He fled Pyongyang to South Korea during the war and found Christianity as an old man through his daughter. At the age of 90, he began to transcribe the verses on traditional Korean paper and made 700 prints of this artistic expression. He tells the weekly the experience of feeling the word of God in his own fingers.
Busan () – Elder Ahn tells the Korean weekly Catholic Times that for many years his life in Busan was centered on patiently transcribing the Bible word for word onto sheets of Hanji, the traditional Korean paper made from the bark of the mulberry tree, also known as “thousand-year paper” because of its resistance and durability. By decision of Pope Francis, the Church celebrates today, in the heart of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity, the Sunday of the Word of God. Ahn started when she was 90 years old and has performed 700 exhibition Hanji.
“I was spending 7 or 8 hours a day transcribing the Bible, struggling with brushes and paper, with my elbows bandaged,” he explained. A very tiring job for an elderly person, but accompanied by the joy of feeling the words of God at the tips of your fingers. “When I was 90 years old I thought I could give the Lord a little gift for the rest of my life, so I started transcribing the Bible. I concentrated my whole mind on the tip of the brush and was very happy.”
Born in 1922 in Nampo – currently North Korea’s second largest city – Ahn spent his youth in Pyongyang, where he taught Korean and Chinese. During the war, he managed to escape to Busan on a ship along with thousands of other fugitives. Here he continued working as a teacher and, being older, he found Christianity through his daughter and in 1991 he received baptism.
At the invitation of his parish priest, last summer he donated his Hanji to the Busan Institute of Church History, which intends to make it known to Korean Catholics: “They contain a special grace that is not granted to anyone, but only to the elderly.”
Concerning his future, 101-year-old Ahn says with faith: “When the gates of heaven open, I would like to be a little dandelion in a corner of the Church’s blossoming garden. That’s all I want.”
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