Saint Nicholas of Japan

Nicholas (Kasatkin), Equal-to-the-Apostles, Archbishop of Japan, born Ivan Dmitrovich Kasatkin (Russian: Иван Дмитриевич Касаткин; 13 August [O.S. 1 August] 1836 – 16 February 1912) was a Russian Orthodox priest, monk, and bishop. He introduced the Eastern Orthodox Church to Japan. The Orthodox cathedral of Tokyo (metropolitan diocese of Japan), Tokyo Resurrection Cathedral, was informally named after him as Nikorai-do, first by the local community, and today nationwide, in remembrance of his work. Nicholas was born in the Smolensk prefecture in the Russian Empire to Dimitry Kasatkin, a Russian Orthodox deacon. His mother died when he was five years old. In 1857, he entered the Theological Academy in Saint Petersburg. On 24 June 1860, he was tonsured with the name Nicholas by the academy rector, Bishop Nectarius Nadezhdin. Nicholas was ordained deacon on 29 July the same year; the following day, on the altar day of the academy church (the feast day of the Holy Apostles, according to the Julian Calendar), he was ordained to the priesthood. On 2 July 1861, Nicholas landed at Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan, as a priest attached to the chapel of the Russian consulate in Hakodate. He had volunteered for the appointment to this duty, attracted since the day he noticed a poster calling for a priest for this chapel when he was a seminary student. After he arrived at the consulate, he studied Japanese and quickly gained mastery of the language. He studied Buddhism during the first eight years of his time in Japan, when, in his words, he "strove with all diligence to study Japanese history, religion, and the spirit of the Japanese people". While at the consulate chapel, he converted three Japanese, one of whom, a former samurai and Shinto priest named Sawabe Takuma, had originally come to his home to kill him. After conversion, Sawabe became one of the first Japanese Orthodox priests.