Centenary of the Orthodox mission in North America

Our North American Mission, as you know, this September celebrates the centenary of its activities on the soil of the New World. Her fate is quite remarkable in many respects. If the vital activity of the church is customary, especially in the West, to be measured by the energy and prevalence of its mission, then the North American Mission represents, especially at the beginning of its activity, striking evidence of the zeal of St. the Orthodox Church to fulfill the last commandment of Christ: to go to all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, it is already significant that the mission here went hand in hand with the discovery of hitherto unknown lands. Somewhere beyond the boundless ocean, in an inhospitable climate, lands were discovered inhabited by peoples “ignorant of any law,” who, therefore, were completely in darkness and the shadow of death, and at the first call of the church authorities, a party of valiant warriors of Christ was sent to these inhospitable countries with a wild population, ready to carry the light of the gospel truth to the most remote wilds, to endure all kinds of hardships and hardships and even lay down your very soul for this truth. And this is even more remarkable due to the fact that the missionaries in this case were by no means recruited from some special institution, such as those at the disposal of “Roman propaganda,” which sends specially trained and fully trained missionaries into the field of its activities, providing them with all the means to acquire the amenities of life necessary for a cultured person. No, these were simple monks who never thought that they would have to go to the ends of the world preaching about Christ and quietly carrying out their life's journey in prayers and labors. And, however, at the first call, they perked up and, without the slightest embarrassment, set off on that immense journey, which even now, with improved means of communication, cannot but frighten the imagination of most ordinary people; selflessly worked for the glory of the name of Christ and with such diligence cultivated the virgin soil of the northwestern outskirts of the New World that it still bears good fruit, thanks to the labors of these first evangelists of Orthodoxy in the newly discovered country. And if we also take into account the fact that somewhat later our famous missionary worked on the same ground, constituting the glory of the Orthodox Church far and beyond its borders, namely Innocent of Moscow, whose works aroused unfeigned surprise abroad, then the history of our North American mission undoubtedly receives lively church-historical interest, and therefore at least a brief outline of its hundred-year activity will not be superfluous on the pages of our magazine 1 . I. Opening of the mission and the first period of its activity The honor of discovering the northwestern part of North America belongs exclusively to the Russian people. When the valiant Ermak gave the Russian Tsar the huge land of Siberia, one might think that the boundless expanses of this land would be completely sufficient to occupy the colonialist energy of the Russian people for a long time or even forever, especially since the eastern outskirts of Siberia abutted the vast ocean that frightened even the boldest imagination. It is not for nothing that the northern parts of the Great Ocean were unknown until later times even to such worldwide navigators as the British, Dutch and Spaniards, who limited their navigation to the more hospitable latitudes of the earth's surface. But the long-standing attraction of the Russian people to the northeast did not stop even before the Great Ocean. Private fur-bearing industrialists, penetrating further and further into the depths of Siberia, finally ceased to be satisfied with these vast spaces. They were attracted by the unknown, lurking beyond the ocean and promising especially rich prey, especially since the value of the fur trade increased more and more the further east they went. Therefore, bold industrialists in small parties began to penetrate the nearby islands, and since the islands turned out to be an almost continuous chain spanning the ocean, then, moving from one to another, the industrialists little by little penetrated to the very mainland of North America. It is not known exactly when this continent was first discovered and by whom. As far as can be judged from unclear evidence, the continent of North America was known to Russian industrialists already in the 16th century; During the 17th century, when the attention of the Russian people was completely absorbed in their internal state affairs, the distant east, apparently, was completely left without attention, and only by the beginning of the last century a wave of industry again rushed to the distant east with such energy that an accurate study of these countries even became a subject of state interest. Rumors began to spread everywhere about the untold riches exported by fur-bearing animal manufacturers from the shores and islands of the Great Ocean, and Peter the Great already appointed a naval expedition to accurately determine the relationship between the coasts of Asia and America (1725–30). Actually, the honor of the official discovery of the American coast (already earlier, of course, discovered by unknown Russian industrialists) belongs to the commander of one of the ships of the expedition of 1732, Captain Pavlutsky, co-navigator Fedorov 2 . Following this, the second naval expedition, equipped at the behest of Empress Anna Ioannovna, under the command of Captain Bering, finally established the relationship between the coasts of Asia and America and, thus, the work begun and accomplished by unknown Russian industrialists was officially completed. With the acceptance of these distant countries under the protection of the Russian state, ships of enterprising Russian people began to scour everywhere even more boldly, who set off in small parties in different directions, exploring in more detail and discovering many hitherto unknown 3 islands in the chain of the Aleutian and Kuril archipelago, right up to the mainland of America. One of the most active industrialists of this kind was Rylsky citizen Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov - a remarkable Russian man who showed himself not only to be a brave industrialist, but also a valiant patriot and a devoted son of the church. While engaged in the fur trade in Siberia, with his insightful mind he appreciated all the benefits of consolidating Russian rule over the islands of the Great Ocean and the adjacent American continent, he himself personally traveled to the Aleutian and Kuril Islands to study the situation and came to the conviction that in the current state of things, industry could not develop particularly successfully, since small parties of industrialists, acting without a plan and in confusion, often harmed the industry with their rivalry and tactless, and often by inhumane treatment of the natives, they aroused hostility in them against themselves and often died from them. Therefore, he decided to found a reputable industrial company that would conduct business with a certain correctness and under the patronage of the Russian state. The company was founded by him together with his colleague, the Kursk merchant Iv. Lar. Golikov 4, and the expedition of the new company, consisting of three ships that bore significant names: “Three Saints”, “Archangel Michael”, “Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess” - moved on August 16, 1788 from Okhotsk “to the Alaskan land, called American, to known and unknown islands for the production of fur trade, and all sorts of searches, and establishments of voluntary bargaining with the natives” 5. The voyage was unsuccessful. One of the ships, namely the Archangel Michael, almost perished without a trace; but finally, after almost a year of wandering, the flotilla arrived at the harbor of the island. Kodiak, named after the ship on which Shelekhov himself sailed with his wife, Trekhsvyatitelskaya. The island was large and apparently promised rich booty; but, unfortunately, it was inhabited by wild and ferocious tribes who, having successfully driven out and exterminated small industrialists more than once, were extremely hostile towards all foreigners in general. All Shelekhov’s attempts