The Mitered Archpriest Michael Li passed away on this day in 2016. Michael Li Fengzi (弥哈伊尔·李奉慈; 1925-2016) was born on January 28, 1925, in the Russian Ecclesiasticl Mission (Bei Guan) in Beijing into a family of Orthodox Chinese. His father used to make metal decoration for icons. Since childhood, he served and sang at the Mission, which before the World War Two was in the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In 1939 he graduated from high school at the Mission. In 1948 he was tonsured a reader. From 1948 to 1950 he studied at the missionary school at the Mission, from which he graduated with a diploma. In May 1949, he married Anna Liu Shirong. In June of the same year he was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Victor of Beijing in Beijing, who in 1946 joined the Moscow Patriarchate. In August 1950, he was ordained a priest by the same bishop, also in Beijing. From 1950 to 1951 he served in St. Innocent’s church in Beijing. From November 1951 to 1966 he served in the Kazan Church of Shanghai under Bishop Simeon, the last bishop of the Chinese Autonomous Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. With the advent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, he was expelled from the parish and parish house. From 1966 to 1984, he worked hard labor in a quarry and was deprived of the right to speak with prisoners for being an Orthodox priest. In 1985, he retired. From 1986 to 1989 he served as the second priest of the Protection of the Mother of God Church in Harbin. From 1989 to 1998, he again served in Shanghai. In 1997, while in Shanghai, Archbishop Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney of the Russian Church Abroad invited him to move to Australia to take on work among the Chinese-speaking Orthodox residents of Sydney. In May 1999, together with Matushka Anna, he arrived in Australia and on May 24 of the same year, by decree of Bishop Hilarion, he was accepted into the clergy of the Australian Diocese of the Russian Church Abroad. In May 1999, he was temporarily appointed to the clergy of the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God in Cabramatta (Sydney). Since June 19, 1999, he has been assigned as the second priest of the episcopal Church of All Saints of the Russian land in Croydon (Sydney). By decree of Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney dated June 28, 1999, the “Russian-Chinese Orthodox Mission of the ROCOR in Australia” was established under the leadership of Father Michael. On June 25, 2000, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the priesthood, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. On December 9, 2000, he underwent back surgery. He had 4 children, who at the beginning of the 21st century lived with their families in Shanghai. In 2012, still cheerful and joyful, Fr. Michael came with his matushka to Hong Kong to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Russian spiritual mission in China. According to Kira Pozdnyaeva, “despite his age and the long flight, he did not miss a single service and, it seems, a single event.” Archpriest Vladimir Boykov recalls him: “The last time I saw Father Mikhail was during Great Lent. He had been having his blood cleaned for about a year and a half after kidney failure - first at home and then in the hospital. I came to Father Mikhail in an Orthodox nursing home, we hugged. I asked: ‘How are you, Father Mikhail?’ He replied: ‘It’s time to go to God.’ After that, he lived a little more, experienced Easter.” Fr. Michael died on May 12, 2016 in Australia. On May 16, at the Sydney Church of the Protection of Mother of God in Cabramatta, the clergy of the Australian Diocese performed vespers and parastas at the tomb of his body, and the next day after the Divine Liturgy, Bishop of Canberra George (Shaefer) led the funeral service there in front of a large crowd of pilgrims. Father Michael's body was then buried in the Russian Orthodox section of Rookwood Cemetery. | 
