The Consecration of Bishop JONAH

photo from www.oca.org

Over the weekend, the Diocese of the South celebrated the consecration of His Grace JONAH, Bishop of Fort Worth and Auxiliary in the Diocese of the South. As additional pictures become available, we'll try to post them here.

Meanwhile, an address by the new bishop given at Vespers on Friday evening at the Cathedral is available on the diocesan website:

October 31, 2008

Dallas, Texas

Your Eminence, beloved Vladyka Dmitri, Vladyka Tikhon, Maestro Don Alejo, Vladyka Benjamin, beloved friends and brethren in Christ,

Bless, Masters!

I am profoundly humbled to be elected as a bishop, and by the confidence placed in me by you and the other holy hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in America. I am immensely grateful to God, and to you all, to be considered for such a ministry, and pray that I may faithfully fulfill the trust placed in me for the good of the whole Church, and that I might hope to hear the Lord’s word on the Last Day, “well done, good and faithful servant.”

It is hard to begin to express the gratitude that I have for all the people who have affected my life: first and foremost, my parents and family, who while often not understanding the path to which I have been called, showed their patience, unconditional love and support all along my spiritual pilgrimage.

My gratitude to God is also for the many spiritual guides, both living and departed, who have imparted to me their vision of Christ and the Church, of ministry and service. Among the those who have gone on before us are Protopresbyters Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff, of blessed memory, who shaped my intellectual formation in the Faith, and imparted their vision of the Church, albeit at a time when I was too immature to comprehend it; and the Monastic fathers, who inspired in me the desire for the “Way of Perfection,” Bishop Mark of Ladoga, and Archimandrite Dimitry of Santa Rosa, of blessed memory, monks of Valaam; Bishop Basil (Rodzianko) and Fr Anastassy. May their memory be eternal!

Read the entire address here.

An additional news story is available on the OCA website here.