1. The Opening of the Mission and the First Period of Its Activity

The honor of discovering the southwestern portion of North America belongs exclusively to Russian people. When the valiant Ermak presented the Russian Tsar with the vast land of Siberia, one might have supposed that the boundless spaces of this land would be entirely sufficient to occupy the colonizing energy of the Russian people for a long time, or even forever, especially since the eastern frontier of Siberia ran up against the boundless ocean, which even daunted bold imagination. It is no wonder that the northern parts of the Great Ocean remained unknown until late times even to such worldwide navigators as the English, Dutch, and Spanish, who confined their voyages to more hospitable latitudes of the earth’s surface. Yet the ancient inclination of the Russian people toward the northeast did not stop even before the Great Ocean. Private fur traders, penetrating ever further and further into the depths of Siberia, finally ceased to be satisfied with even these vast spaces. The unknown that lay hidden beyond the ocean attracted them, promising especially rich plunder, all the more so since the value of fur goods continued to rise as one moved eastward. Therefore, bold traders began in small parties to penetrate also to the nearby islands, and since the islands formed almost a continuous chain stretching across the ocean, by hopping from one to another, the traders gradually reached the very mainland of North America. When exactly and by whom this mainland was first discovered is not known precisely. Judging by obscure accounts, the Russian traders knew of the North American mainland already in the sixteenth century; during the seventeenth century, when the attention of Russian people was entirely absorbed by their own internal state affairs, the distant east, it seems, was left without attention altogether, and only toward the beginning of the last century did the wave of commercial enterprise rush forth to the distant east with such energy that precise exploration of these lands became even a matter of state interest. Everywhere rumors arose of the immense wealth exported by fur traders from the shores and islands of the Great Ocean, and Peter the Great himself ordered a naval expedition to determine precisely the relationship of the coasts of Asia and America (1725–30). The actual honor of the official discovery of the American coast (which had, of course, been discovered earlier by unknown Russian traders) belongs to the commander of one of the ships of the 1732 expedition, Captain Pavlutsky, and the pilot Fedorov[1]. Following this, a second naval expedition, outfitted by order of Empress Anna Ivanovna and under the command of Captain Bering, definitively established the relationship of the coasts of Asia and America and thus officially completed the work begun and accomplished by unknown Russian traders.

With the adoption of these distant lands under the protection of the Russian state, bold Russian traders began to roam even more widely, setting out in various directions in small parties, more thoroughly exploring and discovering many hitherto unknown islands[2] in the chain of the Aleutian and Kuril archipelagos, extending to the very mainland of America. One of the most active traders of this kind was Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov, a citizen of Ryhlsk—a remarkable Russian man who showed himself not only a bold trader but a valiant patriot and devoted son of the Church. While engaged in the fur trade in Siberia, he recognized with his penetrating mind all the advantage of consolidating Russian dominion over the islands of the Great Ocean and the adjacent American mainland, traveled personally to investigate the state of affairs on the Aleutian and Kuril Islands, and came to the conviction that in the existing conditions commerce could not develop with great success, since small parties of traders, acting without plan and in disarray, often harmed trade through their rivalry and tactless, often inhuman treatment of the natives, aroused enmity against themselves, and frequently perished at their hands. Therefore he resolved to establish a solid trading company that would conduct affairs with proper order and under the protection of the Russian state. The company was founded by him together with his partner, the Kursk merchant Ivan Larionovich Golikov[3], and the expedition of the new company, consisting of three ships bearing significant names—“Three Hierarchs,” “Archangel Michael,” “Simeon the God-Receiver and the Prophetess Anna”—departed on August 16, 1788, from Okhotsk “to the Alaskan land, called American, to known and unknown islands for carrying on the fur trade, and all manner of exploration, and establishing voluntary commerce with the natives.”[4] The voyage was not auspicious. One of the ships, namely the “Archangel Michael,” nearly perished without a trace; but at last, after almost a year of wandering, the fleet arrived at the harbor of Kodiak Island, named in honor of the ship on which Shelikhov himself was sailing with his wife, the Three-Hierarchs. The island was large and seemed to promise rich plunder; but unfortunately, it was inhabited by wild and fierce tribes who, having already successfully driven off and destroyed small traders, were extremely hostile to all foreigners. All attempts by Shelikhov to incline the natives to friendly relations proved futile: they took a completely hostile stance toward the newcomers, so that to establish the company on the island, recourse had to be made to armed force, and only after a fierce battle did the natives scatter, and the expedition took possession of the island. The wild nature of the natives was fully demonstrated in that they, having suffered a severe blow from the newcomer, began to regard him with superstitious fear and became more amenable to peaceful influence.

