(IPS) feature

Having fought Boxer rebels and Red Guards in the past, one religious group in China — the orthodox Christians — has remarkably survived the twists of history in preserving its faith.

But these days, China's hasty economic development and stubborn bureaucracy are threatening to obliterate the last traces of this religion in the country.

''We listened to the Christmas mass with tears in our eyes,'' confessed Zhao Hongyou, one of the 50 worshipers who gathered with flowers and candles to celebrate the orthodox Christmas on Jan 7 in the small cathedral inside the Russian embassy in Beijing.

That Christmas service was the first one preformed by the Russian orthodox church in China for more than 50 years. Father Dionysis, a priest sent from Russia, gave holy communion to the congregation that includes descendants of Cossacks brought from Russia to Beijing by the Qing emperor Kangxi in 1685.

''The candles were too thin and the atmosphere was sort of lacking but my mother was very moved to listen to the prayers again,'' says Zhao. ''Some of our elders still remember what it was like before, when we had our own church and lived together in a community.''

But when the oldest surviving priest of the Chinese orthodox church in Beijing, the 80-year-old Father Alexander Du dies, with him will die the congregation's hopes for preserving its unique historical and religious heritage.

Nearly all Chinese orthodox believers in Beijing, several hundred at the least, belong to the community of Albazines, descendants of the Russian Cossack war prisoners from the fortress Albazin on Amur River who were captured during the many border skirmishes between China and Russia in the 17th century.

Wrecker's ball

As the orthodox church is not among the five officially recognised religions by the Chinese government, no priests can be educated or ordained — hence, the congregation is shrinking. Before the communist victory in 1949, there were 106 orthodox churches in China.

Today, there is only one active church in the north-eastern city ofHarbin, the Church of the Protection of Our Lady. All the other places of worship have fallen under the wrecker's ball, some have been transformed into museums and two Shanghai churches have become restaurants.

''We need our own church and we should build it here,'' says Du Zhonglian, another Orthodox believer who also calls himself 'Victor Dubinin' after his Cossack ancestor. He is pointing at the debris in front of the Russian Embassy in Beijing, where whole neighbourhood is being erased by city developers to make way for office buildings.

For nearly three centuries, Albazines and their families lived in a somewhat idyllic community in the grounds of the Russian embassy in Beijing where the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Mission was located. Albazines had their own church, a big dairy farm, an orchard and an aviary.

''In my childhood we still had some Swiss cows and the dairy was the biggest one in Beijing,'' recalls Du nostalgically.

History annals say that when Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) brought the Cossacks to Beijing in 1685, he gave them the Guangi Miao, or the Temple of the War God, to live in, located in the north-east corner of the imperial city.

Albazines were allowed to worship and a few years later a priest, chosen and sent from Peter the Great from Russia, joined the Orthodox community.

''Emperor Kangxi liked the Cossacks, he thought they were big and strong and he favoured them,'' is Du's explanation why the foreigners were awarded such special treatment.

Legend has it that no Chinese woman would agree to get married to the foreigners, so Kangxi allowed the Albazines to take the wives of executed Chinese prisoners. But Zhao and Du, descendants of the Cossacks, dispute this legend.

''We had a high status and Kangxi made us banner men — Manchu aristocrats and members of the Embroidered Yellow banner,'' Du says.

After three centuries of mixed marriages, Du, Zhao and fellow Albazines look Chinese, but they have preserved their orthodox faith and the memory of their origins.

Violent attacks

The Boxer rebellion of 1898-1900, an anti-Western and anti-missionaryuprising in China, saw violent attacks against Chinese converts to Christianity. In 1900, Guan Miao, the place where Albazin community lived, was laid to rubble and 222 orthodox Chinese were murdered for refusing to renounce their faith.

Although the Russian orthodox mission and the church were later rebuilt, the Russian revolution in 1917 separated the orthodox church of China from its traditional support base in Russia, and the Chinese church had to fend for itself.

After the communists came to power in China in 1949, treaties were signed between the Soviet and the Chinese governments, which provided for the turning over of Russian churches to Chinese control.

In 1956, on the orders of then-Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev, the Soviet embassy took over the territory of the Russian Orthodox mission and tore down the church.

In 1957, the Chinese orthodox church was declared autonomous but its existence was short-lived.

With the start of the cultural revolution in1966, its clergymen were persecuted, tortured and exiled. Churches were closed, its group's property confiscated and all religious activity was forbidden.

''We have waited for this Christmas mass for nearly 50 years,'' says Du Zhonglian.

Still, even nowadays, religious services can only be performed inside the Russian embassy where, after the collapse of the Soviet empire, a new church was built.

In Beijing, there is no other place of worship for orthodox believers and the only surviving Chinese orthodox priest, Father Du, is too old to perform his priestly duties.

Orthodox believers in Beijing, Harbin, Shanghai and other places have repeatedly asked the authorities to reactivate the autonomy of the Chinese orthodox Church and help them with the training of new priests. They have not received any response so far.

''When I look at my son, I fear for our future,'' Du Zhonglian. ''He cannot understand the Slavonic church services, because he cannot understand Russian. After 300 years of history, what will be left of us?''