to persuade the natives to friendly relations were in vain: they took a completely hostile attitude towards the newcomers, so that in order to establish the company on the island, they had to resort to force of arms, and only after a stubborn battle did the natives disperse and the expedition took possession of the island. The savage nature of the natives was fully reflected in the fact that, having suffered a cruel blow from the stranger, they began to look at him with superstitious fear and became more accessible to peaceful influence. O. Kodiak, lying not far from the shores of the American continent and separated from it at its widest point by a strait of 70 versts, was rich in fur-bearing animals and at the same time could serve as a stronghold for industrial activity both on the entire archipelago and on the mainland of North America itself. Therefore, Shelekhov decided to establish the main storage point of his company here. He stayed there with his company for two years, and during this time managed to become significantly closer to the natives. He saw that with their hostile mood, no success of the company was possible, because it needed obedient and hardy workers, which could only be natives. Therefore, he tried to attract the natives to himself with affection and gifts and succeeded in this regard to such an extent that the latter, seeing various previously unknown conveniences of life among the Russians, began to adopt them, and, thus, submitted to the cultural influence of the newcomers who had hitherto hated them. Everything that surrounded the Russians in their home life incited the curiosity of the natives, and the skill and dexterity with which their new neighbors erected buildings and generally arranged everything they needed for themselves aroused in the savages a desire to imitate them, and even take part in their work. Then Shelekhov’s always readiness to help the islanders in their needs whenever possible and constant attention to everything that concerned them, involuntarily endeared them to him in a short time so much that they not only did not shy away from the Russians, but they themselves came to them and brought their children with the desire that the Russians would take them to themselves as hostages or amanates, and Shelekhov, often not even needing these hostages at all, always kindly accepted them, and gave their parents various gifts 6 . Such relations made it possible for Shelekhov to gradually convince the savages that he had not come to them at all to ruin them, but in order to live with them in friendship and help them, and at the same time told the astonished savages that the great Russian empress lived far from them, whose possessions were so vast that the sun never set on them, who ruled over many peoples prospering under her scepter, and among these peoples she was ready to accept Kadyantsev. The savages listened and were touched. But it did not escape Shelekhov’s penetrating gaze that if the savages had become more friendly to the Russians, then to a large extent the fear of the power of the aliens was at work here. In the depths of the soul, hostility continued to lurk, which could manifest itself at any opportunity and lead to bloody consequences (as was later justified in some places). It was necessary to eradicate this deeply hidden enmity, and this could be achieved only by regenerating the very nature of the savages, who, living in an eternal struggle for existence, in essence, did not know what friendship and love were in their best sense. It was possible to regenerate nature only through the planting of Christianity among them. And indeed, Shelekhov, from the very beginning of his stay among the savages, began to instill in them little by little the principles of the Christian faith. Gathering both children and adults around him, he explained to them the essence of the Christian faith in a simple and understandable language; said that the life of savages is miserable and joyless, and this is because they do not have an all-powerful Helper who would deliver them from their enemies and give them help in case of need. But the Russians have such a Helper and Savior, namely Jesus Christ, who deliberately came from heaven to earth to save people from disasters, suffered for them, but he himself defeated his enemies and, now again sitting in heaven, helps everyone who turns to Him in prayer. This Savior will also help the Qadyans if they believe in Hero and are baptized. Such or similar speeches could not help but influence the imagination of the savages, and it is remarkable that soon several savages expressed a desire to accept the Russian faith, and Shelekhov, in the absence of a priest, baptized them himself, taking advantage of the right granted to every Orthodox Christian to baptize in case of need. The rite of baptism, performed with due solemnity, had a miraculous effect on the savages. It was as if they had been completely reborn and, considering themselves formally Russian, began to be proud of this and even disdainful of their former relatives. After this, it was no longer difficult for Shelekhov to instill in the newly baptized the idea of ​​citizenship, of the need to comply with well-known regulations, both civil and church. Before leaving the island, Shelekhov thus baptized forty people, and was the first to lay the foundation of the Church of Christ in this remote country, which until then had been in darkness and the shadow of death. Justice, however, requires us to note that although Shelekhov was the first planter of the seeds of the faith of Christ on Kodiak, other Russian industrialists, who had visited the Aleutian Islands even before him, also did not forget that the duty of every Christian is to share the light of knowledge of the true faith with those sitting in darkness. So, for example, the enterprising Cossack Andreyan Tolstykh, who was the first to discover in 1743 a group of islands named after him Andreyanovsky, began to baptize the natives of these islands. Then the tradesman Ivan Glotov, who discovered the islands known as the Foxes, in 1759 baptized the son of one of the local Aleutian chiefs (toens) and took him to Kamchatka, where this firstborn of the Aleutian Church lived for several years, and, having learned to read and write in Russian, returned to his homeland as an evangelist of the true faith and a good bearer of the principles of Russian culture 7 . Shelekhov, thus, continued only this gradual progress of the spread of the faith of Christ to the most distant limits of the then known world; but his activity in this regard is remarkable in that he was the first to come up with the idea of ​​strengthening this accidental sowing of the seeds of the faith of Christ through a properly organized mission. He did not hesitate to put this idea into practice at the first opportunity. Pleased with the success of his expedition, Shelekhov returned to Okhotsk, where he arrived in 1787, and from there, enduring terrible hardships from the severity of the climate and impassable roads, he reached Irkutsk, where he reported the results of his expedition to the local Governor-General Jacobi, with a request to bring them to the Highest attention of Empress Catherine II. The Empress reacted very graciously to Shelekhov’s works and even wished to see him personally when he happened to be in St. Petersburg, and Governor General Jacobi was ordered to make a detailed, all-submissive report on the best ways to establish Russian rule on the islands of the Great Ocean and on the shores of America, on the formation of governance of native peoples and on improving their life. In this report, due justice was given to the works of Shelekhov, as he believed “much more zeal for the benefits of the fatherland than for his own benefits,” and the Empress generously rewarded the selfless Russian people Shelekhov and Golikov 8, approved for their company important advantages over all other similar companies, entrusting them even with government power over the newly discovered lands. Encouraged by such merciful, highest attention, Shelekhov, already with full awareness of his national importance, began to further develop his industrial activities, and, as the head of an officially recognized company, established proper relations between Siberia and Fr. Kodiak, as the main basis of all its operations. Not having the opportunity to personally visit Fr. Kodiak, he