Basil Shuang
Chinese Orthodox Church

Bishop Basil (Chinese: 主教瓦西里, born Yao Fu'an, Chinese: 姚福安, or Yao Shuanglin, Chinese: 姚双林; 23 December 1888 – 3 January 1962) was the bishop of the Chinese Orthodox Church, who served as bishop of Beijing.
Biography
He was born in Beijing on December 23, 1888. He graduated from theological seminary at the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing, and was ordained to the diaconate on May 11, 1915, by Bishop Innocent (Figurovsky).
He served a deacon during 33 years. In 1948 was ordained to the priesthood. He was elevated to the rank of hegumen in 1948. In 1951, Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow consecrated him as bishop of Tianjin, however Yao did not accept the patriarch's consecration.
In May 1957, he was consecrated as bishop of Beijing. His service continued until the year of 1962 when he died in January of that year.
He was among the only two Chinese priests who became Orthodox bishops.
The public source identifies “Basil Shuang” as chinese Orthodox Church. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Basil, Shuang and Chinese.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4104402. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1962, 1915 and 1948.
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This entry incorporates text from “Basil Shuang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.