For background on Orthodox Christianity in China, see here.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Henan: Pastor Sentenced to 5 and a Half Years for Printing Bibles,” by Lei Shihong, Bitter Winter, October 27, 2022:
Printing Bibles is an activity strictly controlled by the authorities in Xi Jinping’s China. Solving the problem of the limited supply of Bibles by just contacting a printer is not a good idea. Just ask Yang Jianxin, the pastor of a Reformed house church in the county-level city of Lingbao, administered by Sanmenxia city in the central province of Henan.
As a pastor who stubbornly refused to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church, Yang was kept under surveillance for several years, within a local context where a massive campaign of removal of crosses and demolition of churches, which did not even spare those belonging to the Three-Self organization, was started in 2018.
At the beginning of 2021, Yang decided that his congregation needed Bibles, and contacted a local printer. He was quickly detained for “conducting illegal business operations” and “printing and purchasing illegal publications.”…
The Sanmenxia City Intermediate Court has now confirmed the first-degree decision, meaning Pastor Yang should remain in jail until 2026.
The prosecutor mentioned that printing illegal Bibles create an atmosphere of “spiritual pollution,” an expression often used to describe the effects of pornography. It seems that the Bible is regarded as somewhat similar to pornography, or perhaps even more dangerous for the CCP….
