Japan, Autonomous Orthodox Church of
SCOTT M. KENWORTHY
Orthodoxy in Japan began with the Russian Orthodox mission in 1861. Its great success was largely due to the efforts of one man, St. Nikolai Kasatkin (1836–1912). Today, the Japanese Orthodox Church has autonomous status under the Moscow patriarchate and claims some 10,000 active members. At its peak before the Russian Revolution there were 40,000 Japanese Orthodox Christians. Serge Bolshakoff termed it the most spectacular achievement of Russian missionary activity.
Russia first established relations with Japan in the 1850s and founded a consulate in Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido. Ivan Kasatkin, a student at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, volunteered for the position of chaplain of the consulate because of an interest in mission and in Asia. He was the son of a deacon from the Smolensk region of Russia; he finished at the Smolensk seminary before entering the St. Petersburg Theological Academy for advanced studies. Before departing for Japan he was tonsured a monk with the name Nikolai and was ordained to the priesthood. He arrived in Hakodate in 1861. Innokentii (Popov- Veniaminov), the great missionary to Alaska, encouraged Nikolai to immerse himself in Japanese language and culture, which Nikolai did for most of the 1860s.
In the 1860s the Japanese government opposed Christian missionary activity, but Nikolai still managed to gain Japanese converts. His first convert was the Samurai Sawabe, baptized in 1868 (with two other men) with the name Paul. The early converts in turn acted as missionaries among their families and communities, and the number of converts in different regions of the country quickly rose. The Russian Holy Synod formally established the mission in 1871, which resulted in more clergy and funds for the mission. A new priest in Hakodate allowed Nikolai to move to Tokyo to devote himself completely to missionary activity in 1872. This move coincided with the removal ofthe anti-Christian edict (in 1873) and opened the door for much more active missionary effort. In Tokyo Nikolai gave Russian language classes during the day and catechetical lectures in the evening, which attracted a steady stream of converts.
For the next forty years until his death, Nikolai would inspire a dramatic expansion of the mission. He was consecrated bishop in 1880 and archbishop in 1906. In 1891 he consecrated the great Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection, commonly referred to as Nikolai-do. At the time of his death in 1912, there were over 33,000 Japanese Orthodox Christians in 266 parishes served by 35 Japanese priests, 22 deacons, and 106 catechists. By 1900 there was a bimonthly official periodical as well as two monthly journals, all in Japanese. Nikolai also kept an extensive diary, which was recently published in its entirety in Russia in five massive volumes.
Nikolai’s mission was so successful because of his vision to form a truly indigenous national church. He had great respect for the language and tradition of the Japanese, and he labored to translate the Bible, liturgy, and other Christian literature into Japanese from the beginning so as to develop native-language Orthodoxy. Indeed, the liturgy was served only in Japanese after Nikolai moved to Tokyo. The number of Russian missionaries was deliberately small so that native converts would assume leadership positions. A particularly important role was played by lay catechists who were supported for full-time church work by the Russian Church and who, in turn, became active missionaries. Moreover, in 1875 two of the first converts (including Paul Sawabe) were ordained as the first Japanese priests.
Nikolai also developed Orthodox education. He established a school for catechists and a seminary to train native clergy in Tokyo. A school for girls was established in Tokyo and another in Kyoto, while one for boys and girls existed in Hokaido. There were also many church schools to teach catechism and instruct the children. Nikolai laid great emphasis on education for converts both before and after baptism (especially reading the New Testament) and for their children. A further reason for the success of the mission was Nikolai’s insistence on a great deal of functional autonomy for the Japanese Church. The church was administered by a synod that included lay delegates from every congregation and met every two years. Moreover, Nikolai successfully separated the mission from Russian political interests. This was particularly important during the Russo-Japanese war in 1904–5. During the war Nikolai decided to remain in
Japan but refrained from public services in the cathedral because he personally could not pray for Japanese victory over the Russians. At the same time he encouraged the Japanese converts to remain patriotic citizens of their country. His position won the respect of the Japanese government, which protected the Orthodox Church and granted it unusual freedom to minister to 73,000 Russian prisoners of war.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 had a devastating impact on the Japanese Church. Financial support ceased, which meant that the educational institutions were forced to close. Moreover, the church could no longer support the catechists – who had served as the primary agents of the mission – as it had done before. A massive earthquake in 1923 destroyed numerous church buildings in Tokyo, including the great cathedral, which was reconstructed with great sacrifice by 1930. Nikolai’s successor, Metropolitan Sergii (Tikhomirov), remained loyal to the Moscow patriarchate through the 1920s and 1930s despite the difficulties of the Russian Church under the Soviets. Rising nationalism in Japan in the 1930s also created new difficulties. The government required that all leaders of Christian churches should be ethnic Japanese, which forced Metropolitan Sergii from his position.
