Saint Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) of Alaska

Hieromartyr Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) of Alaska (1761-1796)

Protomartyr of North America

Iakov may be spelt Jakob, Jacob, James.

Juvenaly may be spelt Juvenal, Iuvenali, Iuvenaliy.

Hovorukhin may be spelt Govorukhin.

Early life of Iakov Feodorovich Hovorukhin

In 1761, Iakov Feodorovich Hovorukhin was born in Nerchinsk, in what was later the Chita Province, now the Zabaykalsky Krai, in the Siberia Governorate of the Russian Empire. Others say that his name was Jacob Govouchkin, and that he was born in Ekaterinburg, in the Perm Governorate.

As is often the case with monks, little is accurately known about his family life or his own early life. Certainly, he completed his primary and secondary education, and he was then trained as a mining engineer. At some time, he received some theological education.

In a letter to Abbot Nazarius of Valaam Monastery (dated 13 December, 1819), Saint Herman of Alaska wrote that Iakov “had been an assistant at our monastery and was a former officer”. It is known that he had been serving as a military officer. Because he later entered a monastery in Saint Petersburg, it is most likely that his responsibilities had taken him to the capital city.

It is also deduced from available information that he had been married, and that his wife had reposed in Christ in 1791.

Monastic tonsure, 1793

After the repose of his wife, Iakov Feodorovich entered a monastery in Saint Petersburg (according to Saint Herman’s letter of 13 December, 1819).

Iakov Feodorovich Hovorukhin was tonsured to be a monk. He was given the name Juvenaly in memory of Saint Juvenal, the 5th century Patriarch of Jerusalem.

After the establishment in 1793 of the "North American Kodiak Spiritual Mission" led by Archimandrite Joasaph (Bolotov), the monk Juvenaly (Govorukhin) was recommended for participation as a hierodeacon. However, Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of Novgorod and Saint Petersburg blessed that he be ordained also to the Holy Priesthood, and be sent as a hieromonk.

Ordinations, 1793

After the tonsure, the Monk Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) was ordained to the Holy Diaconate.

Soon thereafter, the Hierodeacon Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) was ordained to the Holy Priesthood.

Pastoral service

The Hieromonk Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) lived much of his early monastic life in the area around Lake Ladoga in the Karelian region of northern Russia near Finland, at the Konyevsky (Konevitsa) and Valaam (Valamo) Monasteries.

Missionary obedience, 1793

In 1793, the Hieromonk Juvenaly accepted the obedience to become a missionary in "Russian America", that is, in Alaska. An obedience is a particular duty which is voluntarily accepted, which is performed for the general welfare of the monastic community. Monks may have various obediences, and sometimes more than one. That the birthplace of Father Juvenaly was in the Transbaikal region may have been one of the reasons for his having been chosen. The establishment of such a mission was a consequence of the request of the Shelikhov-Golikov Trading Company of Irkutsk, which was developing the Alaskan fur trade.

In 1793, a missionary group of 8 monks was organised at the Monastery of Valaam (on Valaam Island in the western part of Lake Ladoga), in order to preach the Word of God to the indigenous peoples of Alaska. In that same year, having received first the blessing, the group of missionaries set out eastwards towards the land of their work.

The missionary group also included Father Juvenaly’s brother Mikhail Feodorovich Hovorukhin, a novice of the Konevsky Monastery at Lake Ladoga, who had previously served as a “non-commissioned master” at the Nerchinsk factories. The route that the missionaries took towards the mission in Alaska passed through Irkutsk, where, at the request of Archimandrite Joasaph, the novice Michael was tonsured to be a monk, on 20 April, 1794. He was given the name Stefan, and he was also ordained to the Holy Diaconate on 30 April, 1794, by Bishop Benjamin (Bagryansky).

According to a letter from Archimandrite Joasaph, "Juvenaly [...] is quite prudent, and his brother [...] Father Stefan, although a young man, is so kind, simple-minded, helpful and smart that you can choose even one other from the Valaam fraternity, and you’ll hardly be able to find one who can live so capably in this place day and night”. In another letter, Archimandrite Joasaph called Father Juvenaly "a good man".

