The American Orthodox Catholic Church (AOCC), or The Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in North America (THEOCACNA), and sometimes simply the American Orthodox Patriarchate (AOP), was an independent Eastern Orthodox Christian church with origins from 1924–1927. The church was formally created on February 2, 1927 and chartered in the U.S. state of Massachusetts in 1928 with the assistance of Metropolitan of New York; the American Orthodox Catholic Church was initially led by Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh before his disputed suspension and deposition in 1933.