Jonah (Paffhausen)

Jonah
Archbishop of Washington
Enthroned	December 28, 2008
Predecessor	Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko)
Successor	Incumbent
Orders
Ordination	1994
Consecration	November 1, 2008
Personal details
Birth name	James Paffhausen
Born	20 October 1959 (1959-10-20) (age 52) Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	American
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox
Alma mater	Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

Jonah (Paffhausen), Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, is the primate^[1] of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). He was elected on November 12, 2008, and installed to his see on December 28, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Jonah is also the first convert to the Orthodox faith to be elected as the OCA's primate.

Life

James Paffhausen was born in 1959 in Chicago, Illinois, and baptized into the Episcopal Church at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church.^[2][3] His family later moved to La Jolla, California, near San Diego. 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 Pancratius (Zherdev), the monastery's abbot (now a titular bishop of Troitsk, believed to have been close to Patriarch Alexius II of Moscow). Fr Pankratiy's spiritual father, Elder Kyrill of Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, later blessed James to become a hieromonk.^{[clarification needed]}

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.

Hieromonk Jonah returned to his home state of California, serving a number of mission parishes there and later given the obedience to establish a monastery. In 1996, St. John of San Francisco Monastery was founded in Point Reyes, California (later moving to Manton). During his tenure as abbot, Fr. Jonah's monastic community grew to more than fifteen members. In this period, he also worked to establish Californian missions in Merced, Sonora, Chico, Eureka, Redding, and Susanville, and in Kona, Hawaii.

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. He was formally installed to his see of Washington and New York at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on December 28, 2008.

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.^[4]

Regarding ecumenical relations with non-Orthodox jurisdictions and Christian denominations, Jonah befriended bishops of the Anglican Church of North America [ACNA] throughout 2009 and 2010. Citing irreconcilable differences with The Episcopal Church [TEC, USA] and severing ecumenical discussions with TEC, Jonah went on record as siding with ACNA traditionalists. Furthermore, he has expressed a desire to welcome ACNA members into the OCA someday.^{[5] [6]} Jonah addressed the ACNA assembly in 2009.^[7] Jonah received baptism as an infant in a Chicago parish of TEC in 1959, and continued attending a parish of TEC after his family relocated to LaJolla, California. It was not until age 18 that Jonah began preparation for Chrismation in a San Diego Orthodox parish of the Moscow Patriarchate.^[8]

From 25 February to 24 April 2011 Metropolitan Jonah took a retreat for personal and spiritual renwal with the blessing of the OCA Holy Synod. ^[9] His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit assisted in temporary administration of the OCA during His Beatitude's retreat. ^[10]

Bibliography

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

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 – present

Succeeded by Incumbent

Sources

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ A speech delivered by Metropolitan JONAH at a conference of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNC), June 24, 2009.
4. ^ Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
5. ^ [3]
6. ^ [4]
7. ^ [5]
8. ^ [6]
9. ^ [7]
10. ^ [8]

• "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"
• Derived with permission from Jonah_(Paffhausen)_of_Washington_and_New_York at OrthodoxWiki.

Persondata
Name	Jonah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 20, 1959
Place of birth	Chicago, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death