1. Preaching Orthodoxy to the Ends of the
Earth
At the
end of His time on earth, Our Lord Jesus Christc commanded His Apostles and
disciples, saying, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (Mt. 28:19). At the
feast of Pentecost this preaching to all peoples was manifest in the spiritual
gift of “tongues,” when the Apostles’ words were miraculously heard by their
listeners in their own languages.Since that time the “gift of tongues” has been
extremely rare, but has been replaced by the efforts of Orthodox missionaries
to study the language and culture of the people they preach to, presenting the
Gospel to them in their native tongue andin a cultural context, yet without
compromising the Faith.
Such
missionaries have often been called “equals-to-the-apostles” by the Orthodox
Church, thatis, those who labored with the zeal and in the mannerof the first
Apostles. Well known among such saints are Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the
ninth-century evangelizers of the Slavic peoples. A more recent example of this
type of saint is St. Nicholas (Kasatkin), who brought the light of Orthodoxy to
the people of Japan.
2. St.
Nicholas’ Early Years (1836–1860)
Ivan
Dmitrievich Kasatkin was born on August 1, 1836, in the village of Beryozha of
the Belsk district in the Smolensk region of Russia. His father, Deacon Dmitry
Kasatkin, had four children: Gabriel (who died in early childhood), Olga, Ivan,
and Basil. When Ivan was five, his mother reposed and his older sister Olga,
whose husband served as a deaconin a rural church, began taking care of the
children. The future archbishop and saint studied in the Belsk Ecclesiastical
Primary School, then in theSmolensk Seminary. After graduating at the top of
his class, he received a state scholarship to enter the St. Petersburg
Theological Academyin 1856.
In the
spring of 1860, an announcement inviting a graduate to serve as chief priest of
the Russian Embassy churchin Japan was posted at the academy. Having calmly
read the announcement, the young man went to the evening service, where he
experienced a sudden desire to go to Japan. He completed the application with
the intent of serving as a monk rather than as a married priest, and easily
gained the position.
On June
21, 1860, Ivan Kasatkin was tonsured a monk with the name Nicholas.He was
ordained a hierodeacon on June 29, and a hieromonk on the following day. He
then set out on the long journey toJapan. Hieromonk Nicholas spent the winter
of 1860–61in Nikolaevskon the river Amur, where Bishop Innocent (Veniaminov) of
Kamchatka, the future saint, enlightener of Siberia and Alaska, and
Metropolitan of Moscow, instructed the young missionary. St. Nicholasremembered
these talks with Bishop Innocent for the rest of his life. It was St. Innocent
who kindled the young missionary’s inspiration to study the language and
culture of Japan.
3. Preparing to Spread the Gospel (1861–1873)
Aftera
year’s journey, in June1861 Hieromonk Nicholas arrived at the port of Hakodate.
At the time of his arrival the medieval charter of 1614, which entirely
prohibited Christianity, was still in force. Although later, in 1873,a civil
law would allow freedom of religion, obstacles to the propagation of the Faith
continued t o exist, and persecutions, especially in rural areas, continued for
a longtime.
St.
Nicholas began his earnest study of the country’s language, culture and
history. “He sometimes strolled around the streets of Hakodate, listening to
theordinary people and professional storytellers. He made the acquaintance of
leading Buddhist priests and listened to their sermons…. Hieromonk Nicholas
spent fourteen hours a day over the course of seven years studying every aspect
of Japan…. As a result of his relentless study of the Japanese language,
Hieromonk Nicholas eventually acquired the knowledge of several thousand
Chinese characters, giving him access to materials printed by the Orthodox
mission in Peking, where Joseph Goshkevich had spent almost ten years. This
allowed Nicholas to study Chinese texts of the Old and New Testaments, as well
as some of the liturgical books.” Bishop Seraphim (Sigrist) of Sendai and the
East (now retired) further describes St. Nicholas’ zeal in preparing for his
missionary labors: “The story is told that in his early days of studying
Japanese, Fr. Nicholas (then a priest in Hakodate) would go with the Japanese
children to school and sit in theback and learn as best he could with them.
Indeed, atone point the perplexed teachers put up a sign at the door: ‘The
bearded foreigner is not allowed.’”
