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Current as of January 01, 2026 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
1. A certificate of incorporation for a church, society, or committee, to which this article is applicable shall be executed and acknowledged by the trustees who sign the resolution for incorporation.
The said certificate of incorporation shall contain the following:
(a) the name by which the proposed corporation shall be known.
(b) the number of trustees thereof; the names and addresses of the persons elected as trustees; and the term of office for which they were respectively elected.
(c) the name of county, town, city or village in which the principal place of worship or office is or is intended to be located.
(d) the purpose and intent for which said corporation is created, to be set forth as follows:
“The purpose and intent of this corporation is to maintain, propagate, practice and forever perpetuate religious worship, services, sacraments and teaching in full accordance and unity with the doctrine, ritual, canon law, faith, practice, discipline, and traditions and usages of the Orthodox Greek Catholic (Eastern Orthodox) Church; and for the carrying out of said purpose and intent, to form and maintain a religious organization or church adherent and obedient to the Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority, and to the Orthodox hierarch, bishop or administrator, selected by the members applying for incorporation, and certified by the Orthodox Greek Catholic Primary Jurisdictions in America, through the secretariat thereof, as canonical and appropriate for the Orthodox communicant members comprising this corporation.”
(e) In the certificate of incorporation of societies or organizations, other than parishes, special purposes, additional to the above, may be set forth.
2. On filing such certificate in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the place of worship or office of such corporation is or is intended to be located, such church, society or committee shall be a corporation by the name stated in the certificate and the persons therein declared to be trustees of such corporation shall be trustees until their successors are elected.
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - New York Consolidated Laws, Religious Corporations Law - RCO § 294. Certificate of incorporation - last updated January 01, 2026 | https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/religious-corporations-law/rco-sect-294/
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