On Saturday, February 1, 2025, Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea and Exarch of Japan, assisted by Father Yohan Park, celebrated the wedding of Dionysios Sung-Dong Kim and Eugenia Hyun-Ah Kim in the church of St. Dionysios Archbishop of Aegina from Zakynthos, which was the first wedding in the newly established parish.
The groom was born and raised as a non-religious man. However, he was baptized last December on the feast of St. Dionysios, while the bride, coming from an Orthodox Christian family, was baptized in infancy.
In his speech, the Metropolitan, after congratulating the newlyweds for choosing the church wedding to begin their family journey with God’s blessing, stressed the value of the institution of marriage and family in overcoming the crisis in society.
After the wedding reception, the Metropolitan and Fr. Yohan celebrated the Great Vespers while the following day the Service of Matins and the Divine Liturgy. During the sermon that followed the biblical readings, the Metropolitan referred to the event of The Presentation of Christ in the Temple as it is recorded in the New Testament and depicted in the relevant icon. He also stressed that baptized Christians, who participate in the sacramental life of the Church and especially in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, are more privileged than the righteous Simeon the Theodochos, (receiver of God), who was worthy to carry the infant Christ in his arms for just a short time. And this is because we Christians are deemed worthy to receive within us the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, “for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life”, thus making us more privileged “receivers of God” than Simeon. Finally, he elaborated on the salvific implications of our sacramental union with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Near the end of the Sacrament, the newlyweds received Holy Communion, they bid farewell to the congregation and then left for their honeymoon. Those present continued with the love feast, after which the custom of “Sebae” followed due to “Seollal”, that is, the Korean New Year”. All the faithful, from young children to the elderly, greeted their bishop and parish priest with the Korean traditional bow, from whom they received the customary gifts of “Sebae”.
Until late in the afternoon the Metropolitan had private meetings with the faithful to whom he presented the planned more systematic access of the Metropolis to social networks. All expressed their joy, but also their willingness to contribute to the implementation of this important program for the further dissemination of Orthodox witness in Korean society.