中文 | Provided by Union of Catholic Asian News, www.ucanews.com

CH6345.1294 June 24, 2004 55 EM-lines (586 words)

Orthodox Church Asks Official Recognition To Enhance Activities

HONG KONG (UCAN) -- The Russian Orthodox Church has been negotiating with religious affairs officials in Beijing for official recognition of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, a Russian Orthodox priest has revealed.

Talks between the Moscow Patriarchate and Beijing have been in process "for a few years," Father Dionisy Pozdnyaev of the patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations told UCA News June 14in Hong Kong. "We hope it can work out before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing," he added.

"It's great if the Chinese government would recognize the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. It is necessary to recreate its Church hierarchy first, which was completely destroyed in 1966," he said. That year marked the beginning of the 10-year Cultural Revolution, during which religions were persecuted.

The Russian Orthodox Church, he said, hopes the Chinese government will allow "any kind of support for Church education, social programs and publication of Church materials" for Orthodox believers in China.

There has been no Orthodox priest in China since Archpriest Alexander Du Lifu died in Beijing last December, Father Pozdnyaev said. Despite this, he continued, there are about 13,000 Orthodox believers, mostly of Russian descent, who regularly have prayer services in four worship places in China.

The Chinese government recognizes only the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church in the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia as the "Chinese Orthodox Church."

The Church, founded by the Russian Orthodox mission, was granted autonomy by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1957, according to the homepage of the Moscow Patriarchate's website.

Father Pozdnyaev clarified that recognizing the Orthodox Church as the sixth recognized religion in China has not been mentioned during the negotiations between the Moscow Patriarchate and Beijing. Currently only Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Taoism are officially recognized.

The Russian priest revealed that 13 Chinese Orthodox students from Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai and Tianjin are now studying at Moscow Theological Academy and Sretenskaya Theological Seminary, also in the Russian capital, as well as at St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Some will graduate in a few years, he added.

He described the situation of the Orthodox Church in China as "very bad." Though there are four churches in different parts of China, he said, there is no priest and some Orthodox communities do not have their own worship place.

He expressed hope of an Orthodox church in Beijing for both Chinese Orthodox believers and Russian expatriates. "It is our hope to build a church in the former territory of the Russian mission in Beijing," he said, adding that "the place is now the territory of the Russian Embassy."

One hopeful sign Father Pozdnyaev cited is that he was allowed to conduct Father Du's funeral at the Catholic cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady (or 南堂 Nántáng, south church) in Beijing last December.

Since there is no Orthodox church in Beijing, he sought and received approval from Catholic Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of Beijing to perform the liturgy at the cathedral.

Bishop Fu, a government-approved prelate, is chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body.

Father Gregory Zhu Shipu, who had been the only other Orthodox priest in China, died in September 2000 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, where he served at Protecting Veil of the Mother of God Parish. No regular church services have been held there since.

Other Orthodox parishes are in Labdarin (Ergun Youqi) in Inner Mongolia, and Chuguchak (Tacheng), Kulj and Urumqi in Xinjiang.