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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSince your interview remarks are published on a website which gives no information\nabout those who run and edit it, I can see no other way to respond to these publications\nthan to appeal personally to you. However, considering the public nature of your\nstatements, my letter will be open as well, so that readers can draw their own\nconclusions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember with joy how warmly you welcomed me with a brotherly kiss when I\nvisited you in Seoul in June 2017. So, it is much more painful to see in what dark\ncolours you, without being shy of rumours and conjectures, paint the pastoral and\nmissionary work of the Russian Orthodox Church. Have the complicated relationships\nbetween our two Churches caused by the decisions of Patriarch Bartholomew of\nConstantinople to create a new \u2018church\u2019 structure in Ukraine really made such a\nradical impact on your attitude to us? But no, you write with a reference to an\nanonymous \u2018elder\u2019 saying that for a thousand years many church leaders in Russia\nhave never learnt what the Gospel teaches, thus cultivating \u2018a satanic and imperialistic\ntheory of \u201cMoscow as the Third Rome\u201d\u2019. And all this is said as if you have always\nbelieved it. Should I now conclude that the welcome you gave me in Seoul was\nhypocritical, and that now your attitude is sincere? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My two great-grandfathers, who were priests, went through prisons and prison camps\nfor their faith and service of the Church. One of them was executed by shooting for his\nfaith in God. The authorities sought to deprive my mother of parental rights for\nbringing up us, her children, in the faith. When in school, I had my small baptismal\ncross torn away from me, and I was mocked for being a believer. During my\nchildhood we copied texts of Holy Scripture and prayers by hand and cherished them\nas the greatest treasure. We did not just copy these texts but kept re-reading and\nstudying them with profound reverence and love. The story of my family is not\nunique. Very many endured the horrors of persecution and mockery. Just think how it\n\n2\n\nis to read in your text the revelations of a nameless \u2018elder\u2019 that we failed to learn the\nGospel. It is equally painful for me to read that you \u2018firmly believe\u2019 that the Russian\nOrthodox Church, which has hatched some insidious plan for several decades now,\nhas only awaited an occasion to stop the liturgical commemoration of Patriarch\nBartholomew of Constantinople. It is impossible to imagine anything more absurd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In your interview you clearly allege that the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in\nSoutheast Asia are uncanonical. I take the liberty to remind you the history of the\nemergence of Orthodoxy in the region: Russian priests began their pastoral ministry in\nChina in 1685; St. Nicholas (Kasatkin) came to Japan in 1861, and the Russian\nEcclesiastical Mission in Korea was established in 1897. Russian parishes appeared in\nIndonesia in 1934; in the same year, a parish was opened in Manila. St. John\n(Maximovitch) of Shanghai celebrated the first divine services in Vietnam in 1949.\nThis is only some of the documentary evidence of the beginning of the Russian\nChurch\u2019s mission in the countries of South and Southeast Asia during which no other\nOrthodox Church was represented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In your interview you cite an alleged dialogue that you heard second-hand between\nMetropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, now His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of\nMoscow and All Russia, and a certain Russian-speaking parishioner, during which a\nclaim was made to the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Seoul. I specifically asked His\nHoliness about it. It is not true. There was no such talk and could not be, as His\nHoliness is well versed in the history of the Orthodox Church in Korea. The Russian\nEcclesiastical Mission in Korea once owned plots of land and buildings not only in\nSeoul but also throughout the Korean Peninsula. What happened to them later? Were\nthey sold or transferred? If they were, then by whom, to whom and on what terms? We\ndo not know in full measure as yet, but we will study this matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The historical fact is also that for hundreds of years not a single complaint or reproach\nhas come to the Russian Church from her Orthodox brothers as to our actions in Asia\nup to the recent times when the Patriarch of Constantinople has changed his\necclesiology and wished, instead of being \u2018the first among equals\u2019 to become \u2018the first\nwithout equals\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The pastoral