<!--- COMMENT ON [[Category_talk:Featured Articles]] TO GET YOUR ARTICLE FEATURED ---><div style="float:left;margin-right:0.9em;"><!---[[Image:noneEpiscopalAssembly2010.gifjpg|100px|]] <!--nb. portrait images at ~100px, landscape images at ~200px-->
</div>
The '''[[Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America]]''', founded in 2010, consists of all the active Orthodox bishops of North and Central America, representing multiple jurisdictions. It is the successor to SCOBA, and it is not, properly speaking, a synod. The Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America is one of several such bodies around the world which operate in the so-called "diaspora."
[[Image:nj2.jpg|100px|left]]
Our father among the [[saints]] '''[[Nicholas of Japan]]''', [[Equal-to-the-Apostles|Equal to the Apostles]] ([[August 1]], 1836 – [[February 3]], 1912), brought Orthodoxy to [[Orthodoxy in Japan|Japan]]. He was sent to Japan as a [[missionary]] by the [[Church of Russia]]. He worked tirelessly among the Japanese people and established there the [[Church of Japan]]. His [[feast day]] is [[February 3]].
Throughout his life, St Nicholas set an example of a true spiritual director wholly devoted to his ministry. He was a man of inexhaustible energy, firm commitment, and outstanding efficiency. He said once: ''"I consider it inappropriate for a missionary to retire unless he is totally unable to serve. I have never tried on a 'robe de chambre,' not even in my dreams. I would better die on the field where God's Providence destined me to plough and sow."Recently featured:''''' His private life was that of an [[asceticism|asceticRaphael Morgan]]. He never tried to perform any special feat, but rather surrendered his entire soul to God. His life was marked with hardships and willfulness, self-appraisals and tiredness, and the feebleness of an old man. However, the saint's life was a clear manifestation of success in overcoming these hardships through the fulfilment of [[ChristHoly Week]]'s commandments, shown to the whole world. '''''Recently featured:''' [[BedeGeorges Florovsky]], [[Gregory PalamasTheodoros II (Choreftakis) of Alexandria]], [[John ChrysostomPaschal Homily]], [[FilioquePachomius the Great]]. Newly ''View all [[:Category:Featured Articles|featured articles]] are presented every '''Friday'''.''<noinclude>[[Category:Main page templates|Featured]]</noinclude>
