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Aftimios replied forcefully, denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia for their actions and forbade his clergy and faithful from having anything to do with them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Serafim |first=Archimandrite |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gviAAAAMAAJ |title=The Quest for Orthodox Church Unity in America: A History of the Orthodox Church in North America in the Twentieth Century |date=1973 |publisher=Saints Boris and Gleb Press |pages=37–42 |language=en}}</ref> Like his estranged former associates in ROCOR, ROGCCA Metropolitan Platon turned his back on the American Orthodox Catholic Church citing lack of loyalty.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4" /> However, others began to doubt Platon's support of the new church primarily because of publications in the ''Orthodox Catholic Review'' (edited by Hieromonk Boris and Priest Michael) that were aimed at the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church USA]].<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-05-08|title=A Basis for Orthodox Consideration of Unity|url=http://www.the-episcopal-church.org/ofiesh-proposal.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508082915/http://www.the-episcopal-church.org/ofiesh-proposal.pdf|archive-date=2010-05-08|access-date=2020-06-08}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick|date=2009-11-04|title=The Reversal of Platon Rozhdestvensky|url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2009/11/04/the-reversal-of-platon-rozhdestvensky/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006033935/https://orthodoxhistory.org/2009/11/04/the-reversal-of-platon-rozhdestvensky/|archive-date=October 5, 2020|access-date=2020-06-09|website=Orthodox History|language=en-US}}</ref>
To worsen matters, the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch sent Archbishop [[Victor (Abo-Assaley) of New York]] to America in 1924,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Namee|first=Matthew|date=2014-07-14|title=Remembrances of Archbishop Victor Abo-Assaly|url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2014/07/14/remembrances-of-archbishop-victor-abo-assaly/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006034015/https://orthodoxhistory.org/2014/07/14/remembrances-of-archbishop-victor-abo-assaly/|archive-date=October 5, 2020|access-date=2020-07-25|website=Orthodox History|language=en-US}}</ref> where he encouraged Orthodox Arabs to come under Antiochian jurisdiction rather than under the Russians or the new American Church.<ref name=":2" /> Despite his efforts, he did not make much headway in his endeavors.{{Eastern Orthodox sidebar|width=22.0em}}To counteract Archbishop Victor's actions, Aftimios and his group began to focus on the establishment of the church's legal status. For a while, the American Orthodox Catholic Church enjoyed some success. In May 1928, Sophronios Beshara was consecrated as Bishop of Los Angeles.<ref> https://orthodoxwiki.org/Sophronios_(Beshara)_of_Los_Angeles</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Herbel|first=Fr Oliver|date=2012-01-19|title=HEOCACNA and Bishop Sophronios(us)|url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2012/01/19/heocacna-and-bishop-sophroniosus/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006034056/https://orthodoxhistory.org/2012/01/19/heocacna-and-bishop-sophroniosus/|archive-date=October 5, 2020|access-date=2020-05-06|website=Orthodox History|language=en-US}}</ref> He was given responsibility for all territory west of the [[Mississippi River]] and for parishes who still considered themselves to be under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America.{{sfn|Surrency|1973|p=38}} However, the success did not last. It was expected that with its first bishops, they would achieve a solid foundation, but this did not happen.
In 1929, Aftimios attempted to gain Greek Archbishop [[Alexander Demoglou]]'s support for the new church.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Namee|first=Matthew|date=2018-01-29|title=The Myth of Unity|url=https://orthodoxhistory.org/2018/01/29/myth-of-unity/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006034128/https://orthodoxhistory.org/2018/01/29/myth-of-unity/|archive-date=October 5, 2020|access-date=2020-07-25|website=Orthodox History|language=en-US}}</ref> Demoglou was the first primate of the newly formed [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]. His response was that he had authority over not only all of the Greek Orthodox in America, but also over all Orthodox Christians in America. Aftimios ordained Reverend Demetrius Cassis, an American of Greek parentage, for the new American Orthodox Catholic Church;{{sfn|Surrency|1973|p=39}} in 1928, prior to the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople]] and [[Church of Greece|Orthodox Church of Greece]] rejected the American Orthodox Catholic Church as a canonical institution.{{sfn|Кострюков|2011|p=260}}
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