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St. Nicholai from Japan
The Orthodox Church in Japan is
one of the Orthodox Churches in the world. Orthodoxy was brought into
Japan from Russia by St. Nicholai in the 19th century. Although St. Nicholai
was officially appointed as a chaplain for the Russian consulate in the
beginning, he came with a strong missionary zeal in 1861. He not only
mastered the Japanese language completely but was also well versed in
Japanese culture as well as religion by the time he began his mission. |
Optina’s Elders
The Startsi of Optina Monastery
are holy fathers Moses, Antony, Leonid(Lev), Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose,
Anatolius I, Isaac I, Joseph, Barsanuphius, Anatolius the Younger, Nectarius,
Nikon the Confessor, and Hieromartyr Isaac the Younger. Hieromartyr Isaac
was shot by the Bolsheviks on December 26 1937. The holy Fathers made
the Optina Hermitage (Pustyn) a focus for the powerful renewal movement
that spread through the Church in Russia beginning early in the nineteenth
century, and continuing up to (and even into) the atheist persecutions
of the twentieth century. |
The Last Optina’s Elder Hieroschemamonk Nektary
Elder Nektary came from a poor
working class family. A schema-nun counseled him to go to Optina where
he arrived in 1876. For 20 years he was discipled by Elder Anatole and
also received counsel from Elder Ambrose. |
Archpriest Alexey Mechev
 Fr.
Alexey was born in 1860, the son of a choir director in the service of
the great Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (†1867). The family lived
in modest circumstances. "I never had a room of my own," Fr.
Alexey recalled. "All my life I've lived with people around!"
Judging from the only extant letter to his wife Anna, he was happily married;
they had several children before her tragically premature death. None
of the children appear to have remained close to their father with the
exception of a son Sergius who succeeded Fr. Alexey as priest at St. Nicholas'
church on Maroseyka street. |
 Sergius
Mechev
Thousands mourned the death in
1923 of the popular, clairvoyant lay-elder of Moscow, Archpriest Alexey
Mechev. But the Lord did not leave his spiritual children orphaned. Many
had already discovered in his son, the still young Priest Sergius, a worthy
and equally gifted successor. The Saint Nicholas parish on Maroseyka,
where his father served, was still small when the future priest and new
martyr, Sergius, was born on 17 September 1892. |
Tsar’s Family
 In
1917 Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow saw in a vision the Saviour speaking
to Tsar Nicholas: "You see," said the Lord, "two cups in
my hands: one is bitter for your people, and the other is sweet for you."
In the vision the Tsar begged for the bitter cup. The Saviour then took
a large glowing coal from the cup and put it in the Tsar's hands. The
Tsar's whole body then began to grow light, until he was shining like
a radiant spirit.
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