An Orthodox church consecrated on the territory of Russian embassy in Beijing

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=6545 ^

[kronos77]

Beijing, October 14, Interfax - An Orthodox church was consecrated on the territory of the Russian embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on 13 October 2009. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the consecration was celebrated by Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Secretariat for Russian Orthodox Church institutions abroad.

According to a report from the Parish of the Assumption to the DECR communication service, the celebration was attended by the embassy official and staff as well as representatives of the Russian trade representation in China, their family members and Orthodox believers residing in Beijing.

The Church of the Assumption was built in the territory of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing in 1903 with the blessing of the head of the 18th Mission, Bishop Innokenty (Figurovsky) of Beijing. Earlier there was a Church of the Assumption in the North Town Residence in Beijing on the spot where the first Orthodox church to appear in China, St. Nicholas’s, used to be. It was built by the Albasians, a Russian group who had settled there in 1685, and was destroyed by an earthquake in August 1730.

The restored church, dedicated to the Assumption, was consecrated in August 1732. That church existed for 168 years and was destroyed, just as other facilities in the Russian Orthodox Mission, during the Boxer Rebellion in June 1900. In 1904, a Church of All Saints was built on the same spot. It was destroyed in 1957. At present, this historic place in the Russian embassy’s park is marked with a reverence cross, which was erected in April 2007.

[kronos77]

Ping!

[goldstategop]

This would have been unimaginable during the existence of the USSR.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

[kronos77]

True.
I just hope that God still believe in us.

[Unam Sanctam]

How neat! I remember eating in a restaurant in Shanghai that was previously a Russian Orthodox church. Perhaps it could be restored as well?

[Unam Sanctam]

Of course the Communist government only recognizes by law two official flavors of Christianity, i.e., Protestant (Jidujiao) and Catholic (Tianzhujiao). I’m not sure they would allow Chinese citizens to become Russian Orthodox.

[Boogieman]

Well, according to some Catholics, the Orthodox are really just Catholics themselves (even if they don’t seem to realize it).

[Kolokotronis]

Orthodox Chinese martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion

Troparion, in the Fifth Tone:

In a pagan land ye were enlightened by the Orthodox Faith, and having lived in the Faith but a little time, ye inherited the eternal Kingdom. By the purity of your Christian ways ye put to shame the false Confucian piety and trampled demon-inspired Buddhism underfoot as refuse, sanctifying the Chinese land with your blood. Wherefore, we pray: Entreat the Master of all that He enlighten your land with Orthodoxy in these latter times, and strengthen us therein.

Kontakion, in the First Tone:

O Martyrs of these latter times, ye whitened your garments in the blood of the Lamb, and shed your own blood for Christ. Wherefore, ye now minister unto Him day and night in the Church of heaven. Therefore, entreat Christ for us, O glorious Martyrs, that He hide His little flock from the beguilement of Antichrist, and that He lead all of us out of great tribulation unto a land of never-waning light.

[Kolokotronis]

Orthodox ping.

[NYer]

Just curious, what arrangements have been made between the Orthodox and the Chinese government with regards to appointments of bishops and ordination of priests? How will the Orthodox address the Chinese policy of one child with regard to their congregations?

[eleni121]

What a wonderful coincidence —I just posted an article a few minutes ago about the outreach that the wonderful Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill is making - albeit written in a bitter tone here:

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=32122

[Kolokotronis]

I notice the article has the name of the Metropolitan of Hong Kong wrong. Its +Nikitas, not Nektarios.

Here’s a link to the site of the Metropolis of Hong Kong:

http://www.cs.ust.hk/faculty/dimitris/metro/hkmetropolis.html

[TopQuark]

Why is this newsworthy, Kronos? A Russian embassy is Russian territory. So you are telling us that an Orthodox church was built somewhere in Russia. That has been happening for over 1000 years by now.

[Admin Moderator]

Post your Orthodox threads in the religion forum in the future.
Thanks

[blackminorca]

When do they put up a memorial to the 60 million chinese killed by Russia in 1960?

Mao was on the Kremlin payroll since 1925 and they crushed the anticommunists peasants just like they did in Ukraine in 1932.

[FormerLib]

When do they put up a memorial to the 60 million chinese killed by Russia in 1960?

Why don't you go build one to the Native American tribes first, then come talk smack to us. Mmmmm'kay?

[eleni121]

What about the 60 million Russian Orthodox Christians killed by Bolsheviks most of whose leadership was not even ethnic Russian?

[blackminorca]

Wow - straight out of INTRO TO KGB PROPAGANDA 101.
We got you pegged.

