Moscow Visit

MOSCOW VISIT

In February a team from the NCCK paid a visit to Moscow, where a couple

of meetings with Russian Orthodox Church officials were held. The visit

was an opportunity to strengthen friendly relationships and continue

the inter-Christian and Russian-Korean dialogue.

During the trip the delegation had an opportunity to visit Sergiev Posad (Trinity

Lavra of St. Sergius), where 10 years ago the NCCK donated equipment for

the publishing house.

The local monks gave a tour, told about history of the Lavra, and even let the members

climb the bell tower (which is not open for everyone), where we could see the biggest 74-

ton bell.

The team met with nuns at a women’s monastery, where a special center for disabled

children is located, and visited the facilities and rooms with special equipment. The center

also specializes in providing help for young mothers, where they can find shelter and have

all the medical help they require.

The delegation also met with the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox, Kirill I. His Excellency

highlighted the long and good friendship between the ROC and Christians in South Korea, in

particularly in the cooperation in Tozanso process under the aegis of WCC. The Patriarch

underlined the importance of peaceful unification of Korea which is why the Peace Train

project and the WCC 10^th General Assembly in Busan were considered as good steps and

opportunities towards reconciliation. The head of the Orthodox Church expressed his

support of both events and wished good organization.

The working group met with Margarita Nelyubova, the main Peace Train coordinator in

Moscow.

Many details were discussed, the most important being the facilitation of the Peace Train

Project to the Russian government. Russian side agreed to send its representatives to

certain governmental bodies to present Peace Train. The ROC also expressed support with a

simplified visa procedure and agreed to contact the Irkutsk diocese to elicit its cooperation

and peace Madang.

Following is part of Patriarch Kirill’s address:

I would like to say that Russia and Korea are connected by very cordial and long

relationships. It is very important for us that Orthodoxy in Korea and the birth of Orthodox

Church in Korea are connected with the missionary efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In Seoul, as well as in other cities of Korea, there are many Russian Orthodox temples, which

are visited not only by Russians but also Korean Orthodox Christians. Because of ‘political’

reasons, the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Korea after WWII

became impossible.

There are many Orthodox believers in Seoul, who are citizens of Russia and other countries,

where the Russian Orthodox Church is serving. Since 2000 the care about these Orthodox

people as well as about Korean Orthodox Christians was done by Father Superior Feofan

Kim, who became a bishop in 2011 and now is serving in the Republic of Tyva (Russian

Federation). Father Feofan Kim was serving in the temple which belongs to the

Constantinople Patriarch jurisdiction in Seoul, under the supervision of Constantinople

Bishop.

In 2006 I personally (at that time still as a metropolitan) blessed the Trinity Church in

Pyongyang, North Korea. We continue to help Orthodox Christians in Pyongyang and

support that temple, where regular masses take place in Slavonic and Korean languages.

Russian Orthodox Church and South Korean Churches are connected by many years of good

cooperation. Our Church was an active participant of the movement for Unification of North

and South Korea, the so-called Tozanso Process, which started in 1984 under the aegis of the

World Council of Churches. During the years of the Cold War, where direct communication

between the USSR and South Korea was difficult, Christians from Soviet Union and Christians

from South Korea were meeting each other at the WCC events. In a time of very negative

political context (there were no diplomatic relationships; there was a lot of mutual negative

propaganda) we still had good and sincere relationships with the representatives of the

Korean Churches. And this brotherly cooperation, above strong and difficult political conflicts

and borders, I think, left only good memories in the hearts of those who participated in all

those events.

I personally belong to those people, who took part in building those relationships. And with

the big gratitude to God I recall all those good memories about South Korean Christians.

In the 90s when the political situation changed, and Russia became open to the world, our

connections went on rather successfully. The 90s were the years of deep economic, political

and social crisis in Russia, connected with the change of the political system, new system of

governing the economy, and our church was in a very tough financial situation. But

nevertheless, those years became new doors of possibilities for missions and evangelization.

In particular we got the opportunities for a vast publishing activity. And I would like to

mention once again a kind move of South Korean Christians, who helped us in that time with

equipment for the publishing house in the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. We started to print the

Bible, the books of Old and New Testament and other books, which were very important for

our people in that time and had an important missionary value.

We continue our dialogue with South Korea on the Church level through the frame “Russia –

Republic of Korea”. This dialogue facilities the development of diplomatic, juridical and

humanitarian contacts between our countries. We have supported in the past and we will

continue to support the efforts of Korean Christians for Reconciliation of Korea. We know

that the dialogue between the North and South is not an easy one, but we are sure, that

with God’s help all these obstacles can be overcome. History teaches us that sometimes

miracles happen instantly. That happened with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the

restoration of contacts between East and West, including full-fledged contacts among

Christians.

Concerning this, I would like to say that your project “Peace Train”, which is supposed to be

carried out before the WCC 10^th Assembly in Busan is one more contribution to

reconciliation between North and South and reconciliation between Korean people. Partially

the route of the train will go through Russian Federation, and I hope that together with the

department of foreign affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, those who are responsible for

this project will be able to prepare some mutual valuable events.