DECR Chairman heads celebrations for the fifteenth anniversary of the consecration of the Dormition Church at the Russian embassy in Beijing.

DECR Communication service, 19.10.2024. 

On 19^th October 2024 the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God at the Russian embassy in the Peoples’ Republic of China. The celebrations were held in honour of the fifteenth anniversary of the consecration of this church which took place on 13^th October 2009.

Concelebrating with the metropolitan were: the rector of the Dormition embassy church hieromonk Innokenty (Kolesnikov); the rector of the parish of the holy apostles Peter and Paul in Hong Kong archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev; the rector of the parishes in Shenzhen and Guangzhou archpriest Dimitry Lukyanov, the rector of the Holy Cross parish in Taipei Father Kirill Shkarbul, the rector of the community in Shanghai Father Ioann Scholokov; member of the DECR hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin); the rector of the parish of the archangel Michael in Dalian Father Andrei Bukhteyev; the secretary of the chairman of the DECR Father Nikolain Vasin; and deacon Yevgeny Kuznetsov. The deacon’s part of the service was headed by cleric of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow protodeacon Nikolai Filatov.

Among those present in the church were the director of the Saint Michael Foundation and chairman of the board of trustees of the National Council for Missing Persons and Suffering Children Ye. I. Milskaya; deputy director of the first department of Asia at the Russian foreign ministry V. V. Fadeyev; Russian embassy workers and invited guests.

At the end of the service an awards ceremony was held.

The metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony presented Patriarchal awards to: the rector of the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Hong Kong archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev, the Order of Saint Sergius of Radonezh (3^rd Degree) for his labours for the good of the church and for his thirty years of service as a priest; the rector of the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God in Beijing hieromonk Innokenty (Kolesnikov), Patriarchal certificate; Ye. I. Milskaya, the Order of Saint Olga Equal-to-the-Apostles (3^rd Degree); the leading scientific worker at the Centre for the Study of Modern Chinese History and Russia B. N. Gorbachev, the Saint Macarius of Moscow Medal; the senior choir director of the Dormition Church at the Russian embassy in Beijing O. V. Pimenova, the Saint Euthrosyne of Moscow Medal; the church warden N. A. Nikitina, Patriarchal certificate.

Patriarchal certificates were also presented to workers at the Russian embassy in China D. E. Temirgaleyev and D. Yu. Taganov, who are altar servers at the embassy church, the choir director of the Dormition Church Ye. A. Guseva, representative of the Russian Club in Beijing Ye. A. Smolkova, Russian embassy worker V. V. Trofimenko and director of Kriogenmash in Beijing V. P. Kuznetsov.

Then metropolitan Anthony, the Russian ambassador in China I. V. Morgulov and participants of the festivities visited the renewed exhibition on the history of the Russian mission in China in the museum located within the church.

On the same day there was a festive reception given by the Russian ambassador in China. During the event metropolitan Anthony greeted those present.

***

The first Orthodox church in Beijing was consecrated in 1696 in honour of Saint Sophia the Wisdom of God. The church suffered from an earthquake in August 1739 and after repairs two years later was dedicated to the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God. The church was destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. In 1902 the Dormition Church on the territory of the northern metochion of the Russian Spiritual Mission in China was built in a new location as a temporary refectory church, while on the site of the first church a cathedral dedicated to all the holy martyrs was built.

After the closure of the Russian Spiritual Mission in 1954 the territory of her northern metochion was transferred to embassy of the USSR. The Dormition Church was no longer used for its original purpose as it housed garages for the embassy.