Saint Peter (Cungagnac) the Aleut of Alaska

Saint Peter (Cungagnac) “The Aleut” ([1795-1802]-1815)

Cungagnac may be spelt Chukagnak, Chunagnak, Cungagnaq.

Kychaly may be spelt Kychaly, Kykhaklai, Kyglai, Keglii.

Context in Alaska, beginning

The exact place and date of birth of Saint Peter, and also his precise ethnic origin, are not known. It is assumed, however, because of various circumstances, that he was born on the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago, which were part of Russian America, and perhaps Kodiak Island itself. This island is situated not far south of the mainland of Russian America (which became the “Department of Alaska” after the 1867 American purchase, and later, the State of Alaska). The Russians usually called all the locals Aleuts, and this precedent has been followed in English in North America as well.

However, this is not necessarily an accurate term. More likely, the better term to use would be “Unangan”, “Alutiiq” or “Sugpiaq”.

Moreover, even before the arrival of the formal Russian trading companies and the Russian Orthodox missionaries at Kodiak, there had already been informal missionary activity in the Bering Sea and on the Aleutian Archipelago. Earlier, Russian frontiersmen (both Russians and others of mixed race) from Sibera, called “Promyshlenniki” had been travelling in small boats in the region and trapping animals for their fur. In the course of their activities, they encountered the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, and they exposed them to the Orthodox Christian Faith, after which the peoples accepted Holy Baptism. They also built chapels in various places. It is to be understood that both these frontiersmen and the missionaries who came later did not suppress the indigenous cultures. They kept everything that was good in the culture, and they baptised the culture that existed.

It may now be considered that the future martyr was born into an indigenous family on Kodiak Island. Because he was described as having been a youth at the time of his martyrdom, the likely range of years for his birth would have been between 1795 and 1802.

It cannot be said with certainty that his name in his own language, Cungagnaq (pronounced Tchungagnak), was given before conversion to Christianity, that is, making the assumption that he became a Christian as a youth. Until this day, the indigenous peoples of Alaska frequently are known both by a given indigenous name, and also a “Church name” ; and if his family had accepted the Orthodox Christian Faith in the early days of the Russian Mission in Kodiak, he would have been amongst the first to have dual names from infancy. Therefore, he would have been known as Cungagnaq in daily life, and as Peter in church. Hence, we may see either combination : Cungagnaq-Peter or Peter-Cungagnaq, or even simply Peter.

The Russian Orthodox mission in Kodiak and other regions of Russian America had begun in 1794 with the arrival to Kodiak of the original group of missionary monks under the leadership of Archimandrite Joasaph (Bolotov). They had arrived from the far-away Valaam Monastery, northeast of Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. From that time, the local indigenous people willingly received baptism from them. It is likely that Cungagnac-Peter was one of the spiritual sons of the Monk Herman of Alaska, who eventually became a hermit and a spiritual “elder” (“starets”, “gerontos”). This mission later included the Kuril Islands and eastern Siberia.

The young Peter had eventually become an employee of the Russian-American Company (RAC), just as had many others. It was for this reason that he would be taken on expeditions to the California region. There, the RAC had begun to find ways to gather fish for food for their various settlements, and also animals whose pelts would be prepared for sale. The company had also understood that certain crops might be grown on the land there for the nourishment of their northern settlements.

Context in California

The historical background which preceded the martyrdom is that of a rather strong hostility on the part of the Imperial Spanish government towards the Imperial Russian government concerning the activities of the Russian-American Company in northern California (territory claimed by Spain). It also necessarily includes all the disturbances and troubles throughout Europe in the context and the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, and particularly in Spain.

The southernmost settlement of Russian America, founded in 1812 by the Russian-American Company for the agricultural needs of Russian Alaska, was Fort Ross, in California. This fort was located on the coast of northern California, about 80 km (50 mi) north from San Francisco. At that time, this region was called “Alta California”, with its capital at Monterey. It was a province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain of the Spanish Empire. Having a strategically advantageous location, the new settlement perturbed the Spanish colonists, who had their own plans for the territory, and the Crown of Spain did claim for itself Upper (northern) California, as well as Lower (Baja) California. This distinction concerned the missionary territories of the Franciscan and of the Dominican missionaries. The Imperial Government of Spain had its own Roman Catholic missions in that region, and the 2 California provinces were administered through Mexico City.

