The Greatest Day of Celebration

This week in history, January 11-17: 

• 1,275 couples receive the Holy Marriage Blessing (January 12, 1989)
• True Parents hold the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God (January 13, 2001)
• The global International One World Crusade team departs for Japan (January 14, 1975)
• Won Pak Choi ascends to the spirit world (January 15, 2006)
• The Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) obtains an absolute charter (January 17, 1990)

January 12, 1989

1,275 Couple Holy Blessing

1,275 couples received the Holy Marriage Blessing.

Happy 26th Blessing Anniversary to all 1275 couples and 72 couples!

True Parents blessed 1,275 couples from 87 nations in holy matrimony on January 12, 1989. The ceremony was conducted beginning at 2 p.m. in the Il Hwa Company compound in Yongin, Korea. It followed by one day True Parents’ Holy Marriage Blessing of 72 Unificationist-born couples at the Little Angels Performing Arts Center in Seoul. After the ceremony, representatives of the couples were mobilized into forty-three groups of ten each and spread out across Korea to support witnessing activities and, later, the distribution of the Segye Ilbo newspaper.

January 13, 2001

Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God

True Parents held the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God.

There is nothing more fundamental to Unification tradition and central to True Parents’ and members’ core motivation than the desire to liberate the suffering heart of God. According to True Father, the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God, conducted on January 13, 2001, “liberated God’s heart for the first time.” He described it as “the greatest day of celebration in all human history.” As a result, God “could start His new history based on the might and power of true love.” The Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God was a crucial building block for True Parents’ declaration of Cheon Il Guk (“the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity”) on November 15, 2001, and subsequent church activities.

Some 6,000 Unificationists witnessed the ceremony in the main hall of the Cheonseong Wanglim (“Palace of Heavenly Presence”) at Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center in Korea. At the top of a tiered stage area, two white thrones were prepared for the “Royal Parents of Heaven and Earth.” At 7:00 a.m. True Parents entered, flanked by 120 attendant couples. The procession stopped twice, at which time True Father offered prayers. True Parents then placed silver crowns, royal gowns and a scepter on the chairs reserved for God. True Parents lit holy candles and offered bows. A lengthy succession of representatives approached and offered bows. True Father then offered a third prayer. This was followed by congratulatory telegrams, plaques and gifts; a flower presentation; cutting of a celebration cake; cheers of Mansei (“ten thousand years”); and sharing of food from the offering table.

True Father’s Coronation Ceremony Address concluded the three-hour event. In it, he outlined the three “immutable laws” or “articles” of the “constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven”: first, not to “stain the blood lineage,” that is, to maintain sexual purity; second, “not to violate human rights” through discrimination and not to change subordinates’ positions (hiring, firing or transferring them) according to one’s own desire; and third, “not to steal public money” or utilize public property for oneself.

January 14, 1975

Global IOWC Team Departs for Japan

True Father meets global missionaries before they depart to countries around the world.

True Parents long considered the United States to be the gateway to the world. In early 1975, the Church launched activities worldwide based upon its successes in America. The initial step was the creation of a global International One World Crusade (IOWC) team. On January 14, the first global team, which included some 340 American and European members, boarded a chartered jumbo jet in Los Angeles for Tokyo. There they joined forces with an even larger contingent of Japanese members to evangelize and hold Day of Hope rallies in Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. After spending nearly 80 days in Japan, a 500 member-plus global team traveled by ferry to Pusan, South Korea, on March 27. There, from April 1 until May 17, they supported the massively attended Day of Hope festivals in Pusan, Taegu, Seoul, Inchon, Jeonju, Kwangju, Taejon, Cheongju and Chuncheon. These rallies culminated in the World Rally for Korean Freedom held at Yoido Island plaza in Seoul before an estimated crowd of more than a million on June 7, 1975.

January 15, 2006

Ascension of Mrs. Won Bok Choi

Mrs. Won Pak Choi.

Mrs. Won Bok Choi, who fulfilled multiple providential responsibilities in the early history of the Unification Church, ascended at age 91 on January 15, 2006. Mrs. Choi was an associate professor and dean of students at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Ewha Womans University when she joined the church in 1954. She and four other professors were fired when they refused to leave the church. Prior to True Parents’ Holy Wedding in 1960, Mrs. Choi was assigned to prepare True Mother, and she continued to serve in a mother’s role afterward. She accompanied True Parents on their first three world tours and had major responsibility for the first official translation of Divine Principle into English in 1973. Mrs. Choi was director of the World Mission Department from 1972 to 1977 during the period when the Unification Church sent missionaries worldwide, and she handled all correspondence from them as True Father’s secretary. She also often translated for True Father during that period. She served as the principal of the Little Angels School after 1977 and the first president of the Women’s Federation for World Peace. In 1998, she was blessed to Buddha at Madison Square Garden in New York. At her ascension, True Father bestowed upon her the honorific title Shin Ae Choongmo: “Mother of faith, love and devotion.”

January 17, 1990

UTS Obtains Absolute Charter

An aerial view of UTS.

Unification Theological Seminary was granted its absolute charter by the New York State Board of Regents on January 17, 1990. This was the culmination of a fifteen-year struggle with the State of New York since the Seminary’s first application. Because of the controversy surrounding the church, the application process was prolonged and UTS was denied in 1978. UTS took the matter to court, claiming discrimination and unfair treatment, narrowly losing a 4-3 decision of the New York State Court of Appeals in 1981. Reapplication for the charter was made in April 1984. On November 21, 1986, the New York State Board of Regents approved by a 12-2 vote the Seminary’s provisional charter. UTS petitioned for its absolute charter in May 1989, and this was granted eight months later by a 14-0 vote. Since 1986, UTS was able to grant degrees to its graduates so long as the state approved. From 1990, UTS was able to grant degrees unconditionally.

This Week in History briefly lists significant events in the history of the Unification Church, the lives of the Founders, and world events that are momentous to Unificationists. Most items are marked according to the solar calendar. Items marked “H.C.” correspond to the Cheon-gi or Heavenly Calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. This installment covers the week of January 11–17.