On the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, Priest Theodore Nitsuma performed the sacrament of baptism over two families of seven souls: two men, two women, one boy and two girls. This is one policeman; he was appointed to guard our church and the mission building from street children, who often smashed the glass in the windows with stones, and then he himself came to listen to the sermon about Christ and was instructed by Father Theodore and was baptized by his entire family; I do not know the fate of the other family of those who were baptized. I was at the sacrament (before the liturgy from 8 o'clock). The faces of all the baptized adults were very reverent. All of them, together with their godparents, read the prescribed prayers and the words of the sacrament from books. At the Liturgy, for the first time, the bishop communed them of the Holy Mysteries, impressively reading with them the prayer "I believe, O Lord"...

His Grace talked with us a lot and devoted a lot of time to us, usually busy with work (he goes to bed late, but gets up before everyone else and works hard either for translations, or for reading books, magazines and newspapers, or reading and writing letters, and so on. He spoke a lot about how the work of preaching should be carried out here, how one should be inspired and inspire others to this work, how one should delve into everything here and apply one's hand to everything; he said that there was no need to keep in mind any time calculations for the mission, that is, we did not come for Russia, not for Japan, but we are doing the work of Christ, and therefore there is no need to fear anything if we follow the line. Perhaps there will be a war between Russia and Japan; And then there is no need to leave here, for otherwise everything will be destroyed here. He also told his story – how he became a missionary in the Far East. I will tell you approximately in his words.

"It is a great pity that we did not have, and do not yet have, a living organ that acquaints us with the affairs of missionary work, so that now people go to the mission, and good ones, only by accident, having somehow learned about this church work. For me, for example, for the first time this question arose completely in passing. When I was still in the 4th grade of the seminary, one teacher said that his friend Father Avvakum was going to be a priest at our consulate in Beijing. In this regard, I immediately had a question: "Ah, here's another place: I wonder if it's possible to get there somehow, that is, to those countries?" Later, already at the academy, when we were reading Oblomov in the course, I had a swarm of thoughts that all of us Russians are very prone to this Oblomovism, and in ordinary life it seems that you can't get out of it - so it will attack you. Therefore, one thing: either the fulfillment of the ideal of height, in general of everything that seems high to me, in which case I will have to break all ties with the usual hustle and bustle and vacuity of family and economic life, or, on the contrary, to follow the usual track of family life, and then, of course, I will have to forget all ideals. That is how I reasoned then. Such has always been my one-sided nature: one of the two, or many at all. But these thoughts, too, were, of course, forgotten, that is, their relief disappeared when applied to the given circumstances. The third impulse to the same thing came much later: I was in the hospital and read in the Russian Herald an analysis of Golovin's book about Japan. That's when I asked myself the question more clearly: would it be possible to get there somehow?! I thought and thought, but in the midst of the usual later student affairs, I also forgot this. And only in the third year there was the last and decisive push. I was the senior in one of the junior suites; That's where I trained. One day I went from there to my comrade's room, and it was next door; and I walked, as I do now, like everything I do in general, quickly. And then I did it even faster. Our floors are waxed, and therefore I did not walk for quickness, but usually rolled on soles on the floor from room to number; sometimes you run into someone in such and such a way, sit on his shoulders, knock him to the floor, the fallen one swears, and you fly on; Only one student was stronger than me, and so when I ran at him in this way, the roles were usually reversed: he grabbed me and threw me to the floor. And after lunch and dinner, I also left the table very quickly and then rolled to the room. So it was that time: I rolled into my room, leaned on the table, and saw some kind of paper lying on it. I read it, and it turned out that it was a proposal from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: would any of the students of the academy wish to go to Japan in Hakodate to the Russian consulate as a priest or monk? And then I saw the names of three of those who had already registered: Nikolai Blagorazumov – a white priest (former rector of the Moscow Theological Seminary, now a Moscow archpriest), and two more: one Gorchakov (a priest), and the other in whatever rank. I read this and went back to the junior room, but it seemed to be more modest, I did not roll, I passed; I only remember that somehow I could not sit in the room and did not want to do business. It turned out that this paper had been lying in the room for a week, and I, as I rarely visited it, did not even know it. Now I thought again about the question of Japan, and I had already irrevocably decided to go there, if they were sent, and to go as a monk, for otherwise it was impossible for the cause. I went immediately and signed on the same sheet that I wanted to go to Japan as a monk. At this point, I calmed down for now. So, that evening I belonged to Japan by myself. The next morning I went to the Rector, His Grace Nektarios, and told him that I wished to go to Japan as a monk. His Grace Nektarios remarked to me: "Why are you sure to go to Japan? we can give you a good job and a place here too; We can arrange for you to be at the academy." And I remarked to him that I wanted to be a monk only for the sake of mission, and here I would not remain in this rank; and then he submitted to him a petition to be tonsured into monasticism in order to go to Japan. His Grace Nektarios reported this to Metropolitan Gregory, and this to the Holy Synod. In the Synod there was a disagreement: some objected that it was not quite necessary to send a young person to Japan, especially only a student who had not yet completed his course, and some objected: why send a monk without fail? But Metropolitan Gregory defended this case, and my petition was granted.

