SCOBA was formally dissolved this week by the EP conference of Orthodox Bishops in America. The SCOBA Synod always struck me as a highly artifical construct that was meant to re-establish the fractured canonical unity of the Orthodox Churches in North America in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution and the martyrdom of St. Tikhon. OCA Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) reportedly attended this week's conference, but is not recognized by the EP as the leader of an autocephalous Orthodox Church administration in America.
Here's part of the NFTU report on the subject:
BOSTON -- The proceedings of the first Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs in North and Central America ended on Friday May 28, 2010 with the dissolution of SCOBA - the Synod of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of America. As reported, the two-day Assembly was held at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York on May 27-28, 2010 under the chairmanship of Archbishop Demetrios of America. By decision of the Assembly, all organizations and joint action projects operating under SCOBA, such as International Orthodox Christian Charities, will operate under the auspices of the Episcopal Assembly from hereon in.
SCOBA was first established back in 1960 in order to bring the bishops of the various Orthodox jurisdictions operating in America closer together, and promote cooperation and increased synchronization of their ministries. The late Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America had played a key role in the organization's founding, along with Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochian Archdiocese.
