Our Father among the Saints Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, Enlightener of the Aleuts

and Apostle to the Americas.

John Popov (later St. Innocent) was born on August 27, 1797, in Aginsk, a small village near Irkutsk, Siberia. He came from a pious family and at age six, young John was already reading at his parish. At age nine he entered the Irkutsk Theological Seminary, where he remained for eleven years, proving to be its most brilliant pupil during this time. Besides his Seminary classes, he read all of the books in the library dealing with history and the sciences, and while still a student he began to construct different types of clocks, acquiring the skills of carpentry, furniture making, blacksmithing, and the construction of musical instruments.

At the age of seventeen, in recognition of his outstanding achievements at the Seminary, his last name was changed to Veniaminov, in honor of the late Bishop Benjamin (or Veniamin) of Irkutsk. Not long after graduation from the Seminary, John married the daughter of a Priest and was ordained to the Deaconate. In 1821, he was ordained to the Priesthood.

While a young man, Fr. John had heard stories about the native settlements at Unalaska in the Aleutian Island chain, part of the Russian colony in America, and how they labored in the darkness of paganism. Thus, in 1823, having heard that the Bishop of Irkutsk had been requested to send a Priest to Alaska and that everyone else had refused, against the wishes of his family and friends, he volunteered to go. After fourteen months of difficult travel across the wilds of Siberia and the Bering Sea, he arrived in Unalaska with his family.

Upon arriving at Unalaska, Fr. John found that there was no house or chapel there, but he welcomed this as an opportunity to teach the natives. He first built a home for his family, using the opportunity to teach the natives carpentry. Constructing furniture for the new home, he taught the natives this skill as well, so that, with these newly-acquired skills, they were able to assist Fr. John in the construction of the Cathedral of the Ascension, which was completed in 1826.

At the same time, Fr. John's primary work was converting the natives to Orthodoxy and educating them. He learned the Aleut language, as well as the life style of the people. He and his wife organized a school for them (as well as for their own six children), and one of the required subjects was the Aleut language, for which Fr. John had devised an alphabet based on the Cyrillic. He translated services, as well as the Gospel of St. Matthew, and even wrote a small book, A Guide to the Way to the Heavenly Kingdom in the Aleut language.

Fr. John traveled throughout the Aleutian chain to teach and baptize the people, and while preaching he was always able to communicate effectively with his flock. One of these wrote, many years later: “When he preached the Word of God, all the people listened, and they listened without moving until he stopped. Nobody thought of fishing or hunting while he spoke; nobody felt hungry or thirsty as long as he was speaking, not even little children.”

In 1834, Fr. John and his family were transferred to Sitka, where the local Tlingit population was intensely antagonistic to their Russian overlords. He learned their language and culture, but they showed now real interest in his message until a smallpox epidemic hit the area. Father John convinced many of the Tlingits to be vaccinated, saving many of them from death. This served to be the means whereby he was to reach these natives and gradually he gained their love and respect.

In 1836, Fr. John decided to return to Russia to report to the Holy Synod on the needs of the Alaskan Mission. Leaving his family in Irkutsk, he went on to Moscow, where he met with the Synod, which approved his request for more Priests and funds for the Mission, as well as desiring to publish his translations. While in Moscow, he learned of the death of his wife. Hearing of this, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow encouraged Fr. John to become a Monk, which he accepted, being tonsured with the name Innocent. Soon after, the Alaskan Mission was constituted part of a Diocese and Fr. Innocent was consecrated Bishop of Kamchatka and Alaska on December 15, 1840.

Returning to his new Diocese, Bishop Innocent traveled to the far reaches of his new domain, teaching the population and organizing churches. Everywhere he preached and served in the native languages. In Sitka, he organized a Seminary to train native Priests and built a new cathedral there dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. Although preoccupied with the affairs of his large Diocese, the Bishop did find time to construct, with his own hands, the large clock on the front of the Cathedral.

In 1850, Bishop Innocent was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop and his new Archdiocese was enlarged to include more territory in Asiatic Russia, with its center at Yakutsk. Once more Innocent and his Priests set out to learn languages and cultures, teaching the new flock with gentleness and by personal example. In 1860, Archbishop Innocent met the future Bishop Nicholas of Japan (canonized in 1970), who was just beginning his lifetime missionary labors, and he gave Nicholas advice on missionary work.

Despite declining health and his request to retire, in 1868, Innocent was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. He was especially loved by his new flock for his many works of charity, and he remembered his former missions by organizing the Imperial Mission Society, which he served as its first President. Almost blind and in constant pain, Metropolitan Innocent died on Holy Saturday, 1879, at the age of eighty-two, having served Christ and His Church throughout his entire life, distinguishing himself as a true missionary and apostle. In recognition of his great apostolic and missionary labors, the Russian Orthodox Church, on October 6, 1977, solemnly glorified this Man of God and entered him into the Church Calendar, styling him St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to the America's.

