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New Metropolitan for OCA
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katherine2001
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- Jun 24, 2003
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I talked to my priest about this last night (he is a US citizen now, but he was Canadian til this past May), and he said Bishop Seraphim may have removed his name because he would have to get a Green Card, etc. It could take him quite awhile to get that. Therefore, it would be hard for him to do the job until he got a Green Card.
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Andrew21091
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Glory to God!
Εις πολλά έτη Δέσποτα
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There is actually a special provision for religious persons to get work permits and then Green Cards (if that's the only thing he does, aka doesn't work in addition to being a priest). So that shouldn't be too much of a problem, maybe a few months wait but not too long.
For me as a regular person it took 7 months but it's definitely faster for the special provisions.
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Nickolai
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Having just come back from working all week at the AAC, I think can give you all a little insight to what happened there.
Going into the Council, most people I talked to were very upset and worried as to what would happen at the Council, especially who would be selected by the Holy Synod as Metropolitan, including myself. I can say that all of us are overjoyed at what happened, and I am completely confident that the decision was made by the Holy Spirit. I'll give several reasons why.
I was back in the Sacristy when the Synod was deliberating and Vladyka Jonah came from behind the side curtain and asked us where his briefcase was, so his Subdeacon went to go find it. The thing that really struck me at this moment was the look in Vladyka's face. He had a look of both extreme confidence and a look of being overwhelmed, but in a good way. I'm not sure how much sense that makes, but that how I can describe it. This is when I pretty much assumed what had happened, the Synod had selected Jonah, the man who in that moment gave off a sense of awe at what had just happened. In my opinion, what other person would the Holy Spirit have picked than the one who never expected it, and was awed by it. A welcome change from the power hungry Metropolitans of the past.
The second point, after I made my realization I went out of the Sacristy to go find some other seminarians that I knew were "rooting" for Vladyka Jonah to tell them my thoughts, this is the point where some monks from St. John's Monastery (Where Vladyka Jonah was the abbot) starting singing the Troparion to St. John the Wonderworker. The almost immediately after this the Synod came out to make their announcement of the New Metropolitan. At the moment I found it so fitting for the obvious reasons. Then I recalled something a friend at the Council told me. He told me that St. John predicted to the OCA Bishop John of the west once that the OCA would get a Monastic head, and Vladyka Jonah is a True Monastic in every sense I know. Again, how fitting.
The last point I want to make is the overwhelming feeling of the Grace of God in a very palpable way and the feeling of sobornost. When Vladyka Jonah was announced the Axios! was almost deafening, And many people I saw, myself included, wept for joy. After that point the grace of God remained in that room until the end of the council, so much so that anyone standing in that room could have no doubt who the Holy Spirit Chose.
May our new Metropolitan Jonah have a very long life and may his vision come to life.
Axios! Axios! Axios! Eis Polla Eti Despota!!!
Going into the Council, most people I talked to were very upset and worried as to what would happen at the Council, especially who would be selected by the Holy Synod as Metropolitan, including myself. I can say that all of us are overjoyed at what happened, and I am completely confident that the decision was made by the Holy Spirit. I'll give several reasons why.
I was back in the Sacristy when the Synod was deliberating and Vladyka Jonah came from behind the side curtain and asked us where his briefcase was, so his Subdeacon went to go find it. The thing that really struck me at this moment was the look in Vladyka's face. He had a look of both extreme confidence and a look of being overwhelmed, but in a good way. I'm not sure how much sense that makes, but that how I can describe it. This is when I pretty much assumed what had happened, the Synod had selected Jonah, the man who in that moment gave off a sense of awe at what had just happened. In my opinion, what other person would the Holy Spirit have picked than the one who never expected it, and was awed by it. A welcome change from the power hungry Metropolitans of the past.
The second point, after I made my realization I went out of the Sacristy to go find some other seminarians that I knew were "rooting" for Vladyka Jonah to tell them my thoughts, this is the point where some monks from St. John's Monastery (Where Vladyka Jonah was the abbot) starting singing the Troparion to St. John the Wonderworker. The almost immediately after this the Synod came out to make their announcement of the New Metropolitan. At the moment I found it so fitting for the obvious reasons. Then I recalled something a friend at the Council told me. He told me that St. John predicted to the OCA Bishop John of the west once that the OCA would get a Monastic head, and Vladyka Jonah is a True Monastic in every sense I know. Again, how fitting.
