Stars of the Orient: New Martyrs of China
Part 5: One Hundred Years Later
Dewey, Marx, and Lenin
One hundred years is not much for China, but this century was not anordinary one. To a large extent, it was a consequence of the BoxerRebellion and the crushing defeat of China by the allied powers. TheChinese got seriously interested in Western culture. First and foremostthey were concerned with such mundane things as railroad, telegraph, andsemi-automatic rifle; but the change of mind on a deeper level was alsoevident:
"Militant Christianity triumphed temporarily over the ancient religions, not because great numbers of the Chinese were persuaded to accept the cross, but because they were converted to a belief in education... The Chinese would be selective about the offerings of the West; they would eventually reject Christ but accept John Dewey (and later Messr. Marx and Lenin)."[30]
An eyewitness of the Boxer Rebellion quite naturally reached a sober conclusion: "If the Chinese are a cruel people, they will probably be more cruel in the future, for they have the example of the civilized people to follow."[31] Also remarkable is the following observation:
"The inevitable by-product of this sudden increase in the educated class was the creation of intelligentsia. The intelligentsia has been described as a group of educated people in a country which cannot find any other occupation than that of undermining the traditional institutions which keep that country from being in the front line of 'progress'. China certainly found herself with this irritant in the early years of the XX century."[32]
Triumph of Communism in China is not incidental either. In the popular perception, it were the Communists who restored the traditional orthodoxy, all but destroyed by the Western predators, kicked out the despised missionaries, and even tamed the Roman Catholics: Catholicism is legal in China, but... has no official ties with the Vatican, and bishops are elected from among reliable comrades under strict supervision of the Communist Party[33].
"Multicultural Developments" at Home
Another important subject is the feedback of those despised features ofthe Chinese culture into the once-Christian (or, as it has become known,post-Christian) world. Consider for instance the aversion ofstraightforward words ("yes, yes, no, no"): any modern Americanpolitician is miles ahead of the traditional Chinese in evasive speech.And no one dare to call them liars: how mean, how intolerant! Drugaddiction hardly needs comment... Litigation and regulations are also athome in today's America where every graduating engineer is matched by tenlaw school graduates. Not long ago a New York City landlord, a Chineseimmigrant, after several encounters with the city authorities went onrecord saying that he wants to return to Red China: there, at least, hewould be killed without torture.
And infanticide, probably the ugliest trait of old (as well as modern)China? No one seems shocked by two of every nine newborns being killed intoday's America; moreover, when a couple of years ago the number ofabortions for the first time in decades has dropped by a split of a point,all progressive voices began screaming and howling about the "Christianfundamentalists depriving women of their right to choose."
And the last example: when in 1901 China was forced to pay huge restitution to the Western powers, the US decided to convert their share into a fund for education of Chinese students in America.[34] Sounds very noble, and probably so it was at that time. But think of what American colleges have become since then, and you should send your condolences to every normal Chinese family, irrespective of its faith and tradition, whose son or daughter is enrolled in a US school. And the "reciprocal move" comes as no surprise: the Memorial to American missionaries, victims of the Boxers, erected by their friends and relatives at Oberlin College (Ohio), was desecrated by Chinese students in 1993. I have found no record of any legal or disciplinary measures against the perpetrators[35].
Memory Lives
New Martyrs of China were glorified in Russia early in the XX c.: asindicated above, in 1903 services were already held in their honor. Theircommemoration was appointed on the first day of the massacre of Christiansin Beijing, June 11 (June 24 on the Civil calendar). Later a church wasbuilt on the site of their burial.
Other holy relics arrived here in 1920, of those who were buried alivein a mine shaft in Alapaevsk on July 5, 1918. Bodies of Grand-DuchessElizabeth and nun Barbara were brought in Beijing when the White armieswithdrew from the Ural and Siberia, and then set for another journey,around the Asian continent, to the place of their final rest in Jerusalem.
Everything looks different now; Russian Mission in Beijing doesn'texist any more. Part of its property with the beautiful park has beenhanded over to the Russian (then Soviet) Embassy. Thus, contrary to theirown intentions, Chinese Communists helped preserve the holy memory of theOrthodox martyrs in their land. Here are travel notes of a recent Russianvisitor to Beijing:
"Our Embassy in Beijing, one of the largest in the world, isrenown for exquisite beauty of its landscapes. It is embraced all aroundby a quiet, crystal-clear canal with willows along its banks and a largelake in the middle... My favorite place was on the island with theplayground. But neither Russian children who played here, nor theirparents, knew why this island was a remarkable place. In 1901-1916 thechurch of All Holy Orthodox Martyrs was built on this spot. The cryptunder the altar gave rest to the bodies of the Chinese Christians killedby the Boxers. The church was surrounded by the cemetery. All that isgone...