entrusted his energetic manager Baranov with the command to deal with the natives in the spirit of his own Christian meekness. Meanwhile, the young Kodiak church continued to vegetate. The Kodiaks, or so-called Konyags, baptized by Shelekhov, remained faithful to the Russian faith they had adopted and formed the main stronghold for Russian industrialists among the masses of savages, on whom it was difficult to rely in everything. But their position was very uncertain. Joined to the new faith, they remained without sufficient edification in it, since the theological knowledge of the industrialists did not go beyond the first rudiments of Christianity. Moreover, both the industrialists themselves and the newly baptized savages were deprived of any consolation of religion and, in general, the means of satisfying their religious needs. They had neither a spiritual father nor a church. True, out of necessity, the industrialists even organized some divine services, holding hours and vespers on holidays, which the newly baptized savages would certainly and zealously attend, but this was far from sufficient to satisfy religious needs. Since, at the same time, the industrialists were increasingly convinced by experience that the local wild population could only be firmly tied to the Russians when it was reborn by the influence of the Christian religion, Shelekhov had the happy idea of ​​​​founding a proper mission in this remote region. And so he, together with Golikov, turned to the Holy Synod with a petition dated May 4, 1793, in which, briefly outlining the state of affairs on the island he had discovered, he asked that the Holy Synod allow them to build a camp church and to conduct worship in it, as well as to teach the savages the truths of the Christian law, to send missionaries suitable for this, with the obligation to maintain both the church and the missionaries at the expense of the company. The Holy Synod paid close attention to this request, and, jealous of the spread of the light of the Orthodox faith among peoples who did not know any law, decided to equip the mission, providing it with everything necessary for the successful completion of the holy work. According to the report of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod A.I. Musin-Pushkin, the definition was approved by the Empress 9, and thus the foundation of the North American mission of the Russian Orthodox Church was officially laid. The execution of this definition was entrusted to Hon. Gabriel, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg 10. When the Reverend When the Metropolitan began to carry out the important task entrusted to him, he, fortunately, immediately understood what kind of people were needed for this and where to get them from. It was necessary to find people who would possess sufficient selflessness to, abandoning all the comforts of civilized life, travel tens of thousands of miles through the impenetrable wilds of Siberia and through the stormy waves of the vast ocean - to the remote outskirts of the world, to savages who know no law, disobedient and bloodthirsty. It was difficult to find anyone for such self-denial except monks who had already renounced the world for the glory of the name of God. But not all monks were capable of this work. The Metropolitan had at hand a large selection among the brethren of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, but he immediately saw that the distant mission required people of a different caliber than the brethren of a rich, first-class monastery, intended to satisfy the ecclesiastical and religious needs of the capital, which left a special, characteristic imprint on the monastery itself. For the difficult task of missionary work at the end of the world in the wilds of a wild population, people were needed who were skilled in a persistent struggle with the harsh nature, capable of enduring all kinds of difficulties and hardships, as well as those already familiar with the work of spreading the light of the Orthodox faith among little-enlightened foreigners. The famous Valaam monastery could provide such people. This famous monastery, located on one of the islands of Lake Ladoga, for centuries served as an insurmountable stronghold of Orthodoxy on the border between the Russian people and its northwestern neighbors, hostile to it both in tribal and religious terms. This monastery, as a stronghold of the valiant warriors of Christ, suffered many terrible pogroms from the fanatical enemies of Orthodoxy, but it unshakably maintained its position, and not only did not fall under the blows of the northwestern enemies, but itself went on the offensive and spread Orthodoxy among the foreigners of the Finnish tribe surrounding it. If, during the terrible unrest of the 15th and 16th centuries, Orthodoxy survived in the north-west of Russia, then it owes this to the Valaam Monastery. In addition, this monastery has long become famous for its remarkable culture. With incredible efforts and amazing perseverance, he cultivated the hitherto inhospitable islands, conquered the harsh nature and from the gloomy dens of bears made a kind of heaven on earth, as far as such a name is applicable to a monastery that created its prosperity with the hands of its own monks, who worked in the sweat of their brow. Therefore, if any monastery could provide the most suitable missionaries for the newly discovered countries of North America, then it was Valaam, and the High Ave. Metropolitan Gabriel turned there precisely for the people necessary for the newly formed mission. And the then abbot of the monastery, the famous renovator of the monastery, Fr. Nazarius really gave reliable people. Among his monks was Hieromonk Joasaph Bolotov, who was indicated by the Most Reverend. Metropolitan as a person especially suitable for the mission. He was a fully educated man for his time. The son of a priest of the Tver province, Kashin district, village of Strazhkova, Ilya Bolotov (born 1761), Ivan Bolotov (his worldly name) early discovered his talents, energy and love for learning. Having received his initial education at the Kashin religious school, he studied philosophical and theological sciences successively in two seminaries - Tver and Yaroslavl, where he graduated from the course among the best students. For some time he was a teacher at the Uglich theological school. But then, feeling more called to serve God in close proximity to Him - far from the world, in 1786 he accepted monasticism with the name Joasaph and entered Valaam, where he was already thinking of ending his life in labors and prayers, when the providence of God called him to the great and difficult field of enlightening the pagans on the islands of the vast ocean. When this place was offered to him, he accepted it as humble obedience, and was appointed head of the North-American mission, made up of Valaam monks who did not hesitate to part with their native monastery in order to serve the cause of Christ. These monks were: hieromonks Juvenaly, Macarius and Athanasius, hierodeacons: Stefan and Nektarios, and monks: German and Joasaph. When high The metropolitan made a presentation about the choice he had made, then the Holy Synod approved it, Joasaph, as the head of the mission, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite with the award of a “cap and cross” to him - for a large representation of spiritual power, and the mission, accompanied by the best wishes and blessings, set off on its long journey 11. Since the matter was very important, on the success of which the very honor of the Russian Orthodox Church depended a lot, acting in the field of enlightening the peoples of the New World with the light of Christ’s truth, where other peoples of other faiths already dominated in other parts of it and established their religion, the Holy Synod found it necessary to give special instructions to the leadership of the mission, and this instruction is very interesting in the sense of characterizing the views of the Holy Synod of that time on the tasks of Christian missionary, so It would be useful to cite here some points from it. “The apostolic office is entrusted to you (says its first paragraph). You and those entrusted to you, having preserved it, will receive a reward in heaven, for which the holy apostles were glorified. This will be your reward in heaven when you convert those who do not know the law