Saint Herman's Relics in Kodiak, Alaska

The remains of the first saint from Alaska in the Russian Orthodox Church (Saint Herman) are located in Kodiak, Alaska.

The Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Kodiak, Alaska houses a wooden reliquary that holds the remains of the Russian orthodox monk who came to the Island in 1794.

The legacy of Saint Herman, now the patron saint of Alaska in the Russian Orthodox Church, lives on long after his death. To this day, pilgrims make the trip to Spruce Island, off the coast of Kodiak, annually in August to visit the hermitage where Saint Herman lived from 1808-1819.

Saint Herman: When faced with an approaching tsunami, he held aloft an icon of Mary, and the waters didn't pass the point where he held it. Also, before his death, he predicted that no one would be there to bury him when he died, and that he would be forgotten for 30y years.
When he died on 11/15/1837 on Spruce Island, the area was hit by a storm, and his body wasn't retrieved for a whole month.

Saint Herman was canonized in March 1867, the first saint in the Russian orthodox Church to hail from Alaska.

The Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral in Kodiak, Alaska is the oldest Orthodox parish in North America.  A feast day in St. Herman's honor is held annually on August 9th.

Location:

Holy Resurrection Cathedral, PO Box 55,
Kodiak, Alaska 99615

Website:

http://oca.org/parishes/OCA-AK-KODHRC

Email:  hrc@dioceseofalaska.org

Church Phone: 907-486-5532

V. Rev. Innocent Dresdow [Priest]

410 Mission Rd.
Kodiak, AK 99615

Home Phone: 907-486-3854

Directions

General Location
The city of Kodiak is located on Kodiak Island and can only be reached by air or boat.

By plane
Fly in from Anchorage on either Alaska Airlines or ERA Aviation.  The airport is located a few miles out of town and offers regular taxi service or car rentals.

By Boat
The Alaska State Ferry the M/V Tustemena serves Kodiak from the ports of Seward and Homer.  The Church is a short two block walk from the dock.

The Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Cathedral was established in 1794 and elevated to Cathedral status in 2001 by His Grace Bishop NIKOLAI. The Cathedral is a well known land mark in the community and today continues to be the most recognized building in Kodiak. The current church building is the fourth and was built in the 1940s after a devastating fire destroyed the previous church. Currently, the Cathedral is blessed with the holy relics of St. Herman that offer the faithful an opportunity to pray and venerate his holy reliquary along with his monastic skufia and the iron cross he secretly bore upon his chest. The beautiful lampada which burns continuously above his reliquary was a gift to the Cathedral from His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II during his visit to Kodiak in 1993. Holy oil from this lampada is used to anoint those who are sick and suffering and is distributed freely to pilgrims who come from all over the world.