For the first time in 48 years, Chinese Orthodox Christians have held an Easter service accompanied by a choir - but without a priest.
Led by a layman, the service in Beijing drew some 90 worshippers from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province , who were tightly supervised by central and local religious affairs bureaus.
An Orthodox priest from Hong Kong, Father Dionisy Pozdnyaev, was asked to wait outside the church during the 11/2 hour service.
By the Julian calendar the Orthodox Easter fell on Sunday, May 1, but the service was held in St Michael's Catholic Church a day later. The congregation consisted mainly of descendants of Russian Cossacks from the Albazin fortress on the Amur River, who were taken prisoner by Chinese troops in the 17th century. They served as imperial guards, intermarried with the Chinese but kept their Orthodox faith.
The Orthodox cathedral in Beijing became enclosed in the embassy compound of the Soviet Union in 1957 and was off-limits to ordinary Chinese citizens.
Since the last priest in Beijing, Aleksandr Du Lifu , died in 2003, the congregation has been without a priest. His niece, Madrona Wang Linru , who has been active in maintaining the Orthodox tradition, has campaigned to have a church and a priest.
Celebrating Easter according to the Orthodox rite was a deeply moving experience for the congregation, many of whom had no memory of the service.