of God to the truth of the Gospel. So, with all your deeds, look at the heavenly reward and establish yourself in the virtues of the Christian life.” (§ 1). “When Jesus Christ makes you worthy to see those who are ignorant of the law of God, let your first concern be to set yourself up for them as an example of virtue, so that, looking at your life, they will be captivated by it” (§ 6). “To try, as much as possible, to increase this by helping them in their needs and in some of their pleasures, to somehow provide them with the things they desire, and to make fair decisions in the disputes that occur between them, softening, as much as possible, those seeking satisfaction in their grievances” (§ 7). Then the very method or method that must be followed when instilling religious and moral concepts in savages is taught, and it is remarkable for its applicability to the low level of views of the natives. The method recommended is Socratic, inductive, and the savages are asked questions regarding the elementary truths of religion in such a form or formulation that their own thought by itself and as if imperceptibly is led to the recognition of the existence of God as the highest Benefactor and just Judge, as well as the Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to earth from heaven to deliver people from their misery (§§8-15). For such instructions and teachings, the time recommended is after morning and evening prayers, when the soul is most predisposed to spiritual edification, therefore, in those “extra-liturgical conversations”, the expediency of which was obviously fully recognized even then, although they have received special development only now. This special instruction to the head of the North-American mission was supplemented by general instructions given to missionaries in general, sent by the Reverend. bishops for the conversion of infidels to the Christian faith, and from it one can note an instruction that testifies to the kind of evangelical spirit that St. Orthodox Church. Giving instructions regarding the scope of the content of faith in which it should be taught to converts, this instruction reads: “You must teach the doctrine from the Gospel, the Acts and the Epistles of the Apostles alone, without burdening converts’ minds, as in the infancy of existence, with traditions, except for the most necessary and serving dogmas as the basis of faith.” What truly apostolic simplicity this rule sounds, and what a striking contrast it represents, for example, with the activities of Roman missionaries, who, in the foreground, try to instill in the converts the idea of ​​the pope as the head of the church, with all the consequences arising from it! Supplying in sufficient quantities with everything necessary for church and religious service, both from Shelekhov himself and from other generous donors, especially in Moscow, the mission set off on its long journey in 1793. She moved through Moscow along the great Siberian highway. With the methods of communication of that time, the journey was difficult and tiring, since it was necessary to ride on horseback and sail thousands of miles in boats. But the missionaries cheerfully endured these hardships and even expressed contentment. Thus, monk Herman, in his letter to the abbot of his native monastery, Fr. Nazarius, almost with delight, described how the brethren made their way through the Siberian wilds. “From Irkutsk,” he wrote, “more than 2,000 miles of the Lena River sailed calmly in all contentment. From Yakutsk to Okhotsk we rode more than 1,000 versts on horseback with our brothers, and all our property was carried by 100 horses; Although it was fun along the river, it was even better on horseback: through forests, mountains, gullies, we saw enough of everything. The pastures are green everywhere and the time is cheerful - May, June, July; but there are only bears grazing, they’ve seen enough; although they are meek, they are masters at nurturing horses” 12. On June 13, the missionaries arrived in Okhotsk, where a vast ocean opened up before them, and where the companion ship “Three Hierarchs” was waiting for them. The Valaamites were also familiar with this element, since they were accustomed to boldly fighting the furious waves of their native Lake Ladoga on their boats; but this large lake was only a glass of water compared to the Great Ocean, and the missionaries had to experience and see many extraordinary things. “What I heard little of,” writes the same Herman, “God brought me to see: whales sea, killer whales, beavers; We saw enough whales near our ship on the surface of the water, swimming and playing. The animals are small - 15 fathoms each, and the head is five fathoms,” the author of the letter notes with humor. Moving forward among the archipelago of the Aleutian and Kuril Islands, the missionaries had the opportunity to stop here and there and baptize the natives (for example, on the island of Unalaska), and finally, having endured a very dangerous storm, on August 13, 1794, after nine months of their departure from St. Petersburg, they finally arrived at the place of their spiritual career, on the island. Kodiak. Both Russian industrialists and newly baptized natives met their spiritual fathers with great delight. Shelekhov himself was delighted with the fulfillment of his idea. “I congratulate you on your guests,” he wrote to the manager of the company, Baranov, “These guests are Holy Archimandrite Joasaph and his brethren, chosen by the will of the Empress to preach the word of God in America. I remain confident that you will feel the pleasure no less than I do, that the region in which I worked before you, and now you are working for the glory of our fatherland, will now see in the guests who have come to you a reliable support for its future well-being. God grant that this good thing will actually happen and not later, while we have the happiness of being in a state that allows us to fulfill some of the highest intentions of our wise owner” 13. It is not difficult to imagine with what feelings the missionaries themselves approached the place of their activity. Now they are already at the goal of their almost year-long journey. Approaching Kodiak, they saw the outlines of the earth, partly similar to the outlines of the shores of their native abode, but the thick “sea vapor” (fog), however, showed them that they were in a completely different country and precisely on the outskirts of the world. No wonder they spent almost a whole year traveling. And here they are in the country of the pagans, whom they have to call to the light of the faith of Christ. This country was only recently discovered by the Russians and secured behind the Russian scepter, as evidenced by a prominently displayed copper plaque with the inscription: “Land of Russian Dominion.” Kodiak Island is up to 160 versts long and from 20 to 130 versts wide in different places 14. It bears all the signs of volcanic origin, or at least of volcanic tremors, since its surface is pitted as if under the influence of the titanic work of a volcano. Russian industrialists had already managed to gain a foothold there and acquired some European amenities of life. They lived in a fortress (in the harbor of St. Paul), and there they had barracks for workers, a hotel, a hospital and a camp church. The Russian population consisted of 225 people, who for the most part were scattered in the fields, and this handful of Russian people lived among the mass of the native population, extending to the number of 8,000 people. The natives were at a very low level of development 15. They lived in yurts, usually huddled along the banks of rivers and bays, and their main occupation was fishing. The nature of their island was poor and inconvenient for either arable farming or cattle breeding, but the sea gave them abundant prey - so abundant that at times fish in bays and river mouths could be caught without any equipment, simply with bare hands. True, sometimes they were poor and severely hungry, but when this favorable time came, they triumphed and ate their fill, frying and steaming the fish they caught on a pile of hot stones, which also served as a bathhouse for them. By their origin, the horses probably formed a branch of the great Asian tribe, which gradually spread from Asia along the chain of islands of the Great Ocean to the mainland of America; but in their morals there were