Before Vanyushka Kasatkin began to bear the name Japanese Nikolai, he was the son of an ordinary village deacon and was close friends with the admiral's children of the Skrydlov family, whose estate was located next to the father's temple. Friends once asked him about what he wants to become, and immediately decided that he would follow in the footsteps of his father. But Vanya dreamed of becoming a sailor. However, his father reined in his dreams of the sea and sent him to study at the theological seminary of the city of Smolensk, and then, as one of the best students, he was sent to study at the state expense at the theological seminary of St. Petersburg.
In this city, childhood friends, Vanya and Leont Skrydlov, who graduated from the naval cadet corps, met. When asked why he did not become a sailor, Vanya replied that it was possible to surf the expanses of the sea and the ocean as a ship's priest.
Japanese Nicholas: Beginning
In his fourth year at the Theological Academy, Ivan learned from an announcement from the Holy Synod that the Russian Imperial Consulate in Japan needed a priest. Consul of Japan I. Goshkevichdecided to organize missionaries in this country, although at that time there was a strict ban on Christianity there.
First, when Ivan heard about the Chinese mission, he wanted to go to China and preach to the pagans, and this desire had already been formed in him. But then his interest spread from China to Japan, as he read with great interest "Notes of Captain Golovin" about captivity in this country.
In the first half of the 60s of the XIX century, Russia under Alexander II sought to revive, the time has come for great reforms and the abolition of serfdom. The trend of missionary work abroad has intensified.
Preparation
So, Ivan Kasatkin began to prepare for missionary work in Japan. On June 24, 1860, he was tonsured a monk with the name Nicholas in honor of the Great Wonderworker Nicholas. After 5 days, he was consecrated a hierodeacon, and a day later, a hieromonk. And on August 1, Hieromonk Nicholas, at the age of 24, leaves for Japan. He dreamed of her as of his sleeping bride, who needs to be awakened - this is how she was drawn in his imagination. On the Russian ship "Amur" he finally arrived in the land of the Rising Sun. In Hakodate, Consul Goshkevich received him.
At that time in this country for more than 200 years there was a ban on Christianity. Nikolai of Japan is taken to work. First of all, he studies the Japanese language, culture, economics, history and starts translating the New Testament. All this took him 8 years.
Fruits
The first three years were the hardest for him. Japanese Nikolai watched life intentlyJapanese, visited their Buddhist temples and listened to preachers.
At first they took him for a spy and even set dogs on him, and the samurai threatened to kill him. But in the fourth year, Nicholas of Japan found his first like-minded person who believed in Christ. It was the abbot of a Shinto shrine, Takuma Sawabe. A year later, they had another brother, then another. Takume received the name Pavel at baptism, and ten years later the first Japanese Orthodox priest appeared. In this rank, he had to go through difficult trials.
First Japanese Christians
Money was very tight. Consul Goshkevich often helped Father Nikolai, who gave money from those of his funds that are usually kept for "extraordinary expenses." In 1868, there was a revolution in Japan: newly converted Japanese Christians were persecuted.
In 1869, Nikolai went to St. Petersburg to achieve the opening of the mission. This was to give him administrative and economic independence. Two years later, he returns to the rank of archimandrite and head of the mission.
In 1872 Nikolai of Japan received an assistant in the person of a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy - Hieromonk Anatoly (Quiet). By this time, there were already about 50 Orthodox Japanese in Hakodate.
Tokyo
And even then St. Nicholas of Japan leaves everything under the care of the priest Pavel Sawabe and Father Anatoly and moves to Tokyo. Here he had to start all over again. And at this time he opens a school at homeRussian and begins to learn Japanese.
In 1873, the government of Japan passes a law on religious tolerance. The private school was soon reorganized into a theological seminary, which became the favorite brainchild of Father Nikolai (besides theology, many other disciplines were studied there).
By 1879, there were already several schools in Tokyo: a seminary, catechism, clergy and a school of foreign languages.
By the end of Father Nikolai's life, the seminary received the status of a secondary educational institution in Japan, the best students of which continued their studies in Russia in theological academies.
The number of believers in the church increased by hundreds. By 1900 there were already Orthodox communities in Nagasaki, Hyogo, Kyoto and Yokohama.
Temple of Nicholas of Japan
In 1878, the consular church began to be built. It was built with charitable money from the Russian merchant Pyotr Alekseev, a former sailor of the Dzhigit ship. At that time, there were already 6 Japanese priests.
But Father Nikolai dreamed of a cathedral. To raise funds for its construction, it is sent throughout Russia.
In 1880, on March 30, priest Nikolai was consecrated at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Architect A. Shurupov worked on a sketch of the future church of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. Father Nikolai bought a plot in the Kanda area on Suruga-dai hill. The English architect Joshua Conder built the temple for seven years, and in 1891 he handed over the keys to Father Nikolai. 19 priests attended the consecrationand 4 thousand believers. The people called this temple "Nikolai-do".
Its scale for Japanese buildings was impressive, as was the increased authority of Nicholas of Japan himself.
War
In 1904, due to the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian embassy left the country. Nicholas of Japan was left alone. The Orthodox Japanese were mocked and hated, Bishop Nicholas was threatened with death for espionage. He publicly began to explain that Orthodoxy is not only the national Russian religion, patriotism is a true and natural feeling of any Christian. He sent an official appeal to the temples, where it was ordered to pray for the victory of the Japanese troops. So he decided to save the Orthodox Japanese from contradictions: to believe in Christ and be Japanese. By this he saved the Japanese Orthodox ship. His heart was breaking, and he did not participate in public worship, but prayed alone at the altar.
Then he took care of Russian prisoners of war, of which there were more than 70 thousand by the end of the war.
Bishop Nikolai, who had not been in Russia for 25 years, felt the impending darkness with his perspicacious heart. To escape from all these experiences, he plunged headlong into translations of liturgical books.
In 1912, on February 16, at the age of 75, he gave his soul to his Lord in the cell of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. The cause of death was heart failure. During his half-century activity, 265 churches were built, 41 priests, 121 catechists, 15 regents and 31,984 believers were brought up.
Equal to the Apostles St. Nicholas of Japan wascanonized on April 10, 1970.
