On the Eve of Father Hermans canonization

AS THE DAY NEARS for the solemn canonization by the Russian Church Outside of Russia of the Alaskan missionary and monk, Father Herman, it is fitting to make known a number of important facts which, perhaps, are still unknown to many. The time just before the canonization of a Saint in the Orthodox Church is given over to special preparations for it: the publication of his Life and miracles, the compilation of a special Service to him, increased commemoration of him and prayer to him. These labors of the human mind and body find a response in the spiritual realm: the saint about to be glorified comes closer to men, and there are often special signs or miracles from him; but the dark forces too do not sleep, and they do their best to hinder the outpouring of God's grace through His chosen saint.

Although the Russian Orthodox Church has already for over a hundred years venerated the memory of Father Herman as an ascetic of holy life and pleasing to God, and as a manifest heavenly patron both of Alaska and of the whole American continent, the schism perpetrated in the '20's by the so-called "Platonites," renewed in 1946 by the American Metropolia, in whose jurisdiction Alaska fell, greatly hindered the matter of the canonization and significantly lessened the Saint's earthly glory. However, by God's mercy and through the intercession of Father Herman himself, his relics, up to the time of the Synod's decision last year to canonize him, remained factually in unbroken canonical unity with the entire suffering Russian Church Outside of Russia, which gives us the boldness to consider Blessed Herman as a patron and defender of our Russian Church Abroad all the more so as he was himself a foreigner in this land and all these years, albeit in his relics, shared with the Russian faithful the years of this time of troubles in exile. To make this affirmation more precise, we shall quickly trace the chain of occurrences connected with the Saint, from his blessed repose in the Lord to the eve of his canonization.

1. Repose, Burial, and Opening of the Saint's Relics

AS THE SAINT'S chosen disciple, Gerasim, relates, Father Herman foresaw his death and, having prepared himself for it, blessedly reposed in the presence of his orphan-pupils, who, with lighted candles, saw for themselves how their Elder shone with the light of Tabor and how the whole cell was filled with an unearthly, mysterious fragrance. Thus, his head leaning on the breast of young Gerasim, their Appa "grandfather" in Aleut – reposed in the sleep of the righteous. And the natives of neighboring Afognak Island testified that they saw a pillar of fire going up to heaven and a man raised up into the clouds, who thus imitated the repose of the founder of monasticism, the great Anthony, St. Ioannicius the Great, and his own contemporary St. Seraphim of Sarov whom he may even have known personally, if as is quite possible he accompanied his Elder Nazarius on trips to Sarov. -

The burial of the Saint occurred in the following circumstances. According to the Governor's instructions the body could not be buried before his arrival with a priest, but suddenly stormy weather broke out, delaying the burial almost a whole month; the relics remained this whole time in a warm room without being touched by corruption. After the storm had passed, a coffin was brought, but neither the Governor nor a priest arrived and the children themselves dug a shallow grave and buried their foster-father as well as they could, in amazement over all this that had happened just as he had said it would. Thus the Elder's relics reposed on Spruce Island for almost a hundred years.

Thirty years after Father Herman's repose, the Abbot of Valaam Monastery, Damaskin, became interested in the life of the Valaam monk of Alaska, and from America he received information that the date of the Elder's repose was December 13, 1837. This date has been accepted up to the present time: it is the one indicated in all Lives of the Saint and all reports of bishops; it is the date commemorated by all who honor the Elder's memory; and it has firmly entered into present Church practice. However, documents from Alaska which were found in 1937 in the Library of Congress in Washington indicate that the year of death was 1836, and one document indicates the date of death as November 15 of that year. It is therefore possible that the date of December 13 refers to the burial rather than the death of the Elder, it being known that he was buried about a month after his repose. Those venerators of the Elder's memory who were aware of all this, among them Archbishop John Maximovitch, continued to observe the date of December 13, as having already entered into Church practice as his special day of commemoration (which, indeed, does not necessarily have to be the day of the Saint's repose). At the Elder's grave on Spruce Island the date of November 15 began also to be commemorated, and it may be that in time this will be accepted by the Church as a second feast day of the Saint, all the more so as his date of birth is not known.

It is clear from the tradition that has been preserved that the veneration of Father Herman has been accompanied by an unbroken stream of cases of miraculous help by his prayers. The Lord has bestowed mercy through veneration of the earth from the Elder's grave, through water taken from his spring, and the like. The veneration of Father Herman among the faithful steadily increased and was supported by the bishops of the Russian Church in America.

