Dear Friends at https://www.egliserusse.eu/blogdiscussion,

Now let us discuss the TRUTH about this the church of the Pokrov in Harbin which was my parish for nearly thirty years.

In 2008, the Pokrov Parish launched an overseas appeal for funds to restore the church building. I was on that Committee.

1. We primarily aimed our appeal to the diaspora in San Francisco, California, in Melbourne, Australia, in Brisbane, Australia and in Tokyo, Japan, where most of the the Orthodox from Harbin who left China are now found.

2. We raised nearly USD 300,000.00 which in China represents a considerable amount of money, in terms of what it can buy, in terms of labor, and what it can buy in terms of material.

3. This money was placed in a special account of the Agricultural Bank of China, Harbin, one of the few banks allowed to receive overseas money.

4. Because the Pokrov Parish is a nationally listed and protective heritage building, the City of Harbin stepped in to oversee repairs, in other words, the Communist Red Devil arrived at the front door.

5. Then occurred a major political shift in the City of Harbin government. Under then Presidents Wang and Hu, religious establishments had been basically left alone -- something that Queen Victoria of England called "benign neglect".

6. With the coming-to-office of new President, everything changed -- for the worst.

7. The bank account with the money collected from the diaspora was frozen by the authorities.

8. The money then simply evaporated into the hands of corrupt local officials.

9. The Municipal Authorities ordered, once again, the church closed.

10. The Church of the Pokrov was historically known as the Ukrainian Church of Harbin. It was built at the turn of the last century, the 19th century, for those émigrés from the Ukraine who were working for the Transsiberian Railroad and who were quartered in Harbin.

11. Thus, the Church remained closed, and basically unrepaired, from 2013 until the present time.

12. However, and I am sure that Mr. Krivocheine will not like what comes next, the local Chinese Orthodox community reached out to the Embassy of the Ukraine in Beijing for moral and financial assistance.

13. Labourers and workers and specialists were sent from Kiev to Harbin to repair the Church of the
Pokrov, or the Ukrainian Church as it is called in Harbin.

14. These workers and labourers and specialists were paid from funds collected by the faithful in Kiev. The cost to the faithful in Harbin was minimal. Imagine that -- the poor of the Ukraine helping the middle class of China. Stunning.

15. The work was done over a period of three summers as it is IMPOSSBLE to do serious construction work in Harbin in the winters, with temperatures of - 40 C. for three months at a time.

16. Because of the involvement of the Embassy of Ukraine in the restoration of the Pokrov Church, the local authorities kept their Communist mischief and ill-deeds to a minimum.

17. The churches in the Ukraine, and I will not speak to jurisdiction so as not to anger Mr. Krivocheine, also sent icons, service books, and other needed church material.

18. It is ONLY of two functioning Orthodox churches in all of China that are not located on diplomatic territory.

19. With the arrival of many new immigrants of the Orthodox faith in Harbin, the parish once again has started to grow.

20. It is the only Orthodox parish in China available to the Chinese faithful.

21. At present there are several Chinese theological students in the Ukraine studying at two theological institutes in the City. Two of the three are married to Ukrainian nationals.

May God protect this little Church of the Pokrov and its parishioners.

With all the best from Montevideo,


Hai Lin