История на Обединителното движение: (1920 -1991)

1920: Началото
Сан Мьон Мун е роден на 6 януари 1920 (по лунния календар), в семейство на фермери обработвало земята от векове. Като момче той учи в Конфуцианско училище и невероятно много обича да наблюдава природата. Някъде 1930 г. неговите родители стават отдадени християни, а младия Мун започва да преподава в Неделното училище. По това време Корея е окупирана от Япония. Израствайки в подтиснатата си родина Сан Мьон Мун от рано научава болката от неправдата, както от собствените си сънародници така и от страна на Японските окупатори. Така, още като младеж той осъзнава човешкото страдание и провала на човечеството да създаде любящ и справедлив свят. Той търси за да разбере, защо хората страдат и как страданието може да бъде прекратено. От посещенията в църквата той научава, че религията се занимава с фундаменталното човешко състояние и обещава един идеален свят за тези които се подчиняват на Бог. Той разбрал, че установените религии, макар и да съществуват от столетия и се основават на писания с дълбоки проникновения открити чрез откровение, са на практика неспособни да отговорят на много от въпросите за живота, нито да разрешат най-дълбоките проблеми изправени пред човечеството. Натъжен от огромната пропаст между религиозните идеали и действителното състояние на света той започва своето ревностно търсене на разрешенията чрез живот на молитва и учене. Рано сутринта на Великден, 1935 г., Исус се явява на младия Мун докато той се моли в Корейските планини. В това видение, Исус иска от него да продължи работата, която той е започнал на земята преди 2000 години. Исус го моли да завърши задачата по установяването на Божието царство на земята и да доведе мир за човечеството. Младия Кореец е изумен. След дълго осмисляне, медитация и молитва, той обещава да поеме тази тежка мисия. След като приема личния призив на Исус, Преп. Мун се опитва да разбере неговото значение. Ако Исус иска от него да завърши неговта мисия, това означава, че мисията на Исус е незавършена. Was not salvation through the cross all that humankind needs? What was it that Jesus had left undone on earth? If sin is not completely solved, then what is the actual root of sin? What was God’s plan for all the world’s religions? Rev. Moon ceaselessly studied the Bible and other religious teachings in order to unravel these mysteries of life and human history. He came to understand God’s own suffering and His longing to be reunited with His children. He learned the difficult steps that humankind would have to take in order to return to God and establish true peace. He intensified his quest for the truth, spending days and nights in passionate prayer, rigorous fasting and study. His method was to posit specific questions, research answers in the physical and spiritual worlds, and then seek confirmation for those answers through prayer. On several occasions he was guided directly by Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and other saints and sages of all faiths, who met him in spirit and contributed to his understanding of God and the complex history of God’s relationship with humankind.	Родната къща на Сан Мьон Мун в Санга-ри, Северна провинция на Пхенян, сега част от Северна Корея Исус се явява на младия Мун докато той се моли на рано сутринта на Великден 1935 г. на корейския хълм Преподобния Мун: ранни снимки Кореец помага на Японските войскови части при пристигането им 1904.
