Orthodoxy in Southeast Asia

The preaching of Christianity in Asia is traditionally associated with the name of the Apostle Thomas, one of the closest disciples of the Savior of the world.

Having accepted the commandment of Jesus Christ about the worldwide preaching of the Gospel, the Russian Orthodox Church in her missionary service was primarily turned to the East, preaching in Siberia, the Far East, and then in China, Japan and even America.

Many missions were established – Irkutsk, Altai, Daur, Transbaikal, Semipalatinsk, Yenisei, Kirghiz, Chukotka, Kamchatka and others, and outside of Russia – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, American and Urmian.

The Russian Orthodox Church has always seen the goal of her missionary service not as an expansion of the territory of her pastoral responsibility, not for the imposition of “Russian” Orthodoxy, but as the transmission of the pure message of our Lord Jesus Christ, the formation of church communities, the development of the fullness of the sacramental life of the Church in them so that those who accept the preaching of Russians missionaries, the peoples of various countries were able to enter into the one Body of Christ and, having churched their national cultural traditions, create their own national Orthodoxy.

Examples of such approaches are the American, or Kodiak, mission, through the labors of which the Orthodox Church in America appeared, which received autocephaly from the Moscow Patriarchate in 1970; the Japanese mission, the fruit of which was the Japanese Orthodox Church, which since 1970 has had full autonomy from the Russian Orthodox Church; The Chinese, or Beijing, mission, which gave birth to the Chinese Orthodox Church, independent in the affairs of its internal administration since 1956.

Predominantly the Chinese mission and began preaching in the countries of Southeast Asia. The first Russian parishes established by clerics from China appeared in the Philippines and Indonesia in the 1930s; St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai, visited the Philippines and Vietnam in 1949.

Initially established for the pastoral care of compatriots, Russian parishes gradually became a spiritual refuge for local residents who met Christ.

After the celebration in 1988 of the Millennium of the Baptism of Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church had the opportunity to fully revive its diverse ministry, including missionary. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia played an active role in this. As chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, he visited China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore in the 1990-2000s. The result of his archpastoral visits was the emergence of parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Asian countries.

In 2007, the archpastoral care of the Dormition Parish in Singapore was entrusted to Bishop Sergius of Ussuri, vicar of the Vladivostok diocese, since then Bishop Sergius’s ministry has been connected with organizing church life in Southeast Asia.

In 2016, he became administrator of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, North Korea, and the Republic of Korea.

In connection with the significant success of the mission carried out under his leadership in the countries of Southeast Asia: the multiplication of the number of churches and communities, the emergence of clergy from among the local population, the increased interest in Russian Orthodoxy, and also in connection with the increase in the Russian-speaking population permanently or temporarily residing in countries of this region, in 2018 the Patriarchal Exarchate in Southeast Asia was formed with the center in Singapore, which became the legal successor of the East Asian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church that existed from 1946 to 1956.

The head of the formed Exarchate was Bishop Sergius, who was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Today, the clergy of the Exarchate, serving in 13 countries and five-hour zones, are united in 4 dioceses – Singapore, Korea, Thailand and Philippine-Vietnamese. Today, 64 clerics work in the Exarchate, serving in 72 parishes and spiritually nourishing tens of thousands of parishioners. Most of the communities consist of local residents, Russian compatriots make up about 20%.

The Exarchate conducts extensive social work. Over 3,000 families received humanitarian assistance last year.

Striving for the formation of national Orthodoxy, Metropolitan Sergius pays special attention to the training of priests from among the local population, therefore seminarians from Southeast Asia study in the theological schools of Russia.