On February 16, 2024, the day of commemoration of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas, Archbishop of Japan, the presentation of a multi-volume collection of works of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas of Japan took place at the Center of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society in Moscow, Patriarchy.ru reports.
The event was organized by the Scientific Section of the IPPO and the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechesis.
The large-scale scientific and publishing project "The Collected Works of St. Nicholas of Japan" is the result of many years of joint work of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechesis, the Nikolo-Ugresh Theological Seminary, the Federal Archives Agency and the Russian State Historical Archive.
The first six volumes of the collected works of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas of Japan now include official correspondence, private letters, and diaries. The edition also includes related materials pertaining to the activities of the saint and the Russian Spiritual Mission in Japan. All texts are published in a new orthography and are provided with scientific reference apparatus: commentary, dictionaries of persons and geographical names mentioned. A number of documents are published for the first time.
Meeting of the IPPO Scientific Section was opened and conducted by its head Sergey Zhitenev. Georgy Verenich, Deputy Chairman of the IPPO, made a welcoming speech and conveyed to the participants the greetings of the Chairman of the IPPO Sergey Stepashin. He also noted the great joint fruitful educational activities of IPPO with the OVCS and other synodal departments.
Victor Semyonov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the "Museum of the Memory of the Family of Emperor Nicholas II", also made a welcoming speech, noting the unusually effective work of the Scientific and Editorial Board in publishing the multi-volume collection of the works of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nicholas of Japan.
Then a solemn awarding ceremony took place. Georgy Verenich presented the IPPO badge of honor in memory of A.A. Dmitrievsky to Yuri Savelyev, a member of the IPPO Scientific Section. Hegumen Ioann (Rubin), Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechesis, presented members of the Scientific and Editorial Board of the project "Collected Works of St. Nicholas of Japan" Irina Smirnova, Irina Kuzmina and Galina Besstremiannaya with Patriarchal awards - jubilee medals of the Russian Orthodox Church "50 Years of Autonomy of the Japanese Orthodox Church.1970-2020".
Hegumen Ioann (Rubin), executive secretary of the scientific and editorial board of the project "Collection of works of St. Nicholas of Japan". He spoke about the dedicated work of the team that collected and studied the archival documents of St. Nicholas and the Russian Spiritual Mission in Japan, prepared the scientific reference apparatus for each volume separately, and also emphasized the work of the scientific editors.
Hegumen John (Rubin) donated to the IPPO Scientific Library six published volumes of the works of St. Nicholas of Japan. At the same time Fr. Fr. John said that the work continues, and at least 12 volumes are expected to be published.
Then Irina Kuzmina, responsible editor of the works of St. Nicholas of Japan, senior lecturer of the Department of History and Humanities of the Nikolo-Ugresh Theological Seminary, spoke. She spoke about the new archival documents that were discovered during the work of preparing for the publication of the works of St. Nicholas. Irina Kuzmina donated rare documents related to the history of the emergence of Orthodoxy in Japan to the IPPO Scientific Archive.
Ritta Butova, Secretary of the Scientific Section of the IPPO, senior researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented the history of the relationship between Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin), head of the Russian Theological Mission in Jerusalem, and St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas of Japan, including his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She also spoke about St. Nicholas' cooperation with a number of prominent members of IPPO.
Irina Smirnova, a full member of the IPPO, scientific editor of the works of St. Nicholas of Japan, and a leading researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke next. She noted that the scientific-publishing team had done a unique job in collecting, studying and publishing the works of St. Nicholas of Japan, both in the organization of their work and in their content. The speaker emphasized the activity of creating commentaries.
At the end of the meeting, the participants were shown a documentary film about the exhibition of Orthodox icons from Japan, which was held in the fall of 2023 at the IPPO Center. The movie was produced with the support of the Society by the Indrik-film studio. The producer is Kirill Vakh, Deputy Head of the IPPO Scientific Section.
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