Today, something interesting happened. After a lunch, a colleague suggested to go and have a look at a small church (часовня) he recently discovered accidentally near our office. He did not know the details about it, and thus, he was also curious to visit there to find out more, I suppose. He said it looked interesting because it is somehow devoted to sailers. So, he and I went there. Then, someone approached us and started to explain the history. It was built by Fedor Konyukhov (Фёдор Конюхов) in 2004. He is a Russian adventurer with many expeditions in the past. Once in the Atlantic ocean, he was almost dying because of hunger and cold, then he swore to the God that he would build a church if he managed to come back alive, which he did. This was how this church was built. When he became to know that I am from Tokyo and lived near Nikolai-do (Николай-До, official name in Russian is Воскресенский собор), he then said that the founder of this Russian church in Tokyo, Nikolai Kasatkin (aka Николай Японский in Russian), is/was a role model for Fedor, and he also told us another (unrelated, though) story about Nikolai and a boss of yakuza who tried to kill him. He then said that it is not a coincidence that I am here today. More interestingly, later back in the office, I found that the text I am reading this week for my Russian is about this adventurer. I did not notice that it was the same person until I checked the name in the textbook. Is it a coincidence or not?! At least, I can say that the timing of visiting this church was too perfect, as if it was planned so. In such a situation, Japanese people would say You might have an En (縁) with this person/place/city (depending on the context). Whenever something like this happens, I just consider it as a kind of confirmation that I am doing somehow OK. :-)
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 14:31:19 +0000
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