Imitating Christ: Being a Stranger and Sojourner
21 hours ago
Monday, July 16, 2012
Bishop Matthias Explains The Reasons For Met. Jonah's Resignation
Home for lunch and found an email from a blog reader with the tip. Read the Archpastoral Letter here. It is extremely sad, but more or less comports with what I had been hearing for sometime. Please exercise restraint and charity in any comments. This is not an "I told you so" moment.
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I have been leaning towards the Met. Jonah side from before this occured, but now that I know more, I can say that I may very well sleep tonight.
Are there questions left unanswered? Yes. Is there perhaps another or several more sides to the story? Perhaps. But I can say that I have gained much more respect for my bishop (+MATTHIAS) today for his candor and honesty in order to help the faithful move on in prayer. Thank you Bishop Matthias.
Prayers for all.
Indeed father. Everyone who reads and especially writes on Internet blogs needs to step back and think about how out of control the wild speculation and partisanship got. May God forgive us all.
I twice got involved on the side of a charismatic and popular leader who was dismissed by a bureaucracy and it looked like said leader. Both times I had to eat my hat when the truth came out.
I still respect +JONAH and hope that God will bring peace to the OCA. Thanks for your sensitivity, John
I am saddened by that. I had such high hopes for +Jonah when he became Metropolitan.
Hello again, Father. My computer wouldn't recognize your EM. Please contact me via my blog.
:-( sad now.
I returned to Rome before he became Metropolitan. After all the other scandals I had hoped things would be different but it appears the more things change the more they stay the same.
I don't know what to believe other than 'better the devil I know than the devil I don't know. It appears I was lied to those many years ago about how the Orthodox Church was so very different than all the other churches. That nothing like this would or could happen.
John, this is well balanced. I, too, am glad His Grace gave some examples. Others could have been cited, but what he wrote was enough. I have posted a couple of posts on my blog for the faithful in Fargo that likewise sought to strike a sober position and so I appreciate your statement that this was not "I told you so." Wisely put.
@matthew
Who told you the EOC was scandalless and perfect? Sadly, you were misinformed. We are different, yes. But in the end we are a hosoital for sinners, bishops included. This is not unique to the OCA or the EOC in the 21st century. Any cusory reading of Church history in evey century will make that obvious. Im sadened to hear that something like this has shaken you when isihs effects are felt everywhere, including all Christian groups.
John
Matt, with respect to the Church, the teaching of the Fathers is that the road to hell is paved with the skulls of Orthodox Bishops. None of them are infallible/perfect and all miss the mark to some extent.
Lord have mercy on us.
People constantly misquote Chrysostom. The actual quote is:
“The road to Hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.”
Ok, ok. It was a paraphrase from memory... But thank you
But the unhinged continue their pro-Jonah parade undeterred.....
C,
Do you happen to have the citation? Is it in his work on the priesthood? I haven't read St. John Chrysostom in some time, I must admit. I read the Fathers, and have a book on St. Sarapion (Desert Father) published, but I often forget the citation for various quotes unless it's someone I've read through several times or had to write a paper or article on.
It seems to me that the brouhaha is a matter of style over substance.
Met. Jonah had great style, ( for some, obviously), but lacked substance, ( he did the talk but not the walk).
Has anyone noticed that those who loudly, arrogantly, make pronouncements about morality, ( sexual- no other aspects of course), often fail in actually following,that is, acting to make sure those pronouncements are followed?
Please read the Eastern Christian Books blog for an illuminaing article on the subject.
Lets try to stick to the issues at hand and refrain from casting aspersions on the morals (or lack thereof) of others.
When the urge to succeed overpowers the will to persist in the mistake-prone process of objective discernment, the tyro and pro alike tend to rely on the counsel of familiar faces with proven loyalty, despite the possibility that those faces could be unqualified to advise and assist.
I met Met Jonah a couple of years ago and found him to be very personable. I wish him well in his new position.
"... These errors of fact are so egregious that they discredit the entire letter put out by the Synod and implicates them in a grave miscarriage of justice. With these two corrections the rationale justifying +Jonah’s removal collapses...."
http://www.monomakhos.com/another-hole-in-the-official-story/
This OCA letter full of lie - everybody who is attentive and can search the Internet already knows that OCA failed by publishing this untrue 'explanation". If Metropolitan Jonah wants he could bring them to the court and strip down easily. But he wouldn't, because he is the true christian.
However, this blog allows only positive responses, of course :-)
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