On February 26, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, a decision was made to establish a Korean diocese within the Patriarchal Exarchate of Southeast Asia. ArchbishopTheofan (Kim) of Kyzyl and Tyva was appointed its ruling bishop. We asked Bishop Theofan to tell us about the history and current state of Orthodoxy in Korea, as well as about the organization of the parishes of the newly formed diocese.

– Your Eminence, what, in your opinion, determined the decisions of the Holy Synod to establish a diocese in Korea?

– The Holy Synod rightly decided that the Russian Orthodox Church is called today to resume its pastoral and missionary work in Southeast Asia, the work that began here several centuries ago.

The emergence of Orthodoxy in Korea is closely connected with the development of Russian-Korean relations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the second half of the 19th century, Koreans migrated en masse to the Far East of Tsarist Russia. The missionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church among Koreans began in 1856, when Saint Innocent (Veniaminov), Archbishop of Kamchatka, Kuril and Aleut, began sending Orthodox preachers to the South Ussuri region, where a stream of Korean immigrants was heading. Koreans accepted the Orthodox faith in entire villages. Many of them later returned to Korea, forming the first flock of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Korea, which was established in 1897 and began its work on the Korean Peninsula in February 1900, and only tragic events in the history of Russia and Korea prevented the continuation of its normal functioning. I am referring to the revolution in Russia in 1917, which led to the formation of the Soviet state, which pursued a hostile policy towards the Church, and the division of Korea into North and South Korea after the Second World War, followed by a civil war in 1950-1953.

In 1949, the South Korean authorities expelled the head of the mission, Archimandrite Polycarp (Priymak). For political reasons, the mission’s activities were suspended, and its property was confiscated. Today, when there are no longer any factors hindering missionary and pastoral work in Korea, we can talk about continuing the work that began long ago.

The circumstances of the new era, when a significant number of the children of the Russian Orthodox Church come to Asian countries for permanent residence and on temporary business trips – not only Russians, but also citizens of other states of canonical responsibility of the Russian Orthodox Church – encourage the hierarchy of our Church to show pastoral care for these people who do not want to break spiritual ties with their Church. Thus, in the Republic of Korea alone, the number of registered Russians is approximately 20 thousand people, and in 2018, 300 thousand Russian tourists visited South Korea. Obviously, a considerable number of these people want to actively participate in church life and attend services that are held in accordance with the traditions and church calendar adopted in Russia. As for the creation of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Southeast Asia, this is also not some kind of innovation in the history of our Church, but rather a revival of existing church structures. In December 1945, the parishes of China and Korea were united into the East Asian Metropolitan District, which by decree of Patriarch Alexy I in 1946 was transformed into the East Asian Exarchate with its center in Harbin. The Exarchate was abolished by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1954 due to the circumstances of the time. Today it has been recreated taking into account the changed conditions.

I would say that it would have been good to revive the structures of the Russian Church in Korea even earlier. However, when diplomatic relations between Russia and South Korea were established in 1990, the Russian Church in the Fatherland was going through a difficult period of revival after decades of atheistic captivity. Russian-speaking parishioners visiting the Republic of Korea found spiritual support in the existing parishes of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Now the Church in Russia is actively developing its missionary service, trying to accompany its children in all circumstances of life.

The flow of Russian-speaking people to Korea has increased tens, if not hundreds of times, the need to open parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Korea has obviously become urgent. In addition, due to the termination of Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which occurred through no fault of ours or desire, our believers found themselves in a situation where they had nowhere to go, and therefore the opening of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Korea and other countries of Southeast Asia fully meets the urgent need.

– Your Eminence, shortly after the decisions of the Synod of our Church, an interview was published with Metropolitan Ambrose of the Patriarchate of Constantinople serving in Seoul, criticizing the actions of the Moscow Patriarchate in Korea. How could you comment on this?

– I would like to express my respect and love for Metropolitan Ambrose and all the clergy working under his omophorion in Korea. For me personally, the time of my ten years of service in Korea was a significant experience, and I would like to maintain warm relations with all of them forever. However, now it is with pain in my heart that I read the unfair reproaches against the Russian Church, which are published in online publications signed by Bishop Ambrose. I think that they do not contribute to peace in the minds and hearts of readers.

I would also like to remind Bishop Ambrose in a brotherly manner that, despite the problems that currently exist between our Churches, none of us should allow an aggressive tone or insults towards the hierarchs of other Local Churches. This does not at all contribute to constructive dialogue.