already many more features characteristic of the American natives, with whom they were in frequent contact, rather than of the Asians. They were warlike, like all American Indians, dressed in cloaks made from bird skins, and almost never parted with a spear and bow (their only weapons), as they were constantly ready to carry out military attacks - either because of family revenge and resentment, or simply out of thirst for prey. Before the arrival of the Russians, the bloodiest and most destructive wars went on between them almost continuously, and the chiefs or so-called toens had masses of captives, who usually constituted their main wealth and inalienable property, which they could dispose of at will, give, exchange, or even kill. The wars were also supported by the fact that complete lawlessness reigned in the country, there were no laws or institutions to punish crimes, and therefore everyone was left to take revenge on themselves for the damage or insult inflicted on them. The same disorder prevailed in family relationships. Marriage did not develop into any specific form, and if polygamy predominated, on the other hand there were often cases of polyandry, when one strong woman had several husbands. In general, however, the woman was in a depressed and pitiful state, and the most offensive curse for a horse, which certainly required revenge with arms in hand, was to call him “woman.” In a strange contradiction with this was the fact that the horses loved their children very much, never punished them and taught them various trades, and if sometimes they gave them as hostages to the Russians, they always carefully inquired about their fate. Despite all the savagery of their condition, they were not, however, alien to already more or less established religious ideas. They believed in an afterlife, as evidenced by their caring for the dead, who were interred with well-known symbolic rituals. Since, according to the horses, the afterlife was a continuation of this life, the tools necessary for crafts were placed in the ground for the dead, and sometimes the kaig (prisoner) beloved by the deceased was killed and buried, so that he would serve his master there too. The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bretribution in the afterlife was presented in the form that good people will always have success in their crafts, and evil ones will constantly fail and be in hunger. The religious worldview was in the most undeveloped state. They had the concept that everything is dominated by agayun, the good Spirit, without whose help people could not exist on earth, since He teaches people to make yurts, build kayaks (boats necessary for fishing), catch animals, etc. But they thought of His existence, as well as His activity, as something necessary, so as a result of this they did not give any honors or gratitude to the good Spirit. On the contrary, since next to the agayun there was also “jak” - an evil spirit who constantly tried to harm people, in order to appease him, the horses brought him various propitiatory sacrifices, danced in his honor in special strange outfits and generally did everything that, in their opinion, could soften the evil nature of the insidious jak. In general, they were a completely savage people, indeed, “not knowing any law” except the natural one, and even then largely distorted and darkened by barbarism. It was up to the arriving missionaries to lead this people out of the darkness and the shadow of death that surrounded them into the light of the truth of Christ. After looking around a little in the unusual surroundings and becoming familiar with the main conditions of their activity, the missionaries zealously set to work. First of all, they, of course, tried to confirm those already baptized in the faith and with their instructions, as well as the solemn performance of the divine service, brought them great consolation, further tying them to the Russian faith, and through them influencing other natives. The general impression they received was that the natives presented a convenient and already prepared soil for sowing the word of God, and they began to prepare for the missionary journey. With particular zeal, two hieromonks Macarius and Juvenaly took up the matter, between whom there was even a curious dispute about who should take over which areas, since each of them wanted to take as much as possible for themselves. When Fr. Juvenaly insisted that he should be allowed to enlighten Alaska, then Macarius, “covered with despondency and taking on a sad look, said tenderly: No, father, don’t crowd me; you yourself know that the chain of the Aleutian Islands joined Alaska, then it is certainly subject to my part, and from there the entire northern coast; for you, if you please, the southern part of America is enough for your entire belly.” This dispute took place about that part of America, which was subsequently stained with the martyr’s blood of one of them, and the dispute, therefore, was about who would be awarded this martyr’s crown for the name of Christ! “I,” notes Herman, “listening most humbly to such a debate, was delighted with joy!” 16. Having demarcated their areas of preaching, both missionaries in the fall of the same year traveled around the entire island of Kodiak and baptized most of its inhabitants 17. Delighted by this success, the missionaries expanded their activities the following year and went to neighboring islands to carry out their “catching of men.” Of these, Hieromonk Macarius went to the nearby Aleutian Islands, where he worked from May 25, 1795 to June 24, 1796. The results of his labors were very comforting: in this short time, with his kindness and kind treatment of savages and especially their children, he managed to persuade 2,472 people to faith and baptize and marry 536 couples, among which were 36 pairs of Russian people with Aleuts - a sign of close communication between the aliens and the natives. For his part, Hieromonk Yuvenaly in 1795 moved to the American continent, to the land of the Chugachs, and baptized up to 700 people among them. Encouraged by success, he penetrated the Kenai Bay, into the land of the Kenai tribe, which was very fierce and hostile to the Russians. Inspired by zeal for the spread of the light of the faith of Christ in this kingdom of darkness and barbarism, he was not afraid of any dangers and influenced the savages so much that they bowed to his beliefs and were baptized. From here he moved further to Alaska, to Lake Ilyamna or Shelekhov, and there he also began his holy work. His preaching was so successful that the savages not only accepted the Russian faith, but also gave their children to the preacher so that he could teach them the truths of the new faith. The only thing the savages didn’t like was that the Russian preacher denounced them for polygamy, and demanded that the baptized should have only one wife and leave the others. Since polygamy was an ingrained custom and the entire structure of family and social relations of savages was based on it, it was difficult for them to part with this structure, and they could easily even have a suspicion that this strange stranger had not come to them in order to, by abolishing polygamy, thereby weaken their people and make them easy prey for the numerous enemies around them. Be that as it may, a feeling of hostility towards him arose in the savages, and it quickly grew when Fr. Juvenaly left them, taking with him the children entrusted to him for edification. When the sunken suspicion grew into a feeling of fear, the savages immediately decided to set out to chase him, take away the children and put an end to the missionary himself, which they actually did. It is unknown how and under what circumstances this attack took place, since no official information was collected about it. But what was later heard by the missionary priest. The stories of John Veniaminov (later Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow) depict the personality of the valiant missionary from the best side. “Ο. Juvenal, according to these stories, when the wild ones attacked him, did not think at all about defending himself or fleeing, which he could have done with success, especially if he had a firearm with him; but he surrendered into their hands without any resistance and only asked for mercy for his companions, which was done. After a long time, the Americans themselves said