Modern Missions

Two important encyclicals have been issued dealing with mis sionary work. Pope Benedict XV. in 1919 issued the encyclical Maximum Iliad in which extensive directions were given for the conduct of missionary work, exaggerated expressions of national ism were severely condemned and great emphasis was laid on the importance of developing a native clergy. Following upon this in 1926 six Chinese priests were consecrated bishops and in 1927 one Japanese priest. In 1926 Pope Pius XI. issued the encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae in which he developed the subject matter of Maximum Iliad, pointing out the paucity of missionaries, the lack of native ministers and the urgent need for training colleges being established with a view to the equipment of native clergy including bishops. The Pope further urged all Catholics to sup port the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, the Society of Holy Childhood (for the supporting of orphans, etc.) and the Society of S. Peter (for training native priests), and all priests to join the Unio cleri pro missionibus (Missionary Clergy Union). He emphasized also the annual day of prayer appointed for the penultimate Sunday in October. A great missionary exhibition was held at the Vatican during the Holy Year of 1925, and at the close of the Exhibition a museum of missions was established.

Orthodox Eastern Church.

When Ivan the Terrible 84) began the great advance from Russia to Northern Asia, large numbers of missionaries accompanied the troops, and during the seventeenth century many thousands of Tartars were baptised, though most lapsed again to heathenism. Little was done until 1824 when John Veniaminov, later Archbishop Innocent, began a remarkable career of evangelistic activity. He founded missions in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia, and established the Orthodox Missionary Society at Moscow. In addition to nine separate missions in Siberia and six in European Russia, the Orthodox Church of Russia has had three foreign missions: in China, founded at Peking in 1714 in the face of Jesuit opposition; in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands; and in Japan. The last of these, established in 1863 by Bishop Nicolai, had very remarkable success, and a large Japanese Church was gath ered, larger probably in proportion to the number of foreign workers than any other communion in Japan. The work of the Russian Orthodox Church has, however, suffered grievously since the War and the establishment of the Soviet Government, and the Orthodox Church in Japan has become considerably weakened.