The last Russian bishop left China on this day in 1956. On May 18, I wrote about the role of the Russian Church Abroad in preserving the pre-revolutionary property in the Holy Land. The ROCOR could defend this property in Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, but it was impossible in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Russian Church Abroad ceased to minister there in 1949, and the Moscow Patriarchate succeeded it. On March 30, 1945, the multi-million-dollar real estate of the Russian Orthodox Church in China was transferred free of charge to the government authorities of the PRC. The movable property was to be transferred to the ownership of the Chinese autonomous Church of the Moscow Patriarchate through designated Chinese priests. Ancillary enterprises of the Exarchate, which had long served as a source of income and provided significant funds for the existence of the Mission, were transferred to the Soviet embassy, as was the entire territory of the Mission with its churches and graves of Chinese New Martyrs. The last Russian bishop, Archbishop Victor, left Beijing on May 24, 1956, and crossed into the USSR on May 26. Gradually, all Russians left China either for the USSR or countries in the Western world. The Chinese Orthodox were left on their own, facing a militantly anti-religious atheist regime. Source: Monk Benjamin (Gomarterli), Letopis’ tserkovnykh sobytii Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi nachinaia s 1917 goda. Part IV. 1950-1960. Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad. | 