1941: Япония
After high school graduation, Rev. Moon went to Japan to study electrical engineering at an industrial college affiliated with Waseda University. A school friend during that time said that in his room he kept three Bibles—one in Korean, one in English and one in Japanese, which he studied continuously. He also was a Christian leader in the Korean independence movement against the Japanese occupation of Korea. Young Christians and communists were its strongest leaders. In Japan, some of his closest school friends were communists, and while their atheism pained him, he recognized their sincere dedication to a utopian ideal. A fellow student at that time, Duk-moon Aum, reports that Rev. Moon defended communists to his Christian friends, saying that they were good people and that Koreans should work together to save their country. He was eventually arrested and jailed by the Japanese for his student underground activities and tortured for not revealing the names of his collaborators. This imprisonment was what would be his first of six imprisonments under four governments: Japan, North Korea, South Korea and the United States. In spite of such treatment by the Japanese, his cousin and companion at the time reports that Rev. Moon showed only love and respect toward Japanese people. When the war ended in August 1945, he persuaded others not to take revenge on local Japanese officials and worked secretly to get some safe transport back to Japan.	С младежката група - Преп. Мун, отгоре, top, втори от дясно Като младеж преп. Мун преподава в Неделно училище. На снимката той е на първия ред от ляво
1945: Мисията
By 1945 he had systemized his teachings, which came to be known as the Divine Principle, and he began his public ministry. The Divine Principle is the fundamental teaching of Rev. Moon and the Unification Church. Korea, although an Asian country, is recognized as having perhaps the most fervent Christian faith of any nation. Rev. Billy Graham was so impressed by the spiritual vitality of her churches during his first visit to Korea that he predicted that one day Korea would send missionaries to revive the West. In this atmosphere of fervent Christianity, Rev. Moon’s original plan was not to start a separate denomination but to work with other Christians to build God’s kingdom on the earth. He worked hard to introduce his new insights to existing Korean Christian churches, but they were not well received. American Christian missionaries disregarded him as an unschooled “country preacher.” Korean ministers, jealous of the young man’s impact on their congregations’ members, accused him of espousing false teachings. Rev. Moon soon realized that he was headed down the lonely path of a pioneer religious visionary. In 1946 Rev. Moon received God’s call to go to communist North Korea to preach. Before World War II, the center of Korean Christian activity was Pyongyang, now the capital of North Korea; it was called the “Jerusalem of the East.” Among the spirit-filled churches were many with strong messianic expectations. Some of these churches had received revelations that the Messiah would be born in Korea, and they were directed in various ways to prepare to receive him. He began to teach publicly, despite the dangers presented by the communist-dominated government. As a controversial preacher, Rev. Moon was an easy target. He was one of the first religious figures to be imprisoned by the communists.	В дълбока молитва - ранните години Преглежда първите принтирани копия на Божествения Принцип, 1965
1948: Лагерът на Смъртта
In April 1948, he was arrested a second time and sentenced to five years hard labor in Heungnam prison, a camp where prisoners were deliberately worked to death. Few lasted more than six months. Rev. Moon, however, survived for nearly three years. Many of his fellow prisoners looked to him for spiritual strength and became his disciples. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army invaded the South in a lightning attempt to unify the entire peninsula by force. UN and American forces, under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, rescued the beleaguered South. One month after the capture of Seoul, UN and ROK forces reached the gates of Heungnam prison. The camp was liberated just hours before Rev. Moon’s scheduled execution. Rev. Moon did not immediately flee to the South with the other prisoners. Instead, he returned to Pyongyang and spent forty days searching for his scattered flock. He eventually found a few members and then traveled south on foot with two of them. One of his followers had a broken leg and protested that he would slow the party down. Rev. Moon insisted on bringing him and for the long trek alternately pushed him on a bicycle or carried him on his back.	Американските сили взривяват пристанището на Хунгнам за да не бъде използвано от Северо Корейските сили Концентрационния лагер, Хунг-нам, където преп. Мун е заточен. Затворниците пълнят тежки торби с химически тор
1950: Църквата в Пусан
As one of hundreds of thousands of war refugees, Rev. Moon arrived in the southern port city of Busan. At that time, he told his small following that one day the message of the Divine Principle would be spread all over the world. Even to his closest followers, that prediction sounded unbelievable.	С първите членове пред колибата му направена от картон, Пусан
1954: Сеул
