Archbishop Victor (Sviatin), the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Peking, was arrested there on this day in 1946. The Kuomintang (Сhinese nationalist authorities) arrested Archbishop Victor in his quarters in Shanghai, took him to a jail, and locked him up in a shared cell with Chinese criminals; a prisoner’s number was sewn onto his cassock. The Chinese authorities brought about 15 charges, accusing the Archbishop of participation in the Anti-Comintern Union of Northern China and Russian fascist organizations, as well as cooperation with the Japanese occupation authorities. On October 24, with the active intervention of Soviet diplomats and the help of Chiang Kai-shek’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo, Archbishop Victor was released. While Archbishop Victor was imprisoned, Patriarch Alexis of Moscow issued Decree No. 424 on October 22, confirming the Archbishop as head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China. Likewise, on November 26, 1947, the Russian Church Abroad Synod issued Decree No. 2544 entrusting Archbishop John of Shanghai to act as head of the Mission. The Chinese government in Nanjing recognized St. John – and so did ROCOR clergy in Shanghai. The laity were divided: about five thousand emigrated to America via the Philippines with St. John in 1949, and about ten thousand left for the USSR. Although in 1945, St. John, along with the other ROCOR bishops in China, began to commemorate Patriarch Alexis liturgically, he submitted to the authority of the Russian Church Abroad again and adamantly refused to accept Soviet citizenship. In 1954, the new People’s Republic of China authorities closed down the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission; the church in Peking was destroyed, and the Soviet embassy took over the space. All Russians who were not Chinese nationals had to leave the country. In May 1956, Archbishop Victor left for the USSR, where he died as Metropolitan of Krasnodar and Kuban in 1966. In November 1956, the Moscow Patriarchate founded the Chinese autonomous church. The following year in Moscow, priest Basil Shuang was consecrated Bishop of Pekin (Archbishop Victor had already identified him in 1951 as a candidate for the episcopacy). In 1962, he passed away. Since the death of Bishop Symeon Du in 1965, the Chinese autonomous church has remained without bishops. Archpriest Michael Lee was ordained by Archbishop Victor in 1950. During the Cultural Revoultion (1966-1976), he was sent to hard labor camp. Archbishop Hilarion found him and invited to join the ROCOR Australian and New Zealand Diocese, where he died in 2016. Source: Monk Benjamin (Gomartely), Letopis’ tserkovnykh sobytii Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi nachinaia s 1917. [Chronicle of the Event in the Life of the Orthodox Church Beginning in 1917]. Part III: 1939-1949. Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad. Protoierei Mikhail Li: Pesnopeniia Strastnoi sedmitsy i rabota na kamenolome. [Chants of Passion and Work in Quary]. pravmir.ru. |
