In 1900 among the parishioners of the Beijing Ecclesiastical Mission was the elderly Orthodox Chinese Christian (he was 50 years old) Innokenty Fan; he served in the Mission as a choir director and steward. Innokenty lived with his family — his wife Elena, his sons Evmenii the elder and Ivan the younger and his daughters Sophia and Nadezhda in one of the Fangzi located near the Mission.
In the evening of the 17th day of the fifth month (June 10th) the Boxers burned the whole Mission and then burned the Fangzi of Innokenty Fan, which was empty because Innokenty's whole family was hiding from the Boxers. On the evening of the next day the Boxers caught Elena, Innokenty's wife and then led her to the Andingmen gate, where there was a temple; there they commanded Elena to worship their idol but Elena refused to bow down before their gods and began to resist. Then the senior Boxer got angry and with wild fury, raised his dull sword over Elena and struck the back of her head. Elena fell senseless. A police officer took her, wrapped in her mats and buried her for the moment near Andingmen Street. The next morning Elena began to moan under the earth. Passersby dug her up and set her free. She ran to Fr. Mitrophan Ji. Her children and other Orthodox Christians, when they learned what had happened to Elena began to cry, knowing that the same fate awaited all of them. And this was truly what happened.
At that time about 80 Orthodox Christians, homeless, in danger, who were gathered at Fr. Mitrophan's house, spending these days together. On the 27th day of the same month (June 20th) the Boxers came at night and set fire to Fr. Mitrophan's house. Some of those who were there escaped through the well, others remained together in the burning house. Elena and her daughters were there. Within a few minutes one of her daughters ran out of the house. Her hair had been scorched and her body burned. Happily her own father Innokenty noticed her, took her by the hand and led her away from the burning Fangzi. The next day there was no place for them to shelter. They wandered through the ruined Mission. There was a well there with a chapel at which services for blessing water were constantly celebrated. After the destruction of the well there was a pit in which Innokenty and his daughter who had been burned hid. There were some other Orthodox Christians with them. Unfortunately the Boxers learned of the poor people and stoned them in the pit and even piled large stones on them. No one knows where Innokenty's son Evmenii died, but he was also killed by the Boxers. The above-mentioned events were related by an eyewitness, the younger son of Innokeny Fan, Hierodeacon Innokenty Fan.