Sunday, December 9, 2018

EP at Great Vespers for St. Nicholas in South Korea


Posted by Byzantine, TX

12 comments:

  1. FedUpDecember 9, 2018 at 4:27 PM

    I don’t see any Koreans? What’s the point if there’s no Koreans?

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    Replies
    1. Matvey CassDecember 10, 2018 at 2:58 AM

      I wanted to ask the same questions? Is this a club for ethnic Greeks living in South Korea, or are they evangelizing?

      Delete
    2. REMDecember 10, 2018 at 10:28 AM

      The majority of people there are Koreans (I lived there for a few years and went to the cathedral and to the Church in Incheon). This is a picture of the EP with bishops. There aren't any Korean bishops, yet, but most of the people and clergy are Korean. There are some Russians and Americans, but the vast majority are Korean.

      Delete
    3. REMDecember 10, 2018 at 10:28 AM

      And by that I meant the majority of the people in the Orthodox parishes.

      Delete
    4. DanielDecember 10, 2018 at 1:36 PM

      Yeah, my in-laws went to a parish in Korea for a few years. It was EP, services were in Korean, and the congregation was mostly Korean with only a couple American families and a few Russians.

      Meanwhile, the one Russian parish in Thailand that I know of continues to worship in Slavonic with hardly any actual Thai congregants. So let's not pretend ethnocentrism is a "Greek thing." There are counterexamples on both sides.

      Delete
  2. Fr JohnDecember 10, 2018 at 7:40 AM

    Dearest brothers,

    Many of us are struggling (and, indeed, have been struggling for more than a decade) with the actions and teachings of the current Ecumenical Patriarch, but now is not the time to succumb to coldness of heart and blanket cynicism. I am speaking as much to myself as to you. This is a pretty small picture - about 10 feet on one wall - and at least one of those bishops is a visitor from the Church of Greece. I attended St Nicholas' cathedral for a period of time and can tell you that there are indeed plenty of Korean Orthodox faithful there, and even Korean clergy.

    Given the turbulence of the times, we need to be all the more careful because the line between zealot and confessor is very thin. If we walk and speak carelessly we will actually become guilty of the things they often call us ('fanatic', 'zealot', etc) and wind up harming the cause of Orthodoxy rather then helping it.

    Again, I speak out loud to myself.

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  3. Fr. Alexis BaldwinDecember 11, 2018 at 9:04 AM

    Funny thing how South Korea magically became "under the EP" from Moscow.

    Also, this was so long ago why *aren't* there any Korean bishops, I mean, at least one?

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    Replies
    1. John (Ad Orientem)December 11, 2018 at 10:29 AM

      I am still looking for Arab bishops in the JP.

      Delete
    2. Jon MarcDecember 11, 2018 at 7:36 PM

      There is a Korean bishop, serving in the Russian Orthodox Church in Siberia I believe?

      And the Jerusalem Patriarchate does have one Palestinian bishop, Archbishop Theodosius (Hanna) of Sebaste.

      Delete
    3. REMDecember 12, 2018 at 6:18 AM

      "Funny thing how South Korea magically became "under the EP" from Moscow."

      History, Fr. in the 1920's, Moscow stopped supporting the Korean peninsula and the Japanese declined authority over it. So, pretty much, it was abandoned. During the Korean War, a Greek military chaplain found out about the Orthodox that were still there with no clergy. A couple years ago, the Korean Orthodox elected (unanimously, I think) to go under the jurisdiction of the EP.

      Please don't make this out to be some patriarchal fight (recent developments by the MP in South Korea, however, are a whole different story). It wasn't. It was just circumstances of history.

      "Also, this was so long ago why *aren't* there any Korean bishops, I mean, at least one?"

      There is currently only one bishop and not a lot of priests. I'm not even sure they have enough priests for their parishes. I've seen the metropolitan serving by himself...no priest, no deacon. So, until they have more priests, I don't see any Korean bishops. It's not some grand anti-Korean/pro-Greek scheme. It's just a young area right now. They do have a monastery now, so there is some hope.

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    4. BorisJojicjDecember 12, 2018 at 8:56 AM

      In the 1920's the Russian church was fighting for its life against the Soviets and the Communist sponsored Living Church. They were in no position to support missions. For what it's worth, I'm glad the EP was there to help out in places like Latvia, Estonia, or Poland, where no Russian church, ROCOR or otherwise, was allowed for political reasons. But the EP meddled in other places, such as Czechoslovakia, where a mission under the Serbian church was already established. I appreciate what good the EP has done, but that does not give them Carte Blanche. They appear to care about Canons only in terms of their primacy.

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    5. REMDecember 12, 2018 at 9:47 AM

      For what it's worth, I don't blame the Russians for abandoning. I don't think it was malicious. It was most certainly due to the circumstances. I should have clarified that in my post.

      Delete

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