Metropolitan is a Japanese

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man and monk of the

Japanese Orthodox Church The is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox church within the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. History Early Orthodox Christianity The first purpose-built Orthodox Christian church to open in Japan was the wooden Russian Consulate chapel of t ...

. He has been the

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

of the Japanese Orthodox Church since 2000, by virtue of the office of the Archbishop of Tokyo. He is thus the spiritual leader of approximately 30,000 Japanese Orthodox Christians.

Early life

Metropolitan Daniel was born into a Japanese Orthodox family in

Toyohashi, Aichi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefecture's second-lar ...

, and was baptized as Jude. After he graduated with a degree in French literature from Aichi University in 1962, he studied theology at Tokyo Orthodox Seminary until 1965. He went to

Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (SVOTS) is an Eastern Orthodox seminary in Yonkers, New York. It is chartered under the State University of New York and accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. It is a pan-Eastern Or ...

Crestwood, New York Crestwood is a neighborhood in Yonkers, New York. Located in northeastern Yonkers, Crestwood is separated by the Bronx River from the village of Tuckahoe. Because the majority of Crestwood is served by the Tuckahoe post office, many residents ide ...

. In 1968 he finished his study at Saint Vladimir 1968 and was ordained to the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

. Upon his return to Japan, he served as a deacon at Tokyo Resurrection Cathedral from November 1970 till 1972. In 1972 he was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and served in Toyohashi, until 1999.

Appointment to the primacy

In 1999 his predecessor, Metropolitan Theodosius (Nagashima) of Japan died, and the Japanese Orthodox Church decided to elect three bishops and Jude Nushiro was considered as a good candidate for bishopric, as his wife had predeceased him. On August 20, 1999, he received his monastic

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice i ...

and became known as monk Daniel, and was consecrated a bishop on November 14, 1999. The Japanese Orthodox Church had planned to enthrone Bishop Peter (Arihara) of Yokohama as successor to the late Metropolitan Theodosius, and appoint Daniel to the Bishopric of Kyoto, but the sudden death of Peter in this year changed their plan entirely. Daniel was then considered the successor of Theodore, and elevated to the rank of archbishop and metropolitan. On May 14, 2000, Daniel was enthroned to the Archbishop of Tokyo and Metropolitan of All Japan, consecrated by Patriarch Alexy II of Russia who visited Japan for his enthronement and other bishops.

Spiritual leadership

Daniel is a prolific writer and insightful preacher with humor and plain wording. He issues tracts both focusing on daily reading and theological issues and the latter type of his writing is published as brochures for the education of the faithful. In his leadership a male monastery was founded in Tokyo in 2005, near to the Resurrection Cathedral. He gained some popularity in the Russian internet in January 2009, before the election of the

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

of Moscow and All Russia. A group of laity started a website, where all users could vote for the future Patriarch. As a result, Daniel, "only bishop not directly related to the former USSR", took the first place ahead of

Kirill Kirill is a male given name, deriving from the Greek name Κύριλλος (Kyrillos) which in turn derives from Greek κύριος (kyrios) "lord". There are many variant forms of the name: Cyril, Cyrill, Kyrill, Kiryl, Kirillos, Kyryl, Kiril, Ky ...

. The administration of the website zapatriarha.ru then zeroed votes for Daniel and excluded him from a list of candidates, explaining his high ratings as the result of a "hacker attack". Such actions caused Internet voters to accuse the website creators of promoting Kirill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel Nushiro, Metropolitan of Orthodox Church in Japan Eastern Orthodox Christians from Japan Eastern Orthodox primates 1938 births Living people People from Toyohashi Aichi University alumni