I believe that instead of figuring out who has more rights to carry out the mission in Korea, it would be much better to work peacefully and calmly, maintaining mutual love and communication – this will be a more real testimony to the unity of the Church before the heterodox and secular world. The field for work is large, and there is enough for everyone.

– Is it possible to think about some kind of “deliberate plan” that Metropolitan Ambrose talks about in his interview?

– It would be more correct to talk about work on organizing church life for compatriots abroad and about caring for people who live far from the Fatherland.

After all, for many of our compatriots, Orthodox parishes are not only places where believers gather for worship, but also places for communication, mutual assistance, and the maintenance of national traditions and celebrations. In many countries, it is churches that become the place through which people preserve their cultural identity.

Of course, the impossibility of Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople to some extent stimulated the formation of new parishes, but even without this, parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate would sooner or later reappear in the Republic of Korea, since there was a pressing need for this.

The absence of canonical communion between the Russian and Constantinople Churches is a painful situation for any Orthodox person. We continue to hope that it will be resolved over time and that believers will be able to participate in the sacraments in any Orthodox church, regardless of jurisdiction. At each Divine Liturgy, we pray for the restoration of church unity.

– Your Eminence, please tell us how you see the work in Korea at this stage. Has any property of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Korea been preserved? What is there already, and what needs to be done?

– Unfortunately, we currently have neither a plot of land nor buildings. The old plot of land of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, located in the center of Seoul in the Chondon district, the funds for the acquisition of which at one time came from money allocated by the government of the Russian Empire and donations collected in Russia, does not belong to us now. By the decision of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon of November 4, 1921, the mission in Korea became subordinate to Archbishop Sergius (Tikhomirov) of Tokyo, so the land and buildings were registered to the property society of the Japanese Orthodox Church. Subsequently, the local Orthodox community, which by that time had joined the Patriarchate of Constantinople, obtained the rights to all the property of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Korea through the court and after selling it, acquired a new plot of land in Seoul in the Mapo district, where the St. Nicholas Church was subsequently built.

A small space in the Yongsan district is currently being rented for the new Resurrection Parish, where services are held. On Easter, it was already a bit cramped, as more than 100 people attended the service. The parish in Seoul was formed from citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the USA. Despite the fact that the services are held in Church Slavonic, they are also attended by citizens of Korea. Some Orthodox Koreans, having expressed their disagreement with the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Ukraine, or for some other reasons, attend our parish in Seoul.

There are many Russian-speaking parishioners who live in the city of Busan – for them, too, several services were organized, including on Easter. In addition to Seoul and Busan, there are other cities where the Russian-speaking population lives compactly – everywhere it is necessary to establish a full-fledged church life.

– And who conducts services in the new Voskresensky parish?

– From the very beginning, during the process of organizing the parish in Seoul, priests from the parishes of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Southeast Asia were sent to Korea for short periods. Now we will need to select permanent clergy. Also serving in Seoul is a citizen of the Republic of Korea, Archpriest Pavel Kang, who is a cleric of the Russian Church Abroad. Another priest from South Korea, Hieromonk Pavel (Choi), is currently finishing his studies at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. I hope that after completing his studies, he will return home and help us.

– It is known that the Trinity Church in Pyongyang operates in the DPRK. Tell us about it.

– The decision to build the first Orthodox church in the DPRK was made by Kim Jong Il in 2002 after visiting the Khabarovsk Church of St. Innocent of Irkutsk. Soon a church was built in Pyongyang, and in July 2006 the community of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity was accepted into the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church. The consecration of the church in August 2006 was performed by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad (now His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’). The clergy of the church were trained in theological schools in Russia and were ordained by Russian hierarchs. Now the church is mainly visited by employees of diplomatic missions located in Pyongyang.

– Your Eminence, what would you like to say to our readers?

– Through your publication, I would like to appeal to all the faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church living in Korea to unite around their Church and its Primate, and also to express my support for His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and the entire canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who are going through difficult times today. Now, when parishes in Korea are just being formed, your active help will be needed in creating new communities. I call upon all of you for God’s blessing!

Archbishop Theofan (Kim) of Korea
interviewed by a correspondent from the Pravoslavie.Ru portal

May 23, 2019

Press Service of the Korean Diocese