New Metropolitan!

[debboamerik]

We (the OCA) have a new Metropolitan. Hooooooraaaaaaay!!!!! Metropolitan Jonah, among other things, is apparently succeeded in his position as Abbot of St. John's/San Francisco by my former parish priest, Fr. Mel Webber. Aside from giving amazing sermons, Fr. Mel was a kind man who helped me cope (as a Sunday School teacher) with parish politics and gave me difficult truths about myself at times when I really needed them. The association with him gives me a very good feeling about Metropolitan Jonah. I need to feel good about the direction of my larger community.

Best of all, it seems that his installation might be at my current parish church - which is one of the national cathedrals of the OCA.

All of this, and a lovely dinner out for our anniversary (three years!) with papertigers, too. She made a beautiful necklace for me. More about this in a separate post.

Comments

[debboamerik.livejournal.com]

Traditionally, a Metropolitan was the chief bishop of a Roman province or Metropolis. In the case of the OCA, which is autocephalous, the Metropolitan is the highest-ranking bishop (or official of any kind) in the Church. However, the authority of a Metropolitan (like that of a Patriarch or Pope, not of Rome) is neither absolute nor particularly concerned with temporal matters. It's an honor, but as I understand it it differs from the work of a regular bishop mostly in that there's a lot more organizational and bureaucratic skill involved. In return, you get really pretty clothes and a megaphone for most of your utterances.

That's not perfect, but I think it's a pretty decent summary.

[melebeth]

Thank you for the explanation.

However...

Autocephalous really sounds like it should have something to do with becoming a squid. I just thought you should know.

[debboamerik.livejournal.com]

Now you're making me think of those little squiddy things on the BBC website that I showed you the other day.