Saint Herman of Alaska

c. 1756–1837 · 18th–19th c. · 1 work

St Herman of Alaska (c. 1756–1837) was a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary, venerated as the first saint of North America. Born near Serpukhov, south of Moscow, he entered monastic life as a young man and later transferred to the Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga, the great center of the northern Russian hesychast tradition, where he lived for many years under the elder Igumen Nazarius.

In 1793 the Holy Synod organized a mission to Russian America, and Herman was among the ten monks sent from Valaam to the island of Kodiak in Alaska the following year. Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, the missionaries arrived in 1794 and rapidly baptized thousands of the native Aleut people. Herman proved the most enduring member of the mission; when his companions departed or died, he alone remained.

Around 1808 Herman withdrew to nearby Spruce Island, which he called 'New Valaam,' and lived there as a hermit and ascetic for the rest of his life. He cleared land, grew a garden, built a chapel, ran a school for native children, and became a fearless advocate for the Aleut people against the abuses of the Russian-American Company. His letters to the colonial governors — particularly the famous petition to Governor Yanovsky on behalf of 'the defenseless orphans' of the Aleut nation — show a man of deep compassion and uncompromising moral courage.

Governor Yanovsky himself was profoundly transformed by his encounters with the elder and preserved two of Herman's letters as treasures, later delivering them to Valaam after becoming a monk himself. Herman reposed peacefully on Spruce Island on 13 December 1837, having prophesied many things to those around him.

He was glorified as a saint by the Orthodox Church in America in 1970, the first Orthodox saint to be canonized on American soil. His feast day is observed on 9 August (Old Style: 27 July). His relics rest at the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral on Kodiak Island.

Sources: Orthodox Church in America — St Herman of Alaska · Igumen Damascene (Kononov). Life of Herman. Valaam, 1868