In the meantime, in the absence of this, the students and comrades who had signed it were agitated and interested in this matter, occupied with it when it was already in its final decision, and had hardly thought about it before. Everyone, of course, said that they would send me, because I had expressed my desire to become a monk. Of course, when it became known that I was assigned to Japan, various disputes and objections arose about my becoming a monk. Our time was alive: at that time different directions in life were rising; Then various literary talks arose about how to make life better. And we were very carried away by all this and hotly discussed various currents of social thought. But everything was on religious and ecclesiastical grounds. I remember gazing and listening with pleasure and curiosity as my younger students read various Schopenhauers and other philosophers and non-philosophers of deniers, and at the same time carefully broke them down. We had a lively interest in public life, and there was no or little negation. So the question of my becoming a monk was also hotly debated; there were also various objections, but all this was very peaceful and benevolent, nothing low and quarrelsome was expressed. At parting before the tonsure, I arranged a dinner, at which, of course, various speeches and toasts were made, and one of those who had signed up, but who had not been appointed to Japan, probably a little offended, instead of any toast, took a glass and smashed it on the floor as a sign of good wishes; But the students did not approve of his trick: all the dishes were rented, and there was not much to pay for.

During various discussions and disputes about my monasticism, I asked one of my friends about the same (he was from Yaroslavl, I respected him for his calmness and poise; he very rarely spoke himself, but everyone respected him). To my question he replied: "I think that you will soon return from Japan to Russia." And there were such objectors and openly said that I hoped to go through Japan as soon as possible to the episcopate and so on. Of course, this offended me not a little, but still, in the end, everything ended peacefully and benevolently. Immediately after tonsure, it is known what a high mood there is. And then suddenly a crowd of student singers poured into my cell, and they began to sing a song, quite unexpectedly for me: "I'll sit down at the table and think." Here are the robbers! Then soon I was ordained a hierodeacon and a hieromonk. I went to His Grace Nektarios, and he suddenly said to me, contrary to usual, so strictly and rudely: "Well, here's the thing: you have nothing to do in the academy now, you don't need it; get ready at 24 hours and leave, I have nothing to do with you anymore." In general, I have never been such as to lower my head and discourage myself from such an incident, but here I still involuntarily thought about the reason for such a reception, but calmly and not cowardly. Of course, I hurried to get ready and came to His Grace Nektarios to say goodbye. He told me: "You are a young man, life is still ahead of you: so keep your mouth shut." Of course, I was even more puzzled and partly offended by this, which is why I immediately asked him to explain what was the matter. "You go everywhere there and say that it is not worth studying at the academy, that there is nothing good there, that you need to go abroad, and that's why you are going to Japan now." This made me terribly indignant, and in an excited voice I said directly to His Grace: "Call the person who said such a thing to you a liar and a swindler. I have never been ungrateful to the seminary, much less to the academy, never ungrateful, and I do not intend to be, and in general I never seem to be ungrateful, unappreciative, or impolite to anyone. I bring the most gratifying memories, full of gratitude, from the academy, and therefore I will say again that he is not an honest person who said such a slander against me." His Grace must have understood that I was speaking sincerely and justly, and without saying anything more about it, he dismissed me kindly and benevolently, peacefully. That was the last thing I experienced that hurt me about my monasticism at the academy. And it turns out that this was taken from this: one of those who were going to go to Japan really said what has just been said about me, and then all this was transferred from him to me on the occasion of his word that seemed to have come true, but he himself said it on his own behalf and about himself. That is how, quite by chance, I became a preacher of Christianity in Japan. Therefore, it is imperative that we have some kind of institution in the Synod that would be in charge of missions and would acquaint society with them, so that the question of missions would be included in the seminary programs."