There was, at that time, a strongly-felt fear that the Russians might intend to launch an attack from Fort Ross in order to try to capture San Francisco. Official complaints had been sent from Madrid to Saint Petersburg. Therefore, in 1815, the new governor Lieutenant Pablo Vincente de Solá ordered a halt to all Russian trading, trapping, and farming in the area. This prohibition also included any Russian shipping along the coast, and no Russian vessel was permitted to approach any Spanish colonial port.

Governor de Solá then ordered the arrest of nearly 100 Russians and Aleuts who had not obeyed the order to depart from there. These persons were held hostage by the Spanish authorities, who demanded various Russian supplies needed by the Spanish colonies in return for their release. Although some hostages were kept at San Francisco, others were sent away to other sites. Regardless, they were all used as slave-labourers : they were treated harshly ; they were forced to live under abominable conditions, and they were frequently beaten.

Events leading to martyrdom, 1815

In 1815, near Fort Ross, a group of 14 Kodiak Aleuts, working for the RAC under the leadership of one of the Russians, a certain Mr. Boris Tarasov, was engaged in fishing and the trapping of marine animals (primarily seals and otters). The Aleuts were doing what they were employed to do. They had been searching around the islands of Santa Rosa and Santa Catalina in the Channel Islands that are roughly to the west of Los Angeles. However, during this time, because of adverse weather, their kayaks were carried far south, and they landed on the shore, near San Pedro Bay (near the Los Angeles harbour). There, Spanish soldiers captured them. The capture in this place required their subsequent transport by the Spanish authorities far to the north, if the other details regarding what followed are accurate.

Historical and other references

The historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, in his multi-volume History of California (volume 19), simply notes an incident wherein a Russian fur-hunting expedition was taken into custody after declining to leave San Pedro.

Saint Peter the Aleut is mentioned in the Life of Saint Herman of Alaska (13 December). In his correspondence with Valaam Monastery, Simeon Ivanovich Yanovsky contributed towards our knowledge about the Elder Herman, and about the Martyr Peter. Simeon Ivanovich worked in the Russian-American Company when he arrived at Novoarchangelsk in 1817, and he served as the Governor of Russian America from 1818-1820. While he was in Kodiak, he became close to the Elder Herman, who opened the eyes of his heart and led him to become a true Orthodox Christian rather than a philosophical speculator. He then resigned and travelled to Saint Petersburg. After he completed his military service, he taught in a gymnasium for some years, after which he entered the Saint Tikhon of Kaluga Monastery), where he was tonsured as the Schemamonk Sergiy. It seems that he ended his days at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. He provided the following account :

On another occasion I was relating to him how the Spanish in California had imprisoned
fourteen Aleuts, and how the Jesuits [actually Franciscans] were forcing all of them to
accept the Catholic Faith. But the Aleuts would not agree under any circumstances, saying,
‘We are Christians’. The Jesuits argued, ‘That’s not true, you are heretics and schismatics.
If you do not agree to accept our faith then we will torture all of you to death’. Then the
Aleuts were placed in prison two to a cell. That evening, the Jesuits came to the prison with
lanterns and lighted candles. Again they tried to persuade two Aleuts in the cell to accept
the Catholic Faith. ‘We are Christians’, the Aleuts replied, ‘and we will not change our
Faith’. Then the Jesuits began to torture them, at first the one while his companion was a
witness. They cut off one of the joints of his feet, and then the other joint. Then they cut
the first joint on the fingers of his hands, and then the other joint. Then they cut off his
feet, and his hands. The blood flowed, but the martyr endured all and firmly repeated one
thing : ‘I am a Christian’. He died in such suffering, due to a loss of blood. The Jesuit
also promised to torture his comrade to death the next day.