On 25 December, 1793, the missionary group left Saint Petersburg for Moscow. From Moscow, they departed on 22 January, 1794, for Siberia. The route that the missionaries took towards the mission in Alaska passed through Irkutsk, where they arrived on 16 March, 1794.

On 2 May, 1794, shipping opened with the breakup of the ice on the Lena River, and the missionaries continued their journey. They next passed through Yakutsk. Already in Yakutsk, and afterwards, they met many Yakuts who were eager to be baptised. Wherever they stopped along the river, they found themselves baptising. During their trek, the group was attacked by bears on one occasion, but throughout the trip they had to endure the very thick clouds of mosquitoes which has been a common phenomenon in the far north, as well as black flies from time to time. They arrived in Okhotsk, a port settlement on the Pacific coast, on 13 July, 1794. Okhotsk was the main military base on the Pacific coast, and Vladivostok did not yet exist as a Russian city. There, they met Mr. Grigory Shelikov, who provided the mission with utensils, clothes and food for 3 years. He also gave Archimandrite Joasaph the plan of the proposed Temple in Kodiak. The property of the mission was by now carried on the backs of 100 horses.

Despite a storm, on 13 August, 1794, the missionaries departed from Okhotsk, aboard the ship "Three Saints", bound for Russian America (Alaska), via Kamchatka. They arrived in Kodiak on 24 September, 1794.

They had travelled about 7,000 km (about 4,350 mi) by foot, horse, boat and ship in order to arrive at Kodiak. Thus, this journey became the longest known missionary journey in the history of the Orthodox Church. The last 3500 km (2175 mi) was the distance by sea from Okhotsk to Kodiak.

In 1793, a spiritual mission had been created, called “Kodiak”, with its centre on Kodiak Island : “From the Ladoga Lake to the distant Kuril Islands and the coast of Alaska, the Russian Orthodox mission stretched”, noted the present Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow and All Russia.

Arrival at Kodiak

Arrival on Kodiak Island, Alaska, 1794

In 1794, the first group of Christian missionaries to work in Alaska arrived on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. It had taken them a year to walk across the length of North Asia through Siberia and the Far East, and then to sail across the cold Bering Sea of the northern Pacific Ocean. They had walked and then sailed over 12,900 km (8,000 mi) from Lake Ladoga, near the Russian border with Finland. One of the priests in this delegation of monks was the 35-year-old Hieromonk Juvenaly (Hovorukhin).

Missionary life : preliminary organisation

This group of 8 missionaries was led by Archimandrite Joasaph (Bolotov). Besides the archimandrite, the group consisted of 3 hieromonks including Juvenaly, Makary and Afanasy ; Hierodeacon Stephen (Hovorukhin), Hierodeacon Nektary ; and 2 lay-monks, Joasaph (Evseyev) and Herman. The Valaam Mission was prepared for Alaska by the direct order of Empress Catherine II, in which she mentioned that the head of the mission should have a "mitra", or mitre (a decorated ecclesiastical cap) on his head, which would indicate the high rank of the archimandrite and his leadership of the group.

Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) had prepared special detailed instructions about missionary work amongst the pagans of Alaska consisting of 34 points. Archimandrite Joasaph, the leader of the mission, had had a very good theological education, and also experience in the teaching of theological subjects in the theological preparatory school. He was also noted for his administrative ability.

The average age of the missionaries was about 40 years. Of them, the Monk Herman (very loyal to Valaam Monastery and its superior Igumen Nazary) had the longest experience in monastic life. The Hieromonk Makary was a very energetic, fearless boatman who explored the Kodiak coast in a small native boat after they arrived. The Hieromonk Afanasy, the son of a peasant, had experience in gardening. The Hieromonk Juvenaly was very modest and fair-minded. He had keen powers of observation (which could include both natural phenomena and personality characteristics).

What they encountered upon arrival was a contrast from what they had been told to expect. The settlement was primitive beyond what they had been told, and violence was commonplace. The promised Temple had not been constructed, and the promised supplies for 3 years were absent. This was the first of the difficulties that they encountered with the “Russian American Company” (RAC), under whose auspices the missionaries had undertaken this missionary responsibility.

