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Published by the
Russian Line, August 10, 2005
A monarchal
shrine in Beijing -- the temple of All Holy
Martyrs |
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Anatolii Stepanov, Russian Line
The beautiful temple of the All Holy Martyrs in
Beijing, presently laying in ruins on the
territory of the former Russian Spiritual
Mission in China (RSMC, now occupied by the
embassy of the Russian Federation), is closely
tied to still another monarchal shrine -- the
Transfiguration temple in Tiarlevo (next to
Pavlovsk Park near St. Petersburg), which
Russian Line reported yesterday in "Monarchal
shrine in Tiarlevo. Following up on
articles published by Russian Line." The
Tiarlevo temple was built by one of the
Alapayevsk martyrs, a prince of imperial blood,
deacon Ioann Konstantinovich, whose honored
remains supposedly found their final resting
place in the Beijing temple. Moreover, the
temple of All Holy Martyrs on the territory of
the RSMC was built on the burial site of the 222
Chinese martyrs killed in 1900 by the Yihetuan;
nearby are the
burial places of the archpastors and pastors and
the precious remains of the Alapayevsk martyrs
which were glorified by the Russian Church
Abroad.
The subject of the Alapayevsk martyrs has been
repeatedly addressed by Russian Line (See Dmitry
Napara, "Alapayevsk Martyrs in Beijing. Orthodox
public hopes that the authorities will finally
undertake to resolve the problem"; Dmitry Napara,
"The exact burial place of the Alapayevsk
martyrs is established. Now it's up to the
authorities: church and secular", etc.
Unfortunately, a spirit alien to Orthodoxy has
been into the search brought by some irreligious
people. As a result, the search for relics has
turned into excavation, as already reported by
RL (see "Relics are not revealed to those
operating without church blessing. Towards the
question of locating the tombs of the Alapayevsk
martyrs"; "The reckless
attitude towards Russia's historical heritage
must cease. Dmitry Napara comments on
the situation surrounding the search for the
precious relics of the Alapayevsk martyrs").
Photos of the excavation site are available. As
can be seen, the work was organized most
improperly. Organizers of the hurried digging
(one cannot term what was done excavation) did
not receive the blessing of church hierarchs,
did not invite professional archeologists (not
wanting, probably, to share any glory), did not
invite representatives of the Public
Prosecutor's Office (as is required at opening
of tombs). Moreover, as the photographs make
apparent, they hired pagan Chinese to search for
the relics.
We have also received photos of the bone remains
found in the ground which, as we've been
informed, the diggers threw into loosening
ground; these were picked up by Orthodox
Russians living on the territory of the embassy
of the Russian Federation in the PRC in order to
determine whether they belonged to animals or to
humans. It is unclear, on what basis, the
excavators's report spoke of an occipital part
and a calcaneal (heel)
part!!
After all of this, one need not be surprised
that the Lord did not reveal the relics and
precious remains of the holy martyrs and
champions of the church to the self-appointed
excavators. This is the chief lesson from this
story. But there is another. Perhaps the failure
with the search for relics and remains is
connected to the fact that that the beginning
was all wrong. One would think, and we have a
clear divine instruction that it
is necessary, first of all, to restore a shrine,
a temple to God on the territory of Russia's
embassy. Once prayers to the Lord begin at this
holy place, and when the bloodless sacrifice is
offered, then, we believe, the Lord will reveal
the burial place of the holy relics and precious
remains. Moreover, the restoration of an
orthodox temple on the territory of a diplomatic
mission would be an important example of the
joint work of
government and church structures. the
Restoration would become an obvious
collaboration of the government and the church
in Russia's spiritual revival.
In any case, after all that has happened, we
hope in the wisdom of Russia's new ambassador to
China, S.S. Razov. and in the intercession of
the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.
English Translation by Nina Tkachuk Dimas
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