Bishop Jonah elected OCA Metropolitan
Wednesday November 12, 2008
Categories: Orthodoxy
Boy, if this isn't the very definition of bittersweet news, I don't know what is. Bishop Jonah, the newly ordained bishop of Fort Worth for the Orthodox Church in America, was just elected Metropolitan of the OCA at the All-American...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I'll pray for the Bishop, Rod, and that he is successful in some of the reforms (that I vaguely remember) you talked about. You, of all people, know too well what corruption, misplaced collegiality, and clericalism can do to the ordinary faith of people.
Axios! Axios! Axios!
Glory to God for all things!
AXIOS!!!
Meanwhile, here in the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, it's damned hard to be Catholic without losing your faith or your mind.
But to quote Martin Luther (oddly enough), "Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."
I'm afraid that as the new Archbishop of New York and Washington, as well as Metropolitan, +Jonah won't be moving back to Dallas. Sorry, Rod.
Yes it is definitely bittersweet for us Orthodox in Dallas/Fort Worth, but God will provide. And I agree that Metropolitan Jonah is the leader that the OCA needs.
Axios! Eis polla eti, despota!
Glory to God! Axios! Sorry for y'all in the South, but happy that we get to keep our beloved Bishop Benjamin here in the West.
WOW - and our little mission is still collecting money for his house warming present as the new bishop of Ft. Worth!
We Orthodox aren't used to things moving this quickly...
Lord have mercy, Glory to God for all things, and AXIOS!
In spite of my harshness towards the OCA earlier while assessing the terrible financial and sexual corruption in the Metropolitan's office, I commend what appears to be truly a divine election.
By choosing such a respected outsider, someone with strong monastic formation and only recently a bishop, the OCA shows it is serious about the dramitic reform it needs.
In spite of the loss to the South (sorry Rod), this bodes well for the future growth and spiritual and worldly prosperity of the OCA.
May God bless Metropolitan Jonah as he leads the OCA in the light that overcomes the darkness.
This is good news. I met His Grace in 2002 when he was still Fr. Jonah (Paffhausen) at the Monastery of St. John of Shanghai in northern California. He struck me as a humble, accessible servant of God. I've also read some of his writings published in the journal Divine Ascent. He may be just what the OCA needs right now. I hope so, because American Orthodoxy needs the OCA.
My wife and I were just talking at lunch a few minutes ago about the ***possibility*** of Fr Jonah getting elected as the OCA Metropolitan. I was shocked when I get back to my cube and discover he actually was elected Metropolitan. Wow.
This is fantastic news for the OCA. Metropolitan née Bishop née Father Jonah is a great man.
Perhaps one of the greatest services Fr Jonah performed is moving the monastery out of Pt Reyes to Manton. Pt Reyes is a beautiful place, but the fog created deadly mold throughout the grounds/facilities. The monks were constantly sick, etcetera. No such problem in Manton.
Axios! He is worthy! Praise be to God. It is always a joyful day when the reluctant ascend rather than the sycophantic.
I'm afraid that as the new Archbishop of New York and Washington, as well as Metropolitan, +Jonah won't be moving back to Dallas. Sorry, Rod.
I know. I'm still coming to terms with this. (weak smile)
Glory to Jesus Christ! It's Good to hear all these positive comments about our new elected Metropolitan Jonah. Yet we must always be alert and not too open to receive someone with not many yearly credentials. We elected the Last metropolitan and now the new one. Lets see how things turn out before we start to be all happy and joyful. We also must remember he is a fallen human being like us and can still fall into sin. God willing he IS the man for the job and all goes well. I am usually a positive person, yet there needs to be some ballance with all these comments. Let us not be blinded, and keep a close eye on this new metroplitan. He has LOTS of POWER, lets see for the many years coming up how he does. I sure hope he does the will of our Father, and doesn't scew up, for if he does, may God have mercy on him.
~God grant him many years, health & salvation
Rod, have you listened to the Tues. p.m. session where Bp. Jonah answers the questions? I think that address is why he was elected. I do feel for all y'all in the South...
Personally, I feel much, much better now about being received into Orthodoxy in the OCA. I anticipate becoming an Inquirer at the first of the year.
May God grant him many years, and much grace.
