Living....In China :-)

[CJtheSearcher]

Hey everyone, been a long time since I posted here! I seem to come and go with regularity on here.

Back in December I finished my associates degree in criminal justice in the US and decided to take a job teaching English in China. One of the big reasons I came was because my girlfriend (who is Chinese) lives in Wuhan and is a university student there.

I've been here two months and have gotten to spend some very valuable time with her, and I have been able to have some cool experiences living in China (I mean, of course it is gonna be cool!). However, I've learned something very valuable since I've come here:

The importance of the church, the liturgy, and the sacraments.

Since coming to China I've only been able to attend church ONCE, and that was when I was still in Beijing. I, thankfully, was able to attend the Orthodox church located in the Russian Embassy. The priest was (thankfully, again!) bilingual, so I was able to go to confession and receive the Eucharist. Sadly I have left Beijing and there is no Orthodox presence in my current city (Hefei). The priest in at the embassy church also lamented this fact and told me to prepare for it.

So I'm thankful to God for the experience of living here in China, and it IS an amazing adventure I'm glad I am blessed to have. However, I've just come to realize the overwhelming importance and significance in my life of the church and sacraments. I guess my words to everyone here is: go to church often. When you really don't have the church and the sacraments around, you realize just how important they are. This is a lesson I'm teaching myself as well, as I know how spiritually lazy I can be (and very much have been) before I came to China and SINCE I came to China.

Anyway, please pray for me during the rest of my stay here (until the end of the year) that my spiritual life will remain strong. I have really drifted since I came here and have had a disturbing lack of a prayer life and I have kind of "thrown off" the Lenten fasting. Lord have mercy on me for being so lazy!

 

[buzuxi02]

Welcome CJ. I know of one ethnic chinese who is Orthodox, she has to travel to Hong Kong for confession and communion. So its only a once a year sometimes longer.

 

[CJtheSearcher]

Welcome CJ. I know of one ethnic chinese who is Orthodox, she has to travel to Hong Kong for confession and communion. So its only a once a year sometimes longer.

Sadly, I have not met any ethnic Chinese Orthodox. When I attended the church at the Russian embassy in Beijing, Chinese passport holders (you had to have a passport to gain entrance to the embassy and church) were not allowed to attend.

I might be in that same situation as her, at this point! It is a tough thing to deal with, being deprived of the sacraments and the church community. God willing, I'll be able to travel to Beijing during Pascha if I can convince my school to let me have that weekend off (weekends are our busiest work days, believe it or not).

 

[truefiction1]

Lord have mercy.

 

[Kristos]

Sadly, I have not met any ethnic Chinese Orthodox. When I attended the church at the Russian embassy in Beijing, Chinese passport holders (you had to have a passport to gain entrance to the embassy and church) were not allowed to attend.

I might be in that same situation as her, at this point! It is a tough thing to deal with, being deprived of the sacraments and the church community. God willing, I'll be able to travel to Beijing during Pascha if I can convince my school to let me have that weekend off (weekends are our busiest work days, believe it or not).

That restriction is mostly likely imposed by the Chinese, not the Russians.

I know that there are many house church in China, even a few travelling priests. Their location is not always publicized. Have you checked with the cathedral in Hong Kong? St Luke/ Because there is more religious freedom there - they actually have many Chinese parishioners and even do some singing in Chinese. If there is ever a priest passing your way - they could certainly let you know if you are on their mailing list.

 

[buzuxi02]

Yes I was told the churches are for foreigners only and ethnic chinese are forbidden from entering, its a chinese rule. I imagine a state sanctioned and approved church is ok. So basically as of now no 'native' can ever attend an Orthodox liturgy on the mainland.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Lord have mercy!

 

[Winchester]

Thanks God the Russian embassy in Beijing has its own Orthodox Chapel. 25 years ago this would be impossible. It would be cool if you could write here your experience you make in China. But be careful, don't write here things which could get you into trouble like chinese politics or something like that. You don't know maybe the Chinese state security is watching what you are writing here or they are able to trace you. Be careful.

 

[Kristos]

Actually, I'm surprised you can even access this website from China. Last time I was there it was blocked.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Prayers for you! Lord have mercy!

Thank you for reminding us how blessed we are to be able to go to Church and receive the sacraments. I pray you are able to soon, and stay strong in the meantime!

 

[CJtheSearcher]

Actually, I'm surprised you can even access this website from China. Last time I was there it was blocked.

I have a VPN on my computer So basically I'm leaping over the 'Great Firewall of China'!

@Kristos: Oh, it is most certainly the Chinese government that imposes restrictions on Chinese visiting the church. I know for a fact it isn't the Russians! The priest at the embassy church would love to be able to travel outside the embassy and conduct services for ethnic Chinese!

I'll certainly have to check with the cathedral in Hong Kong and see if there ARE any traveling priests around. I SUPPOSE I can email them? lol physically going to Hong Kong right now is out of the question for me sadly. With my work schedule here my travel is pretty much restricted to my immediate living area.

