The Impact of Russian Migration on the Historical Development of the Orthodox Church in China: A Historical Review
The Impact of Russian Migration on the Historical Development of the Orthodox Church in China: A Historical Review

Summary/Abstract: Several waves of Russian migration had a fundamental impact on the history of the Orthodox Church in China: its origin, development, decrease and revival. Its origin is related to Albazinians – the Russian Cossacks, who came to Peking at the end of the 17th century and served in the imperial army. In order to guarantee a pastoral care for them, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Peking was established in 1715 – a unique religious, political, diplomatic, commercial and scholar institution, representing the Orthodox Church in China for almost 250 years. The highest growth of the Orthodox Church in China happened, as after the October Revolution hundreds of thousands of Russian migrants came across the border and settled especially in Harbin, Shanghai and Peking, creating numerous Orthodox parishes and communities. The intensified care for Russian migrants caused, however, unfortunately also the neglecting of Chinese believers. Later, as in the following decades most of the Russians returned to the Soviet Union or migrated to other countries, the Chinese Orthodox Church experienced internal conflicts and its greatest reduction in the number of believers and finally almost disappeared.A historical review of the relation between the Russian migration to China and the situation of the Chinese Orthodox Church will be presented in the paper. Based on published sources, the successive waves of migrations will be analysed and evaluated together with the impact they had on the development of the Church.

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