Christ is Risen!
On April 24th 2006, during the monthly Clergy meeting in Seoul, we were informed by His Emminence SOTIRIOS Metropolitan of Korea about the honorary citizenship bestowed upon to our co-worker in the Lord’s Vineyard, Hieromonk Feofan Kim by the City of Seoul. All of us who participated at the meeting, including Father Feofan, congratulated him with open hearts and great joy for this honorary event.
On Tuesday May 9th 2006, we read on the Internet homepage http://orthodox.cn/news/20060506korea_en.htm, your report titled "Priest of the Russian Orthodox Church became Honorable Citizen of Seoul". Some of the information in this report is not correct, regarding the relationship of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea and the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. More specifically, it states that there is no church in Korea for the 12,000 Russians residing presently in this country.
St Maxim's Chapel
Hieromonk Feofan Kim was dispatched to Korea by the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, after an invitation had been made by H.E. SOTIRIOS of Korea, in order to serve the spiritual needs of the Slavonic-speaking Orthodox Christians residing at various cities, such as Seoul, Incheon, Pusan, etc, where Orthodox churches exist. Hieromonk Feofan’s diakonia here in Korea, under the spiritual supervision of H.E. SOTIRIOS Metropolitan of Korea, has been outstanding. He resides in the Clergy Compound at the Mission Center of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea in Seoul. He celebrates the Divine Liturgy at St. Maxim’s chapel and at St. Nicholas Cathedral and once a month he travels to Pusan or Ulsan to celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the Slavonic-speaking Orthodox Faithful coming from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine etc. who reside in these cities.
We are very proud of the fact that we are all working together as one Orthodox Family, regardless of ethnic background, including local Orthodox Korean Faithful. This was evident on Pascha day, when thousands of Orthodox Faithful of various ethnic backgrounds co-celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord all together at the Orthodox Parishes all over Korea.
Therefore, I would like to emphasize to you and to your readers that there is one Orthodox and Apostolic Church for all Orthodox Faithful here in Korea. Moreover, there are 7 Parish churches, one Monastery and 7 chapels in our Metropolis, where Hieromonk Feofan celebrates the Holy Liturgy and various other Services for the Russian Orthodox Christians.
May our Risen Lord grant you much strength and Divine power to continue your good work for the glory of our Triune God.
We thank you for your attention and we kindly ask you to inform your readers correctly regarding the Orthodox Church of Korea, especially those Russians who do not know about the existence of Orthodox churches in Korea.
In Christ,
Protopresbyter Daniel Na
Chancellor of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea
I wrote on behalf of HE SOTIRIOS Metropolitan of Korea