion
Headquarters	Patriarchal: Moscow, Russia Jurisdictional: New York City, NY
Territory	North America South America Europe Australia New Zealand
Language	Church Slavonic (primary); (also English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Haitian Creole, and others)
Members	27,700 in the U.S. (9,000 regular church attendees) These numbers only reflect the supposed US adherents. They do not take into account ROCOR's numbers in Australia, Germany, and Indonesia.
Website	www.synod.com

27,700 in the U.S. (9,000 regular church attendees)

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (Russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR, is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church.

ROCOR was formed as a jurisdiction of Eastern Orthodoxy as a response against the policy of the Bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It separated from the Russian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1927 after the imprisoned Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) pledged the Church's qualified loyalty to the Bolshevik state.

After decades of separation, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia officially signed the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate on May 17, 2007, restoring the canonical link between the churches.

The church has around 400 parishes worldwide and an estimated membership of over 400,000 people. Of these, 138 parishes and 10 monasteries are in the United States, with 27,700 adherents and over 9,000 regular church attendees. ROCOR has 13 hierarchs, with male and female monasteries in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe and South America.

In 1920, near the end of the Russian Civil War, after the White Russian Army under Admiral Alexander Kolchak had suffered defeat and the Bolsheviks occupied Siberia, a mass exodus of Russian refugees moved into Manchuria. Within three years, more than 90,000 refugees settled in Harbin, Shanghai, Dairen, Hailar and the smaller towns along the Chinese branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Lacking adequate lodgings or employment, many migrated to the Americas, Europe or Australia.