Paul Wang Wenheng

Holy Martyr Paul Wang Wenheng was a servant of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Beijing, killed on 10 June 1900, in the Boxer uprising. He was born in 1864 in China. He was canonized in 1902 by the Russian Church, among the martyrs. His commemoration is on 10 June.

In 1881, as an honest, submissive, obedient man endowed with the gift of speech, he was appointed catechist by the head of the mission, Archimandrite Flavian (Gorodetsky). As a member of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Beijing, he had close ties of friendship with the Chinese priest Mitrophan Ji.

At the time of the Boxer uprising, Paul Wang prepared by his preaching many Chinese Orthodox Christians for the coming persecution, although some of the listeners received his words with scepticism, saying that he himself would be the first to renounce the Orthodox faith. On 2 June 1900 Paul Wang's property was plundered by the Boxers, and his house destroyed. Taking the silver he had in the house, Paul sought refuge with his pagan relatives, but they deceived him: they first received him, then, taking possession of his savings, drove him away.

On the evening of 10 June 1900 he died as a martyr in Beijing, together with his family. According to eyewitnesses, before death he prayed to God, on his knees, with his arms crossed on his chest.

His mother, Catherine (1838 to 10 June 1900), died as a martyr in the time of the uprising: fleeing the Boxers, because of weak sight she wandered about the city and was seized by the insurgents, who took her for a poisoner of wells, stripped her and drowned her in a swamp. His wife, Sarah (1863 to 10 June 1900), his son John (1889 to 10 June 1900) and his daughter Alexandra (1891 to 10 June 1900) also died as martyrs in the time of the uprising. In 1903, when the feast in honour of the Chinese martyrs was celebrated for the first time, the remains of the martyrs Paul Wang and his family, together with others, were laid beneath the altar of the church of the martyrs of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Beijing.