and missionary ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church in Asia has\nnever been challenged by any Local Orthodox Church; on the contrary, it was\nwelcomed as is clear, for instance, from the letters sent by Patriarchs of Jerusalem to\nSt. Nicholas of Japan Equal-to-the-Apostles. Thus, as far back as 1896 His Beatitude\nPatriarch Gerasimus of Jerusalem sent icons, holy relics and other shrines as gifts to\nthe Japanese Church. Consequently, support for Orthodoxy in Japan and profound\npersonal respect for St. Nicholas continued to be shown by both Patriarch Gerasimus\u2019s\nsuccessors and hierarchs of various Local Orthodox Churches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When in 1956 the Russian Orthodox Church granted autonomy to the Chinese\nOrthodox Church founded on the basis of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China\nand the Exarchate of East Asia (which at that time exercised canonical jurisdiction\nover communities in Korea), this decision was not challenged at all by Local\nChurches, nor was the Russian Church\u2019s canonical jurisdiction over Orthodox church\nstructures in China ever disclaimed. His Holiness Patriarch Joachim III of\nConstantinople in his time sent an icon for a Russian church under construction in\nHarbin, thus supporting our church presence in China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When in 1970, the status of autonomy was given to the Japanese Orthodox Church,\nPatriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople refused to include the Primate of the\nJapanese Church in the diptychs because of his autonomous rather than autocephalous\nstatus. He did not challenge the canonical jurisdiction of the Russian Church over\nOrthodox ecclesial structures in that country, just as no doubt had been cast on it for\nover a century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A very clear testimony to it is given by an outstanding missionary of our times, the\nPrimate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of\nTirana and All Albania, in this book \u2018Unto the Uttermost Part of the Earth\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I will dwell separately on the history of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Korea.\nThe history of Russian-Korean relations traces back to the time of the Kievan Rus\u2019,\nwhen the conception of \u2018Moscow as the Third Rome\u2019 mentioned by Your Eminence\ndid not as yet exist. Additionally, the only historical document that declares this idea\ndirectly is the Charter on the Establishment of Patriarchate in Moscow signed by His\nHoliness Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople (1589); whereas the Russian Orthodox\nChurch began its missionary work among the Koreans in 1856, when St. Innocent\n(Veniaminov) began sending Orthodox preachers to the South Ussuriysky land, a\ndestination of an inflow of Korean re-settlers. In 1885, an agreement was reached\nbetween Russia and Korea that gave Russian nationals a right to freely celebrate\ndivine services in the territory of Korea. By the 1897 decision of the Most Holy\nGoverning Synod, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission was established in Korea with\nthe task to take care of Russian Orthodox Christians residing on the Korean Peninsula\nand to preach Orthodoxy among the local non-Christian population. On February 17,\n1900, the head of the mission Archimandrite Khrisanf (Schetkovsky) celebrated the\nDivine Liturgy in Seoul, thus marking the beginning of the Russian Mission\u2019s\nactivities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From the time of its foundation until 1908, the Korean Mission was in the jurisdiction\nof the metropolitan of St. Petersburg; from 1908 to 1921 in that of the bishop of\nVladisvostok; from 1921 to 1945 \u2013 of the archbishop of Tokyo, and from 1945 to\n1954 it was part of the Exarchate of East Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the Mission\u2019s work was forcibly stopped. After the end of World War II, the\nSouth Korean authorities and the American occupation administration waged a\nstruggle for several years, seeking to bring the Mission out of the jurisdiction of the\nMoscow Patriarchate. Incapable of doing it by any legal means, the South Korean\nauthorities in 1949 banished the Mission\u2019s head Archimandrite Polycarp from the\ncountry. For political reasons, the work of the Mission was suspended and its property\nwas confiscated. It was only in 1955 that the surviving parishes of the Russian\nOrthodox Church, deprived as they were of arch-pastoral care, and not without the\ninfluence of the military presence of foreign powers in South Korea, joined the\nArchdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in America. It is hardly possible to\nrecognize as lawful the move of the clergy and communities to another jurisdiction\nunder pressure from political forces (and without any letters of release). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, today we speak not of the establishment of a \u2018parallel Church\u2019 but of the\nrestoration of the ecclesiastical mission of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is\nconditioned by the historical process of revival of the Russian Church which suffered\nunder the yoke of the godless power for 70 years and by the need to provide pastoral\ncare to our compatriots in all parts of the globe including Asia, as well as by the\nimpossibility of our flock at present to partake of the Mysteries in the Church of\nConstantinople as it has entered into communion with schismatics and invaded the\ncanonical bounds of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I will repeat, historically the destiny of Orthodoxy in Korea was linked with Russia.\nAnd today the Church exerts efforts to revive the spiritual closeness between our\npeoples, to restore the spiritual bonds which used to tie them in the past. The Russian\nOrthodox Church has historical and canonical reasons for resuming its missionary\nwork, interrupted by force of historical circumstances in the Korean Peninsula. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Eminence, you prefer not to see the political nature of your Church\u2019s actions in\nUkraine, but speak of a political nature of the actions of the Moscow Patriarchate in\nKorea, where we allegedly undermine the canonical order of the Church and practice\nproselytism. You show indignation at the formation of parishes and dioceses of the\nMoscow Patriarchate in Southeast Asia on the whole and in Korea in particular. This\nmatter was recently dealt with in detail<\/a> by my fellow-hierarch, His Eminence Feofan\n(Kim), Archbishop of Korea. I will only add that in many countries in Europe and America, which do not belong to the canonical\nterritory of a particular Church, there are several coexisting bishops of various Local\nChurches, and this does not present an unsurmountable obstacle for their ministry and common witness to Christ. It is a good example of a situation in which it is Christ and\nthe Church and immortal human souls that are made the cornerstone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Russian Church is focused on dialogue and takes an active part in all episcopal\nconferences without pushing forward unacceptable conditions in the places where the\nRussian flock is in the majority, resolving arising issues in the spirit of love and\ncooperation. Therefore, I see your reproaches as groundless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, a considerable number of our faithful in Seoul assemble for the Divine\nLiturgies in a facility that is simple but lovingly arranged as a temporary church. We\nreceive many letters from our faithful both from Seoul and various parts of Korea with\ngratitude and with requests for pastoral care. Should we push away these people who\nregard the Russian Orthodox Church as their Mother and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill\nof Moscow and All Russia as their spiritual father? You should note that these people\nwill not come today to churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for the above-\nmentioned reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Has not the Patriarchate of Constantinople\u2019s Metropolis of Korea recently celebrated\nthe 119th anniversary of the first Divine Liturgy in Korea - that is, the anniversary of\nthe beginning of the Russian Church\u2019s mission in Korea? Do you want to say that you\ncelebrated an anniversary of \u2018non-canonical actions\u2019? And what then did Patriarch\nBartholomew of Constantinople celebrate fraternally together with Archbishop\nClement of Kaluga and Borovsk and an assembly of archpastors in Seoul in February\n2000? And Metropolitan Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain who officiated at\nthe Divine Liturgy in Seoul in 2010 in con-celebration with Archbishop Veniamin of\nVladivostok and Primorye \u2013 what did they celebrate? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your story about a meeting with a priest is also perplexing. All the Orthodox\nChristians in Seoul are well aware of the person in question. He is an unfortunate man\nbut God vouchsafed him the grace of priesthood. It is difficult for me to imagine his\nbehaviour such as you describe, but even if it is so, I can only recall the words of the\nApostle: \u2018If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one\nin the spirit of meekness\u2019 (Gal. 6:1). <\/p>\n\n\n\n You write that in November 2018, at the round-table conference on the Russian\nOrthodox Church and Compatriots: An Experience of Cooperation in Southeast Asia,\nAustralia and Oceania, chaired by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of\nthe Moscow Patriarchate\u2019s Department for External Church Relations, signatures were\ncollected under a document signed by very few. Apparently, you were told a lie as in\nfact no church document was signed at that meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The longstanding history of relationships between our Churches unfortunately knows\nof sad pages as well, which, until the recent events, we preferred not to recall.