On August 13, 1836, Nikolai Kasatkin, the Orthodox missionary, the first archbishop of the Orthodox Church in Japan, was born. Personal business Nikolai (in the world, Ivan Dmitrievich Kasatkin, 1836 - 1912) was the son of the clerk of the rural church in the village of Bereza Belsky district of the Smolensk province. He studied at the county primary parish school, then at the Smolensk Theological Seminary. Having graduated with honors, he got the opportunity to continue his studies at the St.