Dear Brother Archons and Friends of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
The Chinese Protestant Pastor Ezra Jin, according to a report published Monday in the Wall Street Journal, is “confined to a dank cell at Beihai’s No. 2 Detention Center, cut off from his flock and his family.” His crime? “Leading a church that Xi Jinping couldn’t bring to heel.”
This is just the latest example of the People’s Republic of China’s determination to destroy all religious organizations that are outside the state’s control, and to replace traditional Christianity with an adulterated form of the Faith that is totally subservient to state control.
As advocates for global religious freedom, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate deplore the ongoing persecution of Christians in China, and call upon Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Pastor Ezra Jin immediately. Pastor Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, lives in the United States and is now an American citizen. She is fighting to make her father’s plight known to the general public and has rallied support for him in Congress. As a fellow PK (Priest’s/Pastor’s Kid), I am proud to stand with her in this difficult and emotionally wrenching effort.
And so in solidarity with my sister PK, the Archons once again call upon the Chinese government to allow its people to exercise the sacred right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience, without fear of punishment from the state.
In the face of this persecution, the indefatigable courage and indestructible faith of Pastor Jin’s Zion Church is nothing short of inspirational: “Zion’s faithful say they see parallels to the experience of the early church during the Roman Empire, when the faith spread widely despite efforts to crush it.”
As the children and spiritual heirs of precisely those Christians who suffered for our Holy Faith in the early centuries of Christianity, the Archons are grateful for the example that the faithful of Zion Church are providing for Christians worldwide.
Another pastor at Zion explained: “It’s the highest honor for a Christian, for people like Pastor Jin, being put in prison. That’s exactly the mark of following Jesus.” And Pastor Jin himself has said: “The Lord calls us to be overcomers, giving us the courage that David had when he faced Goliath. May this persecution, like the thorns that afflicted Paul, sharpen our courage and make our faith as solid as a rock.”
As Archons, and as Christians, as we stand with Pastor Jin and our sisters and brothers of Zion Church, may we all emulate this joyful and unconquerable faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Yours in the service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis
Archon Grand Aktouarios
National Commander
China Is Throwing Christians in Jail, but This Pastor Refuses to Back Down
By Brian Spegele
Pastor Ezra Jin was just finishing dinner with his elderly mother-in-law in the Chinese city of Beihai last October when more than a dozen police appeared at the door.
They stormed the apartment, confiscated his phones and computer, and hauled him off to jail.
Since then, he’s been confined to a dank cell at Beihai’s No. 2 Detention Center, cut off from his flock and his family, 8,000 miles away in the U.S. His sin: leading a church that Xi Jinping couldn’t bring to heel.
For years, Jin built a thriving Protestant congregation in the heart of Beijing, known as Zion Church, that operated outside the government’s system of tightly controlled official churches. Authorities once tolerated Jin and others like him, back when China’s economy was thriving and the country was gradually opening up to the world.
Then Xi took power and began tightening the screws. Officials interrogated churchgoers, threatened they could lose their jobs and pressured landlords who rented space to churches. Authorities demanded surveillance cameras be installed at Zion. Some of Jin’s assets were frozen, and he was barred from leaving China.
