On December 5, 2014 during the Divine Liturgy in the lower church of the Transfiguration Cathedral, Metropolitan Ignaty of Khabarovsk and Amur ordained an off campus [distance learning] student, Anatoly Kung (Kung Cheung Ming, 龔長明) to the diaconate.
Anatoly Kung was ordained with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia for the SS Peter and Paul Orthodox parish in Hong Kong (PRC). Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev, priest-in charge of SS Peter and Paul parish flew in from Hong Kong especially to take part in the Liturgy.
"I am very pleased with this event said Fr. Dionisy Pozdnyaev, commenting on the ordination. Fr. Anatoly is the first cleric from Hong Kong. He knows both Russian and English, but I'll ask him to serve primarily in Cantonese and Mandarin — the Chinese dialects, the most popular in Hong Kong. Father Anatoly is to serve as a catechist and missionary, primarily to the Chinese in Hong Kong.
Kung Cheung Ming was born on March 25, 1969 in the city of Yancheng (Jiangsu Province, China). In 1992 he completed the Guangzhou Foreign Language Institute (Faculty of Russian language) in 2002-2005. He studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow; he defended his PhD in "economics". During 1992-1995 he lived in Moscow; from 1996-98 he worked as a manager for a Guangdong tea import-export company. In 1996-1998 he was a shareholder in JSC "Leavell International Company" (Hong Kong SAR, China). In 1999-2012 he lived in Moscow, was an individual business enterprises in the areas of public nutrition, trade and service. Lives in Hong Kong SAR since 2012 and is self-employed. He speaks Russian and English.
He was baptized on July 23, 2013 in the church of St. Peter and Paul in Hong Kong. In 2013 he enrolled in the distance learning sector of the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary. Married (since 2000). Has a son (born in 2001).
Photos from Priest Roman Nikitin