The Diaries of St. Nicholas of Japan, Entry 27
January 3-4, 1880, St. Petersburg
3 генваря 1880. Четверг.
January 3, 1880. Thursday.
2 1 /2 часа ночи
2:30AM
Вчера утром, в одиннадцатом часу, отправился кТертию ИвановичуФилиппову узнать о деле в Государственном Совете. Извинился чрезкурьера, что еще прикладывает примочку к глазам и выйдет в халате.Вышедши, сказал, что дело о Миссии еще не пришло. В последнее заседание утверждение государственного бюджета заняло часов пять, и некогда было рассуждать о других делах; выразился, впрочем, что дело впристани и, вероятно, в следующее заседание пройдет. Я хотел было ираскланяться, но Тертий Иванович ласково удержал; между прочим, вразговоре пришла ему мысль, что хорошо бы в Японию взять одногогрека из Константинополя, и обещался написать письмо Патриарху отом. Пришел еще гость, разговор продолжался чисто богословский — острогости Церкви касательно вторичных и третичных браков и о правиле Святого Василия о сем. Тертий Иванович — истинно полезныйчеловек в смысле религиозно-богословского пропагандера в обществе.
Yesterday morning, around eleven, I went to see Tertius Ivanovich Filippov to inquire about the matter in the State Council. He apologized through a courier, saying that he was still applying a compress to his eyes and would come out in a robe.
When he came out, he said that the matter concerning the Mission had not yet been resolved.
At the last meeting, the approval of the state budget took about five hours, and there was no time to discuss other issues. However, he expressed that the matter was at the dock (ready for consideration) and would likely pass in the next session.
I was about to take my leave, but Tertius Ivanovich kindly stopped me. During the conversation, he had the idea that it would be good to take a Greek from Constantinople to Japan, and promised to write a letter to the Patriarch about it.
Another guest arrived, and the conversation turned entirely theological—about the strictness of the Church regarding second and third marriages, and about Saint Basil's rule on the matter.
Tertius Ivanovich is truly a valuable person in the sense of being a religious-theological propagator in society.
Вернувшись к себе, поскучал до трех часов, после чего направился кФедору Николаевичу, где столкнулся с Иваном Ивановичем Демкиным,с которым и уехал к нему. Ночевал у него, вечер провел довольно весело,среди детей при игре К. [Катерины] Семеновны на фортепиано, междутем как Иван Иванович освещал елку. Шли разговоры об Японии,о нападках графа, зачем-де койки и матрацы дал ученикам и прочее.Ночью было мало свежего воздуха в комнате, в которой мы спали надиванах с Иваном Ивановичем, сегодня, встав в половине девятого ипрослушав сказку о «Бабе-Яге», которую читал Миша, и напившись кофе, вдвенадцатом часу прибыл домой.
Returning home, I spent a dull time until three o’clock, after which I went to Fyodor Nikolaevich’s place, where I ran into Ivan Ivanovich Demkin, with whom I left for his home.
I stayed overnight there, and spent the evening quite cheerfully among the children as K[aterina] Semyonovna played the piano, while Ivan Ivanovich was busy lighting the Christmas tree.
There were conversations about Japan, about the criticisms from the count—complaining, for example, about giving cots and mattresses to students, and other such matters.
At night, there was little fresh air in the room where Ivan Ivanovich and I slept on sofas.
This morning, after getting up at half past eight, I listened to Misha read the tale of "Baba Yaga," and after having coffee, I returned home around eleven.
Страшно скучал до пяти. Отправилсяк Путятиным, читал письмо Черкасовой к графине М. В. [Марье Владимировне] Орловой и, пообедав, отправился к Павлу Парфеновичу Заркевичу — протоиерею при Введенской Церкви в Измайловском полку*(против Царскосельской станции). Там был юный учитель гимназии изсеминаристов, Д. Я. [Дмитрий Яковлевич] Никитин и некто ТимофейФедосеевич, подвыпивший мещанин, любитель духовенства, подаривший тут же воздухи в Японскую Миссию.
Павел Парфенович очень ужпессимист касательно ближнего его и оптимист касательно дальнего.Семейство его весьма милое: жена Анна Петровна, дети — Володя, семинарист, Миша — гимназист, Надя, Вера, Люба, Соня и Саша, лет двух.Продержал хлебосол вот до сих пор, хотя, должно быть, очень ругают вэтих случаях хозяюшки нашего брата-гостя.
*Ошибка - церковь принадлежала лейб-гвардии Семеновскому полку - примеч. сост. Указателей.
Was terribly bored until five.
Went to the Putyatins, read a letter from Cherkasova to Countess M. V. [Maria Vladimirovna] Orlova, and, after having dinner, headed to Pavel Parfenovich Zarkevich — the archpriest at the Church of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Izmailovsky Regiment* (opposite the Tsarskoye Selo station).
There was a young gymnasium teacher from the seminary, Dmitry Yakovlevich Nikitin, and a certain Timofey Fedoseevich, a slightly inebriated townsman and admirer of the clergy, who had just donated liturgical veils to the Japanese Mission.
Pavel Parfenovich is exceedingly pessimistic about those near to him and optimistic about those far away.
