His Beatitude, Metropolitan JONAH Addresses the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Washington

by Andrea Elizabeth

Because of innacuracies on the web, Metropolitan Jonah made this statement this morning:

 

The morning after

by Andrea Elizabeth

What is so nice about Orthodoxy is that despite all the inflammatory and inaccurate (I was at the concert where Metropolitan Hilarion left before Metropolitan Jonah in peaceful accord) hysterics on the web about hierarchical disagreements, one can still experience a peaceful, unchanged Liturgy where Christ is consistently worshiped and glorified.

The Burden of Being Right

by Andrea Elizabeth

50% in to The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg and I realize that the first third of the book is just the introduction. I know it said Introduction at the beginning, but being read on a new Kindle Reader, I thought that since the Introduction didn’t stop, for some reason it was mis-titled and that this Project Gutenberg edition would have no breaks, even for chapters. When it finally ended, a first-person narrative of the Calvinist villain takes over. It is spooky and scathing. But not too far fetched, imo.

Which brings me to Monday’s Right to Life March in Washington DC. I received a forwarded email, whose original author I don’t know, titled, “if this doesn’t fill you with pride, I don’t know what will”. It then links the article from the Washington Post, Orthodox Believers Hit the Streets. The article pretty much lauds the OCA clergy, lead by Metropolitan Jonah, and wonders where the Greeks and Antiochians were.

The connection is this, and includes yesterday’s post on unconditional love, where I point out the rightness of Orthodoxy. Ortho means right or straight. When one thing is right, like free will (contra Calvin), in person anti-abortion statements, and Orthodoxy, things that are wrong inevitably get criticized. If one is concerned with rightness and truth, this is inevitable. The problem comes with the burden of being right. I’ll set aside for now the fact that those who are right need to concentrate on their own failings where they aren’t. Actually I wont because there’s one aspect of that that I’m getting at. With being right comes anger at the popularity of being wrong. Then when someone on the right side is publicly lauded, as in the above article, prideful triumphalism can set in. But we can’t negate the truth just to avoid the sin of triumphalism. Perhaps the problem is in the anger and feelings of rejection when something wrong is popular. Not that Calvinism is popular, but I think its insidious determinism is. When one feels isolated in their acquisition of rightness and truth, a certain pathology can set in. Some combat this with anti-triumphalism because they feel guilty for being one of the few enlightened ones. They, in their anti-elitism, start criticizing fellow truth adherents for their pride and triumphalism. I don’t think it’s the same sin as being wrong. There’s a story of a monk who was called all sorts of names, which he didn’t contradict, but when he was told to deny that Orthodoxy was true, he wouldn’t. As unattractively triumphant, prideful, obnoxious and judgmental as anti-abortionists, anti-Calvinists, and Orthodox people can be, they are on the right side, and so I wont condemn them/us. It’s lonely at the top, so cut us some slack.

Favorite things this holiday season

by Andrea Elizabeth

For the past several years I’ve enjoyed having quiet Christmases of Church and coming home to turkey with just George and the kids. This year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas we invited friends. I’m surprised to have departed from my reclusive proclivities to find that their visits are at the top of this list.

Another change is that though I enjoy singing western Christmas Carols, and hearing their harmonies played on my children’s strings, they did not serve to get me in the mood this year, nor did I seek that from them. What is Christmas without that “gingerbread feeling“? (from the Home Alone soundtrack) This year, quiet peace upon hearing and singing the chanted words of Orthodox hymns. See Deb’s sharing here and here.

George’s passion for shopping for everybody. He’s a great gift giver. I never was very good at it and feel guilty spending money. He goes all out and I have to change again and open my heart to receive them. Thank you, Dear.

The unveiling of the Poinsettias before Metropolitan Jonah’s visit to our Church Tuesday night before Christmas. They heralded a wonderfully warm evening.

Having everyone home from college and relaxed.

Please disregard the order of this list, as it doesn’t do justice to each and every blessed one. I hope yours is a blessed Nativity as well.

Christ is Born!

Things are moving fast

by Andrea Elizabeth

from the DOS website:

December 13

(Dallas, TX)   Today, it was announced by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, that His Grace, Bishop Mark (Maymom) was officially received into the Orthodox Church in America. His title will be Bishop of Baltimore, Auxiliary to the Metropolitan and Administrator of the Diocese of the South. Bishop Mark is the former Bishop of Toledo of the Antiochian Archdiocese. In a letter from Metropolitan Philip to His Beatitude, His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip wrote that “Bishop Mark is a very good bishop and I am sure he will contribute his talents for the edification of the faithful of the Orthodox Church in America.”

His Grace will reside in Dallas and take up temporary residence at the Dallas home of Metropolitan Jonah. His Beatitude purchased the home here when he was Chancellor of the Diocese of the South and then for 10 days Bishop of Fort Worth, Auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop Dmitri. Since then, the Dallas residence has been used only when His Beatitude traveled to Dallas.