 

[buzuxi02]

Thanks God the Russian embassy in Beijing has its own Orthodox Chapel. 25 years ago this would be impossible. It would be cool if you could write here your experience you make in China. But be careful, don't write here things which could get you into trouble like chinese politics or something like that. You don't know maybe the Chinese state security is watching what you are writing here or they are able to trace you. Be careful.

The Church in Shanghai (I believe the one St John of Shanghai and San Francisco served in) is basically closed. I dont know if this is simply because a lack of Orthodox ex-pats or whether state restrictions would never allow it regardless. Not even sure whether the church is maintained by the russian government or by the ROC. I did come across an article that in 2013 the church conducted services during a visit by Patriarch Kyril, the first since liturgy at the church since 1962. It did require some negotiations by the russian government for the Chinese to grant permission.

 

[jckstraw72]

A Comb Worth Fighting For / OrthoChristian.Com

 

[buzuxi02]

Interesting article. Granted I think we are terrible at mission work. Just the fact that the EP had to establish their precense before the "british" left, and that the MP followed soon after, shows how we are lacking. Why in the world are they even centered in Hong Kong when they should be in Taiwan? Taiwan has 3 times the population and speak mandarin just like on the mainland.

If a house church is to be established on the mainland it will have to be by the chinese themselves with perhaps some ex-pats in the mix served by a fearless traveling priest. I dont see the administrations in Hong Kong being capable of making converts.

But it is fascinating that we have a fellow TAW member residing in China.

 

[CJtheSearcher]

Interesting article. Granted I think we are terrible at mission work. Just the fact that the EP had to establish their precense before the "british" left, and that the MP followed soon after, shows how we are lacking. Why in the world are they even centered in Hong Kong when they should be in Taiwan? Taiwan has 3 times the population and speak mandarin just like on the mainland.

If a house church is to be established on the mainland it will have to be by the chinese themselves with perhaps some ex-pats in the mix served by a fearless traveling priest. I dont see the administrations in Hong Kong being capable of making converts.

But it is fascinating that we have a fellow TAW member residing in China.

Let me tell you, from my experience living here, if a traveling priest wanted to conduct services in a private home with believers it really wouldn't be much of a problem. As long as everyone didn't 'broadcast' the fact that they were conducting services, you never have to fear being bothered by any authorities. I guess that's the main issue though...meaningful missionary work among Chinese (bringing more people INTO the Orthodox faith) can't really occur right now sadly.

 

[buzuxi02]

Thats what I'm thinking. The Orthodox person I know now resides in Shanghai and theres a few Orthodox christians she has had contact with but tend to be spread out.

The reason why I think the EP-MP administration in Hong Kong won't be much help in conversions is because they have no traveling priests as youve mentioned.. The person I know of in China has contact with the Metropolitan of Honk Kong. Originally either the Metropolitan himself or a priest would have "sneaked" onto the mainland for the baptism/chrismation. Never happened so she finally saved up and went to Hong Kong on her own rather than waiting for who knows how many more years to be chrismated if ever. I too think a house church can operate on the down low over there. The Orthodox christian I know has an Orthodox information website, never had problem with it being taken down. Heres a plug for it:

Godaughter.com

 

[CJtheSearcher]

Thats what I'm thinking. The Orthodox person I know now resides in Shanghai and theres a few Orthodox christians she has had contact with but tend to be spread out.

The reason why I think the EP-MP administration in Hong Kong won't be much help in conversions is because they have no traveling priests as youve mentioned.. The person I know of in China has contact with the Metropolitan of Honk Kong. Originally either the Metropolitan himself or a priest would have "sneaked" onto the mainland for the baptism/chrismation. Never happened so she finally saved up and went to Hong Kong on her own rather than waiting for who knows how many more years to be chrismated if ever. I too think a house church can operate on the down low over there. The Orthodox christian I know has an Orthodox information website, never had problem with it being taken down. Heres a plug for it:

Godaughter.com

Thanks for the link! It is all in Chinese but I'm gonna try to find a way to have it translated. I'd love to read through it! So is this a Chinese Orthodox lady that lives in the mainland?

 

[buzuxi02]

That would be cool to translate it as I too have no idea what it says. Oh yeah she is from the mainland. She was a poster for alittle while in another Orthodox forum and we have kept in touch ever since.

 

[CJtheSearcher]

That would be cool to translate it as I too have no idea what it says. Oh yeah she is from the mainland. She was a poster for alittle while in another Orthodox forum and we have kept in touch ever since.

Invite her to come here! I'd love to 'meet' her here on the online forum sometime! Do you know what city she lives in here in China?

 

[buzuxi02]

I'll try to convince her. She resides in Shanghai for work but actually became Orthodox when living in her home city. Basically the only Orthodox in a place of like 7 million. I found it fascinating too.