Josef Mässrur (born Ghäsim Khan) (also sometimes spelled Josef Messrur) was a Christian Persian missionary to

Chinese Turkestan Chinese Turkestan or Chinese Turkistan, is a geographical term or historical region corresponding to the region of the Tarim Basin in Southern Xinjiang (south of the Tian Shan mountain range) or Xinjiang as a whole which was under the rule of ...

with the

Mission Union of Sweden The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden ( – until 2003 'Swedish Mission Covenant'), founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church in the Radical Pietist tradition. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the ...

. Mässrur was born in Tehran, Persia, of Persian parents. He studied medicine and French from a French doctor in Tehran. Afterwards, he set up an independent practice. While he was practising as a doctor a Lutheran Swedish missionary gave him a

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, and he soon made the decision to give his life to Jesus. He was baptised and took the name Josef. In 1894 he joined the

, and went to

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

with Anna Nystrom to operate within the Covenant Church Östturkestanmission. On 5 May 1895, after arriving in

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

, he married

Anna Nyström Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th ce ...

, Equmeniakrykan Church website, ''Mission and Revolution in Central Asia'', by John Hultvall (1981), page 10
/ref> whom he had met in Persia. They worked in

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

, where they founded the Mission League's mission station, and later built a hospital. Mässrur also trained to be a dentist. In 1900 the Mässrurs travelled to Anna's homeland of Sweden. In 1901 they returned to Persia, an area where the Swedish Mission Covenant really had no mission. They were not officially missionaries of the Swedish Missionary Society, but Anna had a small contribution until 1908, when it was withdrawn. They never returned to Chinese Turkestan, but worked in

Rasht Rasht (; ) is a city in the Central District (Rasht County), Central District of Rasht County, Gilan province, Gilan province, Iran, serving as the capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is also known as the "City of ...

and

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

till his death. Mässrur died on March 31, 1913. Anna Nystrom Mässrur returned to Stockholm, Sweden on 15 December 1913 but was so ill from the effects of a previous cholera epidemic that she was hospitalized upon her arrival. She died later that month.

References

1. ^ In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan: Being the Record of Three Years' Exploration By Henry Hugh Peter Deasy sid. 284

Bibliography

*J. Lundahl (editor), På obanade stigar: Tjugofem år i Ost-Turkestan. Stockholm, Svenska Missionsförbundet Förlag, 1917 *Nyström, Lennart, Anna och Mischa Josef - en missionshistoria Year of birth missing 1913 deaths People from Tehran Iranian Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in China Christian missionaries in Central Asia Converts to Protestantism from Shia Islam Iranian former Shia Muslims {{Sweden-reli-bio-stub