[blackminorca]

Oh yeah, I forgot that there were no Russians in the Kremlin from 1921 to 1991.

[Kolokotronis]

“We got you pegged.”

You’ve got FL pegged as what, newbie? And newbie, who’s “We”?

[Yudan]

Got to Vespers tonight and was pleasantly surprised that we were instead singing Akathist to St. Rafael of Brooklyn, as it turns out due to the fact that the Local Synod of the AOANA is meeting this weekend.

Rejoice, O Father Rafael, good shepherd of the lost sheep in America!

[Kolokotronis]

Rejoice, O Father Raphael, adornment of the holy Church! Thou art champion of the True Faith, seeker of the lost, consolation of the oppressed, father to orphans and friend of the poor, peacemaker and good shepherd, joy of all the Orthodox, son of Antioch, boast of America. Intercede with Christ God for us and for all who honor thee.

O holy hierarch Raphael, in obedience to the will of God thou didst proclaim the Word to a scattered people, calling together the descendants of those first called Christians. Nurtured in three cultures, and having adopted a fourth, thou didst reach out to all who would hear thy voice. As the first bishop consecrated in the New World, thou art a symbol of unity in the Orthodox Faith. Now by thy prayers help lead us into the kingdom of heaven.

[eleni121]

Yeah you forgot all right....the overwhelming majority of Bolsheviks were non ethnic Russian and certainly hated Christians Russians more than anybody else.

So again I ask:

What about the 60 million Russian Orthodox Christians killed by Bolsheviks most of whose leadership was not even ethnic Russian?

Read Solzhenitsyn, one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century

[eleni121]

NOPE. Wrong again and again.

Ukrainian Communists were particularly brutal and despicable - (aren't they all?)

Brezhnev, Krushchev,
Do you think Stalin was Russian , or may be Felix Dzerjinskiy LOL.

The “hate Russian” crowd is just plain ignorant. They cannot distinguish between the incredibly wonderful Russian Orthodox people and the foreign hateful Marxists who were supported by Germans and Americans ..and Ukrainian Commies (a particularly brutal bunch) et al in many ways.

[The_Reader_David]

I suspect, if the Chinese want good relations with Russia, they’ll manage to recognize a third ‘flavor’. The Church is increasingly influential in Russia.

[The_Reader_David]

Oh, good grief!

The Trail of Tears is not propaganda, KGB or otherwise. While it hardly equaled the horrors inflicted on Russians, Ukranians, and Chinese, by the Bolsheviks (whether under Ulyanov or Jughashvili or Mao), the force deportation of American Indians to Oklahoma was monstrous and thousands, maybe tens of thousands, died as a result of it. Quite frankly, I want Jackson’s picture off our money, mostly because of his role in that abomination (though his banking policies would suffice for me to want him of the $20).

FormerLib’s point is that we should lead by example. Before calling on other nations to engage in ostentatious acts of repentance for the evil deeds of their former regimes, we might want to engage in public repentance for evil deeds carried out under our current Constitution.

[Kolokotronis]

“Anyone that promotes that propaganda here in MY country is scum.”

Are you saying that Orthodox Freepers here on this thread are “scum”, or any one or more of them, newbie?

[blackminorca]

Well, you fellows are right on script - very good, you earned your money this week.

[blackminorca]

“The Trail of Tears is not propaganda”

Oh really? And isnt it fascinating that “Indian Massacres” is no longer PC, thanks to the left who wants us to forget that the Indians were incredible savages who murdered women and children and livestock only to satisfy a blood lust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre#List_of_massacres

I’m glad they drove the indians to the boondocks.

[Kolokotronis]

Earned our money for what from whom, newbie? You speak in riddles.

[blinachka]

Butovo

Go to this link. It's about Butovo, Russia...and the church that was consecrated there in 2007 in memory of those massacred there by the Bolshveiks/Stalin...

[eleni121]

There are many consecrated churches in memory of millions of Christians of all ethnicities - murdered by Bolsheviks...Marxists-—those like Lenin, Dzerzinky, Brezhnev, Stalin ad nauseum - who have sold their souls to the god of dialectical materialism.

[blackminorca]

WHAT is black and white and red inside?

......................................

“In this, his newest book, Preobrazhensky describes in chilling detail how Russian intelligence uses the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) to extend Moscow’s reach deep into America. He explains how Russian intelligence sends priests, who are in fact KGB recruited agents, into ROCOR churches across the U.S. in order to bring their congregations under the sway of Russian state interests and set up bases for KGB spy activity. Originally established by Stalin, the Moscow Patriarchate (MP) of the Russian Orthodox Church was a creature of the KGB from the start. To this day, its prelates have never renounced that association nor even sought to deny it. As Preobrazhensky says, “The collaboration of the MP with the KGB, unfortunately, is not a thing of the past, as many prefer to believe in the West.” Now, Putin’s KGB deploys its operatives under MP cover to penetrate ROCOR in an attempt to force it into the MP fold.”

