Archaeographic information The addressee of the letters is a famous Russian diplomat and sinologist, a student of the brilliantly educated and world-famous orientalist V.P. Vasilyeva - Pavel Andreevich Dmitrevsky (1852-1899), who was the head of the imperial consular service of Russia in such Chinese cities as Hankou (1883-1892), Tianjin (1893-1896) and Shanghai (1897-1899) gg.).The letters refer to that period of activity of St. Nicholas, when work was in full swing to complete the construction of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral according to the design of the architect M.A. Shchurupova on Surugadai Hill in Tokyo. This cathedral became the personification of the missionary feat that St. Nicholas was able to accomplish, largely thanks to the active assistance provided by his many supporters and admirers both in Russia itself and beyond its borders.