Jonah Paffhausen

His Beatitude Jonah
Archbishop of Washington
Installed	December 28, 2008
Predecessor	Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko)
Successor	Metropolitan Tikhon (Mollard)
Orders
Ordination	1994
Consecration	November 1, 2008
Personal details
Birth name	James Paffhausen
Born	(1959-10-20) October 20, 1959 Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox
Residence	Washington, D.C., USA
Parents	James and Louise Paffhausen
Alma mater	Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

Metropolitan Jonah (born James Paffhausen Jr., October 20, 1959) is an American Orthodox retired bishop who served as the primate^[1] of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) with the title The Most Blessed Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada from his election on November 12, 2008 until his resignation on July 7, 2012. Metropolitan Jonah was the first convert to the Orthodox faith to have been elected as the Primate of the OCA.

Life

James Paffhausen was born in Chicago, Illinois, to James and Louise Paffhausen. He was baptized into the Episcopal Church at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church.^[1] He continued attending a parish of the Episcopal Church after his family relocated to La Jolla, California. It was not until age 18 that Jonah began preparation for Chrismation in a San Diego Orthodox parish of the Moscow Patriarchate.^[2] In 1978, he was received into the Orthodox Church at Our Lady of Kazan Church (Moscow Patriarchate) while studying at the University of California, San Diego. James later transferred to UC Santa Cruz and helped to establish an Orthodox Christian Fellowship chapter there.

After graduation from UCSC, James went on to study at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, graduating in 1985 with an M.Div. and again in 1988 with an M.Th. in Dogmatic Theology. In 1989, he began doctoral studies at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, but interrupted his studies to spend a year in Russia, working for Russkiy Palomnik in the publishing arm of the Moscow Patriarchate. During his time in Russia, he was introduced to Russian spirituality and its particular form of monastic life.

He subsequently joined Valaam Monastery as a novice, coming under the spiritual direction of Archimandrite Pankratiy (Zherdev), the monastery's abbot, now a titular bishop of Troitsk. While in Russia, James was taken to see Fr. Pankratiy's own spiritual father, Elder Kyrill of Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra to ask for advice in discerning his vocation. Elder Kyrill blessed James to become a hieromonk.

In 1994, James was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood, and then in the following year, he was tonsured a monastic at St Tikhon's Monastery, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, receiving the name Jonah after St. Jonah of Moscow.

Hieromonk Jonah returned to his home state of California and was initially assigned as the priest of the mission parish, St Mary Magdalene of Merced, California. While serving there he worked in conjunction with Father Jon Magoulias of the GOA parish in Modesto, California to establish a mission parish under the auspices of the OCA in the Sonora/Jamestown/Columbia area of California; this mission began its life meeting in the old historical Roman Catholic church of Saint Anna in the gold rush town of Columbia. Then Father Jonah began the move to establish a mission parish in Chico, California. His desire, though, in the midst of these activities was to establish a monastic brotherhood and he was given the obedience to establish a monastery at the Saint Eugene's retreat at Point Reyes, California by his bishop, Tikhon (Fitzgerald). In late 1996, St. John of San Francisco Monastery was founded in Point Reyes, California. During his tenure as abbot, Fr. Jonah's monastic community grew to more than fifteen members, and the monastery soon had to move to larger facilities in Manton. In this period, he continued to work with mission parishes in Chico, Eureka and Susanville, California and in the Kona District, Hawaii.

Episcopal elevation

In 2008, Fr. Jonah was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and sent from the monastery to take on the duties of being an auxiliary bishop for the Orthodox Church in America's Diocese of the South. In September of that year, he was officially elected to that position, and then on November 1 consecrated in Dallas as Bishop of Fort Worth, led by Archbishop Dmitri (Royster), then locum tenens of the OCA's Metropolitan See. Eleven days later, on November 12, Bishop Jonah was elected as Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America.

Jonah's election as Metropolitan was regarded by observers as an extraordinary occurrence in the history of the OCA, as he was the newest bishop in the OCA at the time.^[3] Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko) had retired three months prior to the OCA's Fifteenth All-American Council, in connection with the financial scandal. The vacancy meant that a new Metropolitan would have to be elected at the Council. On the night before the election, the Synod asked Jonah to address questions from the delegates regarding the recent financial scandal in the OCA. Jonah was only an auxiliary bishop at the time, and that for only ten days, but he was the only bishop at the time who was seen as untainted by the scandal.^[4]

In his largely-improvised address, Jonah heavily criticized how he had seen authority exercised by bishops and the OCA administration in the past. He stated that hierarchical authority in the Orthodox Church should be about responsibility, accountability, and spiritual fatherhood, rather than "imperial aristocracy".^[3] He admitted that there had been a catastrophic leadership failure in the OCA, but told the assembly that clinging to bitterness over the situation would only do further harm, and that church members had to learn to forgive in order to heal.^[3] The following morning, Jonah received the most votes from the council delegates in two rounds of voting, and was subsequently elected by the Holy Synod to be the new Metropolitan.^[4]

Metropolitan Jonah was formally installed to his see of Washington and New York at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on December 28, 2008. Several months later, the Synod voted to restore a previous arrangement of having Washington as the principal city of the Metropolitan's diocese, and establishing New York as a separate diocese. Jonah served as the locum tenens of New York until the diocese enthroned its own bishop in 2010.

