Japanese Orthodox Church
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Orthodox Church of Japan 日本ハリストス正教会 |
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| Location | |
| Territory |
 Japan
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| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Statistics | |
| Population - Total |
30,000 estimated |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodox (Russian Orthodox Church) |
| Sui iuris church | church of Eastern Orthodoxy under the omophorion of the Russian Orthodox Church |
| Established | July 2, 1861 by St. Nicolas of Japan |
| Language | Classical Japanese |
| Current leadership | |
| Bishop | Metropolitan Daniel (Nushiro) of All Japan and Archbishop of Tokyo. |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Japanese Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church in Japan (日本ハリストス正教会 Nihon Harisutosu Seikyōkai?, OCJ) is an church within the Orthodox Church, under the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
St. Nicholas of Japan (baptized as Ivan Dmitrievich Kasatkin) brought Orthodox Christianity to Japan in the 19th century. In 1861 he was sent by the Russian Orthodox Church to Hakodate, Hokkaidō as a presbyter to a chapel of the Russian consulate. Though the contemporary Shogun's government prohibited Japanese conversion to Christianity, some neighbors who frequently visited the chapel converted in 1864—Nicolai's first three converts in Japan. While they were his first converts in Japan, they were not the first Japanese to become Orthodox Christians—some Japanese who had settled in Russia had converted to Orthodox Christianity.
Apart from brief trips Nicholas stayed in Japan, even during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). He proclaimed Orthodox Christianity nationwide, and was appointed as the first bishop of the Japanese Orthodox Church. He moved his headquarters from Hakodate to Tokyo around 1863. In 1886 the Japanese Orthodox Church had over 10,000 baptized faithful. In 1891 Nicholas founded a cathedral church in Tokyo in Kanda district. He spent most of the last half of his life there, and hence Tokyo Resurrection Cathedral became nicknamed Nikorai-do by Kanda citizens.
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Wikipedia