\nHowever, as far back as the 1920s, the Patriarch of Constantinople tried to depose His\nHoliness Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) and did everything possible to support the\nRenovationsists\u2019 \u2018Living Church\u2019 established by the State Political Directorate under\nthe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the Russian Soviet\nFederative Socialist Republic \u2013 the development to which the confessor-Patriarch gave this response: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Having read these minutes, We were greatly confused and astonished\nthat a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the head of the Church of\nConstantinople, without any preliminary contact with Us as the lawful representative\nand head of the entire Russian Orthodox Church, has interfered in the internal life and\naffairs of the autocephalous Russian Church. The Holy Councils (see Canons 2 and 3\nof the Second Ecumenical Council, etc.) recognized and recognize the Bishop of\nConstantinople\u2019s [...] primacy over other autocephalous Churches in honour, not in\npower... <\/p> Any sending of any commission without a contact with Me as the only\nlawful and Orthodox First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church without my\nknowledge is unlawful, will not be accepted by the Russian Orthodox people and will\nbring not appeasement but even a greater trouble and schism in the life of the already\nmuch-suffering Russian Orthodox Church\u2019. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The change in the attitude of the Patriarchate of Constantinople happened as far back\nas the 1940s, when, during World War II, there was a radical change in the Soviet\nleadership\u2019s policy towards the Church. After his famous meeting with three\nmetropolitans of the Patriarchal Church in September 1943, Stalin decided that the\npower does not need the Renovationist schism any longer and authorized its\nliquidation. In this situation, the Patriarch of Constantinople had no reason whatsoever\nto deal with the Renovationist outsiders and he restored communion with the Moscow\nPatriarchate as if nothing had happened. The Russian Orthodox Church, on her part,\ndid not opt for calling anybody to account for their recent canonical depravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another invasion into the canonical space of the Russian Church happened in the\n1990s in Estonia. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, supported by the Estonian\nPresident, Prime Minister and Ministry of the Interior, recognized a church structure,\nwhich then enjoyed political support and was not shy of using nationalistic overtones\nin its rhetoric, while ignoring the presence in the country of the only canonical Church\nin the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. What is especially astonishing and sad\nis that this attitude was supported personally by Patriarch Bartholomew. The canonical\ncommunion between the Russian Church and the Church of Constantinople was then\nsevered. Can the Church of Christ violate canons so daringly and divide people into\nethnic entities and sow enmity between them? This gravest conflict in the history of\nthe Orthodox Church, repeatedly called \u2018schism\u2019 in the press, was settled by the end of\n1996 through a compromise, as the Orthodox Churches of Russia and Constantinople\nagreed to the existence of two jurisdictions in the territory of the Estonian state, which\nis not consonant with either canon law or historical justice. Were the actions of the\nPatriarchate of Constantinople beneficial for the Church, beneficial for the Estonian\npeople? Did the total number of believers increase? You yourself know that, according\nto Estonian official information, the Estonian Orthodox Church has over six times\nmore followers than the Patriarchate of Constantinople\u2019s structure in Estonia. In the\nlast years, the authorities appear shy of publishing the statistics, for the people\u2019s\nhistorical choice refutes the political plans of politicians. The political project, which is attempted to be repeated now in Ukraine has actually failed and cannot be justified\nby any church goal because the people of God, the guardian of truth, feels where the\ntruth lies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving to the Ukrainian problem, which occupies a noticeable place in your\nstatements, I will note that in your interview you draw a parallel between the way in\nwhich the Moscow Patriarchate reconciled with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside\nof Russia (ROCOR) and the way in which the Patriarchate of Constantinople admitted\nthe Ukrainian schismatics from the so-called \u2018Kiev Patriarchate\u2019 and \u2018the UAOC\u2019.