On April 23, 2008, Great and Holy Wednesday after the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at the Transfiguration Cathedral of Belgorod in upper baptismal church, four citizens of China were baptized by Archbishop Ioann of Belgorod and Starooskol, chairman of the Missionary Department of the Russian Orthodox Church. Since April 23, these Chinese people have been learning the Russian language in Belgorod Orthodox Theological Seminary (with missionary orientation). Yin Liming (尹黎明) was christened Petr, Zhang Hongshi (张洪石) christened Alla, Song Danye (宋丹叶) christened Sophia, Ma Caixian (马彩仙) christened Vera.
The Godfather of Petr and Vera is the cleric of the Transfiguration Cathedral priest Dimitry Karpenko – secretary of the Starooskol eparchy administration. The Godfather of Alla and Sophie is the cleric of the Transfiguration Cathedral archpriest Alexy Kurenkov – pro-rector for Academic Affairs of the Belgorod Orthodox Theological Seminary (with missionary orientation).
During the administration of the Mysteries, Archbishop Ioann presented the newly illumined faithful with icons of Saint Ioasaf, Baptismal certificates and congratulated them with this very important event in their lives – the day of their rebirth.
The archbishop stressed that it was very symbolic and remarkable, that they would receive the Holy Body and Blood of Christ for the first time on the Holy Thursday, when the Church commemorates the Last Supper, where Jesus Christ Himself had established the Mystery of Holy Communion.