MATTEO RICCI: A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER IN CHINA (OCT. 6TH)

A Widely Published 17th Century Portrait of Fr. Matteo Ricci, Missionary to China 

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Introduction 

Matteo Ricci (AD 1552-1610) or “Li Madou,” was a Jesuit missionary whose approach to spreading Christianity in China was as revolutionary as it was culturally respectful. While educated in the Western tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, Ricci developed an evangelistic method that transcended the limitations of the post-Schism doctrinal innovations of Counter-Reformation Rome, focusing instead on core truths of the ancient Church. His work in China laid the groundwork for a bridge between Christian Orthodoxy and the rich philosophical heritage of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, offering a model that can still be followed today in the promotion of an indigenous Orthodoxy for East Asia.

Ricci’s Encounter with Chinese Culture

Arriving in China in AD 1583, Matteo Ricci was struck by the profound wisdom, order, and spiritual depth that Confucianism and Taoism offered the Chinese people. Unlike many Western missionaries who sought to impose foreign ideas and practices, Ricci’s genius lay in his ability to adapt and contextualize the Christian message without compromising its essence. Ricci understood that the pathway to a truly indigenous Chinese Christianity required respect for China’s millennia-old traditions, combined with a return to the timeless truths of the Apostolic faith, untarnished by Western ecclesiastical innovations or Eastern imperial idolatry. 

Ricci’s fluency in the Chinese language and his deep understanding of Confucian philosophy allowed him to engage with China’s intellectual elite. He earned their respect by becoming a scholar among scholars, emphasizing points of harmony between Christianity and Confucianism, especially regarding moral philosophy, natural law, and the pursuit of wisdom. His book “The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven” and his compilation of poems “On Friendship,” were truly literary sensations amongst the educated elite. He advocated for Christianity not as a foreign religion, but as the fulfillment of the moral and spiritual insights already present in Confucian teachings, much in the same way that Origen and the Cappadocian Fathers had done with Hellenistic philosophy, seeing it as a natural outgrowth of the highest perceptions and intuitions of the ancient philosophers. 

A Theological Bridge to an Ancient Orthodoxy

While Ricci remained a Jesuit, his theological framework stands apart from many of his Roman contemporaries. Instead of focusing on the innovations of the Rome system - such as papal universal jurisdiction, infallibility, the Filioque, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of Mary - he focused on the core of the Apostolic faith in a way that would have been completely recognizable to the Ancient Eastern Fathers or to the Caroline Divines and Nonjurors. In Ricci’s approach, we see a desire to return to the simplicity and purity of the pre-Schism Church, establishing a Chinese vocabulary and a plethora of philosophical categories, which effectively communicated this Christian essence into a new cultural milieu, much like what Origen did for the Greek world and what St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas accomplished for the Latin West. His refusal to press Roman doctrinal innovations reveals a deeper Orthodoxy, one that resonates with the teachings of the early Fathers of both East and West, rather than the later controversies that detailed Western Christianity and created the imbalances and abuses of both Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church. 

Ricci’s emphasis on logic, mathematics, reason, natural theology, and moral rectitude found common ground within the world of Confucian thought. His approach can be likened to the Alexandrian School of Theology, which synthesized Greek philosophy with Christian doctrine, offering a model of how Christianity can speak to different cultures without losing its Apostolic integrity. In China, Ricci sought to integrate the ancient cultural and psychological insights of the East with the eternal truths of the Gospel, pointing Chinese thinkers back to the same Logos, or “Tao,” that the Fathers of the Church proclaimed—the divine Word that enlightens every man who comes into the world (John 1:9).

Ricci’s First Map Made in China, AD 1602, Which Became the Chinese Imperial Standard for Hundreds of Years 

Confucianism and the Road to an Orthodox Christianity

Ricci’s unique Christian apologetic embraced Confucian values such as filial piety, humility, and the cultivation of virtue, presenting Christ as the fulfillment of these virtues through enabling a process of sanctification. He viewed Confucianism not as an obstacle to Christianity, but rather as a fertile field for the planting of the Gospel seed, kept, weeded and tilled miraculously by the Holy Spirit through the work of inspired seekers after wisdom. These seekers were inspired by ancient sages, who - like Plato, Aristotle and Heraclitus - were “Pathfinders of the Way.” This approach reads very much like how Sts. Clement of Alexandria, Maximos the Confessor, the Cappadocians, and luminaries like Origen, approach Ancient Greek philosophy and engaged the pagan intellectuals of their day.

By stripping away doctrinal accretions through simply ignoring and not teaching them, and focusing on the shared human pursuit of wisdom and truth, Ricci offered a vision of Christianity that resonated deeply with Chinese culture on a fundamental level. His philosophical method, centered on a high view of natural law and moral order, bypassed the theological stumbling blocks that Rome imposed in other places, merely for political power and monetary gain. In this sense, Ricci’s work can be seen as part of a larger Apostolic effort to restore Orthodox Christianity to its ancient and universal essence - one that transcends the boundaries of East and West. Truly, the Franciscans and Dominicans who persecuted Ricci and his disciples were accurate in seeing their work as foreign to the self interests of the Roman system, because Ricci was not trying to propagate the Pope, but the Lord Jesus Christ! 

Summary: Ricci’s Legacy and the Continuation of His Mission in Our Church 

Despite the intense papal suppression of Ricci’s work after the Rites Controversy, which curtailed his efforts to accommodate Chinese culture and attempted to force papal supremacy on the Chinese emperor, Ricci’s legacy endures as a paradigm for missions that value cultural respect and theological integrity. Today, the Missionary Diocese of East and Southeast Asia, following in a truly Western Orthodox tradition, can draw inspiration from Ricci’s methods. His vision for a Chinese Christian Church, rooted in both the wisdom of Confucianism and the Apostolic truths of the early Church, offers a template for continued engagement with East Asia.

The task before the Missionary Diocese is to reclaim Ricci’s philosophical and theological vision - one that emphasizes Orthodoxy without compromise, while honoring the rich cultural heritage of China with as much reverence and respect as the Patristic Fathers paid to Ancient Greece and Rome. By revisiting Ricci’s work and focusing on the core truths of the pre-Schism Church, Western Orthodox missions today can build an authentically indigenous East Asian Church that speaks to the deepest needs and aspirations of Far Eastern peoples. 

Matteo Ricci and His Most Famous Disciple, Xu Guangqi, the Father of Chinese Mathematics and Sciences

As Ricci did, the mission must move forward without the Roman innovations that alienate, focusing instead on the ancient faith that unites both East and West. In continuing Ricci’s legacy, we pave the way for a truly indigenous Orthodoxy in East Asia - one that can stand the test of time, the trials of persecution, and the struggle with local philosophical and religious concepts, as Ricci’s work has proven capable of doing over the last 442 years! 

Collect

O Almighty God, who didst send Matteo Ricci to proclaim the Gospel unto the people of China, and who gavest him wisdom to speak thy truth in love and humility, grant that we, following his example, may ever seek to bridge the worlds of wisdom and faith, and to bring all nations into the fellowship of thy Holy Orthodox Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.