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His Beatitude, the Most Blessed '''Jonah (Paffhausen) of Washington and New York''' is the [[primate]] of the [[Orthodox Church in America]] (OCA). He was elected on [[November 12]], 2008, and is scheduled to be formally installed on [[December 28]], 2008, in Washington, D.C. Metr. Jonah is also the first convert to the Orthodox faith to be elected as the OCA's primate.
==Biographical TimelineLife==1959: James Paffhausen was born in Chicago, Illinois. Baptized , and baptized into the Episcopal Church.:Family His family later moved to La Jolla, California (, near San Diego). In 1978: Received , he was received into the Orthodox Church at Our Lady of Kazan Church (under the [[Church of Russia|Moscow Patriarchate]]) during his studies while studying at the University of California - San Diego.:Later James later transferred to University of California, UC - Santa Cruz. Instrumental in establishing an Orthodox Christian Fellowship at the university.:Graduated from UCSC, went to study at St. Vladimir's Seminary.1985: Graduated with Master of Divinity from St. Vladimir's Seminary.1988: Graduated with Master of Theology in Dogmatics.1989: Began Ph.D. at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.:Interrupted studies to spend a year in Russia. Worked for Russkiy Palomnik at the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. Was introduced to the Russian Church, especially the monastic life.:Found a spiritual father, [[Archimandrite]] Pankratiy ([[abbot]] of [[Valaam Monastery]]). Joined Valaam Monastery.:Elder Kyrill (Archim. Pankratiy's spiritual father), of [[Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra|Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra]], blessed James to become a [[priestmonk]].1994: [[ordination|Ordained]] to [[diaconate]] and [[priest]]hood.1995: [[Tonsure]]d to monastic rank at [[St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)|St. Tikhon's Monastery]], South Canaan, Pennsylvania, receiving the name Jonah.:Hmk Jonah returned to California, served a number of missions, then given the obedience helped to establish a [[monastery]] 1996: Hmk Jonah founded monastery under the patronage of [[John Maximovitch|St. John of Shanghai]] and San Francisco at Point Reyes Station, California.:Built monastic community to over 15 members.:Also worked to establish missions in Merced, Sonora, Chico, Eureka, Redding, Susanville among others in California, and in Kona, HI.:Oversaw move to Manton, Northern California.2008: Fr. Jonah elevated to Archimandrite, given obedience to leave monastery and take on responsibility of Auxiliary Bishop for Diocese of South and diocesan chancellor. Endorsed by the Diocesan Council in the summer.:an [[September 4OCF]]: Elected at extraordinary meeting of the OCA [[Holy Synod]].:[[November 1]]: Archimandrite Jonah [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] Bishop of Fort Worth at St. Seraphim Cathedral, Dallas, Texas, at the hands of Abp [[Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas|Dmitri]] (locum tenens of the Metropolitan [[See]]), Bp [[Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia|Tikhon]], Bp [[Benjamin (Peterson) of San Francisco|Benjamin]] and Bp [[Alejo (Pacheco y Vera) of Mexico City|Alejo]].:[[November 12]]: Election as Metropolitan of the OCAchapter there.
After graduation from UCSC, James went on to study at [[St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York)|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, 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 eventually joined [[Valaam Monastery]] after coming under the spiritual direction of Archimandrite Pankratiy, the monastery's [[abbot]]. Fr. Pankratiy's spiritual father, Elder Kyrill of [[Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra|Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra]], later blessed James to become a [[hieromonk]].
In 1994, James was [[ordination|ordained]] to the [[deacon|diaconate]] and [[priest]]hood, and then in the following year, he was [[tonsure]]d a monastic at [[St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania)|St. Tikhon's Monastery]], South Canaan, Pennsylvania, receiving the name Jonah.
Hmk. Jonah returned to his home state of California, serving a number of mission [[parish]]es there and later given the obedience to establish a monastery. In 1996, [[St. John of San Francisco Monastery (Manton, California)|St. John of San Francisco Monastery]] was founded in Point Reyes, California (later moving to Manton). During his tenure as abbot, Fr. Jonah grew the monastic community to more than fifteen members. In this period, he also worked to establish Californian missions in Merced, Sonora, Chico, Eureka, Redding, and Susanville, among others, 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 OCA's [[Diocese of the South (OCA)|Diocese of the South]]. In September of that year, he was officially elected to that position, and then on [[November 1]] [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] in Dallas as Bishop of Fort Worth, led by Abp. [[Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas]], then ''[[locum tenens]]'' of the OCA's metropolitan see.
Eleven days later, on [[November 12]], Bishop Jonah was elected as Metropolitan of the OCA. His formal installation in Washington, D.C., is scheduled for [[December 28]], 2008.
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