By God’s grace, on August 14 – on the feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of Jesus Christ, and of the holy seven Maccabees, their mother Solomonia, and their teacher Eleazar – a baptismal Liturgy was held in Seoul at the church of St. Maximus the Greek. On this day, ten new members were added to our Holy Orthodox Church.
After catechism and preparations, Holy Baptism was received by Dimitry, Sergius, Eugene, Irina, Anastasia, Lyudmila, the children Victoria and Evelina, as well as babies, Michael and Mary.
According to the tradition of the Ancient Church, the Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation were combined with the Divine Liturgy. The joyful event was attended not only by the clergy, the baptized, and their godparents, but also by the parishioners of the church. Thus, through the acceptance of the holy Mysteries, the newly illumined experienced a meeting with God, with Christ as the Head of our Church, and with the entire Body of the Church, participating together with her community in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
At the end of the service, Fr. Roman Kavchak addressed the faithful in attendance with an instructive word, in which he called on the newly illumined to preserve the joy of Baptism all the days of their lives, to be courageous and not to be afraid of coming temptations, to bear their cross following the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of any difficulties.
The service ended with the singing of many years to all the new members of the Orthodox Church.