« A children's art exhibition dedicated to St. Nicholas of Japan opened at Dormition Cathedral in London »
05-11-2025 
On November 4, 2025, the feast day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, after the Divine Liturgy, a diocesan exhibition of children's art dedicated to St. Nicholas (Kasatkin), Equal-to-the-Apostles, Archbishop of Japan (1836-1912), opened at Dormition Cathedral in London.
Opening the exhibition, His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh emphasized that in 2026, the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church will celebrate the 190th anniversary of the birth of St. Nicholas of Japan, an outstanding Orthodox hierarch, renowned missionary, founder of the Orthodox Church in Japan, and honorary member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
He was canonized in 1970. During his half-century of missionary service, St. Nicholas, having mastered classical Japanese, translated the Holy Scriptures and a large number of liturgical books into Japanese, founded a theological seminary, and opened a number of theological schools, libraries, and orphanages. During his archpastoral ministry, over 200 Orthodox communities were founded in various cities across Japan. In 1891, after seven years of construction, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, Nikolai-do, was consecrated in Tokyo.
Concluding his account of St. Nicholas of Japan, Bishop Matthew warmly greeted Nun Martha (Persianinova), the senior sister of the Bishop's Metochion of St. Great Martyr Elizabeth in Roxfarm, who this summer made a pilgrimage to Orthodox sites in Japan with a small group of parishioners.
E.N. Poplavskaya, Director of the Parish School at the Dormition Cathedral in London, discussed the exhibition's concept and noted the widespread interest among church and secular schools in children's events organized by the Diocese of Sourozh. The exhibition features works by students from parochial schools of the Diocese of Sourozh in London, Manchester, Oxford, Glasgow, and Dublin (Ireland), as well as from secular Russian language schools "Skazka," "Raduga," "Vishnevy Sad," and "Istok."
The exhibition will run until November 30, 2025. Admission is free.