But it was Archimandrite Gerasim1 – who was called to Spruce Island by Father Herman through a heavenly fragrance and labored more than anyone else for Father Herman – who was found worthy to obtain his sacred relics and to fulfill a prophecy made by the Saint himself. This servant of Father Herman finished his watch over the grave just after the Russian Church Outside of Russia had decreed the Elder's canonization, departing thus to a better world after having worthily fulfilled his monastic obedience. The Lord, indeed, took him in time, sparing him the grief he would have suffered over the Metropolia's "autocephaly." For all the years in which the rest of the Russian Church in Alaska was in schism from the Russian Church Abroad, at the grave of Father Herman the chief hierarchs of the Russian Synod were always commemorated: Metropolitans Anthony, Anastassy, and Philaret.

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1. See The Orthodox Word, 1969, no. 6.


The obtaining and opening of the sacred relics of Father Herman occurred under the following circumstances. In 1935 ecclesiastical unity was restored to the Russian Church in America, and the primacy of the Synod of Bishops Abroad was acknowledged everywhere. Normal Church life throughout America was swiftly restored. In this same year Fr. Gerasim began the repairing of the church over the grave of the holy Elder. As is known, the children who buried Father Herman could not dig the grave to the proper depth, and thus during the repairing of the foundation the grave became uncovered and the relics opened, being preserved in the form of clean bones, as had been the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Fr. Gerasim found them and by his labors they were put in order; when the Bishop of Alaska, Alexy Panteleev, arrived in order to organize a monastery on the island, the relics were examined by him, taken out from their underground resting place, and solemnly translated to the church above. On June 10, 1937, the opening of the relics was solemnly attested by Bp. Alexy in a document which was placed with the relics.

The relics were placed in a wooden sarcophagus that until recently stood at the south side of the church in honor of Sts. Sergius and Herman of Valaam over Father Herman's grave on Spruce Island. On the outside the sarcophagus was covered with black material and adorned on all four sides with gold crosses made of trimming, and the inside was covered with white material. The relics, wrapped by Fr. Gerasim in a monastic mantle, consisted of the skull and several bones from the trunk, arms, and legs. The head was covered by a klobuk and was placed on a black pillow stuffed by Fr. Gerasim with seaweed (kelp), for which Fr. Gerasim was judged by his enemies. On top of the klobuk the head was covered by a special pall of light green velvet with green edging, and the remains were covered by two shrouds of various colors.

In the years before and after the opening of the relics, Bishop Alexy conducted work on the construction of buildings for the monastery which was being started. In his free time he recorded testimony of miracles and signs from Father Herman. With his report to the Sobor of Bishops concerning his activity on Spruce Island, Bp. Alexy evoked great sympathy, which led the bishops to establish, on September 15, 1939, a special committee for the preparation of Father Herman's canonization. At the head of this commitee was Archbishop Tikhon of San Francisco. At the end of 1939 in Serbia the Sobor of Bishops of the Russian Church Outside of Russia, headed by Metr. Anastassy, discussed and preliminarily decreed the canonization, but the world war which soon broke out hindered this. At the end of the war, in 1946, a new schism, lamentably, broke out, which once more dragged Alaska with it. When in 1953 the question arose of the canonization of Father John of Kronstadt by the Russian Church Abroad, the Metropolia hastened to decree the canonization of Father Herman for 1957, but nothing ever came of this, for reasons not revealed to the faithful, and in Fr. Gerasim's words Father Herman was forgotten – forgotten until the danger appeared that the Russian Church Abroad might canonize him before the Metropolia.

2. The Second Orthodox Canonization in America

FROM THE VERY beginning of the 18th century the spiritual interest of all believing Russia was directed toward the East, toward the active evangelical zeal of the Siberian missionaries. Over the vast expanse of Siberia, suffering every kind of danger and deprivation, there labored great apostles to the pagans, some of whom attained genuine sanctity by their personal ascetic labor, becoming in truth luminaries that attracted many followers after them. One of these missionaries, St. Innocent of Irkutsk, is the heavenly protector not only of this movement, but also of the whole immense territory of Siberia and beyond Siberia, wherever Orthodoxy was preached. This century reached its culmination when, already beyond the boundaries of Siberia, across the ocean, on the territory of remote America, a new beacon of Orthodoxy revealed to the New World a whole series of active zealots, whether from the Kodiak Mission, such as the now about to be canonized Father Herman, or from other places, the most outstanding of this number being Bishop Innocent Veniaminov, who later became chief hierarch of the Russian Church, succeeding the great Philaret as Metropolitan of Moscow. The cathedral church which he built in Sitka became a real memorial of his great apostolic exploits.

In Russia much was said and written about the missionaries in America. There was scarcely a seminarian who did not dream of preaching the Gospel to the wild tribes and unenlightened peoples of Alaska, Japan, Korea, and other lands.