But that night an order was received from Monterey stating that the imprisoned Aleuts were to
be released immediately, and sent there under escort. Therefore, in the morning all were sent
to Monterey with the exception of the dead Aleut. This was related to me by a witness, the
same Aleut who had escaped torture, and who was the friend of the martyred Aleut. I reported
this incident to the authorities in Saint Petersburg. When I finished my story, Father Herman
asked, ‘What was the name of the martyred Aleut ?’ I answered, ‘Peter. I do not remember his
family name’. The Elder stood reverently before an icon, made the Sign of the Cross and said,
‘Holy New Martyr Peter, pray to God for us !’

Simeon Yanovsky wrote that the soldiers had handed over the Aleuts to the Jesuits, who began to torture prisoners and force them to adopt the Roman Catholic faith. Researchers agree that there could have been no Jesuits in California at that time. Therefore, if there had been such an abuse of the Aleuts, then the Aleuts would have been tormented by the Franciscans. A Russian might not know the difference. The Franciscan Mission Dolores (also known as “La Misión de San Francisco de Asís” at San Francisco) would likely qualify as a possible and probable place of torment.

Ivan Kychaly (Peter’s friend) had witnessed the martyrdom of Saint Peter in 1815. In 1819, he had escaped from Spanish captivity, and he managed to reach Fort Ross. He was then transported to Novoarkhangelsk (now Sitka), on Baranof Island. There, he made his report to Mr. Yanovsky, the governor.

Generally, tradition transmits that Cungagnac-Peter was an adolescent youth or a young man.

The circumstances of his reported martyrdom recall the torture of the Martyr Saint James the Persian (27 November). Both in his sufferings and in his steadfast confession of the Orthodox Christian Faith, Saint Peter is the equal of the martyrs of old, and also of the New Martyrs who have shone forth in more recent times.

To the Franciscans, who were attempting to impose Roman Catholicism upon them, the Aleuts showed their baptismal pectoral Crosses, and they replied that they had already adopted the Christian Faith a long time ago at Kodiak, that and they did not want to accept another. The Franciscans objected that, according to the Roman Catholics, they were heretics because they were Orthodox Christians. They were given time to think matters over, and 2 were left in captivity for several days without food and water. After a while, Peter and his neighbour were again questioned. Peter’s neighbour was an Aleut named Ivan Kychaly. It was he who witnessed the martyrdom of Peter. He reported that first, they cut off one joint of his toes, then another. Peter endured everything, repeating : “I am a Christian and I will not change my Faith”. Then on Peter's hands they cut off one joint of each finger, then another, and then they cut off the feet and hands. Peter endured to the end, and he died from the loss of blood.

After this, the next day, the bullying of the Aleuts was to continue, but orders were received from Monterey that the Russian captives be escorted to that place. Thus, the other Aleuts were ultimately saved.

Martyrdom/Repose, 1815

In 1815, a group of Alaskan hunters in the employ of the Russian-American Company, which included Cungagnaq-Peter, was somehow raided and captured by the Spanish sailors or soldiers, who took them to San Francisco for interrogation. Spanish records agree that some of the Alaskans were injured in the raid. Indeed, Cungagnak-Peter had been wounded in the head during the raid. According to the Synaxarion, the group numbered 20 men, some of whom were transferred to San Francisco and confined at hard labour and mistreatment. In the end, 14 of the captives were imprisoned and maltreated. There, in a Roman Catholic mission, they encountered 2 runaway Kodiak Islanders (the employees of the Russian American Company were often forced labourers).

The head of this Roman Catholic mission wanted the new arrivals to convert to Roman Catholicism, but the Alaskans said that they were already Orthodox Christians, and that they did not want to change. As evidence that they were baptised Christians, they showed the Crosses that they all wore. Eventually, most of the prisoners were taken elsewhere, and only Cungagnak and Kychaly (the eyewitness, called Keglii-Ivan by S I Yanovsky in his 1820 account) remained. They were imprisoned with other indigenous persons (not Alaskans). With threats of torture, the Roman Catholic priests attempted to force the Aleuts to deny their Orthodox Christian Faith and to convert to Roman Catholicism. When the Aleuts refused, one particular priest directed that a toe be severed from each of Peter's feet. Peter still refused to renounce his faith ; and the Spanish priest ordered a group of California “Indians” to cut off each finger of Peter’s hands, one joint at a time. Then, they finally cut off both his hands. They eventually disembowelled him, thus crowning his life with martyrdom. They were about to torture the next Alaskan when orders were received to release them and to send them under escort to the Franciscan monastery in Monterey.