In 1867, Bishop Peter (Lyaskov) of Sitka was succeeded by Bishop Paul (Popov) and in this year the first study of the life of the Elder Herman of Spruce Island was initiated. In 1870, Bishop John (Metropolsky) was appointed and he transferred the center of the American Church from Sitka to San Francisco, California, in 1872. In 1879, the American Church came under the supervision of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, and the long tie with the Diocese of Eastern Siberia was ended, with Bishop Nestor (Zakkis) being appointed Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska in that year. In 1882, however, he drowned at sea and was buried on the Island of Unalaska.

After six years without a resident Hierarch, Bishop Vladimir (Sokolovsky) was appointed in 1881, and on March 25, 1891, he accepted the Holy Virgin Protection Uniate Church in Minneapolis, as well as its Pastor, Fr. Alexis Toth, into the Orthodox Church. With this event, the American Mission entered into a new phase of its life. A Church almost exclusively concerned with missionary work among the natives of America, mostly in Alaska, now was to change its focus of attention to the return of the Uniates to Orthodoxy. This work, until now centered in the Western provinces of Russia, was directed to those Uniates who had emigrated to America, together with those from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Galicians and Carpatho-Russians). The first attempts at a development of an English liturgical text to be used in the Church also began at this time.

In 1891, Bishop Nicholas (Ziorov) arrived in America and became deeply involved in the many-sided work of the American Mission to the native Alaskans, to the newly-returned Uniates, as well as to the Orthodox immigrants from virtually all of the traditional Orthodox nations in Europe and Asia. It was in this period (from the time of the American Civil War) that Serbians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Greeks, Russians, Syrians and Albanians began to come to America in increasingly greater numbers. The Mission was now extended to Canada, where great numbers of Orthodox and Uniate immigrants had been arriving, a Missionary School was established in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a bilingual (English-Russian) publication for the Diocese was initiated.

In 1898, Bishop Tikhon (Bellavin) arrived to rule over the Church in America, and in his nine years of service in America, the Mission was brought to a new stage of maturity. For the first time the American Mission became a full Diocese, with its presiding Bishop wholly responsible for a Church within the continental limits of North America. In 1905, the center of the Church was transferred to New York (St. Nicholas Cathedral, the new Episcopal Cathedra, had been dedicated in 1902), and the newly-elevated Archbishop Tikhon was now given two Auxiliary Bishops to administer a greatly-expanded Church in America. Bishop Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn (the first Orthodox Bishop consecrated in America — March 12, 1904) was primarily responsible for the Syro-Arab communities and the other Auxiliary, Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) was appointed Bishop of Alaska.

Our Lady of Sitka.

Especially venerated in Alaska and throughout America is the first miraculous Icon abiding in the first Russian Orthodox Cathedral in America — the Sitka Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. This Icon is a copy of the miracle-working Icon of the Kazan Mother of God and was “written” by the famous Russian artist, Vladimir Borovikovsky (1758-1825). It was donated to the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Sitka by the laborers of the Russian-American Company.

In 1905, the Missionary School in Minneapolis was reorganized as an Orthodox Theological Seminary (a worthy successor to the first Seminary which had opened in Sitka in 1844 — later transferred to Yakutsk, Siberia in 1858). In 1905, the first Orthodox Monastery in America was founded, dedicated to the memory of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. The first Service Book especially prepared for the Church in America was published in 1906. And in 1907 (Feb. 20-23), the first All American Church Sobor (Council) was held in Mayfield, Pennsylvania. This was a unique council in that it was a forerunner of the first All Russian Sobor to be held in more than two centuries, which met in 1917 in Moscow. (This All Russian Sobor was attended by three American delegates and elected Metropolitan Tikhon (formerly of America) as the first Patriarch of the Russian Church in over 200 years.)

In 1907, Archbishop Tikhon was replaced by Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky), who continued the missionary work among the immigrants. At this time, the first Bulgarian and Albanian churches were organized. In 1915, Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky) replaced Archbishop Platon and though he spent a brief two years in America, he continued the basic missionary policy of his predecessors. He consecrated Bishop Aftimos to replace the newly-deceased Bishop Raphael, continuing to encourage the growth and development of the Syro-Arab Orthodox community. He also accepted Fr. Alexander Dzubay from the Unia to Orthodoxy and presided at his consecration as Bishop Stephen of Pittsburg, with the task of aiding the Carpatho-Russians in their efforts to return to Orthodoxy.