A national Council of the Japanese Church declared itself independent of the Moscow patriarchate in 1940, but could not reach consensus on a candidate for bishop. A year later another council elected Archpriest John Ono to be the first Japanese bishop. Ono was a respected married parish priest in Tokyo. In order to become a bishop, he and his wife (the daughter of one of the first converts) separated and both simultaneously took monastic vows, in accordance with tradition. He was consecrated in Harbin, Manchuria, by
Metropolitan Meletii (of the Russian Church in Exile) with the name Nikolai.
In the postwar period the Japanese Church was divided as to the question of affiliation. Bishop Nikolai Ono worked to restore relations with the Moscow patriarchate, a move which was opposed by the American occupying forces as well as many within the church. A council of 1946 requested that they come under the jurisdiction of the American metropolia, which sent bishops to head the church (Benjamin, 1947–53; Irenei, 1953–60, Nikon, 1960–2, and Vladimir, 1962–72). The Japanese Church received autonomous status from the Moscow patriarchate at the same time the metropolia received autocephaly (as the Orthodox Church in America), although this status has not been recognized by the ecumenical patriarch. As an autonomous church, the election of its primate (metropolitan) must be confirmed by the Moscow patriarchate, but it can elect its own bishops without such confirmation. In 1972 Bishop Theodosius (Nagashima) was installed as the first native Japanese metropolitan, and he served as head of the church until his death in 1999. In 2000 a local council elected Daniel (Nushiro) as metropolitan; Russian Patriarch Aleksii II traveled to Japan to enthrone him.
Today, the Church of Japan consists of three dioceses: the archdiocese of Tokyo, the western diocese based in Kyoto, and the eastern diocese based in Sendai. In 2007, sixty-seven parishes were served by the metropolitan and one other bishop, twenty-two priests, and twelve deacons. Almost all of the clergy are Japanese who were trained at the seminary in Tokyo.
Nikolai Kasatkin, who is acknowledged even by non-Orthodox as one of the greatest modern missionaries, was canonized by the Orthodox Church of Japan and the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970 as “equal to the apostles.”
SEE ALSO: Evangelism; Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of; United States of America, Orthodoxy in the
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Bartholomew, J. (1987) “The Missionary Activity of St. Nicholas of Japan,” MDiv thesis, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. Besstremiannaia, G. E. (2006) Iaponskaia Pravoslavnaia tserkov’: Istoriia i sovremennost’. Sergiev Posad: Sviato-Troitskaia Sergieva Lavra. Bolshakoff, S. (1943) The Foreign Missions of the Russian Orthodox Church. London: SPCK. Drummond, R. H. (1971) A History of Christianity in Japan. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Naganawa, M. (1995) “The Japanese Orthodox Church in the Meiji Era,” in J. T. Rimer (ed.) A Hidden Fire: Russian and Japanese Cultural Encounters, 1868–1926. Stanford: Stanford University Press; Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, pp. 158–69.
Nakamura, K. (ed.) (2004) Dnevniki Sviatogo Nikolaia Iaponskogo, 5 vols. St. Petersburg: Hyperion.
Remortel, M. V. and Chang, P. (eds.) (2003) St. Nikolai Kasatkin and the Orthodox Mission in Japan. Point Reyes Station, CA: Divine Ascent Press. Roberson, R. (2008) The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey, 7th edn. Rome: Orientalia Christiana.
Sablina, E. (2006) 150 let Pravoslaviia v Iaponii: Istoriia Iaponskoi Pravoslavnoi Tserkvi i ee osnovatel’ Sviatitel’ Nikolai. Moscow: AIRO- XXI; St. Petersburg: Dmitrii Bulanin.
Ushimaru, P. Y. (1980) “Japanese Orthodoxy and the Culture of the Meiji Period,” St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly 24: 115–27.