While Archimandrite Joseph dealt with the leadership concerns with Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, the RAC’s local leader of the settlement, the Hieromonk Juvenaly and the others in their party began their missionary work. Apart from the difficulties, the missionaries discovered on Kodiak Island hundreds of indigenous (Alutiiq) people who had been taught the rudiments of the Orthodox Christian Faith, and who had been baptised by laymen (this is permitted under certain circumstances, and priests must complete the work). Gregory I Shelikhov, one of the founders of the Russian-American Company, had himself baptised about 200 Aleuts on Kodiak Island.

Practical first steps

The missionaries immediately began the work of establishing the Church in Kodiak and the other islands, and later on the mainland of Alaska. Despite great difficulties, this mission was very successful, for virtually all the remaining inhabitants of Kodiak Island were baptised in just 3 years.

Kodiak Harbour at the time of Father Juvenaly, Holy Resurrection church at the left

During 1794, the Hieromonks Juvenaly and Makary spent 2 months in the area around Kodiak as they taught the inhabitants about Christ, and then (at their request) the missionaries baptised them. In all sorts of weather, the monks travelled about in small boats ("baidarkas") made of sealskin (the settlements were and are mostly by the shore of the island).

The Hieromonk Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) and the Hierodeacon Stefan (Hovorukhin) also participated in the construction of the first wooden Temple dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ at Pavlovsk Harbour, where they began to serve. One of the initiators of the mission, the merchant G I Shelikhov, intended to find a fortification engineer in the colonies ; but being unable to find one, he advised the head of the Russian settlements in America, A A Baranov, to include the priests in the planning consultations when there would be planning of forts. He said that both Hieromonk Juvenaly and Hierodeacon Stefan were "like people who served in mining plants when they were in secular life, and, therefore, knew mathematical sciences [...] geography and architecture".

Organisation of the missionary strategy

Then the missionaries divided up the territory amongst themselves. Father Herman (a stavrophor monk may be called “father”) wrote about a conversation he heard one day as he walked with the hieromonks to a small hill on the south side of the harbour in the village of Kodiak. They sat down facing the sea, and they spoke about various matters. Soon, they began to discuss where each of them should go to preach. Aflame with zeal and eager to set out on their journey, a friendly argument ensued between Father Makary and Father Juvenaly. Father Makary said that he intended to go north to the Aleutian Islands, and then to make his way to the Alaskan mainland, where the inhabitants had invited him to visit. The monks had a map of Captain Cook’s, which indicated that some Russians were living near a certain river in that particular area, and Father Makary hoped to find them.

Father Juvenaly interrupted, saying that he believed that the Alaskan mainland was his territory. “I beg you to yield to me and not offend me in this”, he told Father Makary, “since the ship is leaving for Yakutan. I shall begin preaching in the south, proceeding north along the ocean, cross the Kenai Peninsula, then from the port there I shall cross to Alaska”.

Father Makary became sorrowful and said, “No, Father. Do not restrict me in this way. You know the Aleutian chain of islands is joined to Alaska, therefore it belongs to me, and also the whole northern shore. As for you, the southern part of America is sufficient for your whole lifetime, if you please”.

Father Herman commented that as he listened to their apostolic fervour, he “went from joy to rapture” (according to his letter to Abbot Nazarius, 19 May, 1795).

Father Juvenaly was sent westwards to a new settlement in the Yakutat, in the north-eastern part of the Gulf of Alaska, where Archimandrite Joasaph intended to build not only a Temple, but also a monastery. However, Father Juvenaly did not reach this place. Captain G L Pribylov, who insisted that they lacked sufficient fresh water, turned the ship “Three Saints” back towards Kodiak. They stopped along the way in Nuchek Harbour on Nuchek Island (now Hinchinbrook), to the east, and parts of the Chugatsky (Chugachsky) Bay (now Prince William Sound). Afterwards, Archimandrite Joasaph went to Yakutat with Mr. Baranov.

Father Juvenaly remained in Nuchek, where none of the priests had previously been. He spent the winter of 1795/96 in the Saints Constantine and Helena Redoubt (Konstantinovsky Fort). According to some reports, his task was to "calm down the rebellious [...] people". Indeed, he baptised 746 Chugatchi on the island of Nuchek, and he then moved to Kenai Bay, where he also became the first missionary to offer services of worship in the Nikolaev Redoubt, a fortress built by the Russians in 1791 on the northwestern coast of the Kenai Peninsula. He "endured grievances, endured the needs of hunger and cold, and turned many to the knowledge of faith", including Toyon, the tribal leader.

