Дневники св. Николая Японского. Том Ι

In July, 1860, Vasilii Makhov, chaplain of the consular chapel, returned to Russia due to ill health. Goshkevich had sent in 1859 through the Asiatic Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a letter requesting the Holy Synod in Russia to send to Hakodate a successor to the post of chaplain. In the letter he wrote that «the chaplain of our church will also be able to promote the propagation of Christianity in Japan». It is worthy of notice that Goshkevich saw the prospect of missionary work in Japan as early as this time, when Christianity was still strictly prohibited throughout Japan.

Goshkevich was the son of a village priest. He was educated at the seminary in Minsk, and graduated from the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg. He

worked in Peking as a member of the Russian Orthodox Mission for nearly 10 years. Upon his return to Russia, he became a member of the Asiatic Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry and (as previously noted) served as the Chinese interpreter for Putiatin during the Russian expeditions to Japan. In Goshkevich, we can find the genesis of Russian Orthodox missionary work in Japan. When he was appointed as the first Russian consular representative in Japan, Goshkevich must have expected that the prohibition of Christianity there would be removed in the near future.

When Vasilii Makhov was about to leave for Russia, Goshkevich must have sensed the opportunity to realize his long–cherished dream. He asked the Holy Synod to send not a chaplain who would merely handle church functions for the consular staff, but a highly–educated missionary who could preach the gospel to the Japanese people.

Goshkevich wrote in the letter to the Holy Synod that the next chaplain should be «one who had completed the course of the theological academy and will be competent not only in ecclesiastical functions, but in scholarly activities as well, and who will present an excellent example of our clergymen through his private life, both to the Japanese and foreigners living here». (RGIA, f. 796, ed. khr. 572, d. 1859).

In response to this request, there arrived in Hakodate from St. Petersburg the 25 year–old Hieromonk Nikolai. To the great good fortune for the Japanese, this young priest was equipped with all the abilities that Goshkevich had asked for, though this was not proved for certain until Nikolai began his work. It can be said that Goshkevich recognized that the Japanese people were fairly cultivated, and thus endeavored to bring to Japan the sort of excellent missionary who was qualified to teach them Christian doctrine.[4]

Goshkevich returned to Russia in 1865, worked in the Asiatic Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry and retired from public service in 1867. About that time, he informed the Orthodox Missionary Committee that Hieromonk Nikolai had secretly begun to engage in missionary activity in Hakodate, and arranged for Nikolai to receive financial assistance from the Committee. Moskovskie vedomosti (The Moscow Herald) of October 8 (20), 1867, reported that «the Board of the Orthodox Missionary Committee received very encouraging news of the work of Hieromonk Nikolai Kasatkin in Japan… Can we leave this respectable Hieromonk without help? In western countries everywhere these missionaries enjoy the general support of the people. We hope that our society will also respond to the appeal by the Committee for subscription. Only recently, on September 13, the Committee learned for the first time through Mr. Goshkevich of the activities of Hieromonk Nikolai and of the needs of our mission in Japan».

Evfimii V. Putiatin

We do not know whether Goshkevich after his retirement had any opportunity to provide support to Nikolai. But E. V. Putiatin, the former Russian delegate to Japan (and under whom Goshkevich had worked as interpreter), succeeded Goshkevich and supported Nikolai’s missionary work in Japan. Putiatin had moved from the Navy to the political world, and was playing an active role there as a member of the National Congress.

There were many clergymen in Russia who were supporting Nikolai — for example, Isidor (Metropolitan of St. Petersburg), Fyodor Bystrov, Ioann Dyomkin. Among the lay believers supporting Nicholas, Putiatin was one of the most influential, and Nikolai made special mention of Putiatin’s support in his «Annual Report to the Executive Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society» for 1878: