Van Michael

His childhood and youth were spent in Shanghai by the Archbishop of Shanghai, John (Maximovich) , who influenced his choice of the path of a priest. He began his church ministry in the cathedral in the name of the Icon of the Mother of God, the “Companion of Sinners” in Shanghai ^[1] , where he was a reader ^[2] .

In 1958, Bishop Simeon of Shanghai (Du) was ordained to the priesthood ^[1] , becoming a cleric of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church, which received autonomy on November 23, 1956 ^[3] . Support from the USSR was increasingly limited due to the difficulties of the Khrushchev era ^[1] .

In December 1964, the central government banned the activities of the Orthodox Church in Shanghai, after which Michael could no longer serve as priest ^[4] . The years of the “ cultural revolution ” were marked by the mass closure and destruction of churches, and religious life in the country was actually outlawed. Priest Michael himself survived the “re-education campaign” in labor camps ^[1] .

In the absence of existing churches, he performed private prayers at home, maintained contacts with the surviving clergy of the Chinese Orthodox Church, waiting for the improvement of the situation in the country. After the beginning of the policy of reforms and openness, he received a residence permit in Shanghai, however, unlike Harbin, where the Church of the Intercession was opened and registered, the two remaining Orthodox churches in Shanghai were not opened. Thus, open church ministry for Priest Michael was impossible ^[1] .

After his death in December 2003 in Beijing, Archpriest Alexander Du remained the only priest of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church ^[1] . Apart from him, only Protodeacon Evangel Lu survived from the entire clergy of the Chinese Orthodox Church. They could not perform the liturgy, since the Chinese Orthodox Church did not pass the re-registration prescribed by law ^[5] . 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 ” ^[6] .

On March 9, 2008, together with Protodeacon Evangel, Lu prayed and communed for the service in the premises of the Russian Consulate General in Shanghai, which was performed by priest Alexei Kiselevich. At the end of the service, they were awarded the medals of St. Sergius of Radonezh of the first degree, which they were awarded by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II on the occasion of 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 the name of the Icon of the Mother of God, the “Supporter of Sinners” in Shanghai, where Priest Michael and Protodeacon Evangel talked about their ministry ^[7] .

After the 44-year break, he performed his first service in the building of the Russian consulate in Shanghai on Easter 2008 ^[8] . Since that time, he took part in divine services performed by Archpriest Alexis Kiselevich in Shanghai ^[1] .

In August 2009, despite his physical weakness, he took a long trip to northern China, where Orthodox believers of Russian descent lived, having been practically without pastoral care for half a century. On August 30, 2009, in the city of Labdarin in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, he consecrated the church of St. Innocent of Irkutsk , built in the 1990s, one of four Orthodox churches that had by then official status in the PRC. This consecration of an Orthodox church was the first in the PRC since the 1960s ^{[1] [9]} .

April 11, 2010 became the first Chinese Orthodox clergyman to worship in Harbin after the death in 2000 of priest Grigory Zhu, rector of the Intercession Church of this city. He was respected by the community of Orthodox Chinese in Harbin ^[1] .

On June 23, 2012, in the Nicholas Church of Shanghai, he served the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk, who addressed after the Liturgy with words of gratitude to Priest Michael and other Orthodox Chinese who “firmly carried the Orthodox faith through life,” despite difficulties and obstacles ^[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 the first ever visit of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to China ^[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] .

Died June 2, 2015 in Shanghai after a long illness. His funeral service was performed on June 6 in Shanghai by the rector of the Orthodox community in Shanghai, Archpriest Alexei Kiselevich, accompanied by Alexander Yu, deacon of the Intercession Church in Harbin, in the presence of Orthodox Chinese from different cities of the PRC. On the occasion of the death of Priest Michael, Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolsky (Alfeev) expressed official condolences to his widow Tatyana Xu Shuqin, members of the family and the Orthodox community of Shanghai ^{[1] [12]} .