 The current eparchial bishop, Bishop Nicholas James Samra, was appointed in 2011.The first large wave of Melkite immigration from the Middle East to the United States took place in the late 19th century, and the first American Melkite church was established in the 1890s.Because there was no diocesan structure for Melkites in the United States at the time, Melkite parishes were individually under the jurisdiction of the local Latin Church diocesan bishop.