[FormerLib]

Just let the Christians discuss this in peace, thanks.

[Admin Moderator]

Personal attacks, name-calling and mind reading where assumptions of another’s beliefs are made, are all unwelcome in the Religion Forum. If you wish to discuss the topic of this thread, do so without making it personal. Otherwise please stay off this thread.

[Kolokotronis]

The ice is getting thinner, newbie. By the way, your quote is more than a little out of date.... :)

[blinachka]

This is such nonsense. Are you with the defrocked ex-Bishop Agafangel? ROCOR and the MP reunited under the Act of Canonical Communion in 2007. We recently had our Holy ikon the Kursk Root Ikon visit Russia (Moscow and Kursk) for three weeks. My brother, a ROCOR prest was a member of the ROCOR delegation and tells me it was an incredible and holy event.He was there first hand with oor Patriarch, with Putin, with Medvedev and all of them...especially the millions of faithful who came to venerate out holy ikona...

Patriarch Kirill is phenomenal. Look up his sermon after the liturgy in the Kursk-Root Hermitage...just listen to him speak and see what he does.

[The_Reader_David]

The Indians who were driven to live in the boondocks, as you put it, at least in the first instance, were not driven out because they were massacring European-Americans, but because they were competing too successfully in what might have shaped up to be a unified multiracial society. There is a reason that the Cherokee and allied tribes were called “the Five Civilized Tribes”.

Your list of Indian massacres actually proves the point: the only one involving the Five Civilized Tribes was part of the Seminole resistance to the forced deportation and killed *soldiers*.

[mykry]

Looks like you are the one wrong on all counts here.

“Ukrainian Commies (a particularly brutal bunch).”

Not sure which period you are referring but you can bet there was always absolute subordination of local (communist) authoriries to instructions from Moscow! Ukrainian communists never had any real power.

2) How about Bukhorin, Zinviev, Trotsky, Molotov, Postyshev, etc.-—all Russian. As for Stalin-—in 1922 Lenin called him a ‘Great Russian bully!” Read his speech from May of 1945 and then we can talk about his extreme Russian nationalisn. Similarly, Dzerzhinski distinguished himself by his “truly Russian frame of mind.” Yes, they were both Russian-—not by birth but in heart.

3) As for Krushchev, I suggest you read his autobiography. He never considered himself Ukrainian-—but Russian. He did not even speak Ukrainian. And yet, you imply others as being ignorant-—could it be a touch of chauvinism?

[blackminorca]

I dont understand - do you deny that the Church of Moscow was not infiltrated by the KGB?

[blackminorca]

“He was there first hand with oor Patriarch, with Putin, with Medvedev and all of them.”

What does Putin have to do with the Holy Trinity!

Shame.

[blackminorca]

Forget it mykry, Ilini still thinks Ukraine is “Little Russia” - never mind that Kyiv was “The City of 1000 Churches” when Moscow was wood huts in a swamp.

[blackminorca]

Umm - look at the post after yours - your “faithful” is celebrating Putin, former KGB chief, partying with the Church of Moscow.

How is the observation that the Church of Moscow KGB dominated “outdated”.

[Kolokotronis]

“Umm - look at the post after yours - your “faithful” is celebrating Putin, former KGB chief, partying with the Church of Moscow.”

Indeed. Read it carefully; read about the reunion liturgy; read about the joy of the Russian Orthodox people; read about the joy of Orthodox people, 300,000,000 Orthodox Christians, around the world on account of the reunion of ROCOR with the Church of Russia. You see “partying” with Putin. We see a hierachial Divine Liturgy praising and thanking our Triune God for the blessings of reunion! Your secular politics and parochial worldview are meaningless in the context of the life of The Church.

“How is the observation that the Church of Moscow KGB dominated “outdated”.”

That observation is simply nonsense. What’s outdated is your comment that the KGB is attempting to lure ROCOR back under the omophorion of the MP.

[blinachka]

What does Putin have to do with the Holy Trinity!

What? Who said that he had anything to do with the Holy Trinity? What he does have to do with it is that he is also a member of the Holy Russian Orthodox Church and happens to be the Prime Minister of Russia and therefore was there for the greeting of our Ikona because it was an historic event... This event meant a lot to him as it did to ALL Russian Orthodox Faithful.

