Metropolitan Hilarion Visits China as Well North and South Korea

AsiaNews ^ | 11/27/18 | Vladimir Rozanskij

[marshmallow]

The second most important cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church visits the Far East. In Beijing he cited the 222 Chinese martyrs killed during the Boxer Uprising (1900). In Pyongyang he gave a gift to Kim Jong-un from Patriarch Kirill. Russia’s Church and diplomats work together abroad

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, the most important cleric in the Russian Church after Patriarch Kirill, visited Beijing 23-24 November. Before travelling to the two Koreas, he celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, in the Russian embassy in Beijing, together with Church Rector Hieromonk Innokenty (Kolesnikov), and Archbishop Sergey (Chashin) of Solnechnogorsk, Administrative Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.

In his homily, the metropolitan mentioned that China is "sacred for us, where the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission used to be, and where 222 Chinese martyrs had suffered… We pray to the martyrs and confessors of this land so that the Lord may enlighten it with the light of Christ’s faith. We pray that the Orthodox faith may be preserved in this land.”

Hilarion also noted the concerns and efforts of the Patriarchate in helping the autonomous Chinese Orthodox Church in its journey an atheist state.

The Russian delegation then left for Seoul, where it visited the local Orthodox community before moving onto Pyongyang, where it delivered a gift from Patriarch Kirill to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Russia and North Korea are marking 70 years of diplomatic relations this year, and the visit is part of the celebrations for this anniversary.

Metropolitan Hilarion was able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Life-giving Trinity together with Fr Feodor Kim, dean of the church, and other priests serving Russian churches in the Far East, from which came Russian..............