Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas

The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) has been an Eastern Orthodox organization designed to help cooperation among the canonical Orthodox Christian jurisdictions to be found in the Americas. It has acted as a clearinghouse for educational, charitable, and missionary work in the Americas.

The members of SCOBA have been the archbishops, metropolitan bishops, and bishops of the Orthodox Churches in North and South America that are in communion with the four ancient Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey), Antioch (now in Damascus, Syria), Alexandria (Egypt), Jerusalem and the Patriarchate of Moscow and those that are in communion with them.

As of June, 2010, the existence of SCOBA is in transition. At the first meeting of the Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America, May 26-28, 2010, the SCOBA members present voted to dissolve the organization and permit the Assembly to supersede it and assume all its functions, agencies and ministries.

Jurisdictions

• Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America (a diocese under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, not to be confused with the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America, which is an Archdiocese within the OCA)
• American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
• Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (an autonomous archdiocese of the Antiochian Patriarchate)
• Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church Diocese of America, Canada and Australia (a diocese of the Bulgarian Patriarchate)
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (an archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
• Russian Orthodox Church in the USA (parishes directly under the Patriarch of Moscow)
• Orthodox Church in America (the only autocephalous Orthodox church in North America, its autocephaly granted by the Patriarch of Moscow, is however not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople)
• Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada (an archdiocese of the Romanian Patriarchate)
• Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada (an archdiocese of the Serbian Patriarchate)
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)

Agencies

The main agencies of SCOBA along with their dates of establishment are

• The Orthodox Christian Education Commission (OCEC), 1960 [1]
• The Eastern Orthodox Committee on Scouting (EOCS), 1960 [2]
• The Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) 1965, 2001 [3]
• International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), 1992
• The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), 1994 [4]
• The Orthodox Christian Network (OCN), 2003 [5]

See also

• List of Orthodox jurisdictions in North America
• Archbishop of America
• Eastern Orthodox Church

External links

• Official website
• SCOBA members
• SCOBA on the website of the Orthodox Church in America
• Albanian Diocese affiliated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate
• criticism of SCOBA