two hundred and twenty two

radiant confessors and martyrs for the Christian faith China June 11th 1900

The stories of how martyrs died are never pleasant. The below has been edited, but the stories and even photos of individuals of this group can be found on the links below. Throughout China, during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, there lived several communities of Orthodox Christians, holy branches of early Russian missionaries. Though few in number, they had worked diligently to preach teachings of Christ among the vast sea of Buddhists, Taoists and Confucians. The tiny minority had remained true to its mission of spreading the faith and had never involved itself in the internal strife of the country.

On June 11, 1900, a ruthless persecution began against the Christians throughout China, beginning with those of Beijing. Almost all Orthodox churches were burned to the ground. Nothing remained of the Missionary Center at Penking; the fruits of many long years labour were all destroyed, including the printing press and the library.

Unsatisfied with the destruction of the church's properties, the revolutionaries deviously planned to slaughter the Orthodox Christians themselves, beginning with the first Chinese Orthodox priest, Metrophanes Chi-Sung and his family. His wife Tatiana and twenty-three yr old son Isaiah were killed before his eyes. Isaiah's nineteen yr old fiancée Maria was also brutally tortured and killed after trying to help other innocent Christians escape. Father Metrophanes' eight-year-old son John was not to be spared, either.

Following the martyrdom of John and his family, the teachers Paul and Ia Wang were also brutally tortured and slaughtered, along with hundreds of other Chinese Orthodox Christians. Together they were among the first Chinese people to shed their blood for Christ and His Holy Church and to receive the most sacred crowns of martyrdom and eternal glory before God’s heavenly throne. (Excerpts taken from: 'Let the Little Children Come to Me' by St John Chrysostomos Greek Orthodox Monastery)

St Mitrophan

St Ia

A view of the church constructed at

Peking in 1903 on the site at the martyrdom of the Chinese Orthodox, in which the relics of many of the martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion were enshrined

For further reading: The First Chinese Orthodox Martyrs Accounts of the Martyrs of the Chinese Orthodox Church who fell victim in Beijing in 1900 ..........................................................................................................................................................................