Posted on 03/02/2017 7:16:36 PM PST by NYer
The history of the Church is driven by missionaries, brave men and women who left family and homeland behind to engage alien cultures, risking their lives to introduce strangers to the love of Jesus. Every country has its founders: St. Francis Xavier in 16th-century Japan, St. Augustine of Canterbury in 6th-century England, St. Thomas in 1st-century India.
In Korea, the story is different.
Korea wasn’t introduced to the gospel by a charismatic priest or a company of selfless friars. Korea, in fact, is the only country that evangelized itself. More than two centuries after Xavier brought the Gospel to Japan and more than a millennium after Nestorians first preached Christ in China, there had still been no mission to Korea. The occasional Christians had entered the peninsula, of course, mostly for trade or military expeditions, but still nobody had preached Jesus to the people.
But a handful of Christian books had come to Korea, studied by Buddhist sages and others who were intrigued by Christianity as a foreign philosophy, not a religion. Among these was Yi Byeok, a young man who began in 1770 to study a Catholic book by Servant of God Matteo Ricci, written in Chinese. At only 16, he devoted himself to the study of the faith, gathering other young (and older) men around him at Chon Jin Am, known as the birthplace of Catholicism in Korea.
For 14 years, these men wrestled with the deepest questions of human existence, guided only by a handful of books smuggled in from China. They left behind mother, father, even (in Yi Byeok’s case) wife and child, for the pursuit of truth. Gradually, they became convinced that what they read was true and began to practice it. Every seven days, they would celebrate a sort of Sabbath, though without any way of knowing which day was actually Sunday. They studied and debated and worshiped together, always led by Yi Byeok who was known throughout the region for his wisdom and learning. Older men deferred to him and younger men gave up much to study with him.
Finally, in 1784, Yi Byeok discovered that one of their number, Yi Seung-Hun, had plans to travel to China. Known as “The Hermit Kingdom,” Korea was entirely closed to the outside world with the exception of this annual embassy to China, and Yi Byeok jumped at the opportunity to have contact with Christians. Yi Seung-Hun was sent with instructions to learn all he could, to obtain books and sacred articles, and to seek Baptism. Baptized Peter, Yi Seung-Hun returned to Korea to confer Baptism on the others, notably Yi Byeok, the forerunner, whom he baptized John the Baptist.
The companions then came down from the mountain, going off to evangelize and moving their meetings to Seoul so that the increasing numbers of Christians would be able to attend. Within just over a year, records indicate, there were already more than a thousand Christians in Korea. But the Korean government, extremely xenophobic after having seen the effects of Western imperialism on other Asian nations, was suspicious of this new faith. In 1785, Christianity was outlawed, though there seems to have been very little torture or outright martyrdom until 1801.
As with most things, Yi Byeok was the exception. The center of the movement and clear leader of the new Church, Yi Byeok drew powerful criticism from the government and from his family. Ultimately when he refused to deny his faith, he was locked into his family home. Some sources say he was starved to death, others that his fasting overcame him and he died of exhaustion, but certainly Yi Byeok died as he had lived: completely given over to the Gospel.
After the death of Yi Byeok, Christianity continued to spread. Despite there being no priests at all in the country for the next ten years, the lay Christians went out as missionaries, even attempting to celebrate Mass and hear confessions before discovering that this was impossible for laymen. Though there was only one priest in all of Korea for the first 50 years of Christianity, and that one only for six years before he was martyred, the faith continued to spread. Through persecution after persecution throughout the 19th century and again by Communists during the Korean War, the Church persisted. Today, 10 percent of South Koreans are Catholic and hundreds are Saints, Blesseds, or Servants of God.
The cause of canonization for Servant of God John Baptist Yi Byeok has been brought forward, along with those of his 132 companions. They have no feast day as yet, but Yi Byeok in particular would make an excellent intercessor for those who are seeking truth, especially those who rely on their intellect, that they would be led to a relationship with Jesus. Servant of God Yi Byeok, pray for us!