What is wrong with you? Have faith and be grateful that the Russian church is once again free. Glory be to God!!

[blinachka]

For your reading pleasure Kolo and for your edification, blackminorca:

This is a translation of Patriarch Kirill's sermon on 24 September, 2009 after the consecration of the new cathedral at the Kursk-Root Hermitage in Kursk, Russia.

A Sermon of the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church

After the Divine Liturgy in the Kursk Root Hermitage

On September 24, the day of the afterfeast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Holiness Kyrill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, led the festivities in honor of the visit of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” to the Kursk Root Hermitage. Upon completion of the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill, addressed the festivities’ participants with the following archpastoral sermon.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Today is a great and joyous event for our whole land, for our whole people. The miraculous icon “of the Sign,” which during times of great trials left our Homeland and became a guiding light for the whole Russian Diaspora, has once more returned to the Kursk Root Hermitage. Until October 2, the faithful can pray with tears before this icon in the place of its original appearance. After this, this icon will return once more to the Russian Diaspora, to be a spiritual bulwark for all Orthodox people, who by various circumstances came to life far from Russia, so that before this holy icon prayers might be offered up for our country, for our Church, and for our people.

Today, when I entered this monastery and looked at its reborn beauty bathed in sunlight, when the miraculous Kursk Icon “of the Sign” was taken under the domes of this church, I was suddenly struck by this thought: “But what does this all mean? Why did this church have to be destroyed, this monastery torn apart, this holy icon chased out, when everything has returned to its place and the monastery shines once more with its original beauty and the holy miraculous icon is here? What was it that occurred in the life of our nation, and what took place between the destruction of this monastery and its recreation?” This is a mystery of God’s Providence, and we can make out only a small portion of the meaning of this mystery.

But what also surprised me today was the daily reading from the Epistle, which fell on this day. What startling words we hear in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians, in the verses of the first chapter: God made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him (Eph. 1:9-10).

And, it would seem, this is but a coincidental alignment: the consecration of the Church of the Nativity in the Root Hermitage, the triumph of the resurrection of this national holy place, the return of this miraculous icon to the place of its appearance and glorification – all of this unites with the great words of the Apostle, that in Christ is made clear His mystery of the dispensation of the fulness of times, that fulness of times, wherein all in heaven and on earth will be gathered together under Christ. Of course, the Apostle had in mind the fulness of existence in God’s Kingdom. However, he writes not only of God’s Kingdom, but of human history, as well. And his words must teach all of us, especially our nation, which committed the grave sin of apostasy, the mystery of God’s will for the dispensation of the fulness of times. What this mystery really means, is that the fulness of times and the fulness of human life will arrive only then, when the divine will unite with the human, when the heavenly will unite with the earthly.

We know that at some moment in our history our people wished to separate the heavenly from the earthly, to turn away from the heavenly, to defile and desecrate their own holy places, to throw off the crosses from the golden domes, to demolish the churches and expunge the word of God from their lives, thinking that then they would be free and happy, that they would liberate their might, and relying on their own wisdom and human might, they would build this fulness of times without anything heavenly, underpinned solely by the earthly. We know that none of this succeeded. And we may say with some certainty that the Lord allowed the demolition of churches, the desecration of holy places, the spilling of the blood of martyrs, and the sufferings of a whole people not so that the beginning and end might be connected by meaningless logic, but that our people – and, perhaps, through their long-suffering, the whole world – might see the Divine logic of creation, the mystery of God’s will for the dispensation of the fulness of times.

And for us this path we walked was not in vain. We were able to expiate our guilt before God, expiate our sin of apostasy by sufferings, by blood, by misfortunes, and by weathering mighty blows. We had a chance to consider and reevaluate much; and at some point the Lord, and only He, for no human might take part in it, superseded His wrath by His mercy on the day of His Transfiguration, and more than seventy years of godless imprisonment ceased. And though the succeeding years were full of many evils, they contained perhaps the most important thing: the striving of the people to the rebirth of their faith. Therefore we do not call these difficult years a time of troubles, for troubles in Russia have always been coupled with the destruction of Her holy places. Yet this difficult time, with its frenzy and insanity, nevertheless was imbued with that which proved to be the most important thing in this very new time of our nation’s history: the gradual conversion of the people to God.

And the result of this conversion was the restoration of God’s churches, the rebirth of our holy places, the unification of the heavenly and the earthly; not fully, of course, as very often the heavenly is overshadowed by our sinful earthly, but nonetheless, the people are turning their gaze back toward the holy places they once tore asunder, and which are now being restored by the efforts and prayers of our people. And they are being restored not out of wealth or an abundance of resources, but in times of crisis and economic catastrophe. And nothing can stop the will of our people to restore these holy places, for through this the spiritual life of the people is restored, and the heavenly is united with the earthly under Christ.

