A high-level Russian delegation visited an Orthodox church in Pyongyang

English translation by Katherine Ilachinski – May 2014

The Russian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister on Monday visited the temple of the Holy Trinity in the south of Pyongyang.

PYONGYANG. Based in North Korea on a three-day visit, the Russian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister – Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev on Monday visited the temple of the Holy Trinity in the south of Pyongyang.

Russians were met by the abbot father Theodore Kim – Korean Orthodox priest who studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary. He told the guests about the history of the temple, and acquainted them with the interior of the church.

Deputy Prime Minister donated to the temple the icon of the Holy Trinity reported ITAR-TASS.

The DPRK leader Kim Jong-il gave the order to build an Orthodox church in Pyongyang after visiting one of the churches during the trip to the Russian Far East in 2002. Korean builders have finished construction of the Church of the Holy Trinity in the summer of 2006. On August 13 of the same year the building was consecrated by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, now the head of the Russian Church. Support for the temple is provided by the Russian Orthodox Church and individual people from Russia. The temple is under canonical authority of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Russian spiritual mission in Korea was established in July 1897. The first group of participants of the mission arrived in Korea in February 1900. After World War II by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis I it was confirmed that the mission was under the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate. She continued to operate until 1949, when the South Korean authorities expelled the last head of the mission, Archimandrite Polycarp (Priymak), and all property and land were arrested.

The Russian delegation, which visited the temple previously participated in the ceremony of handing over to the DPRK gratis 50 units of fire fighting equipment. In the Palace of Congresses “Mansude” she held talks with North Korean officials on issues related to the development of political, trade and economic cooperation.

The delegation, which was placed in a comfortable government residence Pekhvavon (House of hundred flowers), consisted of the Primorsky Region Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky , Khabarovsk Territory Governor Vyacheslav Shport and Amur Region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako.

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