SARA Director Pledges to Resolve Issues of Concern to Orthodox Christians

Ye Xiaowen, Director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), pledged "to resolve issues of concern" to Orthodox Christians during a July 4 meeting in Moscow with Russian Patriarch Alexei II, according to a July 7 South China Morning Post (SCMP) report (subscription required). Ye also assured Patriarch Alexei that the Chinese government is about to resolve the matter of building or restoring an Orthodox church on the grounds of the Russian Embassy in Beijing, according to Interfax reports of July 5 and August 14. The project has been delayed several times, according to a May 31 AsiaNews report. The Russian Orthodox Church has urged the Chinese government to permit Chinese Orthodox to practice their faith more freely.

The SCMP reported that Ye Xiaowen emphasized to Patriarch Alexei that an Orthodox Church in China would have to be self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating (that is, the government would not permit organizational ties to Orthodox Churches outside China). This would be in accord with government policy expressed in the Regulation on Religious Affairs (issued July 2004, effective March 2005, translation available on the Web site of China Elections and Governance) and applied to the five officially recognized religions (Buddhism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestantism). In the past, the central government has refused to grant official status to Orthodox Christianity, but local authorities have registered Orthodox communities in the cities of Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Labdarin in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Ghulja and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. (For information on provincial-level regulations that recognize the Orthodox Church, see the section on "China's Five Official Religions" in a related CECC analysis.) The SCMP reported that SARA has established an office of Orthodox affairs and that Chinese authorities have insisted that Chinese priests must be ordained by Chinese bishops (presently there are no Chinese Orthodox bishops). According to a July 6 AsiaNews report, 13 Chinese Orthodox students are studying for the priesthood in seminaries in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Chinese Orthodox currently have no priests and no bishops and can meet only for prayer services and not divine liturgy.

An Orthodox church in Harbin city, Heilongjiang province will be rebuilt with support from private investors who will use the church to house an exhibit of Russian art and crafts, according to a July 6 Northeast report (in Chinese). The Russian Orthodox Church estimates that about 12,000 Chinese citizens are Orthodox Christians. Many are of Russian or mixed-Russian descent. Foreign nationals who are Orthodox Christians generally attend services in foreign embassies and consulates. The Chinese government discourages Chinese citizens from attending these services.

For more information on Orthodox Christians in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(d).