Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America Suddenly Resigns His Office: Why?

By Deacon Keith Fournier
7/11/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

There is a radical cultural shift away from traditional Christianity, toward something unrecognizable

I followed with great interest and Christian hope the work of Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America. His passionate stance for the rights of our first neighbors in the womb and efforts to promote alliances between faithful Christians - Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical and protestant - have set him apart. His compelling personal faith journey from an Anglican background into the Orthodox Church, by way of the fathers of the Church, is personally inspiring. I am a revert to the Catholic Church and walked a similar road through the apostolic Fathers home to Rome many years ago. Why did he suddenly resign?

Metropolitan Jonah

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - I have followed with great interest and Christian hope the work of Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America. His passionate stance for the rights of our first neighbors in the womb and efforts to promote alliances between faithful Christians - Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant - have set him apart. His compelling personal faith journey from an Anglican background into the Orthodox Church, by way of the fathers of the Church, is personally inspiring. I am a revert to the Catholic Church and walked a similar road through the apostolic Fathers home to Rome many years ago.

Last month the Primate gave an address to the leaders of the Anglican Church in North America, who gathered in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. He showed his prophetic insights into the common struggle which faithful Christians must engage. Here are a few excerpts:

"There is another element in this which is of immediate importance, and directly follows on the above. As was written about by Robert Terwilliger, a great Anglican divine of the 20th century, there is a coming realignment within Christianity, one which we can already see the strains of. Whenever schisms happen within the Church, they are generally because certain individuals lead a group out of the Church, being disobedient to the Faith and Doctrine, and refusing to submit to the authority of the hierarchy, which is trying to discipline them and call them to repentance."

"What is happening now is somewhat different: a split between those who hold to traditional, biblical faith as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church and the ecumenical councils; and those who espouse a secularized belief, subject to the rationalizations of the scholars according to contemporary philosophy, who dismiss the Fathers and the Councils as no longer relevant, who dismiss the moral teachings of the Scriptures and Fathers as culturally relative. This could be called, by one side, a break between traditional Christianity and post-modern worldly philosophy. Or it might be labeled as the freeing of people from fundamentalist oppression to the light of their own reason."

"This is not the protestant/catholic divide; it is not the evangelical-charismatic vs. mainline divide. It cuts across all communities in the West, even affecting the Orthodox and Roman Churches in some degree. As Anglicans, you are no strangers to this: it is the reason you are here, and not in TEC. It is creating a massive realignment within Christianity; those who hold to the traditional Scriptural and patristic Faith and discipline of Orthodox Catholicism; and those who reject it, criticize it, and I will add, as you well know, persecute it. You and the ACNA are part of that realignment."

"There is a radical cultural shift away from traditional Christianity, toward something unrecognizable. The "Secularists" (for lack of a better, non-pejorative term) reject the virgin birth of Christ, the resurrection, even His Divinity; that His words are recorded in the Scriptures and that the Scriptures are even relevant to our days; rather they are oppressive and keep humans in darkness. Another Episcopalian bishop, a certain Mr. Spong, wrote that "Christianity must change or die," referring to traditional orthodoxy, espousing the radical secularization of the Episcopal Church and all Christianity. It is my prediction that it is not the Orthodox Churches that will die."

"Solzhenitsyn said that "what the Soviet death camps could not do, Western secularism is doing more effectively. In Russia, 20 million died in the last century as martyrs for the Orthodox Faith, and countless millions of others were thrown in the gulag, for standing up against militant secularism. Many perished because they resisted the Renovationists whose schism distorted the Orthodox Faith. Whether you call it Soviet atheism, or Western secularism, it is the same enemy."

"Our battle is against secularism. His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has called for us to stand together against this enemy. This is the realignment: to stand together for the faith once delivered by Christ to the Apostles, and thence to the Bishops, without alteration, without change, without revisions; against those who would submit their faith to the current of the age, the wisdom of this world. We must stand together, and we cannot stand alone. Even the immense Roman Church is buffeted by the militant secularists, who defy authority and criticize that which they know not, and we can see in this country how increasingly fragile their unity is.

"Brothers and sisters, we must embrace the Cross of Jesus Christ, the foolishness of the Gospel, the wisdom that is not of this world. We must rejoice in the salvation that God has given us in His Son Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us and rose from the dead. We glory in His Resurrection, and await His Coming Again. We must ...

