After the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Russian Orthodox Christians based outside Russia, and those who fled there from the communist regime, found themselves in a very difficult situation. In 1920, Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgiyevsky) was sent to Western Europe in order to organize provisional administration. His jurisdiction was confirmed on 8 April 1921, by Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and Metropolitan Benjamin of Petersburg, who issued a decree creating the Provisional Administration of Russian Parishes in Western Europe, centered in Paris, and appointing Metropolitan Eulogius as its first hierarch.
