Originally founded in the 1920s by a group of bishops who found themselves in Constantinople, having been evacuated from Russia together with military and civil populations. With the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople they convened a Council of Russian bishops in the diaspora, and formed the Higher Ecclesiastical Authority Abroad. Soon ruling bishops outside of Russia joined them--from Finland , Latvia , Manchuria, China , Japan and North America. In August 1922, a Council of the Bishops of the Church Abroad was held in Yugoslavia. In 1946, the first Council of Bishops after the war convened in Munich. At the end of 1950, when the main bulk of refugees already resettled across the ocean, Metropolitan Anastassy, the First Hierarch of ROCOR, together with the Miracle-working Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God, flew to North America, where New York became the new headquarters of the Church Abroad. Subsequent Councils of Bishops convened in 1956, 1959 and 1962 under the presidency of Metropolitan Anastassy, and continued to organize and strengthen the dioceses in Canada, South America, Europe and Australia.

The Protection of the Holy Virgin Memorial Church was originally founded in the 1950's to service the spiritual needs of Russian Orthodox Christians in the Ottawa region, the current church was built in 1988 to commemorate 1000 years of Christianity in Russia.