Lenten Weblog, Day 3: A Mustard Seed in China

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.” [Matthew 13:31-32 (Jerusalem Bible)]

Few mustard seeds are as tiny as the Orthodox Church in mainland China. Except in Hong Kong, Orthodoxy has no legal existence in the communist domain. The faithful have been reduced by half a century of persecution to a few thousand. The last Chinese Orthodox priest known to be living inside the country died last year at age 80 without having ever obtained permission to minister to a church.

In a recent interview with Religioscope, Mitrophan Chin, whose Orthodoxy in China Web site contains extensive information about the past and present of Chinese Orthodoxy, discussed the Church’s history and plight:

Missionary activities started when a number of . . . Albazinians [natives of the Sino-Russian border region] were given the honor [after being taken captive when China annexed their territory in 1685] to serve the Chinese Emperor Kangxi in the Imperial capital of Beijing in one of the most prestigious banners of the honor guards. The first Orthodox priest, Fr Maxim Leontiev, was sent unwillingly to provide spiritual guidance to these new Albazinian immigrants. An old Buddhist temple was provided at the northeastern corner of the capital, and it was converted to an Orthodox chapel bearing the name of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in honor of the miracle-working icon that Fr Maxim brought along with him.

Thus the seed of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission had been planted on Chinese soil. In the 200 years leading up to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, [however,] the Mission took in only a small number of indigenous Chinese converts, mostly through inter-marriage with the Albazinians. . . .

St Mitrophan [a Chinese priest], along with over 200 other Chinese and Albazinians in Beijing gave their lives up for the Christian faith during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, or the Yihetuan Movement as the Chinese called the uprising. . . .

The Orthodox population swelled in the 20th century in China, mostly due to the influx of White Russians. At the same time, the Boxer uprising had not stopped the blood of the Martyrs from bringing forth a new generation of Chinese believers. Archimandrite Innokenti Figurovsky, who in 1902 became the first Bishop of Beijing, initiated translations of liturgical and catechetical Orthodox material for the first time into spoken Chinese called guanhua.

This was considered the golden era of Orthodoxy in China, with many churches being built. Unfortunately, most of the Russians fled China when the Communists took over in 1949. Some returned back to Russia but many others immigrated to Australia or America.

The famous St John, who was Archbishop of Shanghai, was one of the last to leave when the Communists took over. [He] eventually settled in California. Also, Fr Elias Wen, who was the rector of the Church dedicated to the Surety of Sinners Icon of the Theotokos in Shanghai fled to Hong Kong and eventually immigrated to San Francisco. Fr Elias is the oldest Orthodox priest still alive and will be approaching 108 years of age this November [2004]. May God grant him many years! . . .

The Church was required to be independent [of foreign ecclesiastical jurisdictions] by the Chinese government. Therefore the archbishop Victor consecrated archimandrite Vasily to be the first Chinese bishop of Beijing in preparation to lead the Church to autonomy which was eventually granted in 1957. The Cultural Revolution destroyed most of the Church buildings and many believers were persecuted. Church life was practically eliminated and the believers have to resort to reader services in private homes to continue living their faith. . . .

The Chinese government is usually flexible with small group prayers in private homes, but they will start noticing if there are more than a handful gathering together. Visiting priests usually have to work within the supervision of the State Administration of Religious Affairs if they do not wish to encounter any obstacles, and for the most are only allowed to hold services for foreign compatriots working or residing in China. Such services are normally held in an embassy and are off limits to Chinese believers. . . .

But the picture is not entirely gloomy as the Orthodox Church begins to recover its evangelical traditions in the post-communist era.

Chinese seminarians in the Russian seminaries do hope to return back to China to serve the Orthodox faithful there. This is a sensitive issue and requires the blessing of the Chinese government, and their future is uncertain. . . .

The Chinese government has been seen as more accomodating in recent years including allowing a hieromonk from Russia to visit the Pokrov Church in Harbin to hear confessions in both Russian and Chinese in July 2004, and also the August 2004 visit by Russian Bishop Mark to Beijing at the official invitation of local religious leaders and the State Administration of Religious Affairs. . . .

Vladivostok Diocese has a creative missionary endeavor by actually allowing its church to serve as a one of the tourist sites for Chinese tourists visiting the city. The church has prepared an explanation of the Orthodox Church and its divine services in Chinese which is given to the tour guides to explain to the visitors, and at the end of the tour, the tourists actually get to light a candle in front of an icon of the Chinese Martyrs.

Tiny seeds, but Our Lord foresaw that from such beginnings the kingdom of heaven would grow.