that Fr. Juvenaly, having already been killed, stood up and followed his killers, telling them something. The savages, considering him alive, again attacked him and beat him; but as soon as they left him, he got up again and followed them, and this was repeated several times; Finally, the wild ones, in order to completely get rid of him, chopped him into pieces. Then only the zealous preacher fell silent and, one might say, the martyr of the word of God, but the power of his word did not fall silent: in this place where the preacher’s remains were, they say, a smoky pillar immediately appeared, stretching to the sky.”18 This story of the savages, in any case, shows what a strong impression Fr. Juvenaly, and how much after the murder conscience spoke even in their rough, barbaric hearts. Other missionaries, remaining in the center of their position, on the island. Kodiak, worked no less diligently to confirm the fruits already acquired. They performed a divine service, to which both free Russians and newly baptized natives gathered, some of whom learned to take part in the divine service and sing to the Christ they knew. At the same time, both adults and especially children were taught the rudiments of Christian doctrine, and for the latter, little by little, a special school was formed in which Russian literacy and writing were taught. The younger generation turned out to be capable of reading and writing, although a lot of patience was needed to overcome the laziness and carelessness of their wild, barbaric nature, which instinctively resisted such an unusual occupation. Soon, even the idea of ​​​​establishing a school was realized in which it would be possible to prepare natives capable of priestly and ecclesiastical positions - something like an elementary seminary, since sending them to the Irkutsk seminary for this turned out to be very inconvenient and difficult. At the same time, the Valaamites, faithful to the harsh school of their native monastery, diligently engaged in their leisure time and labors in gardening, horticulture and agriculture, and the savages, learning under their leadership to these cultural activities, became even more imbued with respect for their spiritual fathers 19. The successes of their activities were mainly due to the fact that, religiously fulfilling the instructions given to them, which was fully consistent with their own deeply Christian mood, they treated the savages with extraordinary affection and truly paternal love, which more than anything else could soften the obstinate hearts of these sons of nature. And this especially amazed the savages due to the fact that before they had not always seen such treatment with themselves - on the contrary, they often suffered insults from greedy industrialists; the spiritual fathers, preaching to them about the love of Christ, themselves were the living embodiment of this love. A particularly remarkable person in this regard was the modest monk Herman, who left the best memory among the natives and is an example of the selflessness with which a Russian Orthodox person can completely devote himself to serving the good of his spiritual children. Having settled on Spruce Island, Herman devoted himself entirely to the task of educating the natives, whom he gathered around him and, like a father and children, talked with them, teaching them not so much with words as with the very example of his life. With his own funds, he founded something like an orphanage, in which he raised several boys and girls, Aleutian orphans, and he maintained this institution in such exemplary order that special attention was paid to it by the former head of the company, Baron Wrangel. Thus, he lived in apostolic labors and prayers on this secluded island, which he renamed “New Valaam,” until his death in 1837. The natives, who bitterly mourned the loss of their pious spiritual father, later had stories about his clairvoyance, as well as how at the moment of his death his cell was filled with fragrance, and his face was illuminated with extraordinary brilliance. These stories are a tribute from the grateful hearts of spiritual children to the memory of their spiritual shepherd! Meanwhile, the activities of the mission were strengthened, and the mission itself was improved. In 1796 it was built and consecrated on the island. Kodiak is the first wooden church, the gospel of which delighted both Russians and natives. “They serve and ring in the new church,” the chief manager of the company, Baranov, wrote with delight, and even earlier, sharing the same joy with Shelekhov, he wrote to him: “Rejoicing from the bottom of my heart at the gospel of the holy Gospel faith being introduced here, out of my zeal I gave for the benefit of the church and clergy 1,500 rubles for myself and 500 for various ministers.” Archimandrite Joasaph himself traveled around the islands more than once, visited even the American mainland, affirmed the faith, and at times acted as a mediator of peace among warring and rival industrialists. On the mainland itself, two camp churches were established, and when a general overview of the results of missionary work was made, there were up to 12,000 newly baptized of both sexes. Of course, this was only a handful among the masses of the population that was still in paganism; but, in any case, the initiative was made, and the future promised a rich harvest. At the sight of these good fruits of the mission, the main culprit of the whole affair, the merchant Shelekhov, who at that time was in Irkutsk, in charge of all the affairs of the company, rejoiced most of all. But he was not satisfied with these fruits and burned with the desire that the light of the Gospel would shine even brighter in the country he had discovered and illuminate all the peoples living in it, the number of which rose to 50,000 souls. In order to give special energy and authority to the mission, he conceived the idea of ​​establishing a special diocese there, under whose authority would be all Russian possessions in America. He did not fail to contact the Holy Synod for this purpose with a petition to establish Fr. Kodiak of the episcopal see, promising her full support at the expense of the company. His idea found approval from St. Synod, although, unfortunately, he no longer lived to see this happy moment for him, since he died on July 20, 1795 in Irkutsk, where he was buried in the Novodevichy Convent, leaving behind the glorious name of one of the most remarkable Russian people, who declared himself not only a brave industrialist, but also a faithful servant of the state and a devoted son of the Orthodox Church. The highest approval of the decree on the establishment of the episcopal department on Fr. Kodiak took place on July 19, 1796. The first and natural candidate for this see was, of course, Archimandrite Joasaph, and it was decided to elevate him to the rank of “Bishop of Kodiak and other islands of America belonging to that, vicar of the Irkutsk diocese.” In view of his special position, he was assigned a relatively large salary of 4,030 rubles, unlike other vicars. 85 kopecks per year, and for the initial establishment 2,000 rubles. But in implementing this resolution, important difficulties were encountered. Who should be entrusted with performing the consecration of a newly appointed bishop? If you summon him to Russia, then this means forcing the archimandrite to again endure a terribly difficult journey, almost 15,000 miles - both by sea and by land through the impassable wilds of Siberia; Even less plausible would be the idea of ​​calling bishops from Russia or western Siberia somewhere to the shores of the Great Ocean to consecrate Joasaph there. In view of such difficulties, it was decided to entrust the Irkutsk Archbishop Veniamin to perform the consecration alone. True, according to the canonical rule, consecration must be performed by three or at least two bishops; but this rule, according to the interpretation of the Holy Synod, rather refers to election than to the act of consecration itself; and since the election of Joasaph as bishop took place on the part of several hierarchs (members of the Holy Synod), his actual consecration could have been left to a single hierarch. But when one difficulty was eliminated, another was encountered. Message between Fr. Kodiak and Okhotsk, according to the company's rules, were carried out only once every three