| St. Innocent, Apostle to America |
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| St. Innocent “O Holy Heirarch Innocent, Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to America, pray to Christ for the salvation of our souls in His Heavenly Kingdom.” |
John Evseyevich Popov was born in 1797 in Irkutsk province near the border of present-day Mongolia some 20 years after the failure of the first Greek Orthodox colony of New Smyrna near St. Augustine, Florida. His ailing father taught him to read and write at the early age of five. In 1807, 10-year-old John entered Irkutsk Theological Seminary, where his academic excellence was rewarded at age 17 with the change of his surname to Veniaminov in honor of the late Bp. Veniamin (Benjamin of Irkutsk). John Veniaminov married and graduated seminary as an ordained deacon in 1818. A few years later John was ordained to the priesthood, serving as an able-teacher for two years and earning the deep respect of his parishioners.
In 1823, Fr. John volunteered to undertake a mission ordered by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church: to pastor the inhabitants of far away Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. Gathering together his wife and infant son along with his brother and their aged mother, Fr. John embarked on a long and difficult journey which brought them to their new arctic island home after more than a year. This small extended family made their home in an earthen hut, and Fr. John soon undertook the task of constructing a church. Fr. John studied the local languages and dialects which allowed him to train some islanders as blacksmiths, bricklayers, carpenters, metalworkers, and stonemasons. They began construction in 1825, and the Church of the Ascension was consecrated one year later.
Fr. John traveled from island to island by bidarka, a small kayak, covering not only Unalaska but nearby Fox and Pribilof Islands, encouraging their Christian inhabitants--for many had been previously converted to Christianity--to fully abandon their shamanic beliefs and customs. During his travels, Fr. John became fluent in six local dialects. For the most widespread of these he developed a Cyrillic alphabet and translations of Matthew’ s Gospel, the Catechism, many oft-used prayers, an Aleut grammar and his treatise, A Guide to the Way to the Heavenly Kingdom, the first Aleut publication. In 1829, Fr. John traveled to the North American mainland, preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of the Bering seacoast and baptizing all who believed.
Fr. John was transferred to Sitka Island in 1834 to begin a missionary effort among the Tlingit (or Kolushchan) people. Once again he began with study, this time of the Tlingit language and culture. He published his Notes on the Kolushchan and Kodiak Tongues as well as Other Dialects of the Russian American Territories, with a Russian- Kolushchan Glossary, to great scholarly acclaim. But it was his gentleness and patience which won him access to the hearts and minds of the peoples of the Aleutians and Alaska.
During the same years that Protestants in the United States were pressing for such ante-bellum religious and social reforms as temperance, abolition, pacifism, women’ s suffrage, and public education, Fr. John labored in Russian Alaska. He supplied a new school for local children with readers and textbooks that he himself composed and translated. He devoted time to instructing new converts to Christianity in varied crafts and trades, even showing the Tlingit how to vaccinate against disease.
In 1836, Fr. John traveled to Fort Ross, California, a Russian settlement populated by Russians, Native Alaskans, and Californians, where he served Orthodox Christians and toured Spanish missions for six weeks, communicating with Spanish-speaking Roman Catholics in Latin. During this time, his familiarity with the difficulties of missionary work forced him to conclude that a successful mission in the American North required many new churches be constructed, a permanent North American mission be founded, clergy and missionaries be appointed, and a diocesan bishop be established. He submitted these proposals to the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg and requested support for the expansion and improvement of the American mission. In 1840, The Holy Synod not only granted his requests, but elevated him to the rank of archpriest.
This promotion in rank was short-lived, however. Later in 1840, Fr. John learned of his wife’ s death. Rather than permitting Fr. John to return to his family in Irkutsk, Metropolitan Filaret persuaded him to remain in St. Petersburg and take monastic vows. In November 1840, Fr. John took the name Innocent in honor of his hometown bishop and was raised to rank of archimandrite. At the same time, the Holy Synod established an episcopal see for the Russian American churches. By December, Innocent (Veniaminov) was nominated to this post and consecrated Bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, with his see on the island of Sitka where he returned in Autumn of 1841.
During the decade of the 1840’ s, the United States was deluged by displaced Irish and German immigrants seeking a better life in the Land of Opportunity. During that same decade, Bp. Innocent traveled throughout his far-flung diocese: From Sitka, Kodiak, and the North American mainland, through the islands of Unalaska, Atka, Unga, Pribilof, Bering and Spruce, finally arriving in the Asian peninsula of Kamchatka, all during 16 months of 1842-43. Innocent undertook a second journey in 1846 and a third in 1850, this time focusing on the Asian territories.
By Spring of 1850, Bp. Innocent was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by the Holy Synod in response to his successful missionary endeavors. In 1853, the Yakut region was admitted to the Kamchatka diocese. Abp. Innocent took up residence in Yakutsk, using it as a base for frequent trips and the translation of Scripture and service books into the Yakut language.
