SOCIETY OF ST NICHOLAS OF JAPAN

In addition, we distribute Orthodox literature free of charge to people interested in Orthodoxy. Some of this is material that we have bought out of profits from sales of books. People also donate old books and pamphlets on Orthodoxy that they no longer need, and we use them for this purpose

We are also having some Orthodox literature translated into South African languages, and hope to publish it ourselves when the translation is complete.

In 1987 the Society published a Readers Service Book, which is particularly useful for Orthodox communities with no permanent priest. It contains the services of the Hours (Third and Sixth), the Obednitsa, the troparia and kontakia for Sundays and major feasts, and the Slava service. Individual copies cost R25.00 ($US 7.00), postage and packing R4.00 in South Africa, $2.00 Southern Africa, $3.00 abroad; Airmail postage $4.00 in Southern Africa, $6.00 abroad). For ordering information, please contact Val Hayes

The Society also publishes a newsletter, Evangelion, which is sent to all members of the Society, and to others who request it. The newsletter deals mainly with various aspects of Orthodox mission. If you would like us to send you a sample copy of the newsletter, you may send an e-mail request to Stephen Hayes.

If you would like to join the Society, or ask for a sample copy of the newsletter, or send old Orthodox books and pamphlets that you no longer need, please contact us by snail mail or e-mail at one of the addresses listed elsewhere in this document.

The Society has also been involved in trying to establish and extend the Orthodox electronic communications network OCNet, a network of computer bulletin boards linked to the FamilyNet BBS network.

At the end of 1995 the Society started a new project, running an Orthodox Christian Penfriends Club. The aim of this is to enable Orthodox Christians in various parts of the world to write to others.

The Orthodox Christian Penfriends Club was started to help Orthodox Christians to make contact with those in other countries who would be interested in writing to them.

To join the club, you will need to fill in and send an application form by snail mail, though you may request the form by e-mail. If you would like us to send you an application form, please send e-mail to Steve Hayes at the Orthodox Christian Penfriends Club. Remember to give your snail mail address so that we can post the form to you. There is a small fee for joining, to cover printing and postage costs.

If you would like more details about the club, you can go to the Orthodox Penfriends Club Web Page.

Services

Divine Liturgy

Sundays 9:30am, preceded by Orthros at 8:30 am

Vespers

Saturdays 6:30pm.

Physical address

The church is one block west of the Brixton broadcasting tower.

If you would like more information about parish activities, check the parish web page.

The Parish priest is Fr Bertrand Olechnowicz, Tel (011) 882-9858

E-mail:

Chairman: Steve Hayes

hayesstw@yahoo.com
FamilyNet: 8:79/42
Fidonet: 5:7106/20

Treasurer: Val Hayes

Val.Hayes@f2.n7903.fmlynet.planetc.com

Other Addresses

Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa

His Beatitude Petros VII
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa
PO Box 1307
Alexandria
Egypt

Tel: 00203-482-2890
Fax: 00203-483-5684

The Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa now has its own Web page, where you can find the current addresses of all the Orthodox bishops in Africa.

Other Web Sites

• The Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa - contact information, news, and a history of the Patriarchate.
• Orthodox Christian Links - a comprehensive list of Web sites relating to Orthodox Christianity, kept in a computer database and frequently updated.
• Church of St Nicholas of Japan - Brixton, Johannesburg. The Parish of St Nicholas has its own Web page.
• The Orthodox Church in America - the OCA Web site has news of current events within the Orthodox world
• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America (GOANSA). The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America has a Web site with links to many other Orthodox Web sites, and runs the ACCESS communications ministry
• The OCNet Home Page - OCNet is an Orthodox electronic communications network which is also linked to FamilyNet, a BBS network that attracts Christians of many different backgrounds and traditions.
• The Orthodox Christian Foundation sponsors this Web page of the Society of St Nicholas of Japan that you are reading now! It offers a lot of other information about the Orthodox Christian faith, and publishes The Christian Activist
• The Orthodox Church in Africa - description of what the Orthodox Church is, the basics of the Orthodox faith, an essay on Orthodox mission in Africa, and many Orthodox links.
• Pretoria Orthodox Church - the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Pretoria has its own Web page.
• The Christian Resource List - A list of some general Christian resources on the Internet, including addresses and contacts for a wide variety of Christian groups

