St. Tatiana of Beijing

10 Juni
Troparion (Irama 3)

“Marilah kita kawanan domba Kristus dengan cinta dan kesalehan, memuliakan dengan kidung sukacita bagi Martir yang setia dengan kebenaran yang menderita bagi Kristus di Cina. Karena mengaku Iman, mereka semua berani pergi kepada kematian sebagai domba-domba, yang dikorbankan untuk Gembala kita Kristus Sang Baginda.  Oleh karena itu untuk para martir kami berseru, "Ingatlah akan kita semua, yang menyanyikan pujianmu".

St. Tatiana adalam istri imam Orthodox pertama di Beijing Cina, St. Mitrophan. Anggota keluarganya ada  diantara para martir  selama gerakan Boxer anti-Kristen pada tahun 1900. Keluarganya berada diantara umat gereja Orthodox Beijing yang sedang berkumpul diaantara puing-puing gereja mereka yang dibakar, ketika mereka diserang. Sebelum dibunuh oleh para pemberontak Boxer itu,  St Tatiana dan St Mitrophan sempat menyaksikan penyiksaan dan kematian Ioann, anak mereka yang baru berusia delapan tahun. Mereka memotong hidung, telinga, dan jari kaki, tapi Ioann tidak meratap atas penderitaannya, dengan penuh keajaiban di tiak merasakan kesakitan akan penderitaannya.  Algojo yang memotong-motong bagian tubuhnya itu mengatakan bahwa ia adalah anak setan.  Menanggapi perkataan algojo itu, Ioann anak yang baru berusia 8 tahun itu berkatan, "Saya seorang Kristen Ortodoks dan saya percaya dalam Kristus, bukan setan"
Kemudian St. Tatiana bersama dengan Isaiah anaknya yang berusia 23 tahun , dibantai dan mereka pun menerima mahkota kemartiran. Tidak lama setelah itu, St.Mitrophan pun ditikam sampai mati.. Tunangan Isaiah, Maria, tiba di reruntuhan gereja itu. Dia membantu banyak orang melarikan diri dari pembantaian itu dengan melompat dinding taman, tetapi dia tetap tinggal untuk menghadapi musuh-musuhnya. Dia memilih untuk mati dengan keluarga tunangan nya. Mereka menusuk kaki dan tangannya dan mendorongnya untuk menyangkal imannya. Dia menolak dengan mengatakan, "Saya lahir di sini di Gereja Kudus Bunda Allah, aku akan mati di sini juga." 222 orang dari 1000 umat paroki Beijing menerima mahkota-mahkota kemartiran pada hari itu.

June 10th
Troparion (Tone 3)
Let us the flock of Christ with love and piety now glorify with hymns and truly joyous odes the faithful Martyrs of the truth who suffered for Christ in China. For having confessed the Faith, they all bravely went to death as lambs, which were sacrificed for our Shepherd and Master Christ. Therefore to the Martyrs we cry out, "Remember us all, who sing your praises".

St. Tatiana.was the wife of the first Orthodox Chinese priest in Beijing, St. Mitrophan.  Her family members were among the first to enter into martyrdom during the anti-Christian Boxer movement in 1900.  Her family as well as many parishioners of the Beijing church were gathered in the burnt-out remains of their church, when they were attacked.  St. Tatiana and St. Mitrophan first saw the torture and death of their eight year old son, John.  They cut off his nose, ears, and toes, but John refused to wail or moan.  By a miracle, he felt no pain.  In response to his executioners accusations of him being a demon-child, John simply stated, "I am an Orthodox Christian and I believe in Christ, not in demons".  Then St. Tatiana, along with her twenty-three year old son, Isaiah, were slaughtered and thus received their crowns of martyrdom.  St. Mitrophan was stabbed to death shortly there after.  Isaiah's betrothed, Maria, arrived at the church soon after.  She helped many escape the churchyard massacre by jumping the garden walls, but she stayed to face her enemies.  She chose to die with the family of her betrothed.  They pierced her feet and hands and encouraged her to give up the Faith.  She refused saying, "I was born here at the Church of the All-Holy Mother of God, I will die here too."  Two hundred and twenty-two of the nearly thousand members of the Beijing parish received their crowns of martyrdom that day.  

St. Mitrophan of China

Our righteous father, hieromartyr Mitrophan Yang (1856-1900)  

He was one of the many martyrs of the Yihetuan Movement (Boxer) Uprising

Commemoration day June 11

St. MITROPHAN. Priest Mitrophan, his Chinese name being Yang Ji , was born in 1855, on the 10th day of the 12th month . Before reaching twenty years of age, he was appointed to the post of catechist. At 25 he was ordained to the priesthood by Nikolai, bishop of Japan. He lost his father in early childhood and was raised under the care of his grandmother Ekaterina and his mother Marina; his mother was a teacher at a school for females. At the time he experienced many troubles. When Archimandrite Pallady became head of the Mission for the second time, he charged his teacher Juren, Long Yuan to take great care in educating Mitrophan, in order to prepare him for eventual ordination. Mitrophan was a humble person, very cautious and quiet, peaceful and not impassioned; even when faced with great insults, he did not try to justify himself. 

Archimandrite Pallady's successor was Archimandrite Flavian, who later became Metropolitan of Kiev. From the time of his arrival in Beijing, Archimandrite Pallady charged him, as well as the teacher Long Yuan, to try to have Mitrophan attain what had been predestined (that is the priestly rank). Mitrophan did not want to accept ordination and constantly refused, saying "how can a person with insufficient abilities and charity dare to accept this great rank?" But under the forceful urging of Archimandrite Flavian and the persuasion of the teacher, Mitrophan obeyed, even though he knew that by accepting priesthood, his end would be inauspicious. Under Archimandrite Flavian, Priest Mitrophan assisted him in translating and checking books. For fifteen years, he tirelessly served God, while suffering many hurts and insults both from his own people and outsiders, he finally had a mild breakdown. Sometime after this spent three years living outside the mission, receiving half of his previous salary. All his life the Priest Mitrophan was not avaricious and many took advantage of this. 

In 1900, on the evening of June 1 (which was the 17th day of the 5th month on the Chinese calendar)  , the Boxers burned the Mission's buildings. Many Christians, hiding from danger, assembled in Priest Mitrophan's home. Although Fr. Mitrophan's former ill-wishers were among them, he did not drive them out. Seeing that some people were dispirited, he strengthened them, saying that the time of troubles had come and would be difficult to avoid. He himself several times daily went to look at the burned church. On the 10th of June, towards 10 in the evening, soldiers and Boxers surrounded Fr. Mitrophan's dwelling. Up to 70 Christians were there at the time; the stronger among them fled, while Fr. Mitrophan and many others, primarily women and children, remained and were tortured. Fr. Mitrophan sat in his courtyard when the Boxers punctured his chest like a honeycomb and he fell under a date tree. His neighbors removed his body to the Mission's almshouse. Later the Priest-monk Avraamy picked up Fr. Mitrophan's body and, in 1903, during the first commemoration of the martyrs, it along with others, was placed under the altar in the martyrs' church. At the place were Fr. Mitrophan was tortured, there were also: wife Tatiana , and three sons -- the older, Isaiah; the second Sergiy -- now a priest; and the third Ioann. 

 St. Mitrophan of China, pray for us to Christ our God for His Great Mercy!