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[[Image:MitrophanJiJul1882.jpg|right|thumb|St Mitrophan, first Chinese priest and Martyr of the Yihetuan Movement (Boxer) UprisingRebellion.]]
[[image:Mitrophan.jpg|right|157px|St Mitrophan, the spiritual father and one of the Chinese Martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion.]]
Our righteous father, hieromartyr of the Yihetuan Movement (Boxer) Uprising, '''Mitrophan Yang''' (Chinese Yang Zhi Ji 楊吉, some sources have Yang Zhizhong 楊吉中, Jizhong or Yang Zhisong 楊吉?Jisong) (1856-1900), was the first Chinese [[ordination|ordained]] a [[priest]] in the [[Church of China]]. He was one of the many [[martyr]]s of the Yihetuan Movement (Boxer) Uprising of 1900. He is commemorated on the , whose collective [[feast day]] of the Chinese martyrs is [[June 11]].
==Life==
Yang Ji, the future Mitrophan , was born, probably in Beijing, on [[January 17]], 1856 into a family of Chinese Orthodox associated with [[Russian Orthodox Mission in China]]. In Chinese, his name at birth was Yang Ji. He was given the Christian name of Mitrophan. His father died while he was very young, and he was raised by his mother Marina, who was a teacher at a school for girls, and his grandmother Ekaterina. Yang Ji grew to be a humble person who was cautious and quiet. He was peaceful in demeanor and was impassioned even when faced with great insults.
In 1864, when [[Archimandrite]] [[Pallady (Kafarov) of Beijing|Pallady]] returned to lead the Russian Orthodox Mission for a second time, he charged Yang Ji’s teacher Juren Long Yuan with taking care of Yang Ji’s education so as to prepare him for ordination. Although urged by both Archimandrite Pallady and his teacher Long Yuan, Mitrophan was reluctant to accept ordination and constantly refused it noting “how can a person with insufficient abilities and charity dare to accept this great rank?” Archimandrite Pallady’s successor in 1878, as the Mission leader, Archimandrite Flavian, continued to urge Mitrophan to accept ordination. Obedient to his leader’s urging Mitrophan finally accepted ordination as a [[priest]]. As there were no [[bishop]]s resident near Beijing, Archimandrite Flavian, Mitrophan, and two others as candidates for [[reader]] journeyed to Tokyo, Japan in June 1882 to see [[Nicholas of Japan|Bishop Nicholas]] of the Japanese mission.
[[Category: Missionaries|Mitrophan]]
[[Category:Orthodoxy in China]]
[[Category:19th-century saints]]