His family is quite charming: his wife, Anna Petrovna, and their children — Volodya, a seminarian; Misha, a gymnasium student; and the daughters, Nadya, Vera, Lyuba, Sonya, and Sasha, about two years old.
He kept me entertained with his generous hospitality for a long time…though, in such cases, our hostesses must surely scold us guests behind our backs.
*Error: the church belonged to the Life Guards Semenovsky Regiment — editor's note.
4 генваря 1880. Пятница.
12-й час ночи
Утром написал докладную записку в Канцелярию Ее Величества онуждах Миссии и сходил в одиннадцать часов к заказной обедне вынутьиз просфоры о здравии Тертия Ивановича Филиппова, сегодня именинника. Во втором часу поехал в Канцелярию Ее Величества. «Если сборная книжка потребуется, после дадут знать»,— сказали и вернули назадкнижку, отнесенную туда еще 31-го декабря, по приказу оттуда. Тертия Ивановича не застал дома — был в Контроле; жена, Мария Ивановна,приняла любезно и сказала, что теперь все надоедают вопросами, правда ли, что Тертий Иванович заменит графа Толстого, так как в городеслух, что последний — в отставку.
In the morning, I wrote a memorandum to His Majesty's Chancellery* regarding the needs of the Mission, and went at eleven o’clock to a special Liturgy to get a piece of prosphora for the health of Tertius Ivanovich Filippov, who is celebrating his name day today.
Around one o’clock, I went to His Majesty's Chancellery.* "If the collection book is needed, they will notify you later," they said, and returned the book, which had been sent there on December 31 by their order.
*Translator’s note: The text literally says ‘Her Majesty’s Chancellery’, but I can find no evidence that that body existed prior to 2002. A body called ‘His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery’ existed until the 1917 Revolution.
I did not find Tertius Ivanovich at home—he was at the Auditing Office; his wife, Maria Ivanovna, received me graciously and said that everyone is now pestering them with questions about whether it is true that Tertius Ivanovich will replace Count Tolstoy, since there is a rumor in the city that the latter is retiring.
Побыл у Федора Николаевича Быстрова; нашел письма из Японии от 14 (26) ноября с «Церковным Вестником» и первым номером газетысеминаристов «Сейгаку засси». Очень порадовался. Когда в седьмомчасу вернулся, пришел И. П. [Иван Петрович] Корнилов звать на завтрашний вечер, так как у него будут Велецкий и Ковгригин. Отказался,гак как завтра Сочельник и мне нужно быть у всенощной, ибо на шестоечисло назначен Высокопреосвященным служить во Дворце. И. П. обещался после устроить вечером и пригласить тех же, еще Скачкова исвоего брата. Необыкновенно добрый человек; видимо, хлопочет о священнике для Швейцарии, куда и прочит Ковригина; а тут опять дело —им же с П. Алек. [Петром Александровичем] Васильчиковым выдуманное — устроенье храма на Шипке, в память наших воинов.
Visited Fyodor Nikolaevich Bystrov and found letters from Japan dated November 14 (26) along with the Church Bulletin and the first issue of the seminarians’ newspaper, Seigaku Zasshi. It brought me great joy.
Upon returning around seven o’clock, Ivan Petrovich Kornilov came by to invite me to his place tomorrow evening, as Veletsky and Kovgrygin would be there.
I declined, as tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I need to attend the all-night vigil, since I’ve been appointed by His Eminence to serve at the Palace on the sixth.
Ivan Petrovich promised to host another gathering later and invite the same guests, along with Skachkov and his brother. He is an extraordinarily kind man; it’s evident he is working on appointing a priest for Switzerland, where he also intends to send Kovrygin.
Meanwhile, there’s yet another matter he has devised with Pyotr Alexandrovich Vasilychikov—the establishment of a church on Shipka, in memory of our soldiers.
Housekeeping:
A student of mine suggested using ChatGPT instead of Yandex Translate for the translation part.
I’m quite hesitant to use AI for anything, but I tried it, and was mostly pleased with the translation results; they required very little cleanup, less than Yandex Translate.
Less impressive was the photo research results: it tended to return photos from stock photo sites that had watermarks, even when I asked it to return public domain photos without watermarks. Yandex Images still wins in that department.
Redeeming ChatGPT somewhat were the other research results: I wanted to find out if there were issues of the Church Bulletin that St. Nicholas mentioned, online. Yandex Search couldn’t find me any useful information.
ChatGPT found some issues from 1878 that had been scanned, but the online repository where they were being hald, is apparently having network problems, and was not able to return the scans from my search. Still, I linked it above and here, hoping that it might be useful to someone who reads Russian.
I miss the days before SEO games, when I could craft a good AltaVista search and get good search results without all the investment in AI. But such things happen in our consumer-happy culture, where everyone is out for money.
Reflections:
I’m grateful for the prayers of St. Nicholas of Japan. For the past few months, I have been praying his akathist every morning. I’ve been exhausted being in Russia and not having enough money to accomplish what we need to do.
We also prayed akathists to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, St. Spyridon of Trimithous, and Martyr Tryphon together.
After two months, God gifted me a job—actually two jobs—that should provide enough money for us to finish remodeling the house, and, if God wills, we can visit Japan this year.
It will be a very busy time ove the next few months.
St. Nicholas of Japan, pray to God for us!