Saint Nicholas, Equal of the Apostles, Archbishop of Japan
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- St. Nicholas (or Nikolai),
Equal of the Apostles,
Archbishop of Japan
(Commemorated on February 3 {n.c.} / 16 {o.c.})
~Early life
St. Nicholas, Enlightener of Japan, was born Ivan Dimitrievich Kasatkin on August 1, 1836 in the village of Berezovsk, Belsk district, Smolensk diocese, Russia, where his father served as deacon.
At the age of 5, he lost his mother. He completed the Belsk religious school, and afterwards the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1857, Ivan Kasatkin entered the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.
~Tonsured
On June 24, 1860, in the academy temple of the Twelve Apostles, Bishop Nectarios tonsured him with the name Nicholas.
On June 29, the Feast of the foremost Apostles Peter and Paul, the monk Nicholas was ordained deacon. The next day, on the altar feast of the academy church, he was ordained to the holy priesthood. Later, at his request, Father Nicholas was assigned to Japan as head of the consular church in the city of Hakodate.
~Resistance in Japan
At first, the preaching of the Gospel in Japan seemed completely impossible. In Father Nicholas’s own words: “the Japanese of the time looked upon foreigners as beasts, and on Christianity as a villainous sect, to which only villains and sorcerers could belong.” He spent 8 years in studying the country, the language, manners and customs of the people among whom he would preach.
The son of a samurai and son-in-law of a Shinto priest, Takama Sawabe was a fierce Japanese nationalist. He hated Christianity and all foreign influences in his country. One day he angrily confronted the Orthodox Christian missionary to Japan, the Russian priest-monk Nicholas (Nicolai).
Father Nicholas spoke to him:
“Why are you angry at me?” Fr. Nicholas asked Sawabe.
“All you foreigners must die. You have come here to spy on our country and even worse, you are harming Japan with your preaching,” answered Sawabe.
“But do you know what I preach?”
“No, I don’t,” he answered.
“Then how can you judge, much less condemn something you know nothing about? Is it just to defame something you do not know? First listen to me, and then judge. If what you hear is bad, then throw us out.”
After listening to Fr. Nicholas and learning about the Orthodox Christian way of life, the nationalist samurai who had once endorsed Shintoism now believed in Jesus Christ and was baptized, becoming the first person to embrace Orthodox Christianity in Japan.
At his baptism, he appropriately received the Christian name Paul, after St. Paul, one of the Church’s greatest Apostles who, before his conversion, had used his authority to violently persecute the Christian Church. Paul Sawabe would eventually be ordained an Orthodox Christian priest.
~The Japanese Church grows
In 1868, the flock of Father Nicholas numbered about twenty Japanese. At the end of 1869 Hieromonk Nicholas reported in person to the Synod in St. Peterburg about his work. A decision was made, on January 14, 1870, to form a special Russian Spiritual Mission for preaching the Word of God among the pagan Japanese. Father Nicholas was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and appointed as head of this Mission.
In 1871, there was a persecution of Christians in Hakodate. Many were arrested (among them, the first Japanese Orthodox priest, Paul Sawabe). Only in 1873, did the persecution abate somewhat, and the free preaching of Christianity became possible.
In 1874, Bishop Paul of Kamchatka arrived in Tokyo to ordain as priests several Japanese candidates recommended by Archimandrite Nicholas. At the Tokyo Mission, there were four schools: for catechists, for women, for church servers, and a seminary. At Hakodate there were two separate schools for boys and girls.
Archimandrite Nicholas was consecrated bishop on March 30, 1880. He completed construction on the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Tokyo, he translated the service books, and compiled a special Orthodox theological dictionary in the Japanese language.
Great hardship befell the saint and his flock at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. For his ascetic labour during these difficult years, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.
In 1911, half a century had passed since the young hieromonk Nicholas had first set foot on Japanese soil. At that time there were 33,017 Christians in 266 communities of the Japanese Orthodox Church, including 1 Archbishop, 1 bishop, 35 priests, 6 deacons, 14 singing instructors, and 116 catechists.
~Falling asleep
On February 3/16, 1912, Archbishop Nicholas departed peacefully to the Lord at the age of 76. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him on April 10, 1970, since the Saint had long been honoured in Japan as a righteous man, and a prayerful intercessor before the Lord.
Reached capacity:
Thank you for another excellent video .. what a wonderful witness St Nicholas life was .
Аминь 🙏🏻
Слава БОГУ за все 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Beautiful. Have always loved the story. Had the blessing to attend a Divine Liturgy there with my husband. So lovely.
I have an Orthodox friend whose dear, sweet, cute, bright, sharp as a tack (💝) Japanese mother visited Nikolaido with a friend after WWII. She was a protestant and they went to hear the choir because they had heard of its excellence.
She believed that she heard the angels singing, and became Orthodox.
Memory Eternal!, dear Anna!
Lovely story, thank you for sharing!
Amen
Thank you-can we get a video on St, Ignatius Brianchinov ?
God willing, will do so hopefully within a month or so. Here is one that was done with his sayings: ua-cam.com/video/diFWB4BQmEo/v-deo.htmlsi=kySFu6XnZND2OX3A