Riugioñ
Riugioñ, or "City of Willows" is the third-largest metropolitan area in Corea after Kieñseñ and Pusan and the largest city in South Phieñan province. It is known for its religious diversity, leading to its name as the "Jerusalem of the East" (the term originally used in reference to the city's Jewish community, later adopted by various religious missionaries).
History
Religious Communities
Riugioñ is host to a number of different faiths including:
- The Church of the East (autocephalous)
- Zesucuto
- Daoism
- Xinto
- Singyo/Muism (Korean shamanism)
- Buddhism (Mahayana)
- Mormonism
- Eastern Orthodox Church (autonomous Korean Diocese, part of the autocephalous Japanese archdiocese)
- Protestantism (Lutheranism and Presbyterianism)
- Judaism (Ashkenazi and Mizrahi/Persian)
- Catholicism (Latin Rite, Isidoran Rite, Cambrian Rite)
The Jewish community in Riugioñ dates back to the days of the Silk Road, when a Persian Jewish trading community arrived in the city. They have remained there for over 800 years. Their historic language was an archaic dialect of Persian written in Hebrew, although nowadays almost all of the community's 1000-odd members speak Corean. After the establishment of the SNOR, and during Vissarionov's regime in particular, many Ashkenazi Jewish refugees in Russia moved to Riugioñ, establishing themselves alongside the Persian Jewish community and maintaining close contacts with them.
