The Washington Times’ Julia Duin interviews Metropolitan Jonah who, she says, is enjoying an “Obama moment” because of his relative youth and sudden rise to prominence.<\/p>\n
In Duin’s interview, the Metropolitan said he wants to expand outreach to youth and on college campuses.<\/p>\n
\n“The thing I am most concerned about is the despair that grips so many of the young people in our culture,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There is so much nihilism and atheism, all a result of the broken families, drugs, social and economic ills that grip our culture. So many of the young are in a state of existential despair.”<\/p>\n
Why Orthodoxy?<\/p>\n
“It is a very integrated way of life,” he said. “It’s a lifestyle, a way of self-denial as a way to greater fulfillment. It is a way of spiritual discipline to help people to bring themselves under control so they are not possessed by anger, lust and the seven deadly sins.”<\/p>\n
He was persuaded to join Orthodoxy through the reading of one book: “The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church” by Vladimir Lossky.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n