Did you know that a very large proportion of Alaskan natives are Orthodox Christians?
This this remote land, the Orthodox Christian presence came... via Siberia and the Behring Straight, in the 1800s.
From the Church of Jerusalem to those of Russia and Siberia, Orthodox Christianity came to our shores without loosing full communion with the Church of Jerusalem and while maintaining the same faith and worship.
The first missionary to Alaska was Fr. John Innocent Popov-Veniaminov who eventually travelled south and sailed outside Humboldt Bay in the 1800s on his way to Fort Ross.
Today, the Orthodox Christian faith is very strong among the natives who remember such tremendous spiritual figures as St Herman, St Innocent, and the native martyrs Nestor and John.
Icon on the right: St Herman of Alaska |
