The feast of the Synaxis of the 24 protector Saints of the Church in Korea was celebrated at the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Gapyong on Monday, October 3, 2022. This year the celebration was different from previous years. This is because this year, the founder of the Monastery and initiator of the holiday, the late Metropolitan of Pisidia, Soterios (formerly of Korea), was physically absent.
Following the Divine Liturgy, and during the Memorial Service for the repose of the soul of the blessed Metropolitan Soterios, which was held with the participation of the Korean Clergy along with the Faithful, Metropolitan Ambrosios delivered a short address. He emphasized, with obvious emotion, that “we cannot but always remember with infinite gratitude our blessed spiritual Father, Metropolitan Soterios because everything we have in the Metropolis of Korea we owe it to Him. If His Eminence had not worked hard, we would have neither the Monastery nor the Holy Relics of our 24 protector Saints. Our Saint-loving Metropolitan took great pains to collect the miraculous holy relics and bring them to Korea. He then requested the approval of our Ecumenical Patriarchate to celebrate their Synaxis on October 3, which is a national holiday in Korea. After the Patriarchal approval, he then asked the hymnographer Archim. Fr. Nikodimos Aerakis to compose the Holy Service of the Saints and commissioned the iconographer Professor Sozos Giannoudis to illustrate the first icon of the Synaxis of the 24 Saints. Finally, he organized the first celebration at the Monastery, establishing it on an annual basis for the sanctification of all of us”.
After the Divine Liturgy, the Sisters of the Monastery offered a common meal of love to all the participants. Thus, through the intercessions of the 24 protector Saints of the Church in Korea, their annual festival was completed in an atmosphere of spiritual joy.