However, the mission’s relations with the management of the Golikov-Shelikhov Company were complex, and the mission did not enjoy its protection. In fact, the company only wished for the pacification of the indigenous peoples. A serious conversion to the Orthodox Christian Faith was not a priority for them, it seems. Such a conversion made the indigenous peoples equal to the Russians.

On 18 May, 1796, Archimandrite Joasaph wrote to Mr. Shelikhov : “I heard from some that Mr. Baranov often speaks with his rebels : 'We should be able to send Archimandrite Juvenaly into the other world, and we will crush others like flies'”. Mr. Baranov’s supporter, one of the founders of the Russian-American company, N P Rezanov, in turn, considered the natives unprepared for the adoption of Christianity. He especially noted the missionaries' ignorance of their language.

Within 2 years, their loving zeal had brought more than 12,000 Alaskans into the Orthodox Christian Faith. They did this not by degrading their former shaman-based faith but by showing them that Christianity was the fulfilment of that faith, and how this was so. As the group continued preaching farther away from the settlement on Kodiak, Hieromonk Juvenaly began missionary work on the mainland of Alaska in 1796.

Here, Father Juvenaly continued the success of the past 2 years as he baptised hundreds of Chugach, Sugpiag, and Athabaskan Indians.

Repose-Martyrdom, 1796

However, as his mission continued northwest towards the Bering Sea, he disappeared sometime in 1796. Because the Feast-day became 2 July, it is likely that the date of his repose was on or about 2 July, 1796.

No material evidence of his disappearance has been found.

Nevertheless, amongst the Alaskan people, there exists an oral tradition about his death and martyrdom.

Glorification, 1980

The Hieromartyr Juvenaly of Alaska was glorified in the Diocese of Alaska in 1980.

Feast-days

The Feast-day of Hieromertyr Juvenaly is 2 July.

He is also commemorated on the Feast-day of All Saints of Alaska (24 September), and on the Feast-day of the First Martyrs of the North American land (13 December).

Hymns (from the 2 July Feast-day)

Tropar Tone 4

O Holy and Glorious Hieromartyr Juvenaly,

you were slaughtered for professing Christ our God.

Striving to free us from the darkness of idols,

as a martyr, you burst forth bright as the sun.

You are splendid with the light of Christ,

the Sun of Righteousness, whom you preached to all.

Since as a star from Heaven you look upon us,

shine on us with beams of joy :

thick gloom surrounds us.

Kontak Tone 4

O Holy and Glorious Hieromartyr Juvenaly,

we honour you with hymns.

You were the first to grace our land with confession unto death.

Through your holy intercessions,

help us to confess Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Hymns (from the 24 September Feast-day)

Tropar Tone 4

Today, Alaska rejoices and America celebrates :

the new world has been sanctified by martyrdom.

Kodiak echoes with songs of thanksgiving.

Iliamna and Kenai observe the festival of faith.

The holy apostle and Martyr Juvenaly is glorified,

and the Martyr Peter the Aleut is exalted by his voluntary sacrifice.

In their devotion and love for the Lord,

they willingly endured persecution and death for sake of the Truth.

Now, in the Kingdom of Heaven, they intercede on behalf of us all.

Kontak Tone 4

Today, Valaam joins Alaska

in celebrating this joyous festival,

as her spiritual son, the Hieromartyr Juvenaly

embraces the Martyr Peter with love.

Together, they suffered for the Lord in America,

and they united the old world with the new by their voluntary sacrifice.

Now, they stand forever before the King of Glory, and they intercede on behalf of us all.

Reflections

The brother of Saint Juvenaly, the Hierodeacon Stephen (Hovorukhin) is seldom mentioned in the context of all the other events occurring during the beginning of the Orthodox Christian missionary work in Russian-America. However, it is obvious that he would have been personally affected when, in 1796, his brother disappeared during his last missionary voyage. It is possible that rumours could have reached him afterwards, but there is no record of it thus far.

