St. Nikolai of Japan

Maria Junko Matsushima wrote an excellent article about the work of St. Nikolai of Japan with respect to Japanese Orthodox Church singing. She also touched on his biography and his other translation work. She wrote the piece in Japanese for Seikyo Jiho, the official magazine of the Orthodox Church in Japan. It appeared serially from February to June 2002. It has been translated into English.

ST. NIKOLAI of JAPAN and the Japanese Church Singing

An interesting detail;

Nikolai said in his letter to Bishop Innokenti[1] in October 1868 that he had translated “Gospels,” “Acts,” “Epistles,” “Brief Church History,” “Teaching,” “Q & A on Dogma,” and “Morning and Evening Prayer Handbook” from the Chinese version, and “Liturgy of Catechumen” and “Baptism” [2]from the Slavic ( op.cit..) [see link for footnotes - ed.]

The Bishop Innokenti she refers to is also known as St. Innocent of Alaska, one of our American Saints. St. Nikolai and St. Innocent knew each other well.