Search Results for: peter the aleut

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...

The Mysterious Roots of Orthodoxy in Canada


No one knows for certain when and where the first Orthodox Divine Liturgy was served in Canada. The first documented Liturgy was served in June 1897 by the Seattle-based missionary Fr. Dimitri Kamnev (assisted by Vladimir Alexandrov, then a reader) in a field belonging to Theodore Nemirsky at Wostok, Alberta....

Source of the Week: Dabovich on Bishop Nestor


On today's episode of my American Orthodox History podcast, I talk about the tragic death of Bishop Nestor Zass, head of the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska from 1879 to 1882. One of Bp Nestor's parishioners in San Francisco was the 19-year-old Jovan Dabovich, the future Archimandrite Sebastian....

Source of the Week: the 1877 Holy Synod edict


For months now, I've been posting a new article virtually every weekday. I've got some things coming up in my life that will prevent me from writing quite that often, so in an effort to organize my time a bit more efficiently (and continue to offer new historical information on...

The Forgotten Saint of the Forgotten Church on the Forgotten Island


Archimandrite Theoclitos Triantafilides is one of the most remarkable figures in American Orthodox history. An ethnic Greek, he served as tutor to the future Tsar Nicholas II and went on to establish the multiethnic parish of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Galveston, Texas, under the Russian Mission. His story has been mostly untold,...

A Life of St. Herman from 1919


  Vera Vladimirovna Johnston was born in the Russian Empire, married an Englishman, and eventually moved to New York. Her own story is extremely fascinating, and we will discuss it in detail in the future. Today, however, I am reprinting an article she wrote in 1919, entitled, "Herman -- Russian...

Fr. Jacob Korchinsky: Missionary and Martyr


Recently, on our Facebook page, someone left a comment requesting information on Fr. Jacob Korchinsky, who is apparently being considered for canonization. I was vaguely familiar with Korchinsky; I'd read his name before, but knew next to nothing about him. Obviously, I wanted to learn more. Over the past couple...

The extent of the Russian diocese in the 19th century


Recently, there has been an interesting and lengthy discussion in the comments section on our website, regarding the extent of the territory of the Russian Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska in the 19th century. Let me try to briefly outline my position in this debate. Russia sold Alaska...

Plans for a New York church in the 1870s


Immediately upon Fr. Nicholas Bjerring's arrival in New York City in 1870, news spread that the Russian Church planned to construct a great temple in the city, on the corner of 51st Street and Lexington Avenue. This is from the Christian Advocate journal (6/29/1871): A magnificent structure is about to be...