Educational Activities of Christian Missions in Japan during the Meiji Period: Distinctive Features of the Work of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Japan

The article examines the educational activities of three Christian missions in Japan during the reign of Emperor Meiji (1868–1912). The theological understanding of the approaches of missionaries to educational activities is of undoubted interest in the context of the application of this experience in the modern missionary and educational activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. Based on the documents of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Japan and the diary entries of its head, St. Nicholas of Japan, the author highlights the main features of the Orthodox mission’s activities in organizing Christian education. It is concluded that her main goal in this area was to train priests, catechists, church translators, etc. The result of the educational activities of the Orthodox mission was the formation of the Japanese Orthodox Church, which still exists today.