\nHowever, one cannot help seeing fundamental differences between these actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The ROCOR\u2019s communion with the Moscow Patriarchate was suspended in the 1920s\ndue to the political system in the USSR and pressure put on the Russian Church. The\nChurch of Constantinople, which survived the Ottoman-Turkish rule, is well aware of\nthe weight of pressure exerted by power structures. The Russian Church has never\nrejected the grace-giving nature of the ROCOR\u2019s sacraments. In the ROCOR itself,\nthe apostolic succession of episcopal consecrations has never been broken. When time\nbecame favorable, the Eucharistic communion was restored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whereas the Ukrainian situation is very different. The former metropolitan Philaret\n(Denisenko) was deposed due to his canonical offences, and this decision was\nsupported by the Primates of all the Local Churches. On August 26, 1992, Patriarch\nBartholomew of Constantinople, in his letter to Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All\nRussia concerning the deposition of Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev, wrote, \u2018Our Holy\nGreat Church of Christ, recognizing the fullness of the competence of your Most Holy\nChurch in this matter, accepts the synodal decision on the above\u2019. Can one first\napprove a deposition and then cancel one\u2019s decision on it? How does it correspond\nwith the Gospel words, \u2018But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for\nwhatsoever is more than these cometh of evil\u2019 (Mt. 5:37)? For his further persistence\nin schism, Denisenko was anathematized, which was also authenticated by all the\nChurches. With the support of Ukrainian power structures, he organized a \u2018Kiev\nPatriarchate\u2019 and began \u2018consecrating\u2019 bishops. These \u2018consecrations\u2019 are now\nrecognized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Constantinople also unilaterally\nrecognized the episcopal \u2018consecrations\u2019 administered in the so-called \u2018Ukrainian\nAutocephalous Orthodox Church\u2019, whose head \u2018metropolitan\u2019 Makariy Maletich left\nthe Moscow Patriarchate without permission, being in the rank of presbyter. The\nconclusion is clear \u2013 supported by a majority of Orthodox episcopate and clergy as\nwell as theologians \u2013 that the episcopal consecrations administered by \u2018the Kiev\nPatriarchate\u2019 and \u2018the UAOC\u2019 are invalid and remain such in the newly created\n\u2018church\u2019. These \u2018church\u2019 entities, just as ordinations performed in them, have never\nbeen recognized by a single Local Church. Ignoring these facts, the Synod of the\nChurch of Constantinople supported the appeal of the Ukrainian president, Supreme Rada and above-mentioned heads of religious communities by admitting them into\nEucharistic communion and accepting their ordinations as valid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus repeated are century-old events about which Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky)\nwrote with such pain in his heart, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018We know that only those are in the unity of the\nChurch who are in communion with their lawful bishop and patriarch, that one who is\nexcommunicated by his patriarch cannot be accepted in communion with others\n(Canon 1, Council in the Church of the Holy Wisdom). And the one who comes into\ncommunion with an excommunicated one should be excommunicated (Apostolic\ncanons 10, 12) [...] All, both patriarchs and lay people, are equal before the law of\nGod. So, when in the 15th century the Patriarch of Constantinople fell away into union\nwith Rome, the Russian Church refused to follow him [...] So the communion of the\nPatriarch of Constantinople with the Renovationists can only make the Patriarch a\nRenovationist rather than make Renovationists Orthodox\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Metropolitan Luka (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhe and Melitopol related how, during your\nmeeting with him in 2018, you assured him that Constantinople would not legalize the\nschism, and that if anything like this happened with time, then it would be only after\nthe schismatics\u2019 repentance. Today we know how it all eventually happened \u2013 without\na hint of repentance and with a haughty demonstration of triumph. The healing of the\nschism in Ukraine stated as the goal of this act has not taken place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unprecedented pressure has been put upon the clergy and laity of the canonical\nChurch in Ukraine with the use of all kinds of instruments commanded by the state,\nsuch as secret services, blackmail, intimidation, seizure of churches with the\nconnivance or support of police and local authorities. The heart bleeds with pain to