Part 10 (1/2)

The Greek Church has had a flouris.h.i.+ng mission in j.a.pan ever since 1871. It is always spoken of here as the ”Greek Church” or the ”Greek Catholic Church,” although it would more properly be called the ”Russian Church,” {166} as it was founded and is supported by the national church of Russia.

This mission is largely the result of the prodigious labors of one man--Bishop Nicolai Kasatkin. He first came to j.a.pan in 1861 as chaplain to the Russian consulate at Hakodate, but it was his desire and intention from the beginning to do mission work. For some years he was so absorbed in the study of the language that he made no attempt whatever to preach or teach. After he had been in Hakodate several years a Buddhist priest who came to revile him was converted through his influence. This man was the first convert to the Greek Church in j.a.pan, and was baptized in 1866. Three years afterward the second convert, a physician, was baptized.

The zeal of these converts, and Nicolai's own conscience, now incited him to throw his whole life and influence into the cause of a mission in j.a.pan. He was led deeply to regret that he had not done more to make Christ known to the j.a.panese, instead of giving all his time and attention to scholars.h.i.+p and letters. In 1869 he returned to Russia and began to agitate the founding of a mission in j.a.pan. The Holy Synod gave the desired permission the next year, and appointed Nicolai its first missionary. In 1871 Nicolai returned to j.a.pan and made his headquarters in the capital city, Tokyo. From this {167} time his active missionary work began, and in it he has shown himself a master.

Whether in the work of preaching, translating, financiering, building, or what not, he has been director and chief laborer. In 1872 a new priest, Anatoli by name, came out from Russia and ably a.s.sisted Nicolai for eighteen years, at the end of which time declining health forced him to return.

Nicolai again returned to Russia in 1879, and was consecrated bishop of the Greek Church in j.a.pan. At this time he began a work which had long been on his heart, viz., the collection of funds for the erection of a fine cathedral in Tokyo. This cathedral was begun in 1884 and completed in 1891. It is a magnificent building, by far the finest ecclesiastical structure in j.a.pan. It stands on an eminence from which it seems to dominate the whole city. The cost of this cathedral was $177,575, silver.

Here one may hear the finest choral music in the empire. Those who believe it to be impossible to train well j.a.panese voices have but to attend a service at this cathedral to have their ideas changed. A choir of several hundred voices has been trained to sing in perfect harmony, and the music is inspiring. Travelers who have heard the music of the most famous cathedrals and churches of Europe and America say that this will compare favorably with the best. The {168} development of music in the Greek Church of j.a.pan has been marvelous.

The work of this church, while scattered over the whole empire, is chiefly carried on in the cities and larger towns. Like the Roman Church, it refuses fellows.h.i.+p with the various Protestant bodies. Some men of note belong to it, and it is to-day recognized as one of the influential religious bodies.

A notable feature of its work is that it has employed comparatively few foreign missionaries. The burden of the work has been done by Bishop Nicolai and an able body of trained native a.s.sistants. At present there are only two foreigners in connection with it, and there have never been at any time more than three or four. While foreign priests have been little used, several of its native priests have been educated abroad.

This church has 21 native priests and 158 unordained catechists. It is now conducting work in two hundred and nineteen stations and outstations. It has one boarding-school for boys, with 47 pupils; one for girls, with 76 pupils; and one theological school, with 18 pupils.

The members.h.i.+p at the close of the year 1895 was 22,576, and the amount contributed for all purposes during that year was $4754.95.

{169}

X

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN j.a.pAN

During j.a.pan's period of seclusion, when no foreigner dared enter the country upon pain of death, many G.o.dly people were praying that G.o.d would open the doors, and some mission boards were watching and waiting for an opportunity to send the gospel to the j.a.panese. When, in the year 1854, treaties were made with Western powers, and it became known that j.a.pan was to be reopened to foreign intercourse, great interest was at once manifested by the friends of missions in the evangelization of this land.

This same year the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America requested one of its missionaries in China to visit j.a.pan and examine into the condition of affairs there, with the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng a mission. At this time permanent {170} residence of foreigners was not secured, and it was doubtless for this reason that no progress was made toward the establishment of a mission.

