On the weekend of August 29-30, Christ the Savior Orthodox Church of Dagsboro, DE, will welcome its top administrative and spiritual leader, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada. This will be the Archbishop’s first visit to the Mission since his historic election as Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America in November 2008, just eleven days after his consecration to the episcopacy.

The forty-nine year old bishop, a native of Chicago, was raised in the Episcopal Church before he converted to Orthodoxy at the age of 19 while studying at the University of California. Met. Jonah then went on to study at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, NY, and Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, CA, before traveling to Russia where he decided to pursue the monastic life. Upon returning to America, Met. Jonah was ordained to the priesthood and served a number of mission parishes on the west coast and in Hawaii before establishing a monastery in northern California. On November 1, 2009, he was raised to the episcopacy and just eleven days later he was chosen to lead the Orthodox Church in America, the youngest in a network of fifteen self-governing Churches who trace their Orthodox Faith back through history to the teaching of the Apostles.

Met. Jonah’s writings on Orthodox spirituality have been published in numerous Orthodox Christian publications, including “Divine Ascent,” the journal of the Monastery of St. John. He is well known for his insights, offered both in public presentations and through private spiritual dialogue, on the convergence of the ancient Christian ascetic practices and the challenges of living an authentic Christian life in the modern world. Since his election as Metropolitan he has traveled extensively, speaking to both Orthodox assemblies as well as non-Orthodox audiences throughout the country. This past June, he agreed to join Pastor Rick Warren and the Rev. Todd Hunter in addressing the organizing Assembly of the Anglican Church in North America which met in Bedford, Texas.

Met. Jonah will serve Vespers at 6pm on Saturday, August 29, at Christ the Savior Church, located at 30838 Vines Creek Road in Dagsboro. On Sunday, August 30, he will serve the Divine Liturgy at the church at 9am and then share in a brunch at the Clarion Hotel in Ocean City. For more information about the Archbishop’s visit to Delmarva, please call Rev. John Parsells at 302-537-6055.

The Church welcomes all visitors, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, to share in this extraordinary weekend. If you plan on attending the brunch on Sunday, August 30, please let us know so we can make arrangements for you. Suggested donation is $15.00.