ST. STEPHEN WU ZHIQUAN, ARCHPRIEST AND NEW MARTYR OF HARBIN (MAY 10TH)

St. Stephen of Harbin

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

During the dark storm of the Cultural Revolution, when the faithful were mocked and scattered, the Archpriest Stephen Wu Zhiquan bore witness to Christ with unflinching courage. A Chinese convert to Holy Orthodoxy and servant of the Church in Harbin, he tended the flock with wisdom, humility, and a shepherd’s heart in the face of oppression, rising hatred and fanaticism. 

Dragged before a temple desecrated for political theater, Fr. Stephen was made a spectacle before the people through humility and love. Each time they accused him, he told them of the love of Jesus and salvation through Christ’s Holy Name. A table was laid before him - covered in jagged rubble. Upon this he was forced to kneel, clothed in a clown’s mockery of priestly vesture, crowned with a cap filled with metal shavings. His face was smeared with soot in a parody of the anointing of Holy Chrism.

For two days, the blessed confessor was struck repeatedly on the head with wooden hammers and beaten with rods of steel. They spat upon the Cross of Christ he bore around his neck, mocking the sacred mysteries he served, calling him a traitor, a liar, an evil plotter, and an immoral man. Yet he prayed in silence, his lips moving as though uttering the Psalms of David and the prayers of the Liturgy. His tormentors, unable to break his spirit, finally executed him with a bullet to the head - his blood mingling with the dust of the martyrs before him.

The faithful gathered what remained of his body and laid him to rest in the Orthodox cemetery of Sankeshu, near Harbin, where his tomb now lies as a witness to Christ’s victory over tyrants and death. In the face of ideological cruelty, St. Stephen’s quiet strength bore the uncreated light of the Risen Christ, and his martyrdom now shines as a lamp for the persecuted Church in every nation.

MARTYRS HYMN FOR ST. STEPHEN WU ZHIQUAN

O priestly martyr, crowned with sorrow, 

Stephen, faithful, firm, and wise, 

Through the wrath of godless power 

Thou didst offer sacrifice. 

Not of beasts or temple altar, 

But thy flesh in bloody guise.

Mocked with soot and iron burden, 

Hammered down with heartless blows, 

Still thy lips with prayer were moving, 

Still thy soul in mercy flows. 

Thou didst walk the road of Jesus, 

Where the Cross and glory rose.

Harbin's soil received thy body, 

As the saints and angels sang, 

While thy soul with light was lifted 

Far above the tyrant's fang. 

Now with prophets, priests, and martyrs, 

Thou dost praise the Lamb once slain.

Pray for those in bonds and darkness, 

Pray for China’s faithful band, 

That the Lord of Hosts may strengthen 

All who in the furnace stand. 

Christ shall crown thy tears with triumph, 

Through thy blood shall cleanse this land.

哈爾濱聖司鐸斯德望殉道詩

哀榮加頂，神父殉道， 

斯德望者，忠毅明高； 

悖政肆虐，無神為暴， 

爾乃自獻，血肉為刀。 

非羊非犧，非壇非祀， 

己身成祭，義路獨操。

污面加鐵，嘲袍加冕， 

椎擊無情，酷暴盈肩； 

爾口默禱，唇仍低語， 

爾心流慈，如水常潺。 

主途同步，苦架同負， 

榮耀與痛，共冉同攀。

聖體入土，哈市埋幽， 

聖徒歌頌，天軍同遊； 

靈魂昇天，光輝熠熠， 

超脫暴牙，高居千秋。 

今與聖先、祭司、英烈， 

同頌羔羊，昔死今榮。

懇祈幽囚，黑暗之中， 

中國聖徒，蒙主加隆； 

萬軍之主，賜堅與勇， 

火窯之內，信者無窮。 

基督加冕，爾淚成勝， 

爾血濯地，潔此神邦。

COLLECT

O Almighty God, who didst strengthen thy servant Stephen Wu Zhiquan to endure with patience the cruel torments of his persecutors, and to glorify thy Name in his death: Grant us, we beseech thee, such constancy in faith, that, following his example and strengthened by his prayers, we may persevere unto the end and obtain the crown of righteousness; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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