Tag: primary sources

St. Innocent’s first homily as Metropolitan of Moscow

After the death of St. Philaret Drozdov, St. Innocent, the former missionary to Alaska and Siberia, was chosen to be his replacement as Metropolitan of Moscow. Below is his first pastoral address as Metropolitan, given in Moscow's Dormition (Assumption) Cathedral on May 26, 1868 -- 142 years ago today. The...

Eulogy for St. Nicholas of Japan by St. Alexander Hotovitzky

St. Nicholas Kasatkin, the missionary bishop of Japan, died 100 years ago today. He was remarkably well known in America, where both secular periodicals and Russian Church publications chronicled his ministry. The official newsletter of the Russian Mission was the Vestnik, known in English as the Russian Orthodox American Messenger...

Fr. Theoclitos of Galveston on Charity

Recently, I've been working with a group of researchers to document the life of Fr. Theoclitos Triantafilides, the remarkable priest of Galveston, Texas. Fr. Theoclitos was from Greece -- his father had fought in the Greek Revolution -- and as a young man, Fr. Theoclitos lived on Mount Athos and...

Photo of the week: St. John Kochurov preaching in Chicago

Starting up another potentially regular feature here at OrthodoxHistory.org... This photo, dated 1905, shows Fr. John Kochurov preaching from the pulpit in the newly-constructed Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago. It's one of several great shots of Holy Trinity to be found in the Chicago Daily News photo collection,...

HEOCACNA and Bishop Sophronios(us)

Bishop Sophronios/Sophronius (Beshara) was a bishop for the Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of North America (HEOCACNA), an enterprise started by Bishop Aftimios.  For all intents and purposes, the jurisdictional unity attempt died in 1933.  Bishop Sophronius, however, was the last bishop.  The date of his death has...

Infant Abandoned in NY Greek Church in 1908

The following remarkable story appeared in the New York Times on May 1, 1908. If anyone can provide more information, please email me at mfnamee [at] gmail [dot] com. BABY LEFT IN CHURCH; SOCIETY TO ADOPT IT Advent of the Little Stranger Caused Flurry Among Women of the Ladies' Aid...

The mystery of Irvine’s funeral

I've written more words about Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine than about any other historical figure. Irvine was an Episcopal priest who converted to Orthodoxy in 1905, was ordained by St. Tikhon, and played a major role in American Orthodoxy until his death in January 1921. He was a trusted assistant...

Greek Catholic — not Orthodox — monk in America in 1850

Last week, I wrote about a priest from Lebanon who visited the United States in 1850. In an update to that post, I reprinted an 1850 Syracuse newspaper article claiming that the priest was an "impostor" who was raising money through dishonesty. That Syracuse newspaper referred to another article in...

Orthodox priests in America in 1849-50

Earlier today, I posted this note from the January 1850 issue of the Home and Foreign Record of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: Efforts are now making in New York to form a congregation of Greek Christians. We observe an announcement that a priest of that...