The seminary years of the future St. John of Kronstadt were spent at the very zenith of this movement. As he himself said, he thought of leaving everything and going to America to give himself over entirely to the self-sacrificing labor of preaching the Gospel. In order to be worthy of his proposed calling, he carefully prepared himselt for missionary activity, and this attitude did not leave him for the rest of his life. Although in fact he remained in the capital, his attitude toward his pastoral activity was precisely missionary and apostolic, burning with the faith of the apostolic times. But instead of to wild pagans, his attention was directed to preaching to the wild people and apostates of the city, who had lost Christ. He had a grand field of activity, not in unenlightened distant lands, but throughout the length and breadth of vast Russia; and he speaks as if to the newly converted, telling them how to love God and live in Christ. Without doubt the flaming faith of our Russian apostles, such as Father Herman and Metropolitan Innocent, left an immense impression on him and he dearly loved them. And the Lord, Who sees all and fulfills our every secret wish that is pleasing to Him, arranged in His providence that St. John's canonization should take place precisely in America, at a time when it could not occur in Russia, where indeed his holy relics are forcibly concealed from the people and his memory trampled upon. Would he ever have thought that he would become the first canonized saint in America, even before Father Herman and Metropolitan Innocent or the martyrs – seed of Christianity – Hieromonk Juvenal and Aleut Peter?

When the Russian Church Outside of Russia was preparing for the canonization of St. John, the head of the original canonization committee, Archbishop John (Maximovitch), himself of holy life, foresaw that the fallen-away Metropolia would refuse to acknowledge the canonization, thus only deepening the division among Russians abroad. Having himself great veneration for Father Herman and long having desired his canonization, Vladika John went personally to one of the elder hierarchs of the Metropolia with the following proposal: that the Metropolia canonize Blessed Father Herman, which the Synod would then follow, and that the Metropolia in turn acknowledge the Synod's canonization of Father John of Kronstadt, thus not depriving her flock of such an outpouring of grace. Alas, the Metropolia replied to this with a stern epistle denying the possibility of the canonization of Father John outside of Russia. To this Archbishop John replied,1 out of his broader and deeper knowledge of Orthodox tradition, that such a canonization has precedents in Orthodox history and is not only possible today, but spiritually imperative, as can indeed be seen by those whose eyes are open to the spiritual realities of these times. The Metropolia, however, was not persuaded, and lately another reason for her blindness then has become apparent: The Metropolia at that time had already commenced negotiations with the Soviet Church for her "autocephaly," which she doubtless would not wish to compromise by participating in an act so obviously displeasing to the Moscow Patriarchate. For by this she would have shown her solidarity with the Russian Church Abroad, for which the Soviets hold an implacable hatred, and have raised up for veneration a Saint who is abhorrent to the Soviet Government not only for his spiritual qualities, which it is striving to abolish from the earth, but also for his fervent defense of Orthodox monarchy against the revolutionaries.

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1. See The Orthodox Word, 1969, no. 5.


On the eve of October 19, 1964, the Russian Church Outside of Russia nonetheless solemnly canonized the righteous wonderworker, St. John of Kronstadt; on that day and again on December 20, the feast day of the Saint's repose, Orthodox Russians dispersed by God's Providence throughout the world rejoiced. Even members of the Catacomb Church in the USSR informed the Synod of their gratitude: "The whole Catacomb Church has accepted the canonization and is one with you in soul."


The Sitka Cathedral: left, before 1966; above, burning on the feast of St. John of Kronstadt, January 2, 1966.


But Alaska, where to this day there is preserved an echo of the Orthodox past, together with the rest of the American Metropolia did not participate in the canonization of St. John, did not receive the grace of this spiritual event so important for Russian Orthodoxy. Sitka was silent. The magnificent St. Michael's Cathedral, unchanged since 1848, heard no echo of the glorification of God's Saint. Unfathomable are the decrees of God, manifest sometimes in the righteous wrath of His neglected saints. Just a year later, exactly on the feast of the repose of St. John of Kronstadt in 1966, January 2 by the civil calendar, the Sitka Cathedral burned to the ground. To this day it has not been rebuilt.