With the departure of Archbishop Evdokim to Russia to attend the All Russian Sobor in 1917, the Church in America was placed under the temporary administration of Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) of Canada. He was formally elected primate of the American Church and ruled the Church during one of its most difficult periods, when the Church of Russia was forced to curtail its support of the local Church because of the chaotic situation brought about by the end of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917. He managed the affairs of the Church despite grave opposition within the Church on the part of dissident factions filled with the spirit of revolt that resulted in part from the turmoil in Russia. The Second All American Sobor was held in 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio. It confirming Archbishop Alexander as the Primate of the Church in America, and passed several important resolutions to give the Serbian and Albanian parishes their own Bishops.

With the arrival of Platon (now Metropolitan) in America in 1922, Bishop Alexander left for Europe. At the Third All American Sobor held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1922, Metropolitan Platon was formally elected as the Primate, although the turmoil which characterized Bishop Alexander's rule continued. The Fourth All American Sobor held in Detroit, Michigan, in 1924, brought a measure of peace with the re-confirmation of Metropolitan Platen's election of 1922, and the formal declaration of the temporary autonomy of the American Church. The Sobor called for the writing of a permanent Statute for the American Church and called the Church and her people to remain in unbroken spiritual communion of prayer with the suffering Church of Russia.

Metropolitan Platon served as Primate until his death in 1934, and the struggles of the Church in its new autonomous (self-governing) status continued with attacks from the Living Church under John Kedrovsky, and the Russian Church in Exile under the local direction of Archbishop Appollinary. In 1934, at the Fifth All American Sobor held in Cleveland, Ohio, Bishop Theophilus (Pashkovsky) was elected the new Primate.

Metropolitan Theophilus immediately set about to bring peace to a divided Church in America. He succeeded for a time in restoring peace to the Church in America, with the temporary union of the American Bishops of the Russian Church in Exile under his primacy. During this period, St. Vladimir's Seminary and St. Tikhon's Pastoral School were authorized in 1937 by the Sixth All American Sobor. Metropolitan Theophilus ruled during the difficult times of World War II and its post-war period, dying in 1950, having failed to restore peace with the Church in Russia.

Bishop Leonty (Turkevich) was elected the new Primate of the American Church, which continued its autonomous status during his rule. Metropolitan Leonty was a man of great ecclesiastical experience, having served all but one year of his Priestly life in America — as the first Dean of the Minneapolis Seminary and later at the Seminary in Tenafly, New Jersey, as the Dean of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York City, as a delegate to the All Russian Sobor in 1917, as editor of the Russian-American Messenger from 1914until 1930, as Bishop of Chicago and now, Metropolitan. His wise leadership of the American Church brought it to full maturity, although he died in 1965, just five years short of the realization of his dream.

Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish) was elected the new Primate upon Metropolitan Leonty's death, and became the last Primate of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America (the Metropolia) and the first Primate of the newly-Autocephalous Orthodox Church in America. The Tomos which proclaimed this Autocephaly was signed by Patriarch Alexis of the Russian Orthodox Church on April 14, 1970, and it was formally presented to Bishop Theodosius of Alaska, the head of the American delegation in Moscow, on May 18, 1970. Thus 200 years after the missionary work of the Russian Church in Alaska began, the Church in America had progressed from a small Mission in Alaska to the natives, to a new, autocephalous Church in the family of Orthodox Churches throughout the world.

The last Sobor (the Fourteenth) of the Metropolia was held at St. Tikhon's Monastery in October of 1970, where it accepted the Tomos of Autocephaly. Then it reconvened as the First Council of the new Orthodox Church in America, a title that had been proposed by the late Patriarch Tikhon at the First All American Council held in 1907 at Mayfield, Pennsylvania.

One of the first acts of the new, autocephalous Church was the glorification of the Blessed Herman of Alaska. The formal resolution of the Sobor of Bishops which called for this action to be accomplished, was signed on March 11, 1969, by ten Bishops of the Metropolia. Providentially this action was set into motion before the formal granting of Autocephaly, but it was accomplished after that act on August 9, 1970, at Kodiak, Alaska. Thus, the Blessed Herman, the first Saint of the Orthodox Church in America, was recognized as her heavenly patron.

His heavenly intercession, together with that of St. Innocent and the Alaska Martyrs, Hieromonk Juvenaly and the Aleut Peter, united with the many witnesses of American Orthodoxy — the Laity, the Monks, Nuns, Priests and Bishops — who labored to establish and nurture this Church, is the very heartbeat and breath of the Orthodox Church in America. They are the only and true authors of this History of Orthodoxy in America, a history written in deeds and actions of those who made and make history live. They are the ones that will resurrect this written history from a written account and bring it to life in our lives.