American Orthodox install new prelate

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By Mark A. Kellner

In a ceremony redolent with incense and rich with tradition, about 300 members and friends of the Orthodox Church in America gathered Sunday at St. Nicholas Cathedral in the District to enthrone 49-year-old Metropolitan Jonah as the head of the church in North America.

The meteoric rise of Jonah, who was only elected as bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, less than four months ago, shows a great "hunger for change" in the OCA, his former seminary dean said.

(Corrected paragraph:) "This is a brand new, unprecedented time," said the Very Rev. Thomas Hopko, dean emeritus of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y., where Jonah studied for master's degrees in theology and divinity.

"Change in the sense of a new engagement in the life of the church, in terms of parish renewal," Father Hopko added.

In a 15-minute homily, Jonah stressed not the occasion of his elevation, but rather the uniqueness of the Christian message.

"The real essence of who we are is hidden with Christ," said Jonah, a former Orthodox monastic.

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American Orthodox install new prelate

About 300 members and friends of the Orthodox Church in America gathered Sunday at St. Nicholas Cathedral in the District to enthrone 49-year-old Metropolitan Jonah as the head of the church in North America.

"It's about how we live, [and] what witness is in our hearts," he told the congregation in the cathedral, as well as about 50 others in an overflow room watching via closed-circuit television. "God is out there, but He is in the depths of our being. What's most important is that inner witness and pristine beauty of that person who is united with Christ."

Jonah asserted that Jesus "has given us a unique mission ... go forth and reveal to people God's love and forgiveness." In so doing, he said, "we will be transformed into living icons of Jesus Christ."

That illustration likely was not lost on Jonah's congregation, who largely stood during the three-hour service surrounded by icons of Jesus, the Apostles and numerous saints. Jonah made reference to those icons at the beginning of his homily.