This week in Christian history: Joan of Arc interrogated, Episcopal Church leader takes power

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Sunday, February 16, 2025

Archbishop Nicholas of Japan dies – Feb. 16, 1912

This week marks the anniversary of when Archbishop Nicholas of Japan, a Russian Orthodox Church missionary to Japan, died in Tokyo at the age of 75. The date was Feb. 3 on the Old Julian calendar that Russia was using at the time.

Born Ivan Dimitrievich Kasatkin and the son of a deacon, Nicholas spent years studying Japanese language and culture before being made the head of an Orthodox Church mission to the Asian nation in 1870.

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Nicholas is credited with planting multiple churches in Japan, founding a cathedral, a religious school, and translating several Russian Orthodox religious works into Japanese.

“[By 1911], 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,” according to the Orthodox Church in America.

“The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified him on April 10, 1970, since the saint had long been honored in Japan as a righteous man, and a prayerful intercessor before the Lord.”