It is also to be kept in mind that this same Hierodeacon Stephen (Hovorukhin) was one of those who had accompanied Archimandrite Joasaph (Bolotov) to Irkutsk for the episcopal ordination, and that he was with the new bishop on the ship "Phoenix" when it sank and all aboard drowned in 1799.

Oral traditions about the martyrdom of Saint Juvenaly

One of the traditions about the martyrdom of Saint Juvenaly is that he moved into territory inhabited by "Eskimos", (Yupik and Iñupiat peoples of Alaska and eastern Siberia, as well as the Inuit peoples). He came to the mouth of the Kuskokwim River by the Bering Sea, near the present village of Quinhagak, and it was there that he was killed by a hunting party.

Some Eskimos did not understand some of his gesturing while making the sign of the Cross. Disturbed, a Yupiat shaman ordered an attack upon the hieromonk, and he was killed by spears and arrows.

The precise reason for Saint Juvenaly’s murder by the natives is not known.

However, they later told Bishop Innocent something about his death. They said that Father Juvenaly did not try to defend himself when he was attacked, nor did he make any attempt to escape. After being struck from behind, he turned to face his attackers and begged them to spare the natives he had baptised. The local people later told Bishop Innocent (Veniaminov) that after the hunters had killed Father Juvenaly, he had gotten up and followed them, and he urged them to repent. They fell upon him again and gave him a savage beating. Once more, he got to his feet and called them to repentance. This happened several times, and then finally the natives hacked him to pieces. Only then did this fervent preacher fall silent, a martyr for the word of God. On the spot where the missionary’s remains lay, there at once appeared a column of flame, reaching up to the sky.

Thus, the zealous Hieromonk Juvenaly became the first Orthodox Christian in North America to receive the crown of martyrdom. His unnamed guide, possibly a Tanaina (Dena'ina) Indian convert, was also martyred at the same time.

It is said that a local shaman removed Father Juvenaly’s brass Pectoral Cross from his body and attempted to cast a spell. Unexpectedly, the shaman found that he was raised up off the ground by some unseen force. He made 3 more tries with the same result, and he then concluded that there was a greater power than his own at work here. Years later, a man showed up at the Nushagak Trading Post, and he was wearing a brass Pectoral Cross exactly like the one worn by Saint Juvenaly.

It is said now of him that Saint Juvenaly, in his tireless evangelisation of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, in these few years served the Church more than all the other missionaries combined.

Other alternative versions of the martyrdom

There are other accounts of Father Juvenaly’s martyrdom which are conflicting. In an article entitled “The Orthodox Church in America, an Historical Survey”, Father Dmitry Grigorieff wrote : “Father Juvenaly was killed by the natives on the Alaska mainland in 1795. He had urged the people of a village there to send their children to the mission school on Kodiak Island. They agreed, and Father Juvenaly led a group of children to the seashore. On the way, he was overtaken and killed by villagers who had changed their mind” (p. 139). [This report is unlikely, because, as Father Oleksa comments, there was no school on Kodiak at that time.]

Regarding Saint Juvenaly’s alleged diary, Lydia Black wrote : “This mildly uninspiring document, which contradicts both Church and Native traditions about the saint’s activities, was summarised in Bancroft’s influential “History of Alaska” and accepted for a century as a major primary source. However, it is now very strongly suspected of being a forgery written by one of Bancroft’s assistants”.

Richard Pierce comments in his writings that there was a native companion, who was travelling with the saint. He further mentions that this companion may have come from Quinhagak, a village of people who were known to be good swimmers.

Another source states that he was killed by the local people, and the reason for his death was partly because the first thing he did after baptising the indigenous people was to order them to give up polygamy. [This version is also unlikely.]

Another tradition is found in some versions of the life of the saint. It suggests that when Father Juvenaly was attacked, he did not try to defend himself, or run away, which he could easily have done, especially since he had a firearm with him. He let himself be taken without offering any resistance, asking only that those with him should be spared, which was done. [This version conflicts with the oral tradition.]

