His Eminence Ambrosios, Metropolitan of Korea and Exarch of Japan, made a pastoral visit to Okinawa, Japan, on the weekend of April 5 and 6, 2025.
On Saturday afternoon, he visited St. Nicholas Church (within the Marine Corps Base Camp Foster), where he and Fr. Andrew Kearns, LCDR USN DHA OKINAWA NH (USA), celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism and Chrismation of four catechumens.
The next day the Metropolitan, assisted by Fr. Andrew Kearns and Fr. Demetrios Harper, who is a military priest serving in Okinawa, who was theologically trained at the University of Thessalonica and presently is a professor of Dogmatic Theology at St. Tikhon’s School of Theology Seminary (Orthodox Church in America), celebrated the Orthros and the Divine Liturgy. At the end of the Orthros and following the reading of the Exorcisms, six young persons were officially admitted as catechumens to the Orthodox Church, while at the end of the Divine Liturgy, a mother and her newborn baby came for the forty–day Prayer after birth.
After the Biblical readings, His Eminence, in his sermon, referred to “The Primacy of Service” based on the Gospel passage «The disciples of Christ,» and he stressed that we «must always be “servants” and “slaves”»! He concluded: «Let us leave today from this church with a noble and heroic decision to walk for the rest of our lives the way of service and sacrifice and to become angels and servants to our neighbors. Thus, God will truly call us “great,” and we will obtain redemption, not only for ourselves but also for our society. The word of our Lord is absolutely clear and does not leave any room for doubt: “Whoever would be great among you must be a servant and… slave of all.”».
After the Dismissal, the Metropolitan conveyed to everyone the paternal blessings and wishes of His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and wished them to spend the Holy Week and Easter with spiritual joy.