The formal establishment of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey occurred after the OCA was granted autocephaly in 1970. As the diocese was the see of the ruling hierarch of the mission, and later of the autocephalous church, it supported the national Church's administration. The administrative offices were located, first, in New York City at the Holy Protection Cathedral and later, since about 1967, in Oyster Bay Cove, New York.
Upon the establishment of the Diocese of Washington in 1981, the metropolitan and primatal see transferred to the new diocese, leaving New York as a local diocese.
It was merged with the Diocese of Washington in 2005 as the Diocese of Washington and New York. During much of the 20th century, New York played a central administrative role in the life of Orthodox Christianity in North America. Before the establishment of Washington, D.C., as the primatial see in 1981, New York functioned as the primary hub of the Church’s national governance, including its chancery and ecclesiastical leadership. This role reflected the city’s position as a major center of Orthodox immigrant communities and church organization, making the Diocese of New York one of the most historically influential dioceses in the Orthodox Church in America.[2] It was restored as a separate diocese in 2009, with Metropolitan Jonah, who remained bishop of the Washington diocese, as Locum tenens.
After the reinstatement of the diocese, meetings were held to prepare for the election of a new hierarch. Eventually, Fr. Michael Dahulich was chosen, who was then consecrated the following spring and who remains the current bishop of the diocese.
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