Catholic ping!
There’s a Star Trek episode where the civilization was based on a Chicago mobster book. Corny, but good episode.
"Religion in South Korea is characterized by the fact that an absolute majority of South Koreans (56.9% as of 2015) have no formal membership in a religious organisation...According to national census conducted in 2015:
19.7% Protestantism
15.5% Buddhism
7.9% Roman Catholicin total Christianity is the religion of 27.6% of the Korean population.
(from Wiki)
Lots of work left to do
In Japan, Takayama Ukon was just beatified, but Christianity has rooted in Korea and not in Japan. It will take more than man’s work to change that, but rather a wind from God—a true kamikaze (which is what the word means), not the false ones of the past.
Many of the Christians in Korea are a lot more serious about it than folks in the West.
I've read in the past that tens of thousands have nights of prayer up on the mountains.
Agreed. They don’t take it for granted as so many of us in the West do. It surely must be even more precious to them when they consider their neighbors to the north.
Awesome story. Worthy of the Johnny Carson meme “I did not know that”. Inspirational as well.
Remember all the people
Who live in far off lands
In strange and lovely cities
Or roam the desert sands,
Or farm the mountain pastures
Or till the endless plains
Where children wade through rice fields
And watch the camel trains.
Some work in sultry forests
Where apes swing to and fro,
Some fish in mighty rivers,
Some hunt across the snow.
Remember all God’s children,
Who yet have never heard
The truth that comes from Jesus,
The glory of His Word.
God bless the men and women
Who serve Him overseas;
God raise up more to help them
To set the nations free,
Till all the distant people
In every foreign place
Shall understand His kingdom,
And come into His grace.
I read that post WW2 Japan was inundated by American missionaries, and after a few years of increase the Japanese partly abandoned Christianity due partly because they percieved hypocrisy on the part of the Westerners.
That’s the gist of what I read, anyway.
Shamanism is also practiced in Korea (like their cousins, the Mongolians). Some folks might be Christian or Buddhist, but still seek out Shamans for certain types of problems or healings.
I think that the 15% Buddhist may be an undercount, but it has been a quarter century since I lived there. I anecdotally thought it was more like half and half, Buddhist and Christian.
A+
Agreed. They don’t take it for granted as so many of us in the West do. It surely must be even more precious to them when they consider their neighbors to the north.
The Koreans have had a tough modern history, first the Japanese occupation and WWII, and then the Korean War. (Not to mention all the hundreds of years when they were constantly subject to invasion by either China or Japan.) They are just now finding their place in the sun, economically and culturally.
You know certain Protestant Christian songs, even when the words don’t sound familiar.
When I was in Korea some many decades ago, a Korean soldier I knew asked me if I wanted to go with him to church one Sunday.
It turned out the “church” was up in the nearby hills, and we walked along trails, not even dirt roads to get there.
We were late.
We could hear the singing before we got there.
A small building that could maybe hold fifty or a hundred was surrounded by hundreds who could not get in, and just sat where they could all around the building, singing and lifting their hands in praise to G-d. It was an amazing uplifting experience, feeling His presence in so many.
Now, in New York City, you see young Christian from Korea, in small groups on street corners, singing, speaking and handing out their tracts, doing MISSIONARY work “in the heart of the beast”.
Christianity has never really gained much traction in Japan. Though, a notable exception was Mitsuo Fuchida, the man who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. He gave his life to Christ after the war and spent the rest of his life evangelizing.
At the risk of making a sweeping generalization, Koreans tend to go all-in for whatever it is that is of interest to them. This is why their educational system is so hyper competitive that some parents send their kids to America, just to avoid the rat race.
And I know some Korean Christians. They are definitely all-in for the faith. Or, in some cases, at least the appearance of the faith (i.e. always attending long church services, Bible studies, etc.)
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