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1 - 7 of 7 Comments

Boris M. Garsky
9 months ago
It seems to me that Metropolitan Jonah was endorsing the Church become more of an activist Church. We should not stand idly by while a secular society dictates its own sad amorality to our children and ourselves. We're not only believers in our Lord, but we are taxpayers and citizens. We have a constitutional right to worship as we please. Our voices must be heard and if necessary, our voices must be loud. Did not Christ overturn the tables of the money changers who made the church into a den of thieves? We must be as Christ had commanded the Apostles; to be unafraid. There is no doubt that homosexuality has caused a tremendous destruction to our family structure and traditional values. The Church must be active in it's condemnation of this sin or will fall along the lines of the episcopal and protestant churches. People are coming to our Church because they want the traditional family structure; they want to live and breathe the Gospels and the teachings of Christ. We cannot deny them, nor our families the living breathing word of Christ. We must build a strong Christian Orthodox community, not only with deeds, but also with words if we are to survive.
Diane
10 months ago
I am mystified as to why this occured and yet it does seem sad. I have prayed for the Orthodox for a long time and love them very much. I'll continue to pray for Jonah and all the Orthodox. My favorite prayer for Catholic- Orthodox unity is " We fly to thy patronage O most holy Mother of God..."
dmd53
10 months ago
The author confuses me. Speaking as a life-long Orthodox Christian coming from an Orthodox family with close ties to the Eastern Catholic community, I have to say that the author frankly confused me with his presentation. He made it seem as if Metropolitan Jonah were giving a message seldom, if ever, heard in an Orthodox Church. Quite the contrary. . The words of Metropolitan Jonah from the speech quoted at length would not seem odd or foreign to any of us who have been in the mainstream Orthodox Church throughout our lives. His efforts to form a common bond among varying Christian entities is not unique to him. From the earliest of the post-war episcopacy beginning with the Greek Archbishop of New York, Archbiship Athenagoras (later the Ecumenical Patriarch) through his successors, the late Archbishop Iakovas (remember the famous Life cover of him with Dr. King at Selma?) through the current Archbishop, Dimitrios and many, many other Orthodox bishops too numerous to mention the message has been the same. The attitude of people like Dreher astounds me and frankly, offends me. Learn more about us before assuming that the message in a new wrapper is a new message. Learn about the five decades of progress made between the American Catholic community and the American Orthodox community through the North American Theological Consultation which has produced volumes of work over the years regarding that which unites, rather than divides us as Christians. The problems within the OCA are longstanding and difficult to understand, but they do not break down along modern American partisan lines.

Thank you and God be with you.
Judy Claar
10 months ago
Amen to the first two posts! Ever since the birth of Our Lord, "modernism" has been with us. It is just that now we are living in such a fast age, we can hardly keep up with ourselves. And here is part of the difference, dear brothers and sisters: Real True Christians, do have, and make the time for Him and Know Him. As I read Metropolitan Jonah's words, I was reminded of a few secular instances I had in public school (1950's-60's). I hadn't thought of it until now. I guess that's part of the reason why I'm for Catholic school? Home schooling? I see and hear today's age. it is 100x worse. I know, I've said it before. PARENTS: Who is the first to teach your Child, your most Precious Gift? Remember, that whatever is put in that precious head, or eyes, or ears, will be stored in it's brain: the memory banks of it's own little computer. Vote and Pray and Volunteer wherever and whenever you can. How do else do we snuff out secularism? Prayerful Blessings...Last but Not Least, Thank you for this article!
DLL
10 months ago
For Catholics,the Catechism of the Catholic Church represents Orthodoxy and Dogma, I confess that this is our guide to understanding obedience to God and it is a well written catechesis. The Church is full of good Orthodox Priests now. Eucharistically based Catholic and Orthodox Churches survive and serve God best with Orthodox catechesis. The alternative is the modernistic teaching of advocates for anti catholic viewpoints of those of a vice president Biden or a Nancy Pelosi.
abey
10 months ago
What the early Church Fathers warned off is what it is "Modernism". When Modernism is applied to faith, the faith becomes "contained" in time, but since GOD sans time the faith in & to Him also sans time. In short Modernism applied to Faith, that which is supposed to be eternal, makes the faith into an Error called the "Error of Modernism", set to doom.
Rev. Fr. Nicodemus Gromoff, HSM
10 months ago
I am truly saddened to read that His Beatitude JONAH is "resigning" his obedience of Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America. Nay, not just saddened but bewildered! He is the FIRST Metropolitan that ascended to the Metropolitan throne who is not only a convert, but also not of any "traditionally" Orthodox ethnicity. e.g. Russian/Slavic.Greek, African, Arabic, Middle and South Asian, etc.

I hope and fervently pray that the OCA will be very circumspect, prudent, thoughtful, and above all, PRAYERFUL in choosing His Beatitude's successor, eschewing any "political correctness" and so-called "modernism."

God help us all and keep the Evil One far at bay as the OCA and their hierarchy consider what is incumbent upon them in choosing a successor. May our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ forgive our "willy-nillyness" in relation to the Great Commission and send down His most Holy Spirit to guide and succour is! Amen.

In His Love,
Rev. Fr. Nicodemus Gromoff, HSM +
Russian Orthodox Churh Outside Russia, of The Holy Patriarchal Orthodox Church of Russia

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