While
stillin Hakodate St. Nicholas was well aware of the massive tasks that lay
before him. In 1869 he wrote: “One can draw the conclusion that at least the
harvest truly is bountiful in Japan in the near future, but there are no
laborers on ourside, not even one, if not counting my own personal activity….
Just translating the New Testament … will take at least two years of dedicated
work. Then, the translation of the Old Testamentis necessary too. Even in the
smallest [Orthodox] congregation the services will have to be held in Japanese.
What about the other books, such as sacred history, Church history, liturgics,
and theology? All of those are necessities as well, and must be translated into
Japanese.And no one knows if a foreigner could master Japanese sufficiently to
write it at least half as easily as he normally writes in his own language.”
Aftera
few years of intense study, Fr. Nicholas converted a samurai, the son-in-law of
a Shinto priest, along with two others. (This samurai was the future Orthodox
priest Paul Sawabe. The saint did not attempt to convert large numbers of
people, but strove instead to make sure that those he did convert were strong
in the Faith. These first converts then assisted him, and he soon had a group
of fifteen Christians.
In
late1869 Hieromonk Nicholas came to St. Petersburg to report on his work to the
Synod.A decision was made “to setup a special Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to
preach God’s word among pagans.” Fr Nicholaswas promoted to the rank of
archimandrite and appointed head of the Mission.
4. Beginning Labors inTokyo (1873–1885)
In
1873,after St. Nicholashad been laboring for twelve years, conditions began to
improve. Thanks to the forward-looking policies of Emperor Meiji, the Japanese
government issued a new civil law granting religious tolerance. The Missionwas
then moved from Hakodate to Tokyo, the new imperial capital, where the numberof
Orthodox faithful soon reached a thousand.
St.
Nicholas held the work of translation to be one of the most important
activities he could accomplish in helping to lay the foundations of the
Orthodox Missionin Japan. He once said: “Translation is the core of missionary
work. Nowadays the work of a mission in general,in any country, cannot be
limited to oral preaching alone…. In Japan, where people like reading and
respect the printed word so much, we must first of all provide the faithful and
those who are about to be baptized with books printed in their mother tongue,
by allmeans well-written and neatly and cheaply published…. The printed word
must be the soul of the mission.”
In
spreading Orthodoxy to the Japanese, St. Nicholas knew it would be especially
effective for thenew Japanese Christians to bring the Faith to their own people
themselves. Thus, during the 1870s he began to encourage those who had been
members of the Church for some time, and who had received lengthy instruction,
to travel throughout Japan and introduce the Faith to their countrymen. These
catechists, like new apostles, would preach and then, if new believers were
willing, would hold services in theirhomes and even use those homes as
“stations” from which to teach the Faith. Ordained priests or even St. Nicholashimself
would visit these missions when possible, to serve the sacraments and further
strengthen the faithful. Over 250 missions were founded in this manner during
St. Nicholas’ lifetime.
From the
time ofhis arrival St. Nicholas lived nearly all his life in Japan, briefly
returning to Russia only twice: from 1869 to1870 to request the establishment
of the Russian Ecclesiastical Missionin Japan, and from1879 to1880 to be
consecrated bishop of the growing mission and to collect funds for its needs.
Each time he was particularly eager to go back home to Japan, to continue his
work.
5. Labors as a Bishop (1885–1912)
In 1875
the first Japanese Orthodox priest, Fr. Paul Sawabe, was ordained. St. Nicholas
founded schools for the instruction of catechumens and the faithful, and in
1878he opened a theologica college for the training of the Japanese clergy.
Besides theological courses, Japanese, Chinese and Russian were taught there to
prepare for the eventual translation of all the Holy Scriptures as wellas other
essential texts. In 1880 St. Nicholas was consecrated as the first bishop
ofJapan, and by 1884 he had begun the construction of a beautiful cathedral in
Tokyo. It was completed and consecrated in 1891, and dedicated to Christ’s Holy
Resurrection. However, it soon became known among the people as “Nikolai-do”
(“Nicholas’ house”), a name it bears to this day. While St. Nicholas handed
down the traditions and liturgical customs of the Russian Church to his flock,
he nevertheless strove to form a truly Japanese Church, in both language and
identity.
St.
Nicholas’ personal example of love and respect for the Japanese people and
their history, language,and customs left a good impression on the Japanese
authorities and helped contribute to the growth of the Orthodox mission. St.
