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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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Orthodoxie ukrainienne |
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Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Dr. Alexander Roman (email)
Ukrainian Mission Outreach to East and West
Alaska Warms to Kyivan Christianity
The Orthodox missionary movement throughout Siberia extended to Alaska when it was still part of the Russian empire. To the Aleutian peoples came the monk St. Herman of Alaska who was of Ukrainian background. We know this on the basis of his signature where he used the Ukrainian “G” something a Russian would never use. Indeed, the Ukrainian “G” became one of those symbols of resistance against Russification in history. St. Herman followed closely the Kyivan tradition of missionizing, respecting local customs and traditions and otherwise allowing Orthodoxy to inculturate itself into the soul of the Aleutian people.
St. Herman’s spiritual offspring, St. Peter the Aleutian, died a martyr in San Francisco in 1815 for refusing to become baptised by the Roman Catholics after they took over the city. St. Innocent Veniaminov, Metropolitan, was also a missionary in Alaska. His inspiration, as he wrote, was the life and work of the Ukrainian Saint Innocent Kulchitsky, Bishop of Siberia, whose name he took for himself and under whose patronage he placed himself. Under this same inspiration, Innocent prepared the young monk Nicholas Kassatkin who would become Missionary to Japan and its patron Saint.
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