Statement

This is the one and only Church that was canonically chartered by the Russian Synod of Bishops in North America in 1927. Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh was appointed first Archbishop of this Church by the Synod and our Charter and Constitution were provided by the Russian Synod. Archbishop Ofiesh incorporated the Church in 1928 as a legal entity. We continue as that same Church today.

No church, jurisdiction, priest or bishop who is not an active member of this original American Orthodox Catholic Church (our short name as stated in the 1927 Church Constitution) who claims to be us under one of our names, a close name or a completely different name is a liar. They have no lines from this Church! They have no authority from this church! They have no sacramental authority from this Church and they are most likely Old Catholic/Episcopi Vagants claiming to be orthodox.

Some independents use our short name "American Orthodox Catholic Church" and one even ordains women. Some claim to be in the Aftimios or Ofiesh tradition.

This Church is the first American Orthodox Catholic Church established for the English speaking Orthodox in the "new world" and we are in our rightful jurisdiction. We are not in schism with the ethnic orthodox. They created the Schism against this Church in 1929.

Our US District Court lawsuit for Copyright infringement with service mark infringement and more is still pending with the courts. We hope to received a judgment soon.

Dominic Martins Claim

Regarding the claim of infringement so far we have found out it is not likely we have infringed Mr Martins claim of copyright. Mr martin had stated he did not wish to include a copyright claim on it when we published the icon on our website. He stated he wanted anyone to be able to have copies so he appears to have no copyright to the icon. He gave us copies of the small gold thumbnail jpg of the icon and the white background prints were sent out to many individuals. None had a copyright notice. According to attorneys we contacted we have not infringed anyone. Our icons are different and any likeness in part would not be infringement for a few reasons, including the fact one or both icons are under our registered copyright.