Nicholas’ fluency in Japanese led to his being occasionally called upon to be
present during official government meetings between Japanese and Russian
representatives.
The
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5tested St. Nicholas and the Orthodox Christians in
Japan. Using great discernment, he allowed his clergy to hold services of
supplication for a Japanese victory, while not taking part in such services
himself. Although he was offered protection by the Russians, he declined this,
preferring to remain with his flock.
In 1906
Bishop Nicholas was raised to the rank of archbishop, and the faithful in Japan
celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary as their bishop.
In 1908
St. Nicholas’ future successor, Bishop Sergius (Tikhomirov), arrived in Tokyo.
Bishop Sergius headed the Japanese Orthodox church from 1912 to1940. In
1912,the last year of St. Nicholas’ life, there were 33,000 faithful in 266
congregationsin Japan. There were 175 churches and eight cathedrals, served by
forty Japanese priests and deacons.
6. The Repose of St. Nicholas
Archbishop
Nicholas began to suffer from heart diseasein 1910.His illness increased to the
point thatin January 1912he was hospitalized. Oneevening Bishop Sergius entered
the hospital to see his teacher. Later, he described what he saw: “A low table
stands by the window of the room. Japanese manuscripts, an ink-bottle, and a brush
are laid upon it,and before [his Eminence] is a Slavonic Triodion. [Paul] Nakai
reads a Japanesetranslation [and] the archbishop follows his reading, looking
into another notebook. At times they stop and insert a comma…. Could one have
said that this was an old man, sentenced to inevitable death?”
Gifted
with an energetic and driven disposition, St. Nicholas always retained a humble
perspective on his labors to the end of his days, once saying, “I am nothing
more than a matchstick with which a candleis lit. Afterwards, the match goes
out and is thrown on the ground as good for nothing.”
On
February 3/16,at7:15pm, His Eminence Nicholas, the Archbishop of Japan,
reposed. The next day all Japan knew of his death.
Bishop
Sergius wrote: “Tokyo Christians started making their way, one after another,
to the Mission; Christians of other confessions expressed their condolences.…
Those who had not yet accepted Christ’s teaching hurried to the Mission to bow
or to leave a visiting card. They were not only ordinary citizens, but princes,
counts, viscounts, barons, ministers and non-civil servants as well….
“But the
highest honor rendered by Japan to Archbishop Nicholas was the fact that the
Emperor of Japan [Meiji] himself … sent a magnificent and colossal wreath of
natural flowers forthe archbishop’s coffin, and he did not do this in
secret!... Accepting the wreath and replying with words of gratitude, we placed
the wreath at St. Nicholas’ head.… The Emperor ofJapan himself crowned the head
of God’s hierarch with flowers of victory!... There were two characters inside
the wreath: ‘On-Shi,’ i.e., ‘the Highest Gift’… All the Japanese saw these two
characters, read them, and reverently bowed their heads before the wreath!…
“Having
started with a tremendous risk to his life, Archbishop Nicholas completed his
activity in Japan with approval from the high Throne.”
7. From 1912 to the Present Day
The years
that followed St. Nicholas’ repose were marked by great difficulties and trials
for the Japanese Orthodox Church. It not only had to face the challenges of
being cut off from the Church in Russia due to the Bolshevik Revolution, which
led to financial hardships, but also had to deal with the difficult years
culminating in the Second World War and its aftermath. From 1945 to 1970 the
Japanese Church was under the administration of the American Metropolia of the
Russian Church (now the Orthodox Church in America).On April10, 1970, the
Japanese Church was granted autonomy by the Russian Orthodox Church, and Archbishop
Nicholas was glorified as a saint.
Throughout
its almost hundred-year history since the saint’s death, the Japanese Church
has kept the canons and traditions of Orthodox celebration that were
established by St. Nicholas. The 266 parishes of the time of St. Nicholas have
united to form the current 69 congregations of Japanese Orthodox Church. As in
apostolic times, the Church in Japan finds itself a tiny minority in a society
which has not yet received the light of Christ, a little flock (Luke 12:32) in
the midst of one of the most materially prosperous nations on earth. But that
small seed may yet grow into a great tree (cf. Mt. 13:31), for as St. Nicholas
proclaimed, the harvest is truly bountiful (Luke 10:2).
From the St. Herman Calendar, 2011, St.
Herman Press.
Source: http://orthochristian.com/51599.html
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