Metropolitan Jonah interviewed by Russian news outlet

This is a solid and frank interview.

(OCA News) - In an interview with the Russian religious information agency “Blagovest-Info” conducted last week in Moscow, Metropolitan Jonah revealed that he has a candidate for the vacant Alaskan See, that the investigation into the finances of St. Tikhon’s is still ongoing, and that he will continue to be “direct” in his pronouncements concerning Orthodox unity. The full interview, conducted by journalist Dmitry Vlasov, transcribed from the Russian, follows:

His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada - this is his complete title. But in personal intercourse, the 49-year-old Bishop Jonah is surprisingly free of ostentation - there are no shadows nor any outward grandeur; he responds to questions - including sharp ones - directly, concretely and honestly. During his first foreign visit as Primate of the OCA Metropolitan Jonah, who was elected to the American cathedra less than six months ago, met in the OCA’s Moscow representation with a correspondent of “Blagovest Info”.

Vlasov: Your Eminence, this visit to the Moscow Patriarchate -- is this your first visit to a local sister church? What are the main goals of this trip? What is the larger issue: giving respect to the Mother Church, or a desire to discuss the specific challenges faced by today’s Orthodoxy in America, as well as in Russia and around the world?

+Jonah: Of course, first and foremost, I wish too express my respect for our Mother Church and personally to Patriarch Kyrill. He renders very great support to the Orthodox Church in America; we have identical views on many things, not only America, but the Orthodox world in general.

One of my main goals - was not only to serve together with the Patriarch, but to become acquainted with him personally, to establish a working relationship with him and with Archbishop Hilarion, the head of the Department for External Church Relations. We knew each other earlier but had not yet had the opportunity to discuss many specific issues.

The autocephaly of the OCA is still not recognized by all of world Orthodoxy. Could you remind us which Local Churches recognize it, and which do not? How do you see the prospect of dealing with this sensitive issue? Do you plan to visit the Patriarch of Constantinople?

Yes, I plan to visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate. But my position remains unchanged: they (the hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople) can not make decisions concerning the OCA, without our participation.

It is the Ecumenical Patriarchate which remains the main opponent of our autocephaly. Local Churches under the direct influence of Constantinople - Alexandria, Jerusalem, Greece, Cyprus - also do not recognize our status.

Our autocephaly is fully recognized by the Russian, Bulgarian, Polish and Czech Churches. We have very good relations with the Antiochian, Serbian Patriarchates, which do not officially recognize the autocephaly of the OCA.

The issue of recognizing the OCA’s autocephaly is part of a broader issue: how to create a unified Orthodox Church in North America. I do not think that this problem could be solved by uniting the various national jurisdictions which exist in America to the OCA. But the OCA may serve as an example for solving this problem in North America. There is need for a Synod of Bishops to represent the various ethnic groups, a synod which would consider the Church’s mission first as a local church, acting on “its territory”, accepting all Orthodox - regardless of their ethnic roots...

Complete article here.