Yesterday it was announced that Archpriest Joseph Fester, Chancellor of the Diocese of the South and Dean of St Seraphim Cathedral will be transferred to the Diocese of Washington and be assigned as Dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral.  At the time the announcement was made in Dallas, His Beatitude announced in Washington, DC, that upon the request of Archpriest Constantine White, Dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Fr. White will be transferred to St. Matthew Church in Columbia, MD. The transfers will take effect in February 2011. Father Fester will work with Bishop Mark during this transition period to acclimate him to DOS and Cathedral life. Bishop Mark will meet with the DOS Diocesan Council in February.

Our new auxiliary administrator

by Andrea Elizabeth

Bishop Mark released from Antiochian Archdiocese, received by Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America

Posted 12/13

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] – In a letter dated December 8, 2010, His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip, Primate of the Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, granted a canonical release to His Grace, Bishop Mark [Maymon] to enter the canonical jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America.

This action was a response to an official request made by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, on behalf of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America.

Upon receipt of the letter from Metropolitan Philip, Metropolitan Jonah expressed his “appreciation for the harmonious relations of the Orthodox Church in America and the Antiochian Archdiocese, as shown most recently in the release of Bishop Mark…. We welcome His Grace, Bishop Mark into the Orthodox Church in America and look forward to close collaboration in ministry and mission.”

Effective January 1, 2011, Bishop Mark will serve as Auxiliary to Metropolitan Jonah with the title “Bishop of Baltimore” and will administer the OCA Diocese of the South.

I wonder if this is a transition period before Bishop Mark becomes Bishop of Dallas and the South. I doubt the OCA is going to adopt the idea of Auxiliary Bishops, so it’s an odd choice of titles. Except that Metropolitan Jonah was Auxiliary Bishop of Ft. Worth to our retired Archbishop Dmitri for 11 days.

Welcome Your Grace! I wonder if St. Herman had anything to do with it.

‘Lost’ dads and hierarchs

by Andrea Elizabeth

Another theme in ‘Lost’ is dead-beat dads. It seems all the main characters had horrible relationships with their fathers. Jack’s care of his father’s body shows that he was still passionately following his dad beyond the grave despite it all. At the very end he finally gets the validating pat on the shoulder which is supposed to make up for everything.

Locke also spends a lot of time casing his dad, only to be used and abused by him. Sideways Locke has pity on his dad in the nursing home though. It’s easier to forgive them when they’re drooling in a wheelchair. This reminds me of Jane Eyre where she visits Mrs. Reed at her deathbed and is able to forgive her. It seems that children see their parents as all-powerful and a necessary shaper of their lives, for better or worse. When the parent is finally weakened by old age and death, the child can learn of his own independent power, which hopefully the parent will also come to respect and validate in the end. Then the child can move on.

What about children who became disillusioned with a parent early on, who became convinced of their weakness while still a child? Though the child may convince themselves that that parent’s validation doesn’t matter, I think when they become an adult, that they will still seek it. And if they were right, they will be disappointed when they find it.

It seems an innate component in our psyche to want to put people on a pedestal, and to want to have the pedestalled person look down mercifully on us. When convinced that that particular person’s mercy wont do the trick, then I think it is hard to believe that anyone’s will, not that that will stop the search. I think the most jaded person still wants to find someone worthy. If not, then they probably think they deserve to be the one on the pedestal. Linus, who likewise had a miserable father, seemed to want the latter, but he also sought Jacob, as did Locke.

If I may switch gears and talk about Orthodox hierarchs. Americans in particular are jaded with regard to leaders. We do not trust them and demand publicized scrutiny of all their actions. But we still hope for better. We want to be convinced that we don’t have to give up on a worthy father-figure. We have an innate idea of what a trustworthy father should look like, and that is our standard. We know that God fits this standard, and so should his representative. I wonder if we have too high a standard for fatherhood though. Perhaps we are meant to look to God alone for not only the perfection of that standard, but the only source of it. For a human to achieve the likeness of God’s fatherhood, perhaps he has to be a Saint, which is possible, but rare and attained at the highest cost. This is why we look for a self-sacrificing leader. One who will endure trials, abuse and scorn for us. We know Christ was willing and so should our leaders be.

I admire how Metropolitan Jonah has conducted himself throughout the development of the recently concluded first Episcopal Assembly. He expressed nothing but optimism and joy for the process of union, and humbly sat at the lowest, least recognized table without complaining. I hope he was not disappointed.

This jaded person trusts Metropolitan Jonah, but I know that life is a continuous struggle and that a person, including me, must prove ones-self until one’s own deathbed scene.

Metropolitan Jonah requests prayers in anticipation of North America’s first Episcopal Assembly

by Andrea Elizabeth

Posted 04/21

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] – In anticipation of the first North American Episcopal Assembly, slated to convene in New York City May 25-27, 2010, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah has asked that special petitions be included in the Litany of Fervent Supplication.