years, and since the usual voyage of an urgent ship had already taken place in 1796, they had to wait for a new voyage, which would take place only in 1799. Thus, the newly appointed bishop had to wait three whole years for his consecration. True, the wife of the late Shelekhov, Natalia Alekseevna, a worthy assistant in all the enterprises and intentions of her late husband, tried, for the sake of an exceptional case, to send the ship on time, a year earlier, precisely in 1798; but even in this case, it was still only two years later that Archimandrite Joasaph had the opportunity to leave his island, alienated from the world, and arrived in Irkutsk with the necessary retinue. There, with due solemnity, Archbishop Benjamin performed his consecration (April 10, 1799 - on Palm Sunday), an unprecedented church celebration in Irkutsk that attracted not only residents of the city, but also masses of people from distant surroundings. Everyone looked with extraordinary curiosity at the young bishop, whose name was already known to everyone as the name of the glorious educator of savages in the newly discovered countries, and when Rev. Joasaph set off with his retinue on the way back, and everyone saw him off with sincere good wishes. Without wasting any time, Rev. Joasaph, upon arrival in Okhotsk, boarded the convivial ship “Phoenix” with his retinue, and on May 10 the ship, having raised its sails, moved along the waves of the fickle elements. It is worth noting that with insufficient exploration of the ocean waters, as well as insufficient training of sailors who relied more on their courage than on familiarity with navigation techniques, sailing on the ocean was fraught with very great dangers. In the history of the first actions of the company of Russian industrialists, there are constantly news of the wreck of ships, some of which were thrown onto a rocky shore and broken, others were carried away by waves to unknown and deserted countries, where they died from savages or their own injuries, others directly perished in the bottomless abyss of the ocean, captured by fierce storms, and so on. This, by the way, is what trials the sailors had to endure. The merchant Kiselev's ship "St. Zosim and Savvaty,” carried away by unfavorable winds, were brought to countries that neither the captain nor the sailors had any idea about. “How we left the Kuril Islands,” Kozhin himself tells in the description of this journey, “walking along the sea, they did not see land, and during the journey they reached such a place that it was impossible to walk in a dress, and at night when they went out on deck from the heat, the air was very heavy, and the gear melted, and around the ship we saw a lot of worms and water, as if heated on fire, and the ship was overcome by a leak, that the pumps were not idle for a single minute, but alternately according to the bottles they are pouring with water and the workers are exhausted; but, however, God is a helper, he didn’t even want to destroy his creation, but everyone was pouring water, and there was no protection from the air anywhere, neither in the cabin, nor in the hold, there was heat everywhere - it was impossible to be. And the people here all doubted, and seeing a desperate life for themselves, because there was only one barrel of (fresh) water, they chose another sailor for themselves and handed over to the power of the all-wise God and began to serve the akathist to the Mother of God, as well as to the saints Nicholas the Wonderworker and Zosima and Savvaty, the Solovetsky wonderworkers. At the end of the service, the Mother of God was carried out onto the deck, and so were the saints, and instead of confession they kissed each other and asked with tears, and what kind of weather God sends us, we will go there, because we don’t know, we went north and at noon, we didn’t find land anywhere, and after a short time the weather turned to midday, we set sail and went according to the weather, and walked one course to 1,800 versts, fed on rainwater, and accidentally approached the ground, which turned out to be Fr. Shuyakh" 20. But if a lucky star accidentally led this ship to the island, then much worse happened to other ships. So, Larionov’s ship, “St. Peter and Paul and the Wonderworker Nicholas,” who left Okhotsk in the fall of 1797, drifted along the stormy waves for a long time, and people suffered terribly from lack of water. When this ship crashed on the coastal rocks, nine people died from exhaustion and drinking water upon arrival at the shore. The crews of many ships washed up on islands inhabited by savages died at the hands of the latter, sometimes becoming victims of their cannibalism. Our missionaries were familiar with these dangers, but strong with firm trust in God and inspired by zeal to serve the glory of His name, they did not even think about them, burning only with the desire to quickly sail to their native Kodiak in order to continue their apostolic ministry with new grace-filled forces. The missionaries who remained on the island with their spiritual children were also eagerly awaiting their dear guests. They were already quite bored in being an orphan during the absence of their head and, unfortunately, they suffered a lot from the representatives of the company, who at first met their spiritual fathers very sympathetically, then seemed to begin to harbor a kind of envy at the sight of how oo. The evangelists, with their fatherly affection, completely tied the natives to themselves, who, in turn, began to feel the difference in the attitude towards them on the part of both. And so these spiritual orphans peered with greater and greater impatience into the hazy expanse of the ocean, to see if the white sails of the familiar Phoenix would appear somewhere. But they were not there and were not there. More than the usual period for crossing the ocean had already passed, and the Phoenix still did not appear, and amid the agonizing melancholy of waiting, the industrialists finally brought the terrible news that they had found the wreckage of the Phoenix, thrown up by a furious wave on the shores of Kodiak. According to the inscrutable destinies of God's Providence, Rev. Joasaph was not destined to enter the rank of bishop on the soil of the island enlightened by his apostolic works and bless his flock. The Phoenix apparently fell victim to one of the fierce ocean storms and perished with all its passengers and cargo... 21 This deeply tragic event darkened the entire subsequent history of the Valaam mission. The orphaned brethren seemed to fall into despondency, especially since the most active members, who constituted the soul of the entire apostolic work, disappeared from their midst forever. Herman retired to his “New Valaam”, and there he devoted himself entirely to missionary asceticism, while the other members somehow coped with current affairs. True, reinforcements soon came to them - in the form of several new members of the mission, of which the cathedral hieromonk of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Gideon, a young educated monk who had previously been a teacher at the Belgorod Theological Seminary and who, among other things, knew French 22, was especially outstanding; but this reinforcement did not lift the morale of the mission, and Gideon only had to witness the sad relations that were developing increasingly unfavorably between the head of the company, Baranov, and the missionaries. Already before, the missionaries had reason to be not entirely satisfied with Baranov, this efficient, but proud and harsh man 23; but later he became more and more rude and arbitrary, so that the missionaries were finally forced to file a collective complaint against him to the Holy Synod 24, and the validity of it was confirmed later by Hieromonk Gideon in a special report by the High Venerable. Ambrose, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg. Upon bringing this to the attention of the company, the latter presented an explanation on her part in which, pointing out her constant concern for the spread of Christianity among the savages and the construction of churches, she tried to cast a shadow on the missionaries themselves and expressed the idea that in the current state of affairs it would be better if the government sent missionaries from the white clergy, as such shepherds who, by their very condition standing closer to life and its concerns, could serve as a clear example of family virtues and for converts. The last idea found approval, and in 1811 the Holy Synod decided on a radical change in the position of the Socialist-American mission. Due to his power, the American episcopal see was closed, and it was decided to send white clergy to missionary work there, with the very islands and shores of America included in the Irkutsk diocese. Thus ended the first period of the mission of the Orthodox Russian Church on the islands and mainland of North America. The period was not long, but extremely fruitful, since it was during it that a solid foundation was laid for the holy work, which could only be continued and developed by further figures. And all this glory of apostolate and enlightenment in a land of spiritual darkness belongs entirely to the Valaam Monastery, the exploits of the monks of which, crowned with a martyr’s crown and Christian patience amid all kinds of adversity, forever formed a glorious page in its wonderful history. In compiling it, we used mainly files from the archives of the Holy Synod, as well as printed works, among which we can mention: “The Works of Innocent Metropolitan of Moscow,” collected. Iv. Barsukov I–III books. 