Volumes have been written about the Russin Spiritual Mission in Beijing. In brief, in 1685 during the military conflict in the Amur River area, several dozens of Russian warriors from the Albazin Fortress were brought to China to be included in the imperial guards as the “Hundred Russians” with a permission to follow their Orthodox religion. Peter I was forethoughtful enough to understand the importance of the presence of such a community in the capital of the Chinese Empire. The activities of the first Russian Spiritual Mission that set out to China in 1712, following a decree of the Russian tzar and with the consent of Emperor Kangxi turned out to be a unique phenomenon from the very start. For almost three centuries the Russian priests have been building and strengthening the foundation of diplomatic relations between the two great states. At present, at the St. Nicholas Church in Golutvin (this place is also memorable in connection with the Tretyakov brothers) a Chinese Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia has been set up, where a spiritual dialogue between Russian and China is being carried on.
Key words: archimandrite, N.Y. Bichurin, Father Jacinth, the Russian spiritual Mission in Beijing, the Chinese Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, St. Nicholas Church in Golutvin, P.M. and S.M. Tretyakov.