Depiction of the martyrdom

A more likely and more correct version of the martyrdom

The previous oral accounts are several of the variants about the death of the Hieromartyr Juvenaly, some from unreliable sources. However, a more detailed version is given by the Archpriest Michael Oleksa, whose father-in-law shared with him the local Yupik oral tradition of the events, as follows :

Father Juvenaly was assigned the task of visiting and preaching among the tribes of the south-central
mainland. He began at Kenai, headed northward through what is now the area surrounding Anchorage, then down
the western coast of Cook Inlet, across to Lake Iliamna, and out to the Bering Sea.

His journey would bring him from the biggest lake in Europe to the biggest lake in Alaska.
However, soon after he departed for Iliamna, he disappeared. No one ever heard from him
again. Rumors reached Kodiak that he had been murdered, but there were no eyewitnesses or
any other conclusive evidence of his whereabouts for several decades.

Then, about a hundred years later, an American historian, Hubert Bancroft, published an
account of Father Juvenaly’s death purportedly based on the priest’s own words as he
recorded them in a diary that a man named Ivan Petrof claimed to have found and translated.
According to this diary, Father Juvenaly fell into temptation, having been seduced by the
daughter of a local Indian chief, and then was hacked to death for refusing to marry her.

That is all I knew about this incident until my Yup’ik father-in-law, Adam Andrew, who was
born about 1914 in the mountains near the source of the Kwethluk River, decided to tell me
the story about ‘the first priest to come into our region.’

According to my father-in-law, this first missionary arrived at the mouth of the Kuskokwim,
near the village of Quinhagak, in an ‘angyacuar,’ a little boat. He approached a hunting
party led by a local ‘angalkuq’ (shaman) who tried to dissuade the stranger from coming any
closer to shore. The Yup’ik tried to signal their unwillingness to receive the intruders,
but the boat kept coming. Finally the ‘angalkuq’ ordered the men to prepare their arrows
and aim them threateningly at the priest. When he continued to paddle closer, the shaman
gave the order and the priest was killed in a hail of arrows. He fell lifeless to the
bottom of the boat. His helper (in Yup’ik, ‘naaqista,’ literally ‘reader’ — someone who
supposedly assisted the priest at services) tried to escape by swimming away.

Jumping overboard, he impressed the Yup’ik with his ability to swim so well, especially
under water. They jumped into their kayaks and chased the helper, apparently killing the
poor man, reporting later that this was more fun than a seal hunt.

Back on shore, the shaman removed the brass Pectoral Cross from the priest’s body and tried
to use it in some sort of shamanistic rite. Nothing he tried seemed to work satisfactorily.
Instead of achieving its intended effect, each spell he conjured up caused him to be lifted
off the ground. This happened several times until finally, in frustration, the shaman
removed the Cross and tossed it to a bystander, complaining that he did not understand the
power of this object, but he no longer wanted to deal with it.

When I first heard this version of the story, I was dubious that such an incident could have
occurred. I knew the first priest to come to the Kuskokwim had arrived in 1842, had served
on the Yukon for nearly 20 years, and had died in retirement at Sitka in 1862. It did not
occur to me that this was the oral account of the death of Father Juvenaly, until I later
learned that the Bancroft/Petrov report was completely false — a fabrication of Mr.
Petrov’s rather fertile imagination.

Hubert Bancroft, the preeminent American historian of his time, never came to Alaska and did
not know Russian, the language in which all the earliest historical documents relating to
Alaska were written. He hired Petrov to gather documents and translate them, but Petrov did
not like Mr. Bancroft much and falsified a lot of data, creating entire chapters of what
became the first history of Alaska from records that never existed.

Father Juvenaly’s diary was one of Petrov’s concoctions. This becomes obvious as soon as
any informed scholar opens the manuscript, still housed in the Bancroft Library at the
University of California, Berkeley. Juvenaly travels on ships that never existed,
celebrates church holidays on the wrong dates and even the wrong months, and miraculously
understands Yup’ik within a few weeks, while finding Kodiak’s Alutiiq language beyond his
reach. These two languages are so closely related that speakers of one believe they can
readily understand speakers of the other. Not knowing enough about Russian Orthodoxy to
spot glaring discrepancies, Bancroft accepted the diary as authentic, and used it as the
basis of his chapter on the death of Father Juvenaly.

