After the murder of the church's primate Archbishop John (Pommers) on 21 October 1934 and because of the political situation at that time, the Latvian Orthodox Church asked to come under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In February 1936, the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted the request of the Latvian Orthodox Church: the Latvian Orthodox Church became an autonomous church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the LOC from the rank of archidiocese to that of Metropolitanate; the LOC was then named "Metropolitanate of Riga and all Latvia".[1] The subsequent five years were good[citation needed] years for the Latvian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Augustin (Pētersons).