L'église de la Dormition de Pékin a célébré le cinquième anniversaire de sa restauration

Le cinquième anniversaire la restauration de l'église de la Dormition à l'ambassade russe dans la capitale chinoise a été célébré le 19 octobre. Construite en 1902, l'église fut transformée en garage cinquante ans plus tard, après le transfert de la Mission religieuse orthodoxe à l'ambassade de l'URSS. En Octobre 2009, après sa restauration, l'église a été re-consacrée en présence de Vladimir Poutine, en visite officielle en Chine en tant que premier ministre.

"Bien sûr, le véritable anniversaire est le cinquantième, mais ceux qui connaissent l'histoire de cette église, l'histoire de sa reconstruction, sont bien conscients que le cinquième anniversaire de sa re-consécration est une" date symbolique", a déclaré l'évêque Serge de Solnetchnogorsk au correspondant de TASS. "Cette église, a-t-il poursuivi, est un parfait exemple de la collaboration entre l'Église et l'État dont parlent le président Vladimir Poutine et le Patriarche Cyrille de Moscou et de toute la Russie- L'église de la Dormition de Pékin est un lieu de réconfort, un lieu de prière pour des centaines et des centaines de nos compatriotes, un endroit où ils se sentent chez eux, rentrés à la maison..."

D'après Andrej Kirillov, Correspondant TASS .
Traduction VG

Next, a few words concerning all of the reports concerning the tearing-down of Protestant churches throughout China.

Firstly, Protestantism has flourished largely unfettered in China for nearly fifty years. It has been "harmonised" as we say here and rendered largely bland -- a bit like English cooking.

Of late, however, there has been a serious outbreak of violence, and I mean a serious outbreak of violence, among Protestant believers here in China, all of which has shocked a Chinese public largely innured to the spectacle of sectarian violence.

Only recently 20 faithful of one Protestant sect were given death sentences by the People's Court in Shandong Province for MURDERING, yes, murdering, in broad daylight, a Chinese person who refused to abjure her faith and convert to their version of Protestantism. That was preceded by a series of beheadings, a la Marie Antoinette, of Chinese in another village, of Protestant confession who were engaged in polemics with the sectarians of another Protestant confession. Again, the Chinese public were largely shocked by these acts of wanton violence.The perpetrators were found guilty and were summarily executed after rejection of their appeal by the Supreme Court of China.

The People's Republic is now struggling with a serious of Muslim terrorism and there have been numerous acts of bombings, car bombings, train bombings, attacks upon markets, knife attacks upon Chinese residents which have left the country shocked and saddened.

Numerous cities are now closed to travel and security on the country's subways, buses, at airports and train stations, is at a level which I have personally never, ever seen.

A long-time French resident of Harbin, married to a Chinese local, said that is reminded her of the bombings in Algeria during the Algerian war.

In any case, China for years kept a tight-lid on religion. Now that the country has (somewhat) relaxed its position, it is, I imagine, horrified to see what has come about.

As many of us, believers or not, are also.