A conference on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Korea will begin on March 2, 2010 in Vladivostok in the auditorium of the Higher College of Korean Studies of the Far Eastern State University.
The Organizers of the event are the Higher College of Korean Studies and the Center of Korean Studies of the Far Eastern State University, the Department of External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate, and the Vladivostok Diocese, reports the diocesan website.
In 1897 the Holy Synod of the Russian Church decided to establish a mission, whose mandate was to minister to Russian Orthodox Christians residing on the Korean peninsula, as well as to preach Orthodoxy among the local non-Christian population. Archimandrite Chrysanth (Shchetkovskii) was appointed head of the Spiritual Mission. He arrived in Seoul on February 12, 1900, and already by February 17th, the building given to the Mission by the former Russian-Korean bank was conecrated as a chapel. A Divine Liturgy was served in the newly consecrated temple, marking the opening of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Korea.
Hegumen Feofan (Kim), the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Korea, has been invited to the Forum. A delegation of the Department for External Church Relations will attend the conference devoted to the anniversary.