The OCA, Diocese of the South was established in 1979 after years of operating as a missionary diocese, administered under the auspices of our national Church, the Orthodox Church in America (which, itself, received it’s autocephaly – or self-rule – from our mother church, in Russia). Founded upon principles of evangelization and outreach by our beloved founding bishop, Archbishop Dmitri Royster, our diocese boasts 80+ parishes and missions as well as multiple monasteries. The territory of the diocese stretches from Florida and Virginia in the east all the way to New Mexico in the west.