The future St. Jonah was born in on April 17, 1888 in Kaluga, Russia, with the name Vladimir (Volodya) Pokrovsky. He was orphaned at the age of 8 and was taken in by a kindly [[deacon]], who ensured he received an education. He went on to attend, graduate, and eventually teach at the [[Kazan Theological Academy]]. While attending as a student, he was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] of the [[Optina Monastery|Optina]] Brotherhood and given the name Jonah. He took a teaching position at the academy only out of obedience to the Elder [[Gabriel of Optina]].

In 1918 the Revolution forced the young [[hieromonk]] to leave Kazan. He was arrested by the communists and suffered beatings to the point of loss of consciousness and imprisonment. Thus, sharing the fate of the New Confessors of Russia, by God's providence Hieromonk Jonah was freed by the White Army, which was situated beyond the Ural Mountains. Having been quickly raised to the rank of [[igumen]], he was assigned as the senior priest of the southern volunteer troops. With the army of Ataman [[w:Alexander Dutov|Alexander Dutov]], Fr. Jonah withdrew to the borders of Western China, being subjected to all kinds of hardships while crossing the Pamir cliffs, often forced to grab on to jagged ledges and the sparse shrubbery of the ice covered cliffs with wounded hands. After crossing the Gobi Desert, they finally reached Beijing, where Fr. Jonah was received into the [[Russian Orthodox Mission in China|Ecclesiastical Mission]] there and soon consecrated [[bishop]] of Manzhuria. (St. Jonah was officially the bishop of Hankou, in the Hubei province, but actually ministered and worked in the town of Manzhuria, the modern day border town of [[w:Manzhouli|Manzhouli]], not to be confused with the region of Manchuria, of which this town is a part.)