Once I realized the published accounts were bogus, I went back to my father-in-law for
another telling of the Yup’ik version. We then started to hunt for corroborating evidence.
I found that every visitor to Quinhagak in the last 70 years following Father Juvenaly’s
demise mentioned in their reports that this was the site of the incident. I heard from
people in the Iliamna area that their ancestors knew nothing of a priest being killed in
their region, but only that one had passed through, heading west. I heard from the Cook Inlet
Tanai’na Indians that a priest who had come from Russia via Kodiak had baptized them,
then left heading in the direction of Iliamna. And I discovered that the people in the
village of Tyonek have always had a great swimming tradition, and are still capable of
diving into the ocean after the beluga whales that they hunt. The oral accounts among all
the Native peoples of the region were consistent with my father-in-law’s story. But how to
prove it accurate, one way or another?

Finally, another scholar discovered a passage in the diary of a later missionary resident of
Quinhagak, Rev. John Kilbuck, written sometime between 1886 and 1900, indicating that the
first white man killed in the region was a priest who had come upon a hunting party camped
near the beach. After trying to dissuade the priest from approaching, and unable to turn
him back, the hunting party killed him. His companion tried to swim away ‘like a seal’ and
was hunted by the Yup’ik, who had to resort to their kayaks to chase him. The same story
that my father-in-law had told me was being told in the village a century after the actual
incident.

I have friends who visit and students who reside in Quinhagak, as well as a nephew who lives
there. I asked them if they had ever heard the story of how the first priest to visit there
was killed. I discovered that the story is still known and told almost verbatim the way my
father-in-law told it to me.

Contrary to popular misperception, the oral tradition of tribal peoples tends to be very
accurate, for the most part ensuring that stories remain intact over time. The story is
understood as community property, not the invention of the storyteller, and, unlike my
eastern European family’s tendency to change a story to make a point, in groups whose
histories are transmitted through the oral tradition, retellings tend to be more faithful to
the original story.

However, after looking at my written summary of the story of Father Juvenaly as it had been
told to me, one informant did tell me that in a version of the story he had heard, there was
a detail I had not been told. According to the story as it had been given to him, just
before the priest’s death, while standing up in his little boat, he appeared to those on the
shore to be trying to swat away flies. At first, this seemed to me a strange detail to
include. What did it mean? What was really happening? When someone is about to die,
facing his attackers with their arrows pointed at him, why worry about insects?

Puzzled by the account, I kept returning to the scene in my mind until it occurred to me
what may have been going on. The man in the ‘angyacuar’ could have been either praying,
making the sign of the Cross on himself, or blessing those who were about to kill him — but
so rapidly that to those on shore who had never seen anyone do this, it could well have
looked like he was ‘chasing away flies.’ This detail from the oral tradition is a perfectly
believable addition to the story, and adds credibility to the story itself, as the
Quinhagak people remember it.

After carefully looking at everything I could find on this incident, I sent a summary of my
research to one of my university students from Quinhagak and asked her what she made of the
incident. She replied, somewhat sheepishly, ‘Well, they didn’t know he was a priest!’

The question remained, though, why were these armed men so fearful of an unarmed stranger,
whom they so vastly outnumbered? True, he was pale, tall, bearded, and oddly dressed. He
likely appeared exotic, if not totally alien. But why would they have felt so threatened by
his physical presence as to destroy him?

The answer may reside in the brass cross that he wore. We know from exhibits at the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., that at that time shamans carved ivory chains
in imitation of their counterparts on the Siberian coast, who wore metal chains. Wearing
such a metal chain was an indication that the stranger had spiritual powers possibly
superior to the local ‘angalkuq’. The only way to defend oneself from such alien magic
would have been to kill the magician. So it seems that Father Juvenaly died in a case of
mistaken identity.

This history lesson tells us that while historical texts may contain many useful details and
important data, they can be wrong. Historians usually depend on what is left behind in the
reports, diaries and letters of others, in order to piece together a description of another
time and place, and it is easy to be misled, mistaken or fooled. Such was the case with the
death of Father Juvenaly two hundred years ago. It has taken nearly two centuries to solve
the mystery of his disappearance and death. Original published accounts were based on false
and forged information, but the truth survived in the oral tradition of the Yup’ik people.

