Russian America (Russian: Русская Америка) was the name used for Russian possessions in the New World the period between 1733 and 1867 in which Russia claimed the territory that today is the U.S. State of Alaska. Formal incorporation of the possessions did not take place until the Ukase of 1799, which established a monopoly for the Russian-American Company and also granted the Russian Orthodox Church certain rights in the new possessions.
The Russian Orthodox Church is a multi-ethnic Local Autocephalous Church maintaining communion in prayer and canon law with other Local Orthodox Churches.
The Russian Orthodox Church jurisdiction extends to people of Orthodox confession living in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Latvia, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Estonia, as well as those Orthodox people who are her voluntary members living in other countries.
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