Kodiak Island, lying near the shores of the American mainland and separated from it at its widest point by a strait of 70 versts, was rich in fur-bearing animals and at the same time could serve as a base for commercial activity both throughout the archipelago and on the American mainland itself. Therefore, Shelikhov decided to establish his company’s main depot precisely there. He remained with his company there for two years, and during that time succeeded in drawing considerably closer to the natives. He saw that without friendly relations with them, no success of the company was possible, because it needed obedient and industrious workers who could only be the natives themselves. Therefore, he sought to win the natives to himself through kindness and gifts, and succeeded in this to such an extent that the latter, seeing in the Russians various comforts of life hitherto unknown to them, began to imitate them, and thus were subject to the cultural influence of those whom they had previously hated as newcomers. Everything surrounding the Russians in their domestic life stimulated the natives’ curiosity, and the skill and cleverness with which their new neighbors erected buildings and arranged all necessities for themselves awakened in the savages a desire to imitate them and even to take part in their work. Furthermore, Shelikhov’s constant readiness to help the islanders in their needs as far as possible and his constant attention to everything concerning them involuntarily disposed them toward him in a short time to such an extent that not only did they not shun the Russians, but of their own accord came to them and brought their children with a desire that the Russians take them as hostages or amanats, and Shelikhov, often having little need of these hostages, always received them kindly and rewarded their parents with various gifts[5]. Such relations gave Shelikhov the opportunity to gradually convince the savages that he had come to them not for ruin but to live with them in friendship and to help them, and in this he would tell the amazed savages that far from them there lived a great Russian Empress whose dominions were so vast that the sun never set in them, who ruled over many peoples flourishing under her scepter, and in the number of these peoples she was willing to receive the Kodiak people as well. The savages listened and were moved. But Shelikhov’s penetrating eye did not escape the fact that if the savages had become more friendly to the Russians, it was in large measure owing to their fear of the might of the newcomers. Deep in their souls the old enmity continued to lurk, which could manifest itself at any convenient opportunity and lead to bloody consequences (and as it turned out, this did happen in some places later). It was necessary to uproot this deeply hidden enmity, and this could be accomplished only by transforming the very nature of the savages, who, living in eternal struggle for existence, did not really know what true friendship and love in their best sense were. And the nature could be transformed only through the implanting of Christianity among them. Indeed, from the very beginning of his residence among the savages, Shelikhov began to gradually instill in them the principles of Christian faith. Gathering around him both children and adults, he explained to them in simple and comprehensible language the essence of the Christian faith; he told them that the life of the savages was miserable and hopeless, and this was because they had no all-mighty Helper to deliver them from enemies and give them help in time of need. But the Russians had such a Helper and Savior, namely Jesus Christ, who expressly came down from heaven to earth to deliver people from hardship, suffered for them, then himself overcame his enemies, and now, sitting again in heaven, helps all who turn to Him in prayer. This Savior would also help the Kodiak people if they believed in Him and accepted baptism. Such speeches, or similar ones, could not fail to influence the imagination of the savages, and it is remarkable that soon several savages expressed a desire to accept the faith of the Russians, and Shelikhov, having no priest at hand, baptized them himself, using the right granted to every Orthodox Christian to baptize in case of necessity. The rite of baptism, performed with due solemnity, worked a miraculous effect on the savages. They seemed to be completely reborn and, considering themselves formally Russian, began to take pride in this and even looked down upon their former kinsmen. After this, it was no longer difficult for Shelikhov to persuade the newly baptized and also of the need for civilization, of the necessity to observe certain civil and church regulations. Before leaving the island, Shelikhov baptized in this way forty people, and was the first to lay the foundation of the Church of Christ in this distant land, which had hitherto dwelt in darkness and the shadow of death. Justice, however, demands the remark that although Shelikhov was indeed the first to sow the seeds of faith in Christ on Kodiak, other Russian traders, who had been on the Aleutian Islands even before him, also did not forget that it is the duty of every Christian to share the light of knowledge of true faith with those who dwell in darkness. Thus, for example, the enterprising Cossack Andrean Tolstykh, who first discovered in 1743 the group of islands named after him the Andreanoff Islands, began to baptize the natives of those islands. Then the townsman Ivan Glotov, who discovered the islands known as the Fox Islands, baptized in 1759 the son of one of the local Aleut chiefs (toions) and took him to Kamchatka, where this first fruit of the Aleut Church lived for several years and, having learned Russian literacy, returned to his native land as a herald of true faith and a good bearer of Russian culture[6]. Shelikhov, therefore, only continued this gradual course of spreading Christian faith to the remotest known parts of the world at that time; but his activity in this regard is remarkable in that he was the first to conceive the idea of consolidating this casual sowing of Christian seeds through a properly organized mission. This idea he did not delay in putting into effect at the first opportunity.

