Metropolitan Herman was the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). As the head of the OCA, he was the Archbishop of Washington and New York, and Metropolitan of All America and Canada. He was elected Metropolitan on 22 July 2002, replacing Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor), who retired due to health problems related to a series of strokes.

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In 2011, it had an estimated 84,900 members in the United States.