Before Vanyushka Kasatkin began to bear the name Japanese Nikolai, he was the son of an ordinary rural deacon and was closely friends with the Admiral children of the Skrydlov family, whose estate was next door to his father’s church. His friends once asked him what he wanted to become, and immediately decided that he would follow in his father's footsteps. But Vanya dreamed of becoming a sailor. However, his father shook 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 theological seminary of St. Petersburg at public expense.
In this city, childhood friends met, Vanya and Leont Skrydlov, who became a graduate of the naval cadet corps. When asked why he did not become a sailor, Vanya replied that navigating the open spaces of the sea and the ocean could also be done by a ship priest.
Japanese Nicholas: the beginning
In his fourth year at the Theological Academy, Ivan learned from the announcement of the Holy Synod that the Russian imperial consulate in Japan needed a priest. Japanese Consul I. Goshkevich decided to organize missionary work in this country, although at that time there was a strict ban on Christianity.
When Ivan first heard about the Chinese mission, he wanted to go to China and preach to the Gentiles, and this desire was already formed in him. But then his interest spread from China to Japan, as he read with great interest the "Notes of Captain Golovin" about captivity in this country.
In the first half of the 60s of the XIX century, under Alexander II, Russia sought to revive, the time had come for great reforms and the abolition of serfdom. The trend of missionary work abroad has intensified.
Training
So, Ivan Kasatkin began to prepare for missionary work in Japan. On June 24, in 1860, he tonsured a monk with the name of Nicholas in honor of the Great Miracle Worker Nicholas. After 5 days, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and a day later he was ordained a hieromonk. And on August 1, Hieromonk Nikolai, at the age of 24, leaves for Japan. He dreamed of her as his sleeping bride, which must be awakened - so she was pictured in his imagination. On the Russian ship Amur, he finally arrived in the land of the Rising Sun. In Hakodate, the consul Goshkevich received him.
At that time, in this country for more than 200 years there was a ban on Christianity. Nicholas of Japan set to work. First of all, he studies Japanese, culture, economics, history and proceeds to translate the New Testament. All this took him 8 years.
Fruit
The first three years were the hardest for him. Japanese Nicholas closely watched the life of the Japanese, visited their Buddhist temples and listened to preachers.
At first he was mistaken for a spy and even dogs were let down on him, and the samurai threatened with reprisal. But in the fourth year, Nicholas of Japan found his first associate, who believed in Christ. This was the rector of the Shinto shrine, Takuma Sawabe. A year later, they got another brother, then another. Takume received the name Paul at baptism, and ten years later the first Japanese Orthodox priest appeared. In this dignity, 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, which are usually held for "extraordinary expenses." In 1868, a revolution took place in Japan: Japanese converts 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 returned with the rank of archimandrite and head of mission.
In 1872, Japanese Nikolai received an assistant in the person of a graduate of the Kiev Theological Academy - Hieromonk Anatoly (Tikhaya). By this time, there were already about 50 Orthodox Japanese in Hakodate.
Tokyo
And then St. Nikolai Yaponsky leaves everything under the guardianship of Priest Pavel Savabe and Father Anatoly and moves to Tokyo. Here he had to start all over again. And at this time, he opens a Russian language school at home and begins to teach the Japanese.
In 1873, the Japanese government enacted a religious tolerance act. A private school soon reorganized into a theological seminary, which became the favorite brainchild of Father Nicholas (besides theology, many other disciplines were studied there).
By 1879, there were already several schools in Tokyo: a seminary, a catechism school, a clergy school, and a school of foreign languages.
Toward the end of Father Nikolai’s life, the seminary received the status of a secondary school in Japan, whose best students continued their studies in theological academies in Russia.
The number of believers in the church increased by hundreds. By 1900, Orthodox communities were already in Nagasaki, Hyogo, Kyoto, and Yokohama.
Temple of Nicholas of Japan
In 1878, the consular church began to be built. It was built on charitable money from the Russian merchant Pyotr Alekseev, a former sailor of the Dzhigit vessel. At that time, there were already 6 Japanese priests.
But father Nikolai dreamed of a cathedral. To collect funds for its construction, he goes all over Russia.
In March 1880, on March 30, Priest Nikolai was consecrated in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.
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 temple was built by the English architect Joshua Conder for seven years, and in 1891 he handed the keys to his father to Nikolai. The consecration was attended by 19 priests and 4 thousand believers. The people of this temple was called "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. Orthodox Japanese were bullied and hated, Bishop Nikolai was threatened with death for espionage. He began to explain publicly that Orthodoxy is not only the national Russian religion, patriotism is the true and natural feeling of any Christian. He sent an official appeal to the temples, where he 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 services, and one prayed at the altar.
Then he took care of Russian prisoners of war, of whom there were more than 70 thousand by the end of the war.
Bishop Nikolai, who had not been in Russia for 25 years, felt darkness approaching with his sagacious heart. To distract from all these experiences, he plunged headlong into translations of liturgical books.
In 1912, on February 16, at the age of 75, he transferred his soul to his Lord in the cell of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. The cause of death is paralysis of the heart. During its half-century activity, 265 churches were built, 41 priests, 121 catechists, 15 regents and 31,984 believers were raised.
Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Nicholas of Japan was canonized on April 10, 1970.