Boxer Rebellion
During the Boxer Rebellion, the Boxers burned down his print shop and church site. He tried to encourage fellow members of the church during the rebellion. On the night of June 10, rebels surrounded his house and killed Metrophanes along with many of the 70 people inside. Metrophanes was stabbed to death under a date tree.
His son Isaiah or Esaias, who served in the Chinese military, was beheaded on June 7 near the Ping-tse-Min gates by rebels who knew he was a Christian. Metrophanes' wife, Tatiana, age forty-four, escaped the house with Isaiah's fiancee, Maria, but Tatiana was beheaded June 12 along with other Christians. Maria had come to Metrophanes' house two days before the attack, determined to stay with her dead fiance's family despite the danger. She had been urged three times by Metrophanes' middle son Sergei to run away and hide, but refused to leave. She helped many others escape, but she chose to remain with Isaiah's family, where she was also eventually murdered by the Boxers. Eight-year-old Ioann or John was attacked brutally on June 10, 1900 by the Boxers who—by some reports—chopped off his nose, ears, and toes and hacked away at his shoulders. Maria concealed the little boy in the outhouse, where he survived the attack. The next day, according to the reports of followers, he was seen sitting naked on the steps outside the house, begging for water, which his neighbors refused him. Their children mocked him and called him a follower of devils. John reportedly replied, "I am a believer in God, and not a follower of devils." Others asked him if his wounds hurt and the child reportedly replied, "It does not hurt to suffer for Christ." He was later taken away again by a crowd of Boxers to be murdered, but seemed to show no fear. One old man protested as he was led away, "What is the boy's fault? Blame the parents for his becoming a devil's disciple." Others in the crowd jeered at him.
Read more about this topic: Metrophanes, Chi Sung
Famous quotes containing the words boxer and/or rebellion:
“Whoever gets up and comes to grips with Love like a boxer is a fool.”
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“Men must be capable of imagining and executing and insisting on social change if they are to reform or even maintain civilization, and capable too of furnishing the rebellion which is sometimes necessary if society is not to perish of immobility.”
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