The Diaries of St. Nicholas of Japan, Entry 28
January 5, 1880, St. Petersburg
January 5, 1880. Saturday.
10 o'clock in the evening
In the morning, at nine o’clock, I attended the liturgy at the Church of the Holy Spirit. How wonderfully the novices sing and what voices they have, especially the first tenor, who poured forth like a nightingale.
I stood at the entrance from the corridor; ahead, Father Memnon was visible, and on the right, Archdeacon Valerian with his braided hair.
I went to buy some writing paper and pick up newspapers at the corner. The newspapers are all subdued, as if their tails were stepped on. Upon returning, as I was just starting to skim, Yakov Apollonievich Hildebrandt came by—one of the most devoted supporters of the Mission among the sailors.
After him came N. A. Peslyan—what a pity she is so elderly—with her spirit and character, she would be perfect to send to Japan.
While she was still sitting, Vladimir Alexandrovich Sokolov, a mechanic from the Sobol, arrived. He, too, is extraordinarily supportive of the Mission, and through his father-in-law, Archpriest Kryukov, it seems possible to obtain something for the Mission from the wealthy circles in St. Petersburg known to him.
At two o’clock, vespers began in the Cathedral, followed by the Great Blessing of the Waters. The service was conducted by His Eminence; I was assigned to serve, having signed the service book for it yesterday. I was placed second after the Abbot. I do not know the order of the service; thankfully, Father Mitrofan, the sacristan, stood beside me, nudging and reminding me of what needed to be done.
The Blessing of the Waters was conducted very solemnly. The Bishop blessed the water by dipping his fingers, folded for the blessing, into the water—very devoutly, slowly, and correctly. I thought to myself that this should be done exactly the same way in Japan when blessing water for baptism.
The cross was immersed, held by the upper bar, then placed face down into the water and turned within it. The deacon then collected the dripping water into two vessels. A lot of water flows off the cross, as it is specially made for this purpose—cast and full of indentations.
During the entire Water Blessing, ripidions were held over the water basin, with deacons standing in front holding dikirion and trikirion.
On the analogia—on the right was the icon of the Baptism, on the left, the Gospel. Behind the analogia and the basin stood a candlestick. During the final litany and prayer, the Bishop censed.
After the triple “In Jordan,” during which the Bishop immersed the cross once, he poured the dripping Holy Water into his hand, sprinkled his eyes and face, and then blessed the church and people with the cross-shaped sprinkling.
He then drank from a ladle of the water, walked with the aspergillum and cross to the Altar, sprinkling the congregation on both sides, then sprinkled the Holy Table, the entire Altar, and the iconostasis.
He handed the cross to the Abbot, and with another cross, it was my duty to go forth, but the sacristan himself went instead. They were accompanied by the deacon carrying silver vessels filled with Holy Water. Both proceeded simultaneously to opposite sides of the church, sprinkling the church, icons, and people. Meanwhile, hymns were sung.
While the Bishop stood on the ambo, on the eagle rug, with the clergy before him in order, the Archdeacon stood at the episcopal throne in the center of the church and proclaimed the so-called “vyklik” (litany), offering great supplications for the Tsar, mentioning all his ancient titles, the Tsarina, the Holy Synod, the Metropolitan, the four Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops, all the clergy, and all Orthodox Christians.
This was the second time I’ve heard this proclamation. The first was on Christmas Eve, when the Vicar Bishop also officiated.
After the liturgy that day, which began at noon, the Bishop and all those who served stepped to the center of the Cathedral, crossed themselves before the icon of the Nativity on the analogion, while the choir sang the troparion, “Your Nativity, O Christ our God,” and the greater hymn, “Today the Virgin.”
They then moved to the ambo, where the proclamation was made, followed by the veneration of the cross. Today, during the veneration, Bishop Isidore sprinkled Holy Water, with the clergy catching the water in their hands. The clergy then entered the Altar and disrobed. The Bishop stayed behind to give the cross and sprinkle the people, after which a hieromonk replaced him.
During the proclamation, various compositions of the Mnogaya Leta [‘God Grant You Many Years’] were sung, while the Bishop blessed the people with the cross on three sides.
A huge basin of water is prepared for the Water Blessing, and to the left, a large chalice is set aside for the Lavra’s use. The basin, adorned with brocade, has a cross bar for resting the cross and is also covered with brocade. Once the Mnogaya Leta concludes, the basin is covered with a veil, then unveiled, and the waiting people rush to collect water with whatever vessels they have.
Children are first removed by the police; a boy standing near me was led back. Despite this, today did not pass without a child’s cry—one boy was squeezed so badly that the police had to rescue him.
After the service, Princes Shakhovskoy, Bibikov, and some nobleman from Smolensk—a district court chairman—showered me with pleasantries, saying how much they had “heard about me.” The Smolensk nobleman, clearly never having considered the Japanese Mission, joined in.
When I returned from the Water Blessing, a hieromonk and three novices came to chant the troparion with a litany and sprinkle the rooms with Holy Water. I gave the novices one ruble.
In the evening, I attended Vigil at the Church of the Holy Spirit. The choir sang irmosi in the standard chant, but how delightful it sounds when the voices and skill are good!
The Abbot did not finish anointing with oil before the vigil ended, so after the service, as people were leaving, he continued anointing those who remained.
In the altar, Father Moses confirmed my conviction of his unsuitability for Japan with his unsuccessful “one has to live on something.”
Dr. Ilya Ivanovich argued that secular people should not be allowed into the Altar—they only talk. Though, in truth, the clergy aren’t much better.
And still, boredom, sheer boredom! When will I leave for Japan?
Housekeeping:
The results from ChatGPT seem to be better overall than those of Yandex Translate. Today’s text required very little cleanup. I decided to leave the Russian text, as I didn’t see any obvious signs of translation mistakes. Hopefully this will not come back to bite me—I still don’t trust AI at all. Perhaps spot-checking the translation would be wise at some point. There’s no possibility at this point to have human translators review every line.
Reflections:
I enjoyed the vivid description of the Blessing of the Waters here and noticed the prayer for the Tsar. How I wish I could have seen this! But thank God for such a vivid description from my patron saint; it almost feels like I am there!
Once the Mnogaya Leta concludes, the basin is covered with a veil, then unveiled, and the waiting people rush to collect water with whatever vessels they have.
Children are first removed by the police; a boy standing near me was led back. Despite this, today did not pass without a child’s cry—one boy was squeezed so badly that the police had to rescue him.
Some things never change - everyone knows you must watch out for the babushkas running for their holy water at Epiphany)))