From the very beginning of the spread of Christianity, supporters of the doctrine were persecuted. Thousands of people died prematurely for confessing Christ as Lord. It would seem that when Christianity became a world religion, the persecution stopped.
But no. Christians to this day risk their lives for their faith.
On June 24, the church remembers the 222 Chinese Orthodox new martyrs who did not betray their faith in the face of death.
The Russian spiritual mission was opened in China by decree of Peter I. Among the parishioners were Russian employees, diplomats, as well as several hundred Chinese who converted to Orthodoxy.
At the dawn of 20 centuries, China was one of the poorest countries in the world. The life of ordinary people was unbearably difficult. As often happens in such cases, hotheads who longed for change found someone to blame. No, not the empress and her greedy ministers. Not officials who took bribes for any solution to the issue. The enemies turned out to be foreigners in general, Christians in particular, and the Chinese Christians became traitors. The uprising of the Boxers (from the Chinese “yihetuan” — fair fist) was long and bloody. But the bulk of the Christians died at the beginning (according to the old style) of June.
Ihetuan dismembered the corpses so that they would not resurrect on the third day. Some Christians renounced the teaching on pain of death, but hundreds only strengthened their faith and accepted martyrdom.
222 is not the number of deaths. There are many more of them. 222 is the number of those identified. Those whose remains were collected and buried. Archimandrite Innocent sent a list of names to the Synod, and it decided to commemorate this event in the Beijing Spiritual Mission. On June 10 they kept a strict fast, and on the 11th they held a religious procession to the place of death. The relics of the dead were collected, buried, and a temple was built in their honor. Later, the relics were reburied in a Russian cemetery, which fell into the flood zone of Lake Molodezhi. Now the remains rest under a layer of water.
After the Second World War, a mass exodus of Russian emigrants from China began. They dispersed all over the world and in all these places they began to celebrate the day of remembrance of the Chinese martyrs. They remembered and prayed. Information about the tragic story spread. Since 2016, the list of names has been included in church-wide veneration. Memorial Day — June 11, old style (June 24, new style)
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