Thousands of tearful, flower-carrying mourners descended on the South Korean headquarters of the Unification Church yesterday to offer prayers to their late “messiah” Sun Myung Moon.
Men clad in black suits and women in white dresses flooded the Church’s main compound in Gapyeong, 60 kilometres east of Seoul, at the start of a 10-day wake ahead of Moon’s funeral on September 15.
Moon, the self-styled messiah who founded the Church famed for its mass weddings and business empire spanning cars to sushi, died on Monday at the age of 92 due to complications arising from pneumonia.
From early morning, buses brought mourners – including a large number of Japanese – into the sprawling, mountain-ringed Gapyeong complex where a special altar bearing a giant portrait of a youthful-looking Moon had been erected inside a cavernous, covered stadium.
They offered roses and lilies – Moon’s favourite flowers – and bowed before the portrait ringed with roses.
The altar was flanked by the flags of South Korea, Japan, the United States and other countries, as well as floral tributes from prominent figures including South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
The atmosphere was sombre but calm, as Hyung-Jin Moon, Moon’s youngest son and successor as Church leader, received the mourners, who included women with infants in strollers.
Many wept quietly as solemn music played in the background. “I feel even sadder than when my own parents died... I’d never thought the true father would leave us so soon,” Park Mal-Rye said, wiping tears from her face.
“Our church has always been vilified and cornered by Christians. But now the father’s death will shed more light on his accomplishments and help our church grow further,” said Park, a follower for the past 20 years.
Bo Hi Pak, Moon’s close aide, urged church members to rally behind Moon’s two sons and his wife to continue their founder’s legacy.
“The father told us not to cry and not to show sorrow when he’s gone, so everyone’s trying hard to follow his words,” he said before bursting into tears. “But we’re too devastated.”
Hundreds of students from church-owned schools and dancers from a church-run ballet troupe were among those who paid tribute at the altar, under a giant banner reading: “Sun Myung Moon: The true parent of heaven, earth and humankind.”