The chapel at Albazin was on fire, and Maxim Leontiev was frantically rushing to protect its holy contents. Cannonballs crashed through the roof and arrows rained from the sky, as the priest hastily gathered what he could from the burning building: a few books, some of the ritual utensils, and, most importantly for Leontiev, an image of St. Nicholas, the Miracle Worker.
Surrounded by thousands of Qing troops on the banks of the Amur River, 7,500 kilometers away from St. Petersburg, Leontiev and a few hundred defenders of Albazin, a Russian fort established in 1651, surrendered to the Manchu commander Pengcun. On the Kangxi Emperor’s command to show benevolence to captives—to “demonstrate to the foreigners our sublime benevolence”—Pengcun’s troops prepared to escort the Albazin survivors 800 kilometers upriver to the Siberian trading station at Nerchinsk, from which they could make their way back to St. Petersburg. However, about 45 Russians, including several Cossack cavalrymen and Leontiev, had other ideas, and asked the Manchu troops to take them to the Qing capital at Beijing.
The Russian surrender in June 1685 was a significant victory for the Qing as they sought to drive Russian settlers out of the Northeast of their empire. But it would also mark an important chapter in the development of the Russian Orthodox Church in China, and the consolidation of a Russian community in Beijing. Finally arriving in the capital in winter 1685, these refugees would be the core of the “Albazinian” community in Beijing, eventually assimilating into Chinese society and enduring even until today. The Russian Orthodox Church in China, which counted Father Leontiev as one of its pioneers, would also play an important role in the development of Russia’s relationship with the Qing Empire throughout the 18th and 19th century.