Moscow Patriarchate: China Authorises the Ordination of Chinese Orthodox Priests on Its Territory

ASIA NEWS
by Marta Allevato – May 2015

Moscow (AsiaNews) – In order to compensate for its isolation from the West over the Ukrainian crisis, Moscow has revived its strategic alliance with Beijing, a step that includes the Church. Indeed, for the first time in 60 years, the People’s Republic of China has authorised the ordination of Chinese Orthodox priests.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, made the announcement after an official visit to China (14-17 May), the TASS news agency reported. In Beijing, the Russian Orthodox Church official took part in the fourth session of the Sino-Russian working group for contacts and cooperation in religious matters.

Hilarion’s visit came a few days after President Xi Jinping travelled to Moscow (8 to 9 May) for the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis, which was deserted en masse by Western leaders.

After the meetings with Vladimir Putin, Xi held talks with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who praised Beijing for the value China places on the “role of culture, traditions and the moral factor in shaping the lives of people and individuals.”

“We had very constructive talks with the State Administration for Religious Affairs,” Bishop Hilarion said. “We agreed on the ordination to the priesthood of an ethnic Chinese who studied for several years in Russia. We hope that he will serve in Harbin at the Church of the Intercession,” which is currently undergoing restauration. “Until now it had no priest. Now, God willing, it will have a priest”.

On 14 May in Beijing, Hilarion met Wang Zuoan director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (pictured). “We agreed that two other seminarians will study in Russia, with a view to their possible ordination,” he explained. In fact, “I hope that Orthodoxy will grow in China with the help of God,” added the Patriarchate’s ‘foreign minister’.

In Beijing, Hilarion also took part in a panel discussion with representatives of ‘traditional religions’ of Russia and China and visited the oldest mosque in the city. He then travelled to Labdarin, in Inner Mongolia, which has one of the largest Orthodox communities in China, where he celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of St Innokenty of Irkutsk, consecrated in 2009 by Michael Wang, the oldest priest of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church.

In Labdarin, the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate also met with local political authorities and those in charge of religious affairs.

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