I don't want to rain on the parade here, as what I know about Bishop Jonah is quite positive. I listened to the talk he gave at the Felloship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius earlier this year and I was very impressed. But isn't it just a bit dangerous to elevate to the status of primate a bishop who has barely entered his episcopacy? But I'm not Eastern Orthodox, so take my question with a grain of salt if you like.
Fr. J, according to Orthodox canons, you don't *need* to be a bishop to be elected metropolitan. So, the fact that he'd only been a bishop for 11 days is neither here nor there. If he hadn't been a bishop at all, he would be consecrated a bishop and metropolitan on the same day.
Plus, it's important to note that within Orthodoxy, a metropolitan isn't really a "primate" the way you might normally take that word. Because of our conciliar structure of church governance, a metropolitan is a bishop sacramentally equal in stature to all his brother bishops. He simply serves as an administrative leader to the synod of bishops that governs the local church, enjoying a sort of "primacy of honor." I don't say this to downplay his role or the honor due him at all. It's just something I notice most people outside the Orthodox church don't understand.
The first page of Metropolitan Jonah’s latest has been leaked on the Web:
Five Good Reasons TO Visit a Monastery
The Temptations of Monastic Minimalism by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen)
The priest looked out of the altar, checking to see if the choir director was ready to begin the hours before the Divine Liturgy. Just as he was ready to say, “Blessed is our God,” his newest convert, Bill, made his usual late entrance into the church, having just gotten out of bed after skipping last night’s 40 minute Vespers and General Confession . Bill, as he insisted on being called (“So what if there isn’t a St. Bill, my priest said that I might be the first one!”)– had been a normal young evangelical convert, clean-cut, single, and working his first job out of college. Then he discovered Orthodoxy in a bookstore, and with great zeal embraced the Faith. He was chrismated after a usual six-month catechumenate, during which he read just about every book in print on the Orthodox Faith.
After a year or so in his OCA parish, Bill decided that he missed the the DIY ethic from his evangelical days. This is where his change began. Not only did he become obsessed with sorting the “little ‘t’ traditions” from the “Big ‘T’ Traditions” and thus became more and more skeptical about what he called “ Old World Orthodoxy,” but also started to become, well, weird. Like this Sunday morning. Bill was not content to come in like everyone else. Rather he crossed himself like he was waving gnats from his face at the entrance to the nave, and with the entire congregation watching, casually flopped into the pews.
But then, just before the time the Liturgy should have begun, Bill came up to the door of the altar and announced he must have confession since he missed General Confession the previous night. Father, being patient reminded him that confession was not necessary before communion and besides, it wasn’t even Lent!
I think you're confusing St. Arnold (actually Arnulf) of Metz with the true Patron of Brewers, St. Arnold of Soissons. Two different saints.
Axios!(He is worthy!) To our new Primate of the OCA! With God's help, we can move on to spread Jesus' "Good News" to a world that is covered in darkness!
Fr. J,
It's not unheard-of (wasn't St. Nicholas a still a catechumen when elected bishop?) but not very common, either. Without detracting from Kristen M, yeah-- it's unusual to put a guy in charge of your Church when he's been bishop for less than two weeks.
Because of his youth, Met. Jonah was the only of the bishops unscathed by the scandal-- this is one point in his favor. And his legacy as abbot of the monastery in California is already quite considerable. He hasn't been a bishop for very long, and he is very young, but by no means is he untested.
It's a bold choice, and marks a major break from past failings. But yes, it's an unusual choice. His Beatitude Jonah could be Metropolitan of the OCA for the next forty years.
Congratulations! I hope that the OCA will steer through gentler waters with a new captain.
I wonder . . . when was the last time that a primate of any of the Churches was a convert? I suppose that this is the first time in a very long, long time, but I could be wrong.
As a trivial note, your Metropolitan Jonah sort of looks like a younger version of our Metropolitan Hilarion. I suppose that bishops mostly fit into a small number of stock looks, though. The beards . . .
I'm not sure what you mean by 'primate', but Archbishop Nathaniel (Popp), head of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate, is a convert (from Eastern Rite Catholicism).
As an Orthodox Priest with a brother in the OCA I am very excited about this news. AXIOS! And may God grant him nay years!
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