If in that event the eye of faith can discern the wrath of St. John, is it not possible to see also the mercy of Father Herman, whose canonization year is transformed by the Metropolia into the year of the Soviet Church, in the fact that many of the Metropolia's best people are hastening to leave her over the latest of her deeds against Orthodoxy? One of these, indeed, Archpriest Alexy Ionov, was the head of the Metropolia's committee for the canonization of Father Herman and until recently editor of her official publication in Russian. Having now left the Metropolia with his parish, he describes his action thus: "Yes, I have taken an important step, and thereby I have summed up my whole life, all my ecclesiastical and political convictions." And the God-pleasing Blessed Herman has comforted him, as he further relates: "Some time ago I brought fom Spruce Island [where he had gone with Metr. Ireney to make an official examination of Father Herman's relics] a twig of pine. I put. it in water. After about two weeks it began to dry up, but when it had completely dried up there appeared a marvellous odor, a fragrance such as that mentioned in the book on the life of Father Herman – in truth a 'mystical fragrance.' I, a sinner, could not even conceive that this might be some sign of the spiritual closeness of the holy Elder. But that I have never smelled such a delicate and pleasant fragrance – to this I testify."

IN MARCH of 1969 the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Outside of Russia examined anew the question of the canonization of Father Herman in connection with the recent decision of the Metropolia to canonize the holy Elder on July 27, 1970. It was decided, in order not to deepen the schism in the Russian people and for the sake of the Saint's glory, to celebrate the canonization on the same date as the Metropolia, even though this date has no connection with Father Herman. It was decided to ask the opinion of all hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad concerning the order of canonization and the preparations for it.

A great interest has subsequently been manifested in the canonization from all over the world – from Western Europe, Australia, South America, and elsewhere, not to mention the enthusiastic expectation of the rapidly increasing number of young American converts and zealots of Orthodoxy, many of whom have only recently come to the Russian Church Abroad for reasons of principle.

By August of last year the majority of hierarchs had given their favorable response, and on September 3, by Ukase no 1748, the canonization was decreed to take place on July 26-27 (August 8-9), 1970, in the new cathedral of the "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in San Francisco.

This decision thus came about rather suddenly, as if by itself, although it had long been awaited and doubtless has a special and profound significance for these times. It is interesting to note that the decree was signed on the third day of the Church's new year, in which just three weeks later was the 175th anniversary of Father Herman's arrival and the beginning of Orthodoxy in America. The choice of San Francisco as the site of the canonization is also not without significance, for this city, more than any other, has direct ties to St. Herman. It is, of course, understood that Alaska, as being in the jurisdiction of the unfaithful, is closed to the Russian Church Abroad, and the relics of Father Herman have now become for us like those of St. Nicholas in the possession of the Roman Catholics. The first Orthodox priest to set foot in San Francisco was he who experienced the first miracle by the posthumous intercession of Father Herman: Fr. John (later Metropolitan Innocent) Veniaminov. The canonical hierarchs of San Francisco almost from the very foundation of the diocese have taken part in Father Herman's glorification: the earliest bishops made pilgrimages to Spruce Island and wrote of them; Bishop Nicholas at the end of the last century built a church over the Elder's grave; Bishop (later Patriarch) Tikhon blessed the opening of an orphanage in Father Herman's name and visited his grave; Bishop Apollinary, so that genuine and canonical Orthodoxy would not cease because of the schism of the "Platonites," founded the cathedral church in San Francisco which will now host the canonization; Archbishop Tikhon headed the first committee for the preparation of the canonization; Archbishop John Maximovitch, by his labor of prayer and his active veneration of the Elder hastened the day of canonization, and he blessed the Brotherhood of Father Herman, which by the printed word has striven to spread information about the Saint and increase his veneration, publishing for the first time in English the Saint's Life and authenticated miracles. The present hierarch of the San Francisco See, Archbishop Anthony, has taken as his responsibility the carrying out of the solemn canonization, and through his efforts (1) the walls of the San Francisco Cathedral have been adorned with superlative frescoes, including an icon of St. Herman, by the great master iconographer of our time, Archimandrite Cyprian of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, (2) a full Service to St. Herman has been compiled and printed in two languages (Slavonic and English), and (3) two different icons of the Saint have been reproduced in color in four sizes.

Preparatory celebrations were begun by Archbp. Anthony, accompanied by Bishop Nektary and many clergymen, with the pontifical Memorial Day services at Fort Ross, where a special commemoration was made of Father Herman, of those close to him, and his contemporaries who labored and were buried in Fort Ross. For the solemnity of the canonization itself hierarchs, clergy, and faithful from all over America and from abroad will be coming to San Francisco.

Thus, just as the Russian Church has given America her first Saint, so now she canonizes him, not only for Orthodox Americans, but for Orthodox believers the world over as well. May this new Russian Saint of the American land inspire both Russians with faithfulness to their persecuted faith and fatherland, and Americans with devotion to their new-found faith, that all who share the true Faith may not lose the grace of God in these perilous times, but may be together partakers of the grace now poured out abundantly upon this land!

Holy Father Herman, pray to God for us!