In accordance with Orthodox canon law and the OCA Statute, which stipulate that a diocesan bishop must live within the geographic boundaries of his diocese, Jonah maintained his residence and office in Washington, D.C., while regularly working at the OCA headquarters in Syosset, New York.

Activities

In November 2009, Jonah signed an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.^[5]

Regarding ecumenical relations with non-Orthodox jurisdictions and Christian denominations, Jonah severed contacts with The Episcopal Church, due to their acceptance of same-sex relationships, turning to support the Anglican Church in North America. Furthermore, he has expressed a desire to establish full communion between the OCA and the ACNA.^[6] Jonah supported the creation of the ACNA, addressing his assembly in 2009.^[7]

Jonah wasted little time getting the OCA involved in various culture war issues. He let it be known that he expected his bishops to be present at the annual March for Life each January in Washington, DC. He publicly threatened to pull some 26 OCA chaplains out of the American military forces if they were asked to officiate at same-sex 'marriages' or condone homosexuality in any way. He made some statements critical of fellow Orthodox leaders and made it known he wanted to permanently move church headquarters from Syosset, N.Y. to Washington, DC. The secular world took notice of his efforts to change the OCA in an article in the Washington Post Sunday magazine. While some Orthodox applauded his verve and ability to bring his church into the 21st century, others fumed over what they considered to be rash and intemperate remarks. Plus, Jonah had little time or patience for inside OCA politics. ^[8]

Other OCA leaders forced Jonah to take a retreat ostensibly for spiritual and personal renewal from February 25 to April 24, 2011.^[9] Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit assisted in temporary administration of the OCA during Jonah's retreat.^[10]

In 2011 and extending into 2012, Jonah presided at or participated in several events of historical significance in the Orthodox Church. These included a February 2011 concelebration with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk and Archbishop Justinian (Ovchinnikov) of Naro-Fominsk in St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York City. In that same month, Jonah also met Metropolitan Christopher of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as Patriarch Irinej of Serbia.

In May and December 2011, Jonah concelebrated with Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of ROCOR.^[11] These were the first concelebrations between hierarchs of the OCA and ROCOR. The May liturgy was the first concelebration between the Primate and First Hierarch of the respective churches, and the December liturgy involved many more bishops from both Synods.

In August 2011, Jonah was to have journeyed to Prague to visit the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, but cancelled his portion of the trip in order to tend to the dying Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas.^[12] Bishop Benjamin (Peterson), who was to have accompanied Jonah, traveled to Prague in his stead.

Also in August 2011, Jonah's first book was published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. Titled Reflections on a Spiritual Journey, the book is a collection of several of Jonah's writings, speeches, and interviews, both from his time as abbot and mission priest as well as after his election as Metropolitan.^[13]

On January 1, 2012, Jonah presided at the Divine Liturgy at a ROCOR parish, St. John the Baptist in Washington, DC, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral).^[14] This was the first time an OCA bishop had led Divine Liturgy at a ROCOR parish, in the absence of any ROCOR bishops. Several OCA and ROCOR priests concelebrated on this historic occasion.

Resignation

On July 6, 2012, he tendered his resignation as Primate of the Orthodox Church in America.^[15] The agreement with the Holy Synod of the OCA regarding his retirement was reached on May 27, 2013, during a meeting at St. Tikhon's Monastery with Metropolitan Tikhon, the current primate of the OCA, and other Synod members.^[16]

Bibliography

• Reflections on a Spiritual Journey (Orthodox Profiles V. 1), SVS Press, 2011.

References

Sources

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/metropolitan-jonah-goes-to-washington/2011/02/24/ABnZq3l_story.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews

• An Open Letter to the Orthodox Church of America. Responding to the Synod's Allegations about Metropolitan Jonah // monomakhos
• "Archimandrite Jonah (Paffhausen) consecrated Bishop of Fort Worth and Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of the South", OCA News & Events
• "Bishop Jonah of Fort Worth Elected Metropolitan of All America and Canada"
• This article is derived in whole or in part from Jonah_(Paffhausen)_of_Washington_and_New_York at OrthodoxWiki, which is dually licensed under CC-By-SA and GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed.

Episcopal succession

Episcopal lineage
Consecrated by:	Dmitri (Royster), Benjamin (Peterson), Tikhon (Mollard), Alejo (Pacheco y Vera)

Preceded by Herman (Swaiko)	Primate of the Orthodox Church in America 2008–2012	Succeeded by Tikhon (Mollard)