This weekend marks an historic milestone for Orthodox Christians in America as the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, meeting in Pittsburgh, officially becomes self-governing.

This means American clergy and laity will nominate bishops for newly created dioceses. Until now, there has been one diocese for North America.

But Orthodox observers are divided over whether this is an occasion to celebrate Antiochian growth or to mourn a lost opportunity for all ethnic Orthodox Christians to form one American church.

It has been 10 years since an attempt at union was made in Ligonier only to be rejected by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Now, the Westmoreland County town will become home to a new Antiochian bishop for Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

"The fact that the Antiochians decided to plunge ahead on their own is, to a degree, a sign that things didn't work out quite the way it was hoped at Ligonier," said A. Gregg Roeber, an Antiochian and Penn State University professor who teaches Orthodox history.

But Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochians in America and a champion of union, views self-rule as a step forward.

"What you are seeing here is a very careful but determined effort on the part of Philip to move ahead," Roeber said.

The ethnic roots of the Antiochian archdiocese are in the Middle East, but it is considered the most Americanized Orthodox jurisdiction. In 20 years, it has grown 50 percent, to a membership of 350,000, largely through conversion. It is a popular destination for Episcopalians, Baptists and Pentecostals seeking ancient tradition. Nearly 70 percent of its priests are converts.

"Our church is about faith. It's not about ethnicity or national ties," said the Rev. John Abdalah, pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Oakland, one of 11 Pittsburgh area parishes.

Today and tomorrow, 250 clergy and 500 lay delegates will meet at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers, Downtown, to amend the archdiocesan constitution and nominate bishops. Representatives of the Antiochian Holy Synod from Syria will help make the final choices.

The American bishops will become a new Holy Synod of North America, but Philip will retain his seat on the Synod of Antioch. That synod, based in a house where the Apostle Paul is believed to have lived, will eventually choose Philip's successor from nominees chosen by the church in North America.

It's a compromise that allows Americans to govern themselves while avoiding becoming an Orthodox church governed by its own primate or patriarch.

As it is, the overlapping ethnic jurisdictions in America violate church law, which permits only one Orthodox bishop per city. Pittsburgh is home to three, although the Serbians diplomatically call theirs the "bishop of Eastern America."

The arrangement has historical roots. In the 19th century, America was mission territory of the Russian Orthodox Church. But when the Russian Revolution made that impossible, Orthodox immigrants from many nations brought their own priests.

In 1994, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh helped convene a meeting of Western Hemisphere bishops in Ligonier. They bishops called for greater self-government under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. But Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew viewed it as a revolt, and the move toward union never recovered.

As an architect of the doomed Ligonier conference, Maximos has mixed emotions about Antiochian self-rule.

"I would have liked to see something happen with all of the jurisdictions together," he said.

Andrew Walsh, associate director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., is saddened by the Antiochian move.

"It's a sign that there are too many roadblocks for [pan-Orthodox union] to move forward any time soon," Walsh said.

The greatest benefit of self-rule will come from having local bishops who see the needs of local churches, Roeber said.

"You need bishops who are pastors, who show up and get to know the people," he said.