The Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin is a dormant apostolic exarchate of the Russian Byzantine Catholic Church based in the city of

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

in China. The

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...

of the apostolic exarchate was in the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of St. Vladimir in Harbin, which is now in ruins. The apostolic exarchate also had churches in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. From the 1890s to the 1930s Harbin attracted Russian immigrants, including railway workers and later

white émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...

s fleeing the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and the rise of Stalin.Zugger 2001 pp.459–461 Harbin Russians included

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, Polish

Latin Catholic The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 ''sui iuris'' churches in full communion w ...

, and Jewish congregations. In 1926 Ivan Koronin's parish converted from Orthodox to Catholic. Although most went back after Koronin's death, about 40 remained to form the nucleus of the

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

congregation. On 20 May 1928 the

Pontifical Commission A pontifical commission () is a committee of Catholic experts convened by the Pope for a specific purpose. The following is a list of commissions, the dates they began and the pope who established. Current commissions # Pontifical Commissi ...

for Russia issued the decree ''Fidelium Russorum'' establishing an ordinariate at Harbin to cater for Russians of the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

, and "all Catholics of the Oriental Rites", in China. It was later transformed into an apostolic exarchate. Ordinariates and apostolic exarchates are exempt jurisdictions, not part of any

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

but rather directly subject to the Holy See, in Harbin's case through the Congregation for the Oriental Churches as successor to the Pontifical Commission for Russia.Graßmann 2017, p.164 fn.78 The ordinary or apostolic exarch would be from the

Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary () is a Catholic male Clergy, clerical religious congregation founded, 1670, in Poland. It is also known as Marians of the Immaculate Conception. Its ...

, a Polish Latin Catholic order. In 1939 Andrzej Cikoto obtained

Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

's consent for a

branch of the Marian Fathers. In the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

, the Russian Catholic clergy were arrested and deported to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The apostolic exarchate has had no ordinary since 1952 and is in fact discontinued till further papal notice. Russian Catholic communities in Melbourne, New York, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo have Harbin heritage.

References

Sources

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Citations

External links

Lyceum St. Nicholas, Harbin, 1929-1949
from the archived website of The Society of St. John Chrysostom of Ayatriada Rum Katoliki Kilise {{DEFAULTSORT:Harbin, Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate Russian Greek Catholic Church Former Apostolic exarchates Eastern Catholic dioceses 1928 establishments in China History of Harbin Organizations based in Harbin History of Christianity in China Chinese people of Russian descent Roman Catholic dioceses in China Christian organizations established in 1928