"In 1945 Archbishop Victor (Sviatin), who was at the head of theRussian Orthodox Church in China, recognized the jurisdiction of theMoscow Patriarchate. He remained the Chief of the Mission until it wasclosed in 1954, and then returned to Russia. At that time no one couldoppose the destruction of Orthodox churches: razed among other was theChurch of All Holy Martyrs. This loss is irrevocable... the fate of theholy relics buried in the crypt is unknown. The cemetery was likewisedestroyed. Another Mission church was defaced and turned into agarage...
"What men forget, God remembers. On grassy sites where the churches once stood field flowers sprout forth through gray foundation stones."[36]
Orthodoxy in China is all but invisible. Nearly all Russians fromHarbin and Shanghai left the country. Some, in the hope for better future,returned to Russia, others scattered over the face of the Earth: inAmerica, Australia, Japan... In Harbin, of many beautiful churches thereremains only one, the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God, witha handful of Chinese and Russian parishioners: is it not the only legalOrthodox community in the entire China? The Church of the Annunciation wasconverted into a circus; it was closed only when an acrobat fell down tohis death there. The Cathedral of St. John Maximovich (+1966) in Shanghaiwas turned into stock exchange.
The day of June 11 is not marked in calendars of either Moscow or foreign edition. Only St. Herman calendar in English mentions the Chinese martyrs. But the Prayer book and Catechesis in Chinese have been recently re- printed in the Holy Trinity monastery in Jordanville, NY
Since this article was first published in 1995, the RussianOrthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate have called torestore the veneration of the New Martyrs of China. Cross has beenerected on the site of their martyrdom in Beijing. The day of theircommemoration is now marked in Church calendars.
Like the European and American faithful, Orthodox people of China will never forget their Bishop St. John who held the Shanghai see for over a decade. Chinese land still keeps his footprints. On the day of the Chinese New year St. John always celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Chinese. He consulted Eugene Rose (yet to become Fr. Seraphim), who was writing an article on China in the mid-'60s[37]. Unfortunately, my letter to St. Herman monastery in Platina, CA with the request for these materials from Fr. Seraphim's archive has not been answered. It remains to hope that in the future we will learn more about the Chinese heritage of St. John.
Let us also remember that when the Second World War was over, five out of six of the Russian Church hierarchs in the Far East complied with the demand of the occupation forces and left the Russian Church Abroad[38]. It is not hard to guess who was the sixth.
Many of those events and ideas which disturbed the world in 1900 have disappeared in the gory mist of the past century; other are still in the limelight, albeit under a different guise. At any rate, we may not forget about them, if we wish to face the challenges of the New World Order rather than stick our heads in sand.
Memory of saints is the spine of the earthly Church, the axis of her revolution. If we restore and keep the memory of the Boxer Rebellion martyrs, we can clearly see those events and correctly understand those ideas, -- not from the standpoint of an arrogant "civilized man", or a shameless bureaucrat of the "world community", or a savage bloodthirsty killer, or a cold-blooded killer in the State Department, or a clueless victim of modern public schools, or a moron with a doctoral degree, but from the standpoint of Truth, -- from their standpoint.
In fact, all of us who dwell in the land of the shadow of death of the modern world, day after day, one way or another, are making a choice.
A note from Mark Markish:
Kind help from all those who have provided material and advice necessary for writing this article, particularly Fr. Deacon John Whiteford of Houghton, TX, Br. Andrew Psarev of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, Nina M. Baranova of Cambridge, MA and Timothy Beach of the Bible College in Taiwan is gratefully acknowledged.
An abbreviated version of this article was published in Russian in the Pravoslavnaia Zhizn, 6, 1995
The Sections of the New Martyrs of China:
- The Celestial Empire and her Northern Neighbor
- Traditional Way of Life
- Albazinians in Beijing
- The Ecclesiastical Mission
- Slicing of the Melon
- The Dawn of the "Millennium of Peace"
- Under the Attack of Free Trade
- Pistol Diplomacy
- The Underlying Crisis
- Red Fist vs. Mailed Fist
- Young Liberators
- Swift Success...
- ... And Crushing Defeat
- "Compensation for Damage"
- The Glory of the Huns
- "Preaching the Lamb of God, ye were also slain as lambs..."
- Orthodox Martyrs in Beijing
- "We came here to bring you the Good News..."
- One Hundred Years Later
- Dewey, Marx and Lenin
- "Multicultural Developments" at Home
- Memory lives
References
[30] Ibid., p. 342
[31] Chamberlain, p. 127
[32] O'Connor, p.342
[33] Cohen, p. 267
[34] O'Connor, p. 326
[35] Brandt, p. 292
[36] O. Voropaeva. Pamiat Sviatykh Muchenikov. Put Pravoslavija, 2 1993, p. 233-237
[37] Monk Damascene, p. 300
[38] Blessed John the Wonderworker. St.Herman's Press, 1987, p.52
