Category: Saints

An interview with Patriarch Tikhon in 1923

  Editor's note: The interview that follows originally appeared in a book published by the YMCA in Prague. I found it on the fascinating Alexander Palace Time Machine website (the original is here). Many thanks to Jenny Mosher, who posted a link to this interview on our SOCHA Facebook page....

The first biography of St. Innocent, part 3

What follows is Part 3 of Charles Hale's 1877 biography of St. Innocent. Click here to read Part 1, and click here to read Part 2. Consecrated for a great work he [Innocent] was as prompt to set about it as he was earnest in his labor. Stourdza's "Remembrancer" contains...

The first biography of St. Innocent, part 2

Editor's note: Last week, we presented the first part of the first biography of St. Innocent, written by the Episcopalian clergyman Charles R. Hale. What follows is Part 2, which details the introduction of Orthodoxy to Alaska and the priestly ministry of Fr. John Veniaminoff, the future St. Innocent. Tomorrow,...

The first biography of St. Innocent, part 1

Editor's note: The first biography of St. Innocent of Alaska was not written by an Orthodox author, but by an Episcopalian, Charles R. Hale, in 1877 (a year before St. Innocent's death). Hale (1837-1900) was an Episcopal priest (and later a bishop) who had great affection for the Orthodox Church....

The Historical Reality of Greek Orthodoxy in America

Last week, I was privileged to speak at the Greek Archdiocese Clergy-Laity Congress in Atlanta. I gave the same talk on two days, July 5 and 6. Below, we've published the text of my lecture. A couple of things, up front: first, I didn't include footnotes, because this was just...

St. Tikhon: address to a newly-married couple

Editor's note: The following homily, by St. Tikhon, was published in the March 1902 English supplement to the Russian Orthodox American Messenger, the official periodical of the Russian Diocese. From the reference to St. Macarios the Great, we can date this homily rather precisely. The feast of St. Macarios is...

The Russian Diocese in the <i>San Francisco Call</i>, 1900

Editor's note: On April 22, 1900, the San Francisco Call published a full-page spread on Orthodoxy in America. The author, Sarah Comstock, visited San Francisco's Holy Trinity Cathedral and interviewed the cathedral dean, Fr. Sebastian Dabovich. The resulting article (below) was accompanied by several photos, some of which I have reproduced...

Isabel Hapgood: Syro-Arabians in the United States (1899)

Editor's note: Regular readers of this website are no doubt familiar with Isabel Hapgood, the Episcopalian translator of the Orthodox service book from Slavonic into English. (For more on Hapgood and her role in early American Orthodox history, check out my recent podcast.) Today, we're reprinting an article Hapgood wrote...

A Jewish convert to Orthodoxy in 1897

Leaving aside Native Alaskans and Uniates, conversions to Orthodoxy in America were quite rare at the turn of the last century. Yes, American women occasionally converted when they married cradle Orthodox men, and there was the odd Episcopalian convert, but even taking those into consideration, conversions were very uncommon. And...

The Fate of Father Juvenaly: A story from Yup’ik history

Editor's note: The following article was written by Fr. Michael Oleksa, the foremost historian of Orthodoxy in Alaska, retired dean of St. Herman's Seminary, and member of SOCHA's advisory board. The article originally appeared as a chapter in Fr. Michael's fascinating book, Another Culture / Another World (Association of Alaska...