Other South African Christian sites (non-Orthodox)

• Christian Network Links for Africa! - a list of Christian network resources and links, mostly relating to Africa, but some global ones too
• Southern African Missiological Society (SAMS) - A society for those engaged in Christian mission studies and missiological research. Its journal Missionalia is well known for its missiological abstracts.
• University of South Africa The University of South Africa (Unisa) is the oldest university in South Africa. It teaches by distance education, and so has students all over the world, though most of the students are in Southern Africa. It offers internationally recognized degrees in the faculties of Arts, Theology, Law, Science, Economic and Management Sciences and Education. Stephen Hayes, the chairman of the Society, works in the Editorial Department of the university.

St Nicholas of Japan was chosen as the patron saint of the society because he was a Russian missionary who went to Japan and planted a Japanese Church. He did not seek to turn Japanese Christians into Russians, and so was a model of the kind of cross-cultural mission the society wished to foster. The Society's main aim was to encourage Orthodox Christians in Southern Africa to reach out in mission to people of all cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.

The Society worked to establish the Parish of St Nicholas of Japan in Brixton, Johannesburg, as an English-speaking parish in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg. For its first three years, therefore the history of the society was closely linked to that of the parish. After that the parish elected its own committee, and was governed separately from the society. For more details, see the other web page. The Society of St Nicholas has continued with its work of literature distribution through the bookstall, and with the publication of the Evangelion newsletter.

In 1997 one of the non-canonical bodies the Society had made contact with, the African Orthodox Episcopal Church, which operates mainly to the north of Pretoria, met Archimandrite Michael Visvinis, the Dean of the Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Pretoria, and through him made a formal request to the Archbishop of Johannesburg and Pretoria to be received into the Orthodox Church.

In a more distant field, the Society was instrumental in putting groups of would-be Orthodox Christians in the Northern Mariana Islands in contact with the new Metropolitan of Hong Kong and South-East Asia. In small ways, we hope to continue to encourage Orthodox mission everywhere.

Orthodoxy in Africa

For the first couple of centuries the Bishop of Alexandria was the only bishop in Egypt, but at the end of the second century the church began to expand rapidly among the indigenous population of Egypt, and so more bishops were needed. When the new dioceses were established, the bishop of Alexandria was given the title "pope", because Alexandria had been the original church in Egypt. The title "pope" was later also adopted by the bishops of Rome.

A theological dispute in Egypt in the fourth century led to the calling of the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, and eventually to the formulation of the Symbol of Faith (Nicene Creed). One of the protagonists in this was Pope Athanasius who also supported the mission to Ethiopia led by St Frumentius.

After the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 there was a schism. The non-Chalcedonian party in Africa was the larger, and today it is known as the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is led by Pope Shenouda III. Since the Society of St Nicholas is linked to the Greek Patriarchate we will concentrate on that here.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which is in communion with the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, Moscow and the other autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches is led by the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.

In the second half of the 20th century the greatest growth in the Orthodox Church in Africa has taken place in tropical Africa, starting with the countries around the shores of Lake Victoria - Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. There are also active Orthodox missions in West Africa, especially Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. For more information on this, you can read an article on Orthodox mission in tropical Africa.

Book agency

Books may also be bought by mail order from within Southern Africa. If you are interested in ordering books by mail, you may send e-mail to Val Hayes, the Society's treasurer, or write to her at the Society's postal address, PO Box 56303, Arcadia, 0007 South Africa, or phone (012) 333-6727 (evenings).

We have also produced a Readers Service Book with some of the services used by readers, including the Obednitsa service, for use in Orthodox communities without a priest. For the latest information about this and other books available, see Val Hayes's personal page.