Satisfied with the success of his expedition, Shelikhov returned to Okhotsk, which he reached in 1787, and from there, enduring terrible hardships from the harsh climate and bad roads, made his way to Irkutsk, where he reported to the local governor-general Yakobi the results of his expedition, with a request that he bring them to the attention of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Catherine II. The Empress received Shelikhov’s labors most graciously and even wished to see him personally should he ever visit St. Petersburg, and the governor-general Yakobi was ordered to make a detailed report to Her Majesty on the best ways to consolidate Russian dominion over the islands of the Great Ocean and on the shores of America, on the organization of administration of the native peoples, and on the improvement of their condition. In this report due credit was given to Shelikhov’s labors as showing “far more concern for the benefit of the fatherland than for personal advantage,” and the Empress generously rewarded the self-sacrificing Russian men Shelikhov and Golikov[7], confirmed to their company important privileges over all other similar companies, entrusting them even with governmental authority over the newly discovered lands. Encouraged by such gracious imperial attention, Shelikhov, now with full awareness of his state significance, proceeded to further development of his commercial activity, and as the head of an officially recognized company, established proper relations between Siberia and Kodiak Island, as the main base of all his operations. Being unable to be personally present on Kodiak Island, he entrusted its command to his energetic manager Baranov, with the instruction to treat the natives in the spirit of his own Christian meekness.

The young Kodiak church, meanwhile, continued in a state of inertia. The Kodiak people baptized by Shelikhov, or so-called konyagi, remained faithful to the Russian faith they had accepted and formed the main support for the Russian traders among the mass of savages on whom it was difficult to rely in all matters. But their position was very uncertain. Having been brought to the new faith, they remained without sufficient instruction in it, since the theological knowledge of the traders did not go beyond the first principles of Christianity. Besides, both the traders themselves and the newly baptized savages were deprived of all consolation from religion and of the means to satisfy their religious needs. They had neither a spiritual father nor a church. It is true that the traders, out of necessity, even organized certain church services, performed hours and vespers on feast days, which the newly baptized savages attended with proper devotion, but this was far from sufficient to satisfy their religious needs. Since, at the same time, the traders were increasingly confirmed by experience in the conviction that the local wild population could only be firmly attached to the Russians if it were transformed by the influence of Christian religion, Shelikhov conceived the happy idea of establishing a proper mission in this distant region. And so he, together with Golikov, appealed to the Holy Synod with a petition dated May 4, 1793, in which, briefly setting forth the state of affairs on the island he had discovered, requested that the Holy Synod permit them to build a portable church and, for the performance of divine services, and for the teaching of the savages the truths of Christian law, send suitable missionaries, with the obligation to maintain both the church and the missionaries at the company’s expense. The Holy Synod took this petition seriously to heart, and, zealous for the spread of the light of Orthodox faith among peoples knowing no law, resolved to outfit a mission, supplying it with all necessary for the successful accomplishment of this holy work. By the report of the Procurator of the Holy Synod, A. I. Musin-Pushkin, this determination received the Empress’s approval[8], and thus officially was the foundation of the North American Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church laid. To carry this determination into effect was entrusted to His Grace Gabriel, metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg[9].