On May 1, 1954, in Seoul, Rev. Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity—the faith community which became popularly called the “Unification Church.” The church immediately attracted followers from Ewha University, a major Christian women’s school closely linked with the government and Protestant denominations. Because many students were joining, the school sent professors to investigate. When several professors also joined, instead of sincerely welcoming this new church, the school persecuted it. At the same time, alarming news stories abounded. Rev. Moon was thrown in jail, to be released weeks later when no charges could be verified. His release, however, received scant notice in the press. Amid this severe persecution, Rev. Moon nurtured a growing community of faithful disciples, known as the “weeping church.” By 1957, churches were established in thirty Korean cities and towns. In the late 1950s, the first international missionaries were sent, one to neighboring Japan in 1958 and two to the United States in 1959.	Младата Хак-джа Хан Мун Със студенти и професори от Университета Илхуа
1960: Святата Сватба
On March 16, 1960, Rev. Moon was blessed in holy marriage to Hak Ja Han. Their blessing was followed by a series of group marriage blessing ceremonies for their followers. As a child, Hak Ja Han and her mother, a devout Christian, had also fled south during the Korean War. Since their marriage, Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon has dedicated herself entirely to supporting her husband and his mission. With a life of unwavering devotion, courage and dignity, she has stood by her husband through every hardship, borne 14 children and is the grandmother of more than 45 grandchildren.	16 март 1960, Преп. Мун е благословен в свят брак с Хак-джа Хан
1971: До Америка
In 1971, God directed Rev. Moon to expand his ministry to the world level by going to the United States. He expressed gratitude for America’s role in liberating his homeland. But he also knew that God expected much more from this land that had been so richly blessed. It was clear to Rev. Moon that America had drifted from its original ideals. The 1972 “Day of Hope” speaking tour began February 3 in Alice Tully Hall in New York and went on to seven major US cities. The Unification Church had centers in ten states, and in 1972 pioneer leaders were sent out to the forty remaining states to found Unification Church centers. In the same year, evangelical bus teams went state by state in a membership campaign, and thousands of young people accepted his message and dedicated themselves to the Unification Church. After the very successful Madison Square Garden event on September 18, 1974, public speeches were given and events hosted for thousands of society’s leaders in all fifty states.	Преп. Мун напуска Корея за световно турне, 1965 Речта му на Стадиона на Янките, Ню Йорк
1976: Бог да Благослови Америка
To date this was the greatest religious rally ever assembled in Washington, D.C. An estimated 300,000 people of all creeds and colors came to hear him speak at the “God Bless America Festival” on September 18, 1976. At this historic rally, Rev. Moon called upon America to fulfill its blessing as one nation under God, and to create “one world under God.” He referred to himself as a “doctor” or a “fire fighter” from the outside who has come to help America meet its third great “test” as a nation, that of “God-denying” communism, and to revive its religious heritage.	300,000 души се събират да чуят Преп. Мун на "Фестивала на Божията благословия за Америка" на 18 септември 1976 г. във столицата Вашингтон DC
1978: Домашната църква
In 1978, Rev. Moon called members from around the world to England, where he gave them daily guidance and sent them around the country in a grass-roots community service initiative called “home church.” This grass-roots service outreach approach quickly spread around the world.	Мисионерска дейност в Англия, 1978
1983: Съдебното дело в САЩ
Under strong pressure from a few politicians the United States government launched official investigations of Rev. Moon involving multiple federal and state agencies. Hearings were conducted on Capitol Hill to warn of the dangers of new religious movements. Meanwhile, a five-year Internal Revenue Service investigation finally produced an indictment against Rev. Moon. The outcome of the trial seemed a foregone conclusion. He was convicted and sentenced to spend eighteen months in a federal prison. In the meantime, protests were being made all around the nation over the injustice Rev. Moon was suffering. Upon his release, major Christian and civil rights leaders, including Rev. Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority and Rev. Joseph Lowery of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, publicly decried the treatment and imprisonment of Rev. Moon. Rev. Moon founded the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) in Barrytown, NY. It is now a fully accredited graduate school offering Master’s Degrees in Divinity and Religious Education. Faculty members have belonged to a broad range of religious denominations. UTS has hosted much dialog, starting with the New Ecumenical Research Association and continued with other initiatives, such as the Assembly of the World’s Religions. A key social teaching of Rev. Moon is that the world’s most difficult problems will be best solved by religious leaders working interreligiously rather than by purely political and economic initiatives.	Ралита за религиозна свобода са проведени по цялата страна Среща с През. Никсън
1990: Да изцелим миналото
In 1990, Rev. Moon fulfilled a remarkable pledge he had made in 1976 that one day he would organize a “great rally for God in Moscow.” He and Mrs. Moon met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Since the fall of the Soviet Empire, Rev. Moon has initiated numerous activities to assist former communist countries in their transition to democracy and freedom. Rev. Moon traveled to North Korea in 1991, and met with President Kim Il Sung, under whose regime he had been tortured and sent to a labor camp. He was permitted to return to his hometown and the house of his birth, placing flowers on the graves of his parents for the first time, and embracing proud and tearful surviving relatives.	Преп. и г-жа Мун се срещат с бившия Президент на Съветския съюз, Михил Гордбачов, 1990 Преп. и г-жа Мун се срещат с Ким Ир Сен в Северна Корея, 1991