The country was not actually opened to foreign residence until the year 1859, and by the close of that year three Protestant missionary societies, quick to take advantage of the opportunity offered, had their representatives in the field. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States has the honor of sending the first Protestant missionaries to j.a.pan. It transferred two of its missionaries from China, the Rev. C. M. Williams and the Rev. J. Liggins. Previous to this time a few missionaries had made transient visits from China to Kanagawa and Nagasaki, and found opportunity to teach elementary English; but this work accomplished little.

According to the treaty with England, the four treaty ports of j.a.pan were opened July 1, 1859; according to that with America, July 4th.

Mr. Liggins arrived in Nagasaki May 2d, two months before the actual opening of the port; he was joined by Mr. Williams one month later.

On, October 18th of the same year the first missionaries of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Dr. and Mrs. J. C.

Hepburn, arrived at Kanagawa. A fortnight later the Rev. S. R. Brown and D. B. Simmons, M.D., of the Reformed Church in America, reached Nagasaki. {171} The Rev. Dr. G. F. Verbeck, also of the Reformed Church, reached Nagasaki one month later. Thus it will be seen that missionaries were sent here as soon as the country was opened to foreign residence, the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches of America beginning the work almost simultaneously.

The example set by these boards was soon followed by others. The American Baptists began the work in 1860, the American Board (Congregationalist) in 1869, and the American Methodists in 1873. From time to time other boards also sent representatives.

Although the country was now open to foreign residence, it was by no means open to the propagation of the foreign religion. All that the missionaries could do was to study the language and teach English. In this early period many of them found employment in the schools of the various daimios and in those of the national government.

The first years were very trying ones. The missionaries were in imminent danger of their lives; attacks without either provocation or warning were very common. Foreigners, and especially those who wanted to teach the foreign religion, were everywhere bitterly hated. The lordly samurai walked about with two sharp swords stuck into his belt, and his very look was {172} threatening. At their houses and when they walked abroad foreigners had special guards provided them by the government.

Great difficulty was at first experienced by the missionaries in employing teachers, because of the suspicion in which foreigners were held. Those who finally agreed to teach were afterward found to be government spies.

The government was still confessedly hostile to Christianity as late as 1869. Shortly before this time some Roman Catholic Christians who had been found around Nagasaki were torn from their homes and sent away into exile. The sale of Christian books was rigidly prohibited. The prohibitions against Christianity were still posted over all the empire, and were rigidly enforced. If a conversation on religious subjects was begun with a j.a.panese his hand would involuntarily grasp his throat, indicating the extreme perilousness of such a topic.

The following story shows what native Christians had to endure in some parts of j.a.pan as late as 1871. ”Mr. O. H. Gulick, while at Kobe, had a teacher, formerly Dr. Greene's teacher, called Ichikawa Yeinosuke.

In the spring of the year named this man and his wife were arrested at dead of night and thrown into prison. He had for some time been an earnest student of the Bible, and had expressed the desire to receive {173} baptism, but had not been baptized. His wife was not then regarded as a Christian. Every effort was made to secure his release; but neither the private requests of the missionaries, nor the kindly offices of the American consul, nor even those of the American minister, availed anything. Even his place of confinement was not known at the time. It was at length learned that he had been confined in Kyoto, and had died there November 25, 1872. His wife was shortly afterward released. She is now a member of the s.h.i.+nsakurada church in Tokyo.”

At this early period no distinction was made between Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and both were alike hated. There was no opportunity to do direct Christian work, and many of the supporters of missions at home were beginning to doubt the expediency of keeping missionaries where they were not permitted to work. Some boards even contemplated recalling their men. But the missionaries were permitted to remain and await their opportunity, which soon came. With the gradual opening of the country, and especially with the dissemination of a knowledge of foreign nations and their faith, the opportunities for work more and more increased and the old prohibitions were less and less enforced.

During the period of forced inactivity the missionaries were busily engaged in a study of the {174} language and in the writing of various useful books and tracts. At first Chinese Bibles and other Christian books were extensively used, the educated cla.s.ses reading Chinese with facility. The first religious tract published in j.a.panese appeared in 1867. One of the most important of the literary productions of the missionary body, Dr. J. C. Hepburn's j.a.panese-English and English-j.a.panese Dictionary, appeared in this same year. It was a scholarly work, the result of many years of hard, persevering labor.