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Having been ordained to the priesthood, Fr. Innocent was elevated to [[archimandrite]] in 1894 and appointed [[rector]] of the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary. During 1895, he was the priest-in-charge of the Holy Protection missionary monastery in Moscow. In 1896, Fr. Innocent was assigned as the eighteenth leader of the Orthodox mission to Beijing, China. Fr. Innocent traveled to China through western Europe visiting missionary groups to familiarizing himself with missionary activities. His travels included visits to [[Mount Athos]] and Palestine before continuing on to the Far East. He arrived in Beijing in March 1897. On arrival he found the mission disorganized and immediately set to establishing order in the organization, setting rules for missionary operations, establishing Chinese as the language for daily services, energizing preaching the [[Gospel]] in Beijing, organizing [[parish]] activities, and initiating charity efforts in Beijing.
In 1900, the Boxer (Yihetuan Movement) revolt brought serious problems to the Orthodox mission, as well as to other christian groups in China, as the Boxers destroyed the property of the mission. During the revolt over 200 Orthodox were killed by the Boxers. In 1901, Fr. Innocent was called to St. Petersburg to report to the Holy Synod on the state of the mission. With support from Metropolitan Anthony, the mission was continued and Fr. Innocent was elected Bishop of Beijing. His consecration was held in the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra on [[June 3]], 1902with the title bishop of Pereslavsk in honor of St. Innocent of Irkutsk who was the first to be assigned to lead the Russian Mission in Beijing in 1721 which unfortunately never materialized. In August 1902, Bp. Innocent returned to China. The area of Bp. Innocent’s jurisdiction was large, extending along the Chinese-Eastern Railway and all the churches in China including Mongolia and Manchuria.
As an after effect of the Boxer revolt, nearly all of China was opened to spreading of the Gospel. Under Bp. Innocent’s leadership missions and parishes were opened throughout the northern part of China. The first female monastery was organized in Beijing in 1903. By 1915, over 5,500 Chinese had been baptized. A translation commission actively produced translations of the Scriptures. Bp. Innocent himself was fluent in Chinese and had mastered some 62,000 Chinese characters.
