The following speech was delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, Exarch of Japan during a webinar: Putin, Patriarch Kirill, And The Threat To Global Orthodoxy. The event was held on May 19, 2024 and hosted by the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Academia Symposia Committee.
Our responsibility for the further dissemination of Orthodox witness in Japan and Korea under the Ecumenical Patriarchate
By Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea and Exarch of Japan
Moscow Patriarchate’s illegal expansionist policy in the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea and Exarch of Japan is of profound concern to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Orthodox Christians worldwide. What must be done to support the canonical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Japan and the attendant ecclesiastical issues? The Ecumenical Patriarchate founded the Metropolis of Korea and Exarchate of Japan in 2004, entrusted it to the first Metropolitan of Korea and Exarch of Japan, the late Soterios Trampas.
In 1970 the Moscow Patriarchate illegally granted autonomy status to the Orthodox Church in Japan. This concession was made uncanonically because the Moscow Patriarchate did not have the right to grant “autonomy” or “autocephaly” on its own. As a result, the Autonomous Church of Japan is not officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the other Patriarchates and Autocephalous Orthodox Churches.
At the time, Metropolitan Soterios did not exercise his ecclesiastical rights in Japan in that he felt as he said, . . . “it is not good to disturb the peace between the Orthodox faithful of two neighboring nations. Instead, let us pray that the existing irregularity in Japan may be resolved through synodical procedures.” The Church of Russia did not attend the Holy and Great Synod of Crete in 2016. Regrettably, the opportunity to resolve this important ecclesiastical issue in a pan-Orthodox synod was lost.
In Christmas 2018, the Moscow Patriarchate uncanonically invaded Korea and created a Russian ecclesiastical jurisdiction of its own, under the pretext of the Autocephaly granted to Ukraine by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Yet, the numerous documents and other testimonies in the Archives of the Metropolis of Korea, unequivocally show that Moscow’s aspirations for its illegal invasion of Korea, began in 1993, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Despite numerous appeals to the ecclesiastical and diplomatic Russian authorities, the Moscow Patriarchate destroyed the normal ecclesiastical order in Korea. The Orthodox faithful of Korea have been scandalized profoundly by the recruitment tactics of the representatives of the newly establish Moscow Patriarchate community in Seoul. Korean clergy were implored to leave the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea under the Ecumenical Patriarchate and come instead under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Coming back to the ecclesiological problem that exists in Japan, the Exarch of Japan is taking steps in the right direction to solve it.
The Exarch of Japan has begun making pastoral visits to meet the liturgical and pastoral needs of the faithful or catechumens who do not wish to belong to the “Russian World.” Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, many Orthodox Japanese and Ukrainians who fled the war to Japan, do not worship in Moscow’s “Autonomous Church of Japan” in protest to the war. Among those Russians, Belarusians and other Orthodox from countries of the former Soviet Union, who live in Japan and Korea, worship in the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea and in the Orthodox Exarchate in Japan under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The lack of privately owned space to house the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Exarchate in Japan has impeded the liturgical and pastoral work of the Metropolis. Services are held in Tokyo at St. Alban’s Church, twice monthly on a temporary basis, but there is a clear need for the purchase of property to begin the process of building a church, community center, and priest’s residence to meet the pastoral and liturgical needs of the faithful.
Fortunately, a property, which fully meets the needs of the Exarchate in Japan was found, consisting of space for a church with a capacity for 80 persons, an office and reception hall for parish events, and a residence for the priest’s family. The property cost is 2M US dollars. An appeal on behalf of our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to every person of good will, who understands the great threat to Global Orthodoxy of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Please help us to obtain the necessary material and technical infrastructure to establish an Orthodox Center in Japan under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction and love of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the dissemination of Orthodoxy in Japan, for the glory of God and of the Mother Church of us all.
