Lou the gospel

He lived near the walls of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Beijing (Northern Compound - Beiguan). Baptized in childhood. He studied at the Sino-Russian elementary school in ^[1] .

In 1950, he graduated from the one-year training courses for clergymen in the Russian Spiritual Mission in China ^[1] .

In July of the same year, he was ordained deacon in the Innokentievsky temple of Beiguan, Archbishop of Beijing Victor (Svyatin) ^[1] .

He served as a deacon in Tianjin under Bishop Simeon (Du) . After the appointment of Bishop Simeon in September 1950, the bishop of Shanghai followed him to Shanghai . In 1951 he was elevated to the rank of protodeacon . San priest did not accept modesty, considering himself unworthy to carry out pastoral service ^[1] .

He served in the cathedral in honor of the icon of the Mother of God, the “Companion of Sinners” in Shanghai until it was closed in 1965. After that, the Chinese authorities were sent to work in the city real estate department, where he worked until retirement ^[1] .

He lived in Shanghai. For a long time had no connection with other Orthodox believers. Only when the city once arrived from Australia, Archpriest Vladimir Boykov, Protodeacon Evangel again proceeded to the Holy Mysteries ^[2] .

In a November 2007 report by Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill (Gundyaev), “The Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church: History, Today, Prospects”, it was noted: “Priest Michael Wang and Protodeacon Evangel Lu, who keep in their hearts, live in Shanghai. the hope to celebrate the Liturgy on Chinese soil ” ^[3] .

On March 9, 2008, together with Priest Michael Van, he first prayed and communed for the service at the premises of the Russian Consulate General in Shanghai. At the end of the service, Priest Mikhail and Protodeacon Evangel were awarded the medals of St. Sergius of Radonezh, I degree, with which Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II awarded them in connection with the 50th anniversary of the autonomy of the Chinese Orthodox Church. On the same day, the Orthodox community of Shanghai together visited the building of the former cathedral in Shanghai in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Hand of the Sinners”, where clerics of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church talked about their ministry ^[4] .

On April 27 of the same year, he celebrated Easter in Beijing as a layman in the cathedral provided by the Catholics of the Archangel Michael. Most of the about 30 believers gathered for Easter service were descendants of Albazin Cossacks ^{[5] [6]} .

On June 15 of the same year, on the occasion of Pentecost in the building of the Russian Consulate General in Shanghai, with the permission of the authorities, for the first time in 44 years, he took part in the service, serving together with the rector of the Orthodox community of Shanghai, Archpriest Mikhail Kiselevich ^{[1] [7]} . In this regard, he said: “I am grateful [to the authorities] that this finally happened. I thank God for being able to achieve this ” ^[8] .

Since that time, being a clergyman of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church at rest ^[9] , he took part in the services performed by Archpriest Alexis Kiselevich in Shanghai ^[1] .

On June 23, 2012, in the Nicholas Church of Shanghai, he served as chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeyev) ^[10] .

On May 15, 2013, in the building of the former cathedral of Shanghai, he served the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill during his first patriarchal visit to China, declaring his age in a sonorous voice a petition in Church Slavonic ^[1] . Patriarch Kirill mentioned him in a conversation with the media: “It was very touching to see the Chinese clergy. Father Michael Wang and Father Evangel Lu, who have served me today, are people of a very advanced age, they were ordained then, in the 50s. They kept clarity of thought, a wonderful memory and a strong voice. For me, meeting with these people also has great symbolic significance ” ^[11] .

On Christmas Day 2016, he visited the St. Nicholas Temple in Shanghai for the last time, where he prayed for divine services and took communion. In the future, the disease did not allow him to be in the temple, but he regularly received communion, the last time at the end of January 2017 ^[1] .

He died after a long illness in Shanghai on March 5, 2017, being the last surviving clergyman of the Russian Spiritual Mission in China ^[1] . According to the rector of the parish in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Hong Kong, Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev, “The memory of the newly departed Protodeacon Evangel as one of the confessors of faith will remain in the hearts of those who knew him, the Shanghai Orthodox community and children of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. Eternal memory to the newly departed Protodeacon Evangel! ” ^[12] .

On March 9, 2017 in Shanghai, Archpriest Alexy Kiselevich and Rector of the Intercession Church in Harbin, Priest Alexander Yu, performed a funeral service for the deceased cleric. The funeral was attended by relatives and friends of the deceased, as well as Orthodox Chinese from Shanghai, Beijing and other cities of China. Official condolences were read out from Patriarch Kirill and the DECR head, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), in Russian and Ktaty languages ^[13] .