There is another account reported from Ivan Kychaly. It indicates that whatever trial there was had been a mockery. Many of the prisoners were jabbed or cut severely by the soldiers’ sabres. Peter’s head had been badly wounded by the blade of a sword, and the cut bled seriously. The whole group of prisoners was thrown into a locked room for the night. The next morning, a Spanish priest-inquisitor tried to persuade the captives to accept Roman Catholicism, but they all refused. Thirteen of the prisoners were taken to the prison where they remained for some days, while Ivan Kychaly and Peter were kept separate from their group. At sunrise the next morning, these 2 were surrounded by a group of California “Indians”. The Spanish priest gave the order to cut off each finger of Peter’s hands, one joint at a time, eventually cutting his hands off altogether. Finally, he ordered that Peter be disemboweled. Peter soon died of his tortures.

Just before it was Ivan Kychaly's turn for torture, the priest received the order to stop the proceedings. Ivan Kychaly was then taken back to his cell, and Peter was hastily buried, possibly in one of the mass graves for Indians at the Mission Dolores Cemetery in San Francisco.

Eventually the Spaniards released Ivan Kychaly and some other captives. In 1817, an American ship rescued them at sea and took them to Fort Ross. Ivan Kychaly told his story to Ivan Kushov, the fort's manager, and Mr. Kushov reported the Spanish atrocities to Saint Petersburg. Ivan Kychaly went home to Alaskan Russian America in 1819, where he continued to tell his story.

Glorification, 1980

As it was written by Simeon I Yanovsky in 1865, when in about 1819 Saint Herman of Alaska on Kodiak Island received the verbal report of Cungagnac-Peter's death, Saint Herman had been moved to say, “Holy New-Martyr Peter, pray to God for us !”

In 1980, Peter the Aleut was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia and locally glorified by the Diocese of Alaska of The Orthodox Church in America as the “Martyr of San Francisco”.

Saint Cungagnac-Peter is the first saint of North American origin, and the first indigenous North American saint.

Feast-days

The Feast-days of the New-Martyr Peter are 24 September, and sometimes on 13 December.

Tropar Tone 1 (Glorification)

O Holy New-Martyr Peter,

upon the rock of your faith has Christ built His Church.

He has hallowed North America

in the streams of your blood.

In you, your people have been sanctified, O Holy Aleut ;

from the farthest islands of the West,

He exalted you, a light unto all.

Glory be to Him who has glorified you.

Glory be to Him who has crowned you.

Glory be to Him who through your intercessions now works healings for all.

Kontak Tone 5 (Glorification)

You were amongst the first to embrace the Orthodox Faith brought to North America.

You were the first amongst your fellow-captives to endure suffering at the hands of your captors.

You were courageous under torture, and you said :

“I am a Christian, and I will not change my Faith”.

Enduring much suffering and pain,

you became the first Orthodox martyr of North America.

Now, we say, together with our Venerable Father Herman of Alaska,

“O Holy New-Martyr Peter, entreat God on our behalf”.

Line-drawn icon of Saint Peter

Reflections

There are other considerations, as follow, regarding the martyrdom :

Cungagnaq-Peter is purported to have been captured by Spanish soldiers or sailors near “San Pedro” (which has variably been interpreted as either San Pedro, Los Angeles or as San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia in Pacifica, California). This was a “sub-mission” of the Mission San Francisco de Asís (also known as Mission Dolores). San Pedro y San Pablo Asistencia was located on the site of the modern-day Sánchez Adobe Park in modern-day Pacifica, California. He was then tortured and killed at the instigation of Roman Catholic priests either there or at another nearby location. Keglii-Ivan (Ivan Kychaly) was transferred and then enslaved by the Spanish before he finally escaped. Several years later, he was picked up by a Russian brig and taken to Fort Ross. According to the 1820 account, he gave his testimony to Ivan Kuskov, who then sent him to meet with S I Yanovsky.