We objected to him: the programs, indeed, contain this issue, but it did not bring any benefit, since the teacher-leader himself is not interested in this matter or even worse. And the planned institution can easily turn from a living organ to a chancellery with a multitude of inspectors, sub-inspectors, assistants, and the like, without living management of the business. But His Grace insisted on his own, although not so strongly. This is how he told about his entry into the Japanese Church. This is the kind of one-sidedness that created such a one-sidedness as the twenty-five-thousand-strong Japanese Church, which by the grace of God was raised out of nothing by the hands of this one-sided man alone. God grant that you send us more such and such one-sided people, since we, for the most part, are already very versatile.

Not long ago I read in a Japanese newspaper (in English) the following very characteristic article on the essence of modern Protestantism, so preached in Japan. "In an article entitled 'Our Attitude to Orthodox Christianity,' Shuukyo (Anglican Gazette) points out the following main points: One of the causes of the stagnation in the Christian Church, which is so obviously increasing, is the spirit of compromise which has taken root among us. One can easily enumerate the points in which we, as fighters for the cause of free Christianity, differ from Orthodoxy (he means the orthodox trend in Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy). Generally speaking, this refers to (1) the character of the Bible, (2) the nature of Christ, and (3) the subject of original sin. We do not think that the Bible is some perfect remedy. We do not believe in the divinity of Christ, nor do we regard the races of men as descended from the action of the sin of Adam and Eve. We have a court of appeal to conclude the entire religious dispute, that there is neither the Bible, nor the Church, nor tradition, but the reason of every Christian.

Consequently, it is not Christianity to preserve, under certain obligations, ceremonies or forms of action which, for one or another particular conscience, seem either contrary (with objection) or necessary. Meanwhile, we believe in the existence of God and in everything that is implied by it. We hold in high esteem both the words and the character of Christ. We zealously defend His doctrine of universal love, and we believe that it is quite possible for both men and women to be so perfect as to become godlike. Therefore we believe that we have every right to be enrolled among the disciples of Christ" (The Japan Mail, Friday, January 21, 1898, Section: "Monthly summary of the religions press"). This quote speaks for itself: Protestants, obviously, preach unbelief in Christ as the Son of God. They'll say it's the Congregationalists. But they do not have this strict distinction: at the head of all the Anglican missions in China is Taylor, a Methodist or even a Congregationalist, and even the priest himself, who is under his supervision, did not know this; the same priest on the steamer, while celebrating mass, communed Taylor and his assistants, missionaries, also some sectarians.12 Therefore, it is hardly necessary to distinguish between the teachings of the two sides among them. Therefore, the above is a clear and final expression of the hope of the Anglican Church. And in practice they really preach this: they hang here the topic and points of every sermon near their churches, in which there is almost no hint of their hope in the Divinity of Jesus Christ; on the contrary, they speak "of the Christ of history, of Christ as a righteous man," and so on. And what is this happening in the world in the name of Christ?! It is these same heretics who proclaim in His own name disbelief in Him, the true Son of God. And in this they show such zeal that they seem to abandon everything, devoting themselves only to this work. It is evident that this is a clear fulfillment of the words of Christ Himself: "Men will come who will be called by My name, and they will do great signs on the earth, to deceive even the elect, if possible." This is truly an anti-Christian trend under the name of Christ. And all this is thanks to our carelessness: during the sound sleep of us Orthodox Christians, all kinds of evildoers come and spoil the field of Christ with all kinds of tares. And we sit with the true truth of Christ, with the true light, with truly powerful and saving grace, hiding these gifts in the ground, fearing that it may be defiled by touching a stranger or squandered in some way. And our enemies, or rather our adversaries, as it seems, are not strong and unfounded, and we cannot do anything with them, for we are asleep and lazy.

On January 14/26, His Grace received a letter from Kyoto from Priest Simeon Mia and, delighted with what was reported in it, hastened to bring it to us for reading. Father Simeon describes how they celebrated the feast of the Nativity of Christ, what new members were added to this feast, who moved from other places, and then reports on the baptism of two families. These are still not important people in the public respect: they are mostly artisans. And now, says Father Simeon, a teacher of the gymnasium, a very important and well-known person in the city, is listening to a sermon on Orthodoxy; Fr. Simeon hopes that his conversion can be of great benefit to the conversion of others. Indeed, now our Christians are more and more from a poor and unimportant class of society, so it is rare for more prominent Japanese to accept Orthodoxy: it is obviously the faith of uneducated, simple people; and the Japanese are still accustomed to looking at Russia as a poorly enlightened country.