The last point I want to make is the overwhelming feeling of the Grace of God in a very palpable way and the feeling of sobornost. When Vladyka Jonah was announced the Axios! was almost deafening, And many people I saw, myself included, wept for joy. After that point the grace of God remained in that room until the end of the council, so much so that anyone standing in that room could have no doubt who the Holy Spirit Chose.
May our new Metropolitan Jonah have a very long life and may his vision come to life.
Axios! Axios! Axios! Eis Polla Eti Despota!!!
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cobweb
Cranky octogenarian at heart
The videos are a bit poor, but this is what youtube has on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gItmkasLc40http://www.youtube.com/v/gItmkasLc40&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_A9H2x1wIUhttp://www.youtube.com/v/N_A9H2x1wIU&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gItmkasLc40http://www.youtube.com/v/gItmkasLc40&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_A9H2x1wIUhttp://www.youtube.com/v/N_A9H2x1wIU&hl=en&fs=1
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Xpycoctomos
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So, the past Metropolitans were not monastics? i thought it was expected that any biship in the Orthodox CHurch was from monastic ranks and that this was very rarely broken with only a few examples in the Antiochian branch in America... confused.
Anyway, I am very happy for the OCA and for all Orthodox in North America regardless of jurisdiction. he will surely be in our prayers.
I talked to a preist who went and voted this past week. He said how in the end it had come down to Bps Job and Jonah with Bp JOB slightly ahead, but the priest told me that he made it known (I imagine discretely) that he was certainly not vying for the position and would much rather remain as a bishop due to his age and such. In the end, when Bp JONAH was announced to be the new Metropolitan, the priest I spoke with found Bp JOB in the hallway and said, "Congratulations Vladyka on not being the new Metropolitan!" LOL
I thought that was funny.
Anyhow, again I am very excited for the OCA and the new energy that has been brought into the American Sobor.
Axios! Axios! Axios!
Xpy
Anyway, I am very happy for the OCA and for all Orthodox in North America regardless of jurisdiction. he will surely be in our prayers.
I talked to a preist who went and voted this past week. He said how in the end it had come down to Bps Job and Jonah with Bp JOB slightly ahead, but the priest told me that he made it known (I imagine discretely) that he was certainly not vying for the position and would much rather remain as a bishop due to his age and such. In the end, when Bp JONAH was announced to be the new Metropolitan, the priest I spoke with found Bp JOB in the hallway and said, "Congratulations Vladyka on not being the new Metropolitan!" LOL
I thought that was funny.
Anyhow, again I am very excited for the OCA and the new energy that has been brought into the American Sobor.
Axios! Axios! Axios!
Xpy
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EricTheRed
Mercurius
OCA needs alot of new Bishops from what I can tell. Bulgarian Diocese and Alaska plus a new Bishop of Ft. Worth.
Any news on those?
Any news on those?
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Well, you still get your wish! Though he may not be an iconographer per se, he does do icons sometimes. His busy schedule limits him getting so much time to do it though, but he has been taught and knows how to write them.
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Most bishops in North America are tonsured monks. Other bishops tend to be tonsured after the decision has been made to ordain or consecrate them - the tonsure is kind of secondary to the vocation. They don't really have the monastic experience: that is, life under (or as) an abbot in a monastery. They tend to be monks mostly in name only. Metropolitan JONAH, on the other hand, has been a monk for many years and an abbot, and therefore has quite a lot of experience with the loving authority and obedience he spoke of. This distinction is what people are talking about when they refer to Metropolitan JONAH as "a monastic" as something distinct from other OCA bishops.
Then there's the Antiochian archdiocese, which doesn't generally tonsure its bishops (the exception being Bishop BASIL).
Your information is inaccurate. Bishop JONAH received the majority of votes during both rounds. Archbishop JOB placed a close second in the first round and a more distant second in the second round.
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Xpycoctomos
Well-Known Member
Thanks Damaris on both accounts.
Sorry I gave innaccurate information. It really wasn't, however, at the heart of what I was getting at. I jsut thought it was kind of funny (like, ha ha, that's a funny story) how he was happy not to be elected Metropolitan. I think it also said something to his humility, however, to stay in and "risk" the chance that he might be called, putting his trust in the work of the HOly SPirit to decide for him, regardless of the number of votes he got.
Sorry I gave innaccurate information. It really wasn't, however, at the heart of what I was getting at. I jsut thought it was kind of funny (like, ha ha, that's a funny story) how he was happy not to be elected Metropolitan. I think it also said something to his humility, however, to stay in and "risk" the chance that he might be called, putting his trust in the work of the HOly SPirit to decide for him, regardless of the number of votes he got.
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