ALL THE SAINTS OF CHINA (JUNE 11TH)
Contemporary Byzantine Icon of All the Saints of China Compiled and Edited by Bp. Joseph ( Ancient Church of the West ) INTRODUCTION The feast of All the Saints of China honors the martyrs, confessors, bishops, monastics, and lay faithful who, in every age, bore witness to Christ in the land of China. From the first seeds of the Gospel sown by the early Eastern Syriac missionaries, to the Orthodox martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion, and through the sufferings of the Church under persecution in the modern era, this feast is a radiant testimony to the enduring light of the Gospel in the East. THE EARLIEST ROOTS OF THE CHINESE CHURCH The story of the Chinese Church begins not in the modern missionary age, but in the apostolic mission of the Ancient Eastern Church . By the early 7th century, Christian monks and bishops - many of whom followed the liturgical and theological customs of the Assyrian and Persian traditions - had journeyed along the Silk Road. In AD 635, the priest-monk St. Al...