At least when dealing with the Native experience in this land, no one should dismiss the
stories as the indigenous people tell them. In my experience, while the published texts
have often proven unreliable, grandpa has always been right.

It is now stated in the "Orthodox Encyclopaedia" that Father Juvenaly reposed in the Lord near the village of Qingagah (Quinhagak) in Alaska.

It is not simply we who determine who is especially holy. The Lord reveals to us who is holy. It is He who gives indications about a person to whom He has given the blessing to intercede for us and for the world. In fact, there are very many persons throughout the world who are locally recognised as being holy persons, but whose names have not been added to more official calendars. There are also persons who are recognised by the Faithful as being holy, but whose names have not in any way official been recognised. Fundamentally, it may be said that everyone who is admitted by the Lord into the Kingdom of Heaven by definition becomes holy, by being fully in the Presence of the Lord, "before His Face", as members of the Body of Christ, and in harmony with the Lord's direction : “Be holy, for I am holy” (3 Moses 11:44,45; 19:2 ; 1 Peter 1:16). We in this life are given to know those particular persons whose intercession has been blessed by the Lord to be effective for our health and salvation.

References

Afonsky, Bishop Gregory, “A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska 1794-1917” (Kodiak, AK : Saint Herman’s Seminary Press, 1994). ASIN : B0043NQAOK.

Gray, George A, Bear, Jan V, eds., “Portraits of American Saints” (Los Angeles : Diocese of the West, OCA , 1994).

Liberovsky, A, “Martyr Juvenal of Alaska” (OCA).

“The Russian Mission in North America”

Tarasar, Constance J, ed., “Orthodox America 1794-1976 : Development of The Orthodox Church in America” (Syosset, NY : The Orthodox Church in America Department of History and Archives, 1975). ASIN : B000ZLZAUE.

Wikipedia article about Saint Juvenaly

Orthodoxwiki article about Saint Juvenaly of Alaska

Russian Wikipedia biography of Saint Junvenaly of Alaska

Additional information :

Black, Lydia T, ‘The Daily Journal of Reverend Father Juvenal: A Cautionary Tale’ in “Ethnohistory”, vol. 28, no. 1 (1981), p. 33.

Grigorieff, Dmitry, ‘The Orthodox Church in America, an Historical Survey’ in “Russian Review”, vol. 31, no. 2 (Apr., 1972), pp. 138-152.

Oleksa, Michael, “Alaskan Missionary Spirituality” (Mahway, NJ : Paulist Press, 1987).

Oleksa, Michael, ‘The oral tradition about the death of Fr. Juvenaly among the native peoples of southwestern Alaska’ in “St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly”, vol. 27, no. 2 (1983), pp. 133-137.

Oleksa, Michael, ‘The Death of Hieromonk Juvenaly’ in “St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly”, vol. 30, no. 3 (1986), pp 231-268.

Oleksa, Michael J, “Orthodox Alaska : A Theology of Mission” (Crestwood, NY : SVS Press, 1992). ISBN : 0881410926.

Oleksa, Michael J, ‘The Death of Hieromonk Juvenaly’ in “Russia in North America: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Russian America, Sitka, Alaska”, ed. Richard A Pierce (Fairbanks, AK : Limestone Press, 1990), pp. 322-357. ISBN 10 : 0919642446.

Pierce, Richard A, “Russian America : A Biographical Dictionary (Alaska History)” (Fairbanks, AK : University of Alaska Press/Limestone Press, 1990). ISBN 10 : 0919642454.

Stokoe, Mark & Kishkovsky, Leonid, “Orthodox Christians in North America (1794-1994)

Oleksa, Michael, “The Fate of Father Juvenaly : A Story from Yupik History”.

OCA article “Martyr Juvenaly of Alaska”

OCA video of Saint Juvenaly, by Father Michael Oleksa

Pravoslavie.ru “St. Juvenaly - First Martyr of America”

Orthodowiki biography “Juvenaly of Alaska”

Orthodox Encyclopedia article about Saint Juvenaly

Drevo article about Saint Juvenaly

Saint Herman of Alaska

Saint Joasaph (Bolotov)

Saint Jacob Netsvetov

Saint Innocent (Veniaminov)