On Sunday, July 5, following the Divine Liturgy, a celebration was held in the parish hall of St. Paul’s in Incheon in honor of the Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne, Rev. Fr. Daniel Na, who is the most senior active clergyman of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea. The event was organized by the members of the community to express their gratitude to their spiritual father for his many years of ministry.
The celebration began with a special prayer for the health and long life of Fr. Daniel, offered by Metropolitan Ambrose of Korea and Exarch of Japan, who conveyed to the honoree the paternal good wishes and blessings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as well as the heartfelt thanks of all the clergy and lay members of the Church in Korea. As the Metropolitan noted in his address, “Fr. Daniel, following his studies at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, returned to Korea and labored with zeal and self-sacrifice alongside the late Archimandrite — and later Bishop of Zela and Metropolitan of Korea — the ever-memorable Soterios. His exemplary obedience to the Church should become a model for all of us to emulate.”
The program continued with the reading of messages from Fr. Daniel’s fellow seminarians in America, followed by songs performed by young and old alike. A festive meal followed, during which Fr. Daniel received the well-wishes and expressions of love, first and foremost from his children Constantine and Antonios, together with their wives and children, who traveled for this occasion from China and America, and thereafter from all those present at the celebration.