On Wednesday, August 14, the parish of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Jeonju City celebrated the feast of the Mother of God with the services of the solemn Great Vespers and Artoklasia, presided over by Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea and Exarch of Japan, the priest of the church, Fr. Hilarion Chung Jong-hyuk, and the priest Fr. Silvestros Zhang from China.
In his sermon, the Metropolitan referred to the humility of the Virgin Mary and the struggle of each of us to acquire this sublime, great virtue. This was followed by an Agape dinner with the participation of all the faithful, which ended with the Metropolitan’s advice to the participants on spiritual life.
The following day, Thursday, August 15, the Orthros of the feast and the Divine Liturgy was celebrated, at the end of which the Doxology of the Day of the Liberation of Korea from the Japanese occupation was chanted and concluded with the procession of the icon of the Virgin Mary outside the church. The Divine Liturgy was presided over by the Metropolitan of Korea, Protopresbyter Fr. Roman Kavchak, Fr. Hilarion Chung Jong-hyuk, and Fr. Silvestros Zhang.
In his sermon, the Metropolitan elaborated on three attributes of the Virgin Mary: as “Servant of the Lord”, as “Theotokos” and as “Mother of God and of men.” This was followed by an Agape meal during which the Metropolitan elaborated on the missionary dimension of the procession to the “outsiders” and concluded with a musical program by the students of the Sunday School.
We praise our Lord and the Theotokos for the joyful and blessed celebration and thank the parishioners, the visitors, and all those who worked hard to prepare the celebration.