The New Martyrs of far-off China who gave their blood for Christ

Our Holy Church calls New Martyrs those who were martyred during the period of Turkish rule. The phenomenon of the persecution of Christians and their Martyrdoms is timeless and universal. It occurred also in far-off China. The present text is dedicated to the New Martyrs of our Church who lived and were martyred in far-off China.

The Lord gave a commandment to His Apostles to go forth to the ends of the earth, to preach the Gospel and to baptize all who would believe. The commandment of Christ is not addressed only to His disciples; it holds for all Christians. Each one can become a missionary, according to the gift that God has given him. We cannot all abandon our homes and our obligations and go on mission to distant places. We can, however, offer ourselves in other areas of the missionary work by offering Love in the Lord, praying for the missionaries and the catechumens, contributing a small sum to a relevant collection, participating in an activity supporting the mission, and so on.

A group of Russian missionaries went to China and began its activity. The work of the Orthodox missions is the preaching of the Gospel of Truth. They do not meddle in the internal affairs of the land. They do not impose their language, they do not exploit the people. They simply preach the Word of the Lord. They preach Christ, and Him Crucified. Far from every local expediency or interest. For this reason the Orthodox missionaries become beloved to the people. This causes grief to the devil, because the Christianization of the world advances and his influence shrinks. That is why he tries to slander the missionaries and to turn the world against them. On the contrary, the envoys of other creeds often aim at their own interests or at the interests of their country. The locals usually dislike them. The devil confuses them and sows the idea that they are all the same: the Orthodox missionaries who concern themselves with the Divine Word, and the other envoys who interfere in everything.

Thus it happened also in far-off China. The preaching of the Russian missionaries led a considerable multitude of people to the Truth. The rebel Boxers grew alarmed and turned against the Christians. Sources put their number at seven hundred. Amid the multitudes of Buddhists, Confucians and Taoists, the group of Orthodox Christians is a drop in the ocean. And yet the rebel Boxers would not tolerate their activity. It was the salve that would open the eyes of the world so that it might see that it lives and moves in darkness and in sin. The new faith, Orthodoxy, is the Light and the Redemption, the Way that leads to the liberation of man from idolatry and the bonds of the devil.

Those of another faith feared seven hundred people and set out to exterminate them. They burned all the churches. The missionary center, the library, and everything else that the human labor and effort of the Christians had created was given over to the flames. Of the victims, few were the Russian missionaries. Most were Chinese, that is, their own fellow countrymen. There are no words to describe the hatred and fury of the rebels against the lambs of the church. Among their first victims was the venerable Priest Mitrophan Tsi.

«I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered» (Matt. 26:31). Together with the priest Mitrophan, his eight-year-old son too was mercilessly mutilated. The reason was that he did not deny Christ and refused to worship the idols. His last words were: «to suffer for Christ is not a heavy thing!»… and he closed his innocent eyes to the barbarity of the earth in order to open them in the heavenly kingdom. The catechist Paul Wang sealed with his confession and martyrdom all that he had taught to his pupils. Ia Wen, a teacher of the mission, was savagely tortured; she gave up her spirit confessing Christ, with abundant courage. Together with them were many others as well. Their names we humans do not know. It is worth the effort, however, to mention only the very few that have been preserved: Priest Saint Mitrophan Tsi-Sung, the spiritual father of the community. Presbytera Saint Tatiana Tsi-Sung, Saint Isaiah Tsi – Sung, the 23-year-old son of the priest, and his betrothed, the 19-year-old Saint Maria, to whom it was proposed that she leave the house of Father Mitrophan in order to save herself. She, of course, remained there, ready to be martyred for her faith. Saint John Tsi, the eight-year-old son of the priest Mitrophan, whose torturers cut him into pieces, and thus he gave up his spirit.

Saint Paul Wang, catechist, Saint Ia Wen, teacher of the Missionary School. Saint Clement Kui-Kin, Saint Matthew Hai-Chuan Saint Vitus Hai-Chuan. Saint Anna Tsui.

Their memory is honored on June 11, the day of their collective slaughter.
When, after a few months, the rebellion was suppressed by the armies of the Western powers, Figurovsky erected a church dedicated to the Chinese New Martyrs, where he also deposited their Holy Relics.

The other names God has recorded in the book of Life. This is what matters. It was June 11, 1900. They passed into eternity and watered with their blood the tree of the Church. They did what was right; they confessed Christ Crucified.

In every age and under any conditions the seed of Orthodoxy sprouts and yields fruit manifold, fragrant, redemptive and sweet-smelling. Their examples of life are signposts for all of us.

Apolytikion Tone 3. O divine faith

The Martyrs, having destroyed the ancestral error, exalted the faith of the Orthodox and steadfastly contended; for having refuted the Buddhist religion, with boldness they confessed Christ as perfect God. To Him they earnestly intercede for our souls.

Apolytikion Tone Plagal 4. Thou who wast commanded.

Gathered from the continents of the world, let us all who love God turn to China, celebrating the feast of the Chinese martyrs. For they gave their lives to Christ, savagely slain like lambs, and dwelling in paradise, they guard the peoples of the earth, ever interceding to God for peace throughout the world.

Kontakion. Tone 4. Thou hast appeared today.

At the utmost bounds of the inhabited world, falcons from the clouds, Wall of peace of China, protect the poor peoples, bringing resurrection out of bondage!

Megalynarion

A hundredfold is the fruit in the rice field of the Sower and Redeemer; the martyrs of China, offered up wholly, call all peoples to the holy supper.

Sources

Magazine «Orthodoxos Philotheos Martyria» (Orthodox God-loving Witness), «Orthodoxos Kypseli» Publications

Sinikon Kleos (The New Martyrs of China), «Orthodoxos Kypseli» Publications, Thessaloniki 1999

Myrgiotis Panagiotis

Mathematician