“Hurry up and do your life’s work in Russia!”: letters of St. Nicholas of Japan to Sergei Alexandrovich Rachinsky

Letters of St. Nicholas, Equal-to-the Apostles, Archbishop of Japan, to the famous teacher of the 19th century Sergey Alexandrovich Rachinsky are introduced into scientific circulation. Ten letters extant in S. A. Rachinsky fund at the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library were written from 1884 to 1901. The introductory article to the publication reveals the history of his relationship with Rachinsky based on the diaries, official and private correspondence of the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Japan. Archbishop Nicholas, a founder of the Japanese Orthodox Church, was a fellow countryman of the “Tatevo teacher”: both of them were born in the Belsky district of the Smolensk province. Their correspondence that presumably started in 1881 was interrupted only by the death of Rachinsky in 1902. Most of the published letters concern the fate of Japanese students of Tokyo Theological Seminary, whom Vladyka Nicholas sent to Russia to continue their theological education. Some of the students mentioned in the letters, in particular, Sergiy Shoji, John Kawamoto (Senuma), Arseny Iwasawa, often visited Rachinsky in Tatevo. Another topic of the saint’s letters was his reflections on the role of Christian education in formation of highly moral leaders who then, in his opinion, were to take an active part in the life of the Russian Empire and the Russian Orthodox Church. Also, in his letters to Rachinsky, Vladyka Nicholas discusses the personality of a teacher and the qualities that he must possess. The letters published clearly illustrate the fact that Archbishop Nicholas and Rachinsky were likeminded people: they were united not only by the idea of Christian education, but also by the same method chosen. Archbishop Nicholas trained missionaries and priests for preaching in Japan, and S. A. Rachinsky instructed teachers and priests for the Christian enlightenment of Russia.