As the historian Mr. Matthew Namee explains, there are some variants possible in the events. These exist in part because of the lack of available documentation. They exist also because of the misunderstandings which could happen because of the language differences. In addition, not only the indigenous people, but also and particularly historians may have different perceptions and interpretations of the events.

Questions regarding the location of the martyrdom :

Some have interpreted the historical description to refer to the dock in San Pedro (now located in modern-day Los Angeles), which was used at the time as a trading post by Spanish missionary monks from Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. The earliest documents seem to support this understanding. If this does refer to “San Pedro”, then it agrees with other documentary references to geographical locations, including “Santa Rosa Island”, an island named “Climant” (probably San Clemente Island) and an island named “Ekaterina”, (perhaps probably Catalina Island). These documents also describe the captured Native Alaskan traders as having been transferred to Fort Ross, by way of sequential stops in Santa Barbara and Monterey. This interpretation of a Southern Californian location for the martyrdom is further supported by a letter contemporaneous to the alleged martyrdom event, written on 19 June, 1816, by the Franciscan Priest José Señan. However, this letter disagrees with the story of forced conversion and violence against the indigenous hunters from Alaska. Nevertheless, it describes the capture and transfer of “Russian Indians” to the Santa Barbara Presidio from Mission San Buenaventura (in modern-day Ventura, California).

Saint Peter the Aleut has most often been referred to as a “martyr of San Francisco”, confirming that his martyrdom occurred at San Francisco. Some documents describe the Native Alaskan traders as being taken to San Francisco. There are other sources which describe the event as having occurred near Los Angeles, or at least in Southern California. These variants are likely based on variants in oral transmission, and perhaps on other variants (or mistaken comprehension) about the Californian geography of the time. Nevertheless, the association with San Francisco, and also his identification as an “Aleut” prevail in the declarations of glorification.

One of the leading researchers about Russian America, Richard A Pierce, believed that his story could be fictitious. A priest of The Orthodox Church in America, Oliver Herbel, also has suggested that it could be fictitious. However, their opinions are expressed on the basis of the strict requirements of historical data and concrete evidence. They pose the concerns that there is no mention of him in the oral tradition or (practically) amongst the main historians of Orthodoxy in Alaska ; that no clashes are generally mentioned between Spaniards and Russians in California during this period ; that it unknown what common language Peter the Aleut and his alleged tormentors could speak amongst themselves (and if so, how could they explain to him the essence of their demands and understand his refusal). The questions may or may not eventually have answers provided. However, the required concrete evidence is not always available, and especially so with persons who are so lowly in society as were the Aleut/Aleutiiq workers in the Russian-American Company.

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 been recognised officially. Fundamentally, it may be said that everyone who is admitted by the Lord into the Kingdom of Heaven by definition becomes holy, through 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). In this life, we come to know those particular persons whose intercession has been given a blessing from the Lord to be effective for our health and salvation. We come to understand this because the Lord Himself reveals His holy ones to us. Sometimes this occurs through answers to requests in prayer. Sometimes this occurs through healings. There are many other ways in which the Lord makes known to us a holy person, and we learn to listen to our hearts.

References

OCA life by A Liberovsky

Orthodoxwiki biography

Outreachalaska.org biography

“The Russian Mission in North America”

Russian Wikipedia biography

Wikipedia biography

Additional information :

Afonsky, Bishop Gregory, “A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska” (Kodiak, AK : Saint Herman of Alaska Seminary, 1977).

Alekseev, A I, “Fate of Russian America”.

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

Hieromonk Makarios, “The Synaxarion” (Mount Athos, Greece : Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, 1999), vol. 2 (November-December), pp. 412-413 for Saint Peter the Aleut. ISBN : 960-86143-1-7.