Another journey in 1857 across Yakutia and North America was interrupted by a summons that Innocent participate in the sessions of the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg. His proposals that the episcopal see be transferred from Yakutsk to Amur and that vicarates be established in Sitka and Yakutsk were unanimously approved by the Synod. Anxious to return to his work, Innocent was released from participation in the sessions to the Amur region where he preached Christianity to native tribes. In 1859, due to Abp. Innocent’ s translation effort, Yakut Christians heard the Scriptures and the Liturgy in their native languages for the first time.
Remote from other regions within the diocese, Abp. Innocent transferred the see to Blagoveshchenek in 1860 and set up vicarates in Novoarkhangelesk and Yakutsk. Traveling by ship near Sakhalin in 1861, Abp. Innocent’ s vessel ran aground during a storm. There were no injuries, but his party was forced to continue to Kamchatka by way of Japan. In Tokyo, Abp. Innocent had occasion to reunite with Abp. Nicholas (Kasatkin), whom Innocent had months earlier given his blessing as the Nicholas left for missionary service in Japan. (St. Nicholas of Japan has since been canonized as Equal-to-the-Apostles.)
In 1862, after a fourth tour of Kamchatka, Abp. Innocent settled into his new see at Novoarkhangelesk. In 1865, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decreed Abp. Innocent a member of the Holy Governing Synod. But by this time, as the American Civil War drew to a close, the Russian government was anxious to sell off its North American territories in which Innocent had for so long labored for Christ.
The Russian Alaskan territory purchased by the United States in 1867. Abp. Innocent was terribly concerned for the young Orthodox Church that had been built mainly through his own care and effort. He advocated that the American vicarate be transferred from Novoarkhangelesk to San Francisco, the largest nearby US city. Further, Innocent insisted that a new vicar familiar with English be appointed, that new English translations of service books be issued, and that the Divine Liturgy and all other church services be conducted in English.
Abp. Innocent’ s concern for the American Church was diverted following the death of Met. Filaret in late 1867. By January 1868, the year of President Andrew Johnson’ s impeachment and trial, Innocent was appointed to replace Filaret as Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. This news further worried Innocent, and he was reported to have spent the entire day in anxious prayer: “...in the evening, before retiring, [he] prayed longer than usual, staying longer on his knees.” Met. Innocent left for Moscow in February and arrived in May. Innocent celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Dormition just before arriving in Moscow, where he offered a brief but touching address:
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| Met. Innocent |
The last 11 years of Met. Innocent’ s life were characterized by the same vital interest he showed to the Arctic Church. Anyone could approach Innocent with confidence in his kindness, sympathy, and readiness to render all possible aid. Many young missionaries sought his experienced advice. On Innocent’ s recommendation, Hieromonk Nicholas undertook a serious study of the Japanese language. The Japanese Orthodox Mission, headed by now Archimandrite Nicholas, was established by the Holy Synod in 1870 under Innocent’ s considerable influence.
Met. Innocent called for the revision of all service books following the news in 1876 that some contained serious misprints and unintelligible phrases. Under Innocent’ s administration, members of the Moscow and nearby clergy were given housing by their parish communities, and their overall standard of living improved. A home for retired clergy was opened in 1871, and a special school of iconography and other arts was established for poor children and orphans of clergy in 1873.
Sensing the end of his life, Innocent requested the Sacrament of Holy Unction on Holy Tuesday, March 27, 1879. On Holy Thursday, Innocent received Holy Communion. In the early morning hours of Holy Saturday, March 31, Metropolitan Innocent died. One of his contemporaries wrote of him:
“His Eminence, Innocent, stands out magnificently among all our Orthodox hierarchs, ancient and new, for his remarkable and unique qualities. Having grown up and worked up to the age of seventy in the midst of nature, surrounded by children of nature, he was himself approachable, kind and welcoming, straightforward and free of partiality, caring not or show or finery, nor prone to flaunt either his knowledge or his accomplishments... at all times simple and humble.”
Innocent was an exceptional preacher, and preaching the Gospel was his main task in life. He taught his clergy: “...Speak circumspectly, clearly, distinctly, and in as few words as possible.... You must convey to your listeners the essential message of all Jesus Christ’s teaching: that we repent, believe in him, and nourish a selfless and pure love for him and all mankind.”
In 1977, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox officially canonized Innocent, whose feast is celebrated on October 6 and March 31. “We beseech thee our Lord Jesus Christ to hear the prayers of St. Innocent and have mercy on us.”
Sources: Bailey, Thomas A. and David M. Kennedy. The American Pageant. 8th ed. Lexington: Heath, 1987. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. Eng. ed. 1 (1978). “The Life of Saint Innocent of Alaska: St. Innocent (Veniaminov) of Alaska, Equal to the Apostles, Enlightener of North America (1797-1879).” Tarasar, Constance J., ed. Orthodox America 1794-1976. Syssot: OCA, 1975.
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