Tokyo, August 21, 2023
Abp. Seraphim of Sendai, the Locum Tenens of the See of Tokyo, reading over the body of Met. Daniel. Photo: orthodoxjapan.jp
The funeral and burial for the newly reposed primate of the Japanese Orthodox Church were served in Tokyo last week.
His Eminence Metropolitan Daniel of Tokyo and All Japan, who served for 23 years as the head of the autonomous Japanese Church, reposed in the Lord on August 10 after a long illness.
His body was placed in the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Tokyo on August 15, and the next day, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Archbishop Seraphim of Sendai, the Locum Tenens of the metropolitan throne, and local clergy, reports the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Abp. Seraphim celebrated the Divine Liturgy again the next day, during which the condolences of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia were read out by Archpriest Nikolai Katsyuban:
His election to the primatial throne of the Japanese Orthodox Church was an act of Divine providence. Never striving for a senior position or honours, he did not expect to be elevated to the lofty primatial office and humbly accepted his lot. Over the years of his archpastoral service, Metropolitan Daniel did much to establish holy Orthodoxy in the land where St. Nicholas of Japan had carried out his apostolic labors.
I hold dear the memories of my meetings with Metropolitan Daniel and our joint prayers. My heart grieved as I learned of his repose. Sharing your sorrow, I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11:25), may give rest to the soul of His departed servant in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose where all sickness, sighing, and sorrow have fled away.
orthodoxjapan.jp
Following the Liturgy, Met. Daniel’s body was taken to the Foreign Cemetery in Yokohama, where he was buried, following a memorial litiya.
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