THE BISHOP GREGORY LUO WENZAO, FIRST KNOWN CHINESE BISHOP AFTER THE YUAN DYNASTY (JULY 27TH)

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

In an age when the light of Christ was just beginning to dawn across the ancient lands of the east, God in his providence raised up a shepherd from among the sons of Han, a man noble in spirit and zealous in faith: Gregory Luo Wenzao (AD 1610-1691), a native bishop in an ancient, apostolic church in the land of China. 

Born in AD 1610 in Fujian province, in a time of dynastic unrest and civil confusion, Luo Wenzao was drawn from his youth to truth, order, and righteousness. Though raised in the ancestral ways of his people, he encountered the gospel through missionaries of the Dominican order, who had braved the oceans and empires to bring Christ to the east. Touched by the power of divine grace and illumined by the truth of the incarnation, Luo received baptism and the name Gregory, in honor of the great pope of Rome who had sent St. Augustine to England. 

He was not content merely to believe - he yearned to serve. Endowed with intelligence, reverence, and a burning charity for his countrymen, he entered the Dominican novitiate and traveled to Manila in the Philippines for training. Later he was sent to Europe, where he was ordained to the sacred priesthood and learned deeply of the theological traditions of the Latin west. 

In a time when the church still hesitated to ordain native clergy, much less elevate them to episcopal dignity, Gregory’s calling was a holy scandal - a sign and a challenge. Yet Pope Innocent XI, discerning the times and the needs of the mission, consecrated Gregory as vicar apostolic of Nanking in AD 1685, making him the first Chinese bishop in in an Apostolic Church to be ordained since the Yuan Dynasty - a true icon of Pentecost, where every tongue is given to proclaim the glory of God. 

A Chinese Crucifixion Icon 

A Chinese Resurrection Icon 

As bishop, he labored tirelessly amid persecution and imperial suspicion. He promoted the education of Chinese catechists, defended the inculturation of the liturgy, and opposed colonial arrogance among foreign missionaries, insisting that Christ could be received and worshipped within the noble traditions of Chinese civilization. He was a man of peace who walked the narrow way between the West and the Ming and Qing courts, seeking not his own glory but the glory of God and the salvation of his people. 

Though he was often misunderstood by both his brethren and his countrymen, Bishop Gregory bore all things with patience, knowing that the cross was the only throne from which true kingship could reign. When he reposed in the Lord in AD 1691, the gospel had been firmly planted by native hands, and the episcopate in China had, in him, received long-dormant fruits. 

Although Bishop Gregory Luo Wenzao was not canonically Orthodox according to the present divisions within the Church, his life and ministry nevertheless bore witness to the light of Christ in a time of great spiritual awakening. His labors, faithfulness, and commitment to indigenous leadership helped lay important groundwork for the future planting of Orthodoxy in China. We honor his memory as a faithful servant of the Gospel and give thanks for his contribution to the Christian witness in the East.

A COLLECT FOR THE FEAST OF BISHOP GREGORY LUO WENZAO 

O God, who didst raise up thy servant Gregory, a faithful Chinese shepherd, to feed thy flock in the grace of truth and peace: grant that, following his example, thy church in every nation may be rooted in her own soil, faithful in her confession, and adorned with holiness, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

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