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
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.