see\ncontinued attempts to seize by force the churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This situation was made a tragi-comedy by the refusal of false patriarch \u2018Philaret\u2019\nDenisenko to accept the tomos granted by Constantinople and the resumption of \u2018the\nKiev Patriarchate\u2019. It shows one more time that the decisions of the Patriarchate of\nConstantinople to grant \u2018autocephaly\u2019 to a new \u2018church structure\u2019 in Ukraine have\nfailed to bring peace and unity to the Orthodox Christians in the country and have only\nbrought new divisions, the emergence of a parallel \u2018episcopate\u2019 and people\u2019s suffering,\njust as has been the case time and again in history. These people, who call themselves\n\u2018archpastors\u2019 and \u2018priests\u2019 of \u2018the Orthodox Church of Ukraine\u2019, now can freely\ncelebrate the liturgy in churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Forgive me, but\nI cannot join together with such people in the One Cup wherever it may happen \u2013 in\nIstanbul, the USA or Korea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All this is happening in the presence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church recognized by\nall the Local Orthodox Churches together with her lawful Primate, His Beatitude\nMetropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, who together with all the hierarchs\nresolutely rejected such way of obtaining \u2018autocephaly\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the festivities in Kiev on June 24-25 I felt an exceptional spiritual elation, of\ntrue Orthodox unity. Praying together were representatives of ten Autocephalous\nOrthodox Churches and three more could not send their representatives but their\nPrimates sent messages of greeting to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry. Expressing\nsupport and wishing courage in overcoming the tragic situation, we all prayed in\nconciliar way, sharing the suffering and pain inflicted on the Ukrainian faithful by the\n\ndecisions of the supreme authority of your Church. The festive Liturgy at the Kiev-\nCaves Lavra of the Holy Dormition, in which the hierarchs, clergy and God-loving\n\npeople prayed together reminded me of Pascha and became a real triumph of\nOrthodoxy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, regrettably, we can see much falsehood in the words and deeds of\nhigh representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Seeing the failure of their\ninfamous initiative in Ukraine, they seek to involve our Christian brothers in this\nfailed adventure. In the same argument are the statements about our Church which\nwere voiced in the course of the visit, which you had prepared, of a delegation of the\nNational Council of Churches in Korea to Istanbul, and the attempts to slander the\nRussian Orthodox Church in other contacts with non-Orthodox Christians and in\nnumerous press appearances. At the same time, the whole Orthodox world is crying\nout about the need to resolve this problem as soon as possible through fraternal\ndialogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Korean and Russian peoples are tied by centuries of friendship, and I believe that\nwe will preserve and strengthen our fraternal relations despite any trials. The Russian\nChurch has always been a vehicle of peace in the Korean land and around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our common task, Vladyka, is to glorify and proclaim Christ, to serve Him sparing no\neffort, to do works of charity, love and truth, to call each person to salvation regardless\nof his or her race or status in society. We, on our part, are always ready for peaceful\ncooperation and open for fraternal embrace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The present situation seems to be humanly insoluble. The history of the Church knows\nof a great deal of human divisions but also of a great many cases of reconciliation. Let\nus, Vladyka, not aggravate the division. Our Churches are experiencing a difficult\nperiod in relationships, but let us do all we can to ensure that the flock in Korea and\nother countries of Southeast Asia is not affected by them, so that everyone can have an\nopportunity for praying and partaking of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and can preach\nOrthodoxy without hindrance. I call upon you not to distort facts in order to meet\npolitical interests. Let us serve not the division but a future reconciliation and unity for\nwhich we pray as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With hope for understanding and fraternal love in Christ, + SERGIY\nMetropolitan of Singapore and Southeast Asia August 27, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mpda.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/323287.b.jpg\")
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Patriarchal Exarch of Southeast Asia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n