That is why they are more and more eager for Anglicanism, as a religion of an educated people. Of course, there can be little sense in this for the time being: after all, European civilization is not at all a sign of Christianity, but rather the opposite, and Christians who would accept Orthodoxy only on this basis would be bad; after all, the first Christians of the beginning of Christianity in general were simple fishermen and their followers – the poor, working class, but it was they who conquered the whole world by the power of Christ. Still, Father Simeon's report is a little comforting and excites the spirit with some hopes. And as a case of a new conversion to Orthodoxy, this made Father Simeon and me very happy and added energy.

On January 26/February 7, His Grace told us about a certain Daniel. At first he was a Protestant, and then converted to Orthodoxy and became a very zealous philanthropist. For about a year, he has been caring for orphans who died from flooding on the east coast of Japan. He went there, took all the orphans, brought them to Tokyo and told His Grace about his intention to raise them. It turns out that he really takes care of them: he supports them at his own expense, sends them to school; and in order to maintain them, he bought a horse and was engaged in carting; and he forces and teaches the children to cook various small treats for sale, which they sell themselves, and, in this way, they themselves are already accustomed to earning their bread. He asked to be baptized, and now they have already been baptized and every feast day they go to church with us, after which His Grace arranges a dinner for them together with the disciples. But one day Daniil did not warn our cook why the guys had to go home hungry. This is what Peter Iwasawa wrote a very plaintive article about in our magazine; and this led to the fact that many people learned about Daniel and his work and began to bring large donations, even up to 150 yen. And the fact that Daniil brings up the children well is evidenced by the following. One day the teacher at school, of course a pagan, began to say against Christianity, that it should not be accepted, since it forbade the veneration of emperors; to this one of Daniel's living pupils stood up and boldly objected and said that this was not true, since and so on. The teacher only beat him for this, so the children came to Daniel with tears and a complaint. And Daniel said to them: "Well, you are Christians, so it is good to suffer for Christ, without being offended."

And I told them about it so much that the guys were very touched and really imbued with this mood. At school, the teacher once tells them in conversation that they are probably angry. And the guys answered: no, we are not angry, Christ did not tell us to be angry, such is our faith and so on. All this, of course, had a great effect on all the students and on the teachers themselves, so that the latter came to Daniel himself to ask him for an apology. This is the most Christian preaching about Christ – to attract the lives of Christians to Christianity by their morals. Of course, it would be good to turn this matter into a real shelter, but His Grace is waiting to test Daniel's reliability well, for one can only spoil him by giving him a reason to calm down, and the matter itself is because of it.

And here is another similar thing. In one of the northern cities of Japan, a similar figure recently died. He was formerly in the party of the Sosi, who by various scandals create public disorder in order to destroy every encroachment on the imperial power; I do not have a good idea of this party, I only know that they are very desperate people. This one once learned about Christianity and, having heard it, was baptized Orthodox; after baptism he completely changed his way of life and gave himself entirely to charity; he became a peddler of goods and used the proceeds from this for the poor. One day he went into the workshop of a carpenter; It turned out that the carpenter had died and his wife and children were crying, as they were left completely poor, without a piece of bread, and there was not even money to bury the dead. Then he left his work, went to dig a grave himself, bought a coffin for 1 yen and buried a dead pagan carpenter, and sent the orphans with their mother at his own expense to the house of his parents for care. And many, many similar things were told about him by a catechist from the north who was with His Grace. But recently he died, having fallen ill with typhus. May God grant that we have more such workers for the benefit of the needy, who act not out of a desire to show off their charity, but exclusively out of a kind, unselfish heart.

January 30/February 11. His Grace expressed his thoughts on where to live in order to keep the whole matter in our hands. And the Japanese in this regard do not always have to be relied upon. Here, for example, is what he said. In Hakodate, the priest Peter Yamara. A year ago, representatives of the Hakodate Church came with a statement that they intended to go to Sakhalin for fishing, for which they asked His Grace for some kind of letter or even paper, since they promised, in the event of a good catch, to give a third of the income to the Church, so that this fishing would be partly for the Church. His Grace says that he did not believe these promises, since in general it rarely happens that a Japanese with money in his hands does not deceive; Of course, He gave his blessing for the Providence, since why should not our Christians also benefit, if the pagans make millions on it; but he refused to give a letter or a paper, and promised only to give a certificate that the departing were Orthodox Christians, so that they could turn to the Russian priest. But the representatives started talking to let the Hakodate priest go with them, since there are a lot of our Orthodox Japanese on Sakhalin so that their priest could see and so on.