1886–1888; I. Barsukova, Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, Moscow 1883; P. Tikhmeneva, Historical. Russian-American Education Review. companies, I–II, St. Petersburg. 1861–63, and other benefits that will be mentioned in their place. Hydrograph. Notes, part 9, pref. at Tikhmenev's. 1 part page 1 note Since 1743, more than forty such parties have been known to operate on the islands of the Great Ocean. The company was founded on a capital of 70 thousand rubles. divided into 120 shares. As stated in the terms and conditions concluded between the participants of the company. Works of Innocent, book. II, pp. 2 and 3. They were both awarded swords and gold medals to wear around their necks with portraits of the Empress and with appropriate inscriptions. By decree of June 30, 1893. See in the archives of the Holy Synod, case No. 45 from 1793 for the Irkutsk diocese. The following curious incident is told about Joasaph, which testifies to his inexhaustible readiness to help his neighbors and his resourcefulness in extreme circumstances. Before leaving for America, he considered it a duty to visit his elderly parent and other close relatives, and therefore came to the village of Strazhkovo and the city of Kashin for several days. His poor sister, who died in 1831, lived in the latter. Walking to his sister past a swamp located under a mountain near the Kashin Vvedenskaya Church, he saw a peasant who, being drunk, fell into this quagmire and could not get out of it, although there were no more than two arshins to solid ground. The plight of the unfortunate man aroused regret in the kind heart of Joasaph, but he had neither a cane nor anything else with him that could help him. Then, without thinking twice, he took off his only silk cassock and, folding it, threw it to him instead of a rope so that the drowning man would grab onto it. The poor fellow actually got hold of it and was pulled out of the swamp where he was facing certain death. This was a striking symbol of the spiritual swamp in which thousands of unfortunates lived in distant America, and from which the archimandrite was now preparing to deliver. Joasaph. See The Wanderer 1862 II, p. 280. Valaam Monastery and its devotees, St. Petersburg. ed. 2nd 1889 p. 126. This information is borrowed from the “Topographical statistical and other description of Kodiak Island” made by Archimandrite. Joasaph, and presented by him to the Holy Synod. For a copy of it, see the archives of the Holy Synod in file No. 45. It was published at one time in the “Friend of Enlightenment” for 1805. Actually the residents of the island. The Kodiaks were called Konyags, and on the neighboring islands and along the shores of America there lived tribes bearing the names of Kikhtakhs, Afognaks, Kenais, Chugachs, Agmokhlyaks and Koloshes - partly Finnish and partly Mongolian tribes. Balaam. monastery p. 121. This same sociable monk, sharing his impressions with Fr. Nazarius, wrote to him, among other things, about his life in Kodiak: “We always have news and conversations, and if there were no offense to the Americans from the company, then it would be very fun... In our harbor it’s exactly like any European town. Now they have sounded the bell at five poods and announce the gospel for every service, and in the morning and evening they beat the dawn on the drum, and the flute plays; the service is sent to our dead, and a small wooden church has begun to be built, but is not finished yet. On holidays, the soldiers and the villagers who came with them come to duty, as well as the manager, clerks and navigators, and there are also officers. We will have turnips, potatoes and all the garden vegetables, but cucumbers have not been tasted, as well as bread; but one warrior sowed a pound of barley one summer, and took one and a half pounds, and sowed it another summer - there was none. Sea fogs, and nothing was born.” See “Valaamsk. Monastery" page 125. Important assistance to the missionaries in dealing with savages was provided by the interpreter accompanying them, the Tobolsk merchant Osip Pryanishnikov, who, as familiar with local languages, was officially recognized by the Holy Synod with the knowledge of a “college translator” and a salary of 225 rubles. per year. Works of Innocent, book. II, pp. 5 and 6. Fr. Juvenaly was one of the officers and, thus, laid down his life not on the battlefield with the enemies of the fatherland, but died at the hands of the enemies of the name of Christ - for His St. cross. According to another story, Fr. Juvenal only then stopped denouncing his ferocious murderers when they handed him over to be devoured by their neighbors, which they, of course, did with their characteristic barbaric pleasure. Sharing with Fr. Nazarius, with his first impressions from his life on Kodiak, Archimandrite Joasaph, by the way, wrote to him on May 19, 1795: “On Kodiak in the winter, more than 6,000 were baptized, and they accepted baptism so zealously that they broke all their shamanic outfits and burned them. Although you were afraid of being naked, thanks to God you have the concept of chastity; although they are not dressed up, they are not naked, and they walk even more neatly than Russians: although they wear a poor dress, made from bird skins, it is long, reaching to the heels and without a floor, sewn like a surplice: there is only one hole for the head to go through. Father German is in my bakery with Father Joseph, former Kozma Alekseevich; O. Macarius Konevsky, beyond my expectations, is very capable in this place. I thought that he wouldn’t make it, but he traveled almost half of the island alone, baptized and married, and on this transport he went to the island of Unalaska and other nearby islands to baptize. Afanasy learns the service here, but mostly goes to gardens and digs soil. Father Nektarios, also the good hieromonk Juvenaly, are quite zealous, and his brother, promoted to hierodeacon, Father Stefan, although a young man, is so kind, simple-minded, helpful and intelligent that even if you choose from the Valaam brotherhood, you will be able to find someone so capable in this place. For your holy prayers to me, God created a kind and loving brotherhood... To all the fathers of Valaam, dear brotherhood, I ask you not to leave us savages in your prayers, while we are always in vanity and in the middle of the world.” In the retinue of Rev. Joasapha was among the other hieromonk Macarius, the valiant enlightener of the Aleuts. and Hierodeacon Stefan (of the officers), who were also buried in the bottomless womb of the ocean. By the way, he left behind an interesting diary about his trip to America and his stay there. This diary, as we know, is published by the Valaam Monastery on the occasion of the anniversary. Monk Herman had already hinted at this earlier, precisely in his letter to Fr. Nazarius dated May 22, 1795. See “Balaam. Monastery" page 125. And Father Macarius, not finding another way to bring to the attention of the government about the grievances of the natives, he himself deliberately went to St. Petersburg, accompanied by a party of Aleuts (in 1798) See the file in the archives of the Holy Synod No. 564 for 1802.