Under the chairmanship of His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Assembly will bring together all canonical Orthodox hierarchs across the continent.

Comprehensive and informative background information on events and deliberations leading to the convocation of the Assembly may be found on the web site of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas at www.scoba.us/resources/chambesy_documents.html.

Metropolitan Jonah and all diocesan and auxiliary bishops of the Orthodox Church in America will participate fully in the Assembly proceedings.

Petitions to be included in the Litany of Fervent Supplication

[Following the petition for the living]

V: Again we pray to our merciful Lord that He may grant our Hierarchs gathering in Episcopal Assembly to grow in wisdom and strength, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to increase in love for each other, deepening Christian fellowship so that conciliar decisions may build up a canonically united Orthodox Christian Church of the Americas: we pray Thee, O Lord, hear us and have mercy.

R: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

V: Again we pray that their work may be guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit of unity and love, of compassion and mutual respect, inspiring each to contribute what will build up the Body of Christ, may move us all to rejoice in the full unity of the Church, for the glory of Thy name, we beg Thee, hear us and have mercy.

R: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

V: O Lord, Thou hast ordered us to do all things for Thy glory. Bless Thy people, uniting them for the building up of Thy Holy Orthodox Church of the Americas: O generous Creator; hear us and have mercy.

R: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

[V: Again we pray for those who bring offerings…]

The Last Two Documents

by Andrea Elizabeth

Oh dear. I’m reading along fine with the explanation of why SCOBA is too weak to affect the changes that are now required to attain unity, and then I see the signatures. Where’s Metropolitan Jonah? – skip to the end, ok. Oh good, there’s the Moscow Patriarchate representative even further down. Wait, that’s not ROCOR. Why isn’t ROCOR represented? Skip back to the top,

+Archbishop DEMETRIOS, Chairman
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

of course.

But then…

+Metropolitan PHILIP, Vice Chairman
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

What? Now I’m bothered. See The Ochlophobist for more details. Lord have mercy. How can there be open discussion with such an intimidator second in command? But Metropolitan Jonah and Fr. Oliver are optimistic… Lord have mercy.

Episcopal Assemblies

by Andrea Elizabeth

The next two documents, linked here, are from the pan-Orthodox Chambesy agreement. I note that the goal of canonical unity (one city, one Bishop) is proposed gently. During the transition phase, no Bishop is to lose any of his jurisdictional rights and powers. Possible flags raised regard the status of the OCA during these meetings. It is obvious that the Ecumenical Patriarch does not consider Metropolitan Jonah the head of autocephalous America. But with the OCA not having jurisdiction over the Greek, Antiochian, etc. Churches in America, we can see why His Beatitude isn’t considered to represent them. Metropolitan Jonah, who is joyfully looking forward to the first Assembly, does not seem concerned by this, so I guess the OCA’s canonicity at least is not considered a disqualifier. There was a clause though about the regional Assemblies reviewing the canonicity of non-Canonical Churches. In America, the other jurisdictions treat the OCA as canonical, so hopefully that wont be an issue.

The other flag is that the chairman in each region is to be a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch. The language so far sounds like he is to be first among equal voices, but we’ll see. As I hinted in my last post, I am concerned about the EP’s prioritizing the environment over human life. I have heard that he is pretty wishy washy regarding abortion. The advantage of a unified America is that it seems that other current jurisdictions will retain their influence and will hopefully be able to influence wrong positions such as excusing abortion. Moscow and the OCA are much stronger against it, so when policies are drafted by the Assembly, communities already under the EP will have to deal with the opposition. Anti-abortion people aren’t apt to let this get swept under the rug. And if more liberal Orthodox want unity as much as they say, then it will cost them at least this front, in my opinion.

There are two reasons I believe unified jurisdictions to be important. First is the accountability I mention above. If we’re going to start sharing Bishops, then any unOrthodox things that have been going on by some will hear about it from others. Hopefully. Right now we criticize other jurisdictions for this or that, but really don’t have any business changing any of it. If fraud and money laundering are going on in one jurisdiction and neither their Metropolitan nor their parent Church in the old country is doing anything about it, then right now, they’re getting by with it. Consequently, the other Orthodox jurisdictions get their reputation sullied when trying to witness Orthodoxy to other people. Which brings me to the other reason.

How can we tell people they need to become Orthodox, and that it doesn’t matter which of the 5 jurisdictional Churches in their area they go to, if we don’t trust each other enough to go to the other Churches ourselves? To pick one jurisdiction is to reject the others in most cases. The squabbling and the division weakens us all. People who aren’t for union fear compromise to their particular jurisdiction. Chambesy seems to protect canonical ethnic distinctions in the particular Churches. It doesn’t mention the Calendar. But like I say, if these differences are so important to maintain, how can we encourage people to become Orthodox in America without telling them to become only my particular Church’s jurisdiction (if we really care about the pure faith) or else they’ll be compromised? That’s a very poor witness to Catholicity if you ask me.