Yet another important lesson may be drawn from this narrative of terrible destruction and miraculous restoration. By this tragic history, our people have received such an injection of faith, that no temptations, not even the most terrible forces, can overcome it. God forgave us for turning away from Him, and today we see this forgiveness with our own eyes. And the Queen of Heaven, appearing in our land through Her miraculous icon “of the Sign,” once more bears witness to the beginning of a national life uniting the heavenly and the earthly.

Let us remember all of it: the terrible tragedy that befell our people, the national apostasy and insensibility, the sufferings and torments, the rebirth of a nation by the wonder and might of God. Let our consciousness, our will, and our senses be imbued with this historic experience, so that we may never, under any circumstances, repeat our past, but with humility and in obedience to the will of God, opened to us through His Son, walk the historic path that God has chosen for Holy Russia, preserving the faith in our heart and establishing a life on this earth, in which the heavenly and the earthly are united under Christ.

I would like to sincerely thank you, Your Eminence, dear Metropolitan Hilarion, the episcopate of the Russian Church Abroad, comprising now an inseparable piece of our one Russian Orthodox Church, for the joy we have today in praying before the miraculous icon “of the Sign” in this reborn monastery. Archbishop Herman correctly noted that there is some great symbolic significance in that the icon “of the Sign” is here today. A Sign is the evidence of a miracle, a witness to Divine might. That is what “Sign” means in our Church lexicon, and we accept as evidence of a miracle and of God’s mercy the presence today of the icon “of the Sign” in this holy reborn monastery. In memory of our joint prayer today, I would like to give you this holy panagia, with gratitude for your efforts and for bringing this holy icon to the Kursk Root Hermitage.

I would also like to sincerely thank Archbishop Herman for his efforts, which he carries out in this blessed land of Kursk, establishing Church life on reborn and renewed foundations, on which the spiritual life of our people was originally founded. As a sign of my recognition and in memory of today’s divine service, I would like to give you this icon of the Mother of God, a holy panagia. Remember especially this day, which fell during the years of your archpastor care of the lands of Kursk.

The reconstruction of the holy places is the duty of the entire people. Everyone takes part: the Patriarch, the bishops, the clergy, but most of all our faithful laity. It is by their means and by the fulfillment of their will that churches and monasteries are being built and the holy places restored today.

In memory of our prayerful exchange, in memory of the rebirth of the Kursk Root Hermitage, I would like to give to this church, dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, this icon of the Savior, also with a commemorative Patriarchal inscription. Praying before this icon, remember this bright day. Together we were participants in a great triumph of Orthodoxy, witnessing God’s victory over the tumult of this world. Prayer before this icon for our country, for our Church, for the Patriarch, for your participation in the Patriarch’s service is manifestly foremostly in your prayers for him. May this icon of the Savior be a great reminder of today’s historic event in the life of our Church and the land of Kursk.

I would like to give each of you, my dears, a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” along with my blessing. I am not able to bless every one of you and place my hand upon each of you, but this is the yearning desire of my heart. For this reason I give you my blessing in the form of these little icons. Take them to your homes and preserve them as a reverential reminder of this holy day. I ask the brethren of this holy monastery, upon conclusion of the service, to immediately distribute without delay these holy icons to all the participants in today’s festivities, with my blessing.

Once again I would like to sincerely great you all, dear fathers, brothers, and sisters, with this great day. I especially congratulate the brethren of this holy monastery. I call upon you, dear fathers and brothers, to worthily fulfill your monastic podvig within these holy walls, remembering always the holy history of this monastery, remembering that great holy icon, which was found and kept here, remembering the struggles of our people, that you may be worthy to carry the light of Christ’s truth to all those who will enter these holy walls in search of spiritual help and support. May the blessing of God be with all of you, with our country, with our Church, and with our people.

Amen!

[Kolokotronis]

Orthodox ping to #47

[No Truce With Kings]

“Why is this newsworthy, Kronos? A Russian embassy is Russian territory. So you are telling us that an Orthodox church was built somewhere in Russia. That has been happening for over 1000 years by now.”

Except for a 70-odd year hiatus in the 20th century. Now the Russian government is fostering Orthodoxy again, even though many of the current leaders are ex-KGB. Seems noteworthy that they think it worth establishing an Orthodox church in the Chinese capitol, despite official Chinese opposition to Christianity.

[TopQuark]

Good point. Thank you for your clarification.