Tag: Russian

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....

Prayers for the President

Attend an American Orthodox parish today, of any jurisdiciton, and you're likely to hear prayers offered for the President of the United States (and, in some parishes, for the other branches of government as well). The first evidence I've been able to find of such prayers is from the journal...

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 first convert priests… or… the first American apostates

Editor's note: Last year, on September 30, I aired a podcast on James Chrystal and Nicholas Bjerring, the first two convert priests in American Orthodox history. On the same day, I published an article on the two men, reflecting on their relevance to us today. Given that many of our...

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...

Valerian Gribayedoff, the pioneer of pictorial journalism

As his name suggests, Valerian Gribayedoff was from Russia. He was born in Kronstadt in 1858, the son of a colonel in the Tsarist army. He studied in St. Petersburg and then went to England, where he appears to have been acquainted with the exiled French Emperor Napoleon III (aka...

Rethinking the Myth of Unity

One year ago, I delivered a paper at St. Vladimir's Seminary entitled, "The Myth of Unity and the Origins of Jurisdictional Pluralism in American Orthodoxy." (Click here for the audio.) My thesis was that, contrary to a widely-held belief, American Orthodoxy was not administratively united prior to the Bolshevik Revolution of...