On February 25–28, 1919, the cathedral hosted the Second All-American Sobor which set a precedent, by electing Alexander (Nemolovsky) to the rank of Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, for future elections of the Church's primates by later councils. This made him the first primate to be chosen locally in North America. The Russian Orthodox Church was weakened again and further dissociated in 1922, when the Living Church, a Soviet-supported movement, dismissed the Patriarch and restored a Synod to power.