With particular splendor and emotion, the feast of Saint Dionysios was celebrated this year in Ulsan over the weekend of 13–14 December 2025. This year’s celebration had special significance, as the parish marked two decades of life and service.
The liturgical celebrations began on Saturday evening with the Great Festive Vespers and the Artoclasia service, presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios, accompanied by Fr. Johann Park and Fr. Epiphanios of Gregoriou, who also delivered the sermon. The evening concluded with a dinner in the church hall, where the faithful had the blessing of hearing the Metropolitan recount episodes from the life of the Saint connected with Aegina.
On the main feast day, Sunday 14 December, Matins and the Archieratical Divine Liturgy were celebrated. In his homily, the Metropolitan focused on forgiveness as the foundation of salvation, a virtue that characterized Saint Dionysios, known as the “Saint of Forgiveness.”
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, special reference was made to the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Parish of Saint Dionysios in Ulsan. The Metropolitan spoke movingly about the tireless efforts of the late Metropolitan Sotirios in acquiring the land, building the church and parish center, with the generous support of the late Vassilis Konstantakopoulos. The church was consecrated by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on 26 June 2005, and its iconography was completed in 2006–2007 by iconographer Professor Sozos Giannoudis and his collaborators. In memory of this historic milestone, each parishioner received an icon of Saint Dionysios and a hand towel.
The celebration concluded with the customary “meal of love” and the distribution of Christmas gifts to the children of the parish. The Metropolitan, after adding further reflections on forgiveness as a continuation of his liturgical sermon, thanked the parish priest Fr. Johann Park, Presvytera Angela, the parish council, and all who contributed to the organization of the feast. He also expressed special gratitude to those who came from the parishes of Seoul, Busan, and Cheonju. May Saint Dionysios continue to protect the parish of Ulsan, so that it may celebrate many more anniversaries, and through his intercessions may God grant us the strength to forgive.
