During a meeting of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, held in San Francisco, CA, on June 30-July 1, 2016, a report by Elena Perekrestov was heard:
“In fulfillment of Ukase No. 02/3/15 of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, dated May 1/14, 2015, regarding proposed corrections to the service to St Jonah of Hankow, I respectfully report the following:
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In light of the discovery by Zoya Gradova of San Francisco of new materials on the life and work of the Holy Hierarch Jonah of Hankow, Protopriest Serafim Gan introduced corrections to the existing Church-Slavonic text of the service to St Jonah, which was composed by him in 1996 with the blessing of Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev) of blessed memory, and wrote new texts (canon, stichera, etc), reflecting the newly-discovered facts about the life of the holy hierarch.
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In proposing for consideration by the Synod of Bishops of the new edition of the service to St Jonah in Church Slavonic, I hope that you deem it acceptable and recognize as appropriate for use in divine services
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The English-language translation should be prepared in time for the autumn session of the Synod of Bishops.”
Upon reviewing and approving the Church-Slavonic text of the services to St Jonah, the Synod of Bishops gave its blessing for its church-wide use during divine services in the parishes and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The Synod of Bishops also approved corresponding corrections to the text of the Life of St Jonah, which was composed for his canonization 20 years ago on the basis of various publications of the city of Harbin and church archives. The Church Slavonic text of the service to St Jonah-who, like St John, illuminated the faithful in China-will be published on the website of the Russian Church Abroad and submitted to the Scholarly Committee of the Synod of Bishops.
The Church Slavonic version of the service can be viewed in PDF version here.