Ilyin, Marina D, ‘The Historical Background of the Martyrdom of St. Peter the Aleut’ in “Orthodox Life” (1981), no. 1.

Istomin, AA ; Gibson, J R ; Tishkov, V A ; & Miklouho-MacLay, N ; comp., ‘Death of Chukagnak (St. Peter the Aleut)’ in “Russia in California : Russian Documents on the Ross Colony and Russian-Californian Relations 1803-1850”, 2 vols., (Moscow : Nauka Publishing House, 2005), vol. 1, pp. 318-319. ISBN 10 : 5-02-008901-X ; ISBN 13 : 9785020089013. (Summary of this article : it recounts the testimony of the Kodiak navigator Ivan Kiglai about the capture of the workers of the RAC expedition to California by the Spaniards in 1815 ; their captivity ; the death of Chukagnak and the escape of Ivan Kiglai from Fort Ross to Alaska in May, 1819).

Kishkovsky, Archpriest L, Stokoe, M, “Orthodox Christians in North America (1794-1994)” (New York : Orthodox Church in America, 1995), pp. 8-9. ISBN-10 : 0866420533. ISBN-13 : 978-0866420532.

Korsun, Sergey, compiler, “Reverend Herman of Alaska” (Jordanville : Holy Trinity Monastery , 2002). ISBN : 0-88465-071-5.

Korsun, Sergey, & Black, Lydia, “St Herman of Alaska : A Wilderness Saint”, translated by D Marshall (Jordanville : Holy Trinity Monastery , 2012). ISBN 10 : 0884651924 ; ISBN 13 : 9780884651925.

Namee, Matthew, Saint Peter the Aleut, “The original Martyrdom Account” in S I Yanovsky’s report

......, “Primary Sources on Saint Peter the Aleut”

......, “Excerpt : Richard Pierce on St Peter the Aleut”

Oleksa, Father Michael, “Alaskan Missionary Spirituality” (New York : SVS Press, 2010). ISBN : 978-0-88141-340-3.

......, “Orthodox Alaska : a Theology of Mission”, (Crestwood, NY : SVS Press, 1992). ISBN 9780881410921 (ISBN10 : 0881410926) ; ASIN : 0881410926.

......, “The Monastic Mission to Kodiak and the First Fruits of the Harvest : Saint Herman, Saint Peter the Aleut and Others” (audio tapes, parts 1 & 2)

Pierce, Richard A, ed., “The Russian Orthodox Religious Mission in America, 1794-1837” : with Materials Concerning the Life and Works of the Monk German, and Ethnographic Notes by the Hieromonk Gedeon] (Kingston, Ontario : Limestone Press, 1978) ; mention of Saint Peter the Aleut, p. 177.

......, “Russian-America Company (Alaska History)” (Chicago : University of Chicago Press/Alaska Limestone Press, 1984). ISBN 10 : 0919642020 ; ISBN 13 : 978-0919642027.

......, ‘St. Peter the Aleut’ in “Russian America : A Biographical Dictionary (Alaska History)” (Fairbanks, AK : University of Alaska Press/Limestone Press, 1990), pp. 397-398. ISBN 10 : 09196424.

Svechnikov, Priest Sergei, “The spiritual Significance of Fort Ross”

Yanovsky, Simeon I, ‘Letter from S I Yanovsky to Hegumen Damaskin of November 22, 1865’ in “Valaam Missionaries in America (at the end of the 18th century)”, (St Petersburg, 1900), pp. 143-144.

Orthodox History Debates about the authenticity of the accounts regarding Saint Peter the Aleut

Orthodoxwiki article about the Church of Russia

Church of Russia web-site

Orthodox Church in America (OCA) listing

Orthodox Church in America web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about The Orthodox Church in America

Saint Herman of Alaska

Saint Juvenaly (Hovorukhin) of Alaska

Saint Joasaph (Bolotov) of Alaska

Saint Innocent (Veniaminov)

Saint Jacob Netsvetov

Metropolitan Platon II (Levshin) 1775-1811