Chinese Martyrs ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华圣烈士, first=t, w=Chung1-hua2 shêng4-lieh4-shih4, p=Zhōnghuá shéng lièshì) is the name given to a number of members of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

who were killed in China during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are celebrated as

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s by their respective churches. Most were Chinese laity, but others were missionaries from various other countries; many of them died during the Boxer Rebellion.

Eastern Orthodox

The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes 222 Orthodox Christians who died during the Boxer Rebellion as "Holy Martyrs of China". On the evening of 11 June 1900 leaflets were posted in the streets, calling for the massacre of the Christians and threatening anyone who would dare to shelter them with death."The Chinese Martyrs", American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the United States
/ref> They were mostly members of the

Chinese Orthodox Church The Chinese Orthodox Church () is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox church in China. It was granted autonomy by its mother church, the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1957. Earlier forms of Eastern Christianity Christianity is said to have entered Ch ...

, which had been under the guidance of the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

since the 17th century and maintained close relations with them, especially in the large Russian community in Harbin. They are called

new-martyr The title of New Martyr or Neomartyr ( el, νεο-, ''neo''-, the prefix for "new"; and μάρτυς, ''martys'', "witness") is conferred in some denominations of Christianity to distinguish more recent martyrs and confessors from the old martyrs ...

s, as they died under a modern regime. The first of these martyrs was

Metrophanes, Chi Sung Metrophanes, Chi Sung (Cháng Yángjí,常楊吉, his Chinese name is also sometimes translated as Tsi Chung) or Mitrophan (December 10, 1855 – June 10, 1900) was the first Chinese Eastern Orthodox priest to be martyred. He was killed with ...

, leader of the Peking Mission, who was killed, along with his family, during the Boxer Rebellion. All told, 222 members of the Peking Mission died.

Roman Catholic

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 120 Catholics who died between 1648 and 1930 as its "

Martyr Saints of China The Martyr Saints of China ( zh, t=中華殉道聖人, s=中华殉道圣人, first=t, p=Zhōnghuá xùndào shèngrén), or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western ...

". They were canonized by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 1 October 2000. Of the group, 87 were Chinese laypeople and 33 were missionaries; 86 died during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The Chinese Martyrs Catholic Church in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

is named for them.

Protestant

Many

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

s also died during the Boxer Rebellion, including the "

China Martyrs of 1900 The "China Martyrs of 1900" is a term used by some Protestant Christians to refer to American and European missionaries and converts who were murdered during the Boxer Rebellion, when Boxers carried out violent attacks targeting Christians and fo ...

", but there is no formal veneration (according to their religious beliefs) nor a universally recognized list. At least 189 missionaries and 500 native Chinese Protestant Christians were murdered in 1900 alone. Though some missionaries considered themselves non-denominationally Protestant, among those killed were Baptists, Evangelicals,

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia ...

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

, Methodists, Presbyterians and Plymouth Brethren.

References

External links

Canonisation of 120 Chinese martyrs: has much changed under communism?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Martyrs 19th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs 19th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 19th-century Christian saints 20th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 20th-century Christian saints Chinese saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Chinese Roman Catholic saints Roman Catholic child saints Groups of Eastern Orthodox saints Groups of Roman Catholic saints

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

People of the Boxer Rebellion Eastern Orthodox missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in China Franciscan Missionaries of Mary China–Russian Empire relations

Eastern Orthodox

Roman Catholic

Protestant

See also

References

Further reading

External links