Innocent of Alaska
| Saint Innocent of Alaska | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Enlightener of Alaska and Siberia | |
| Born | 6 September [O.S. 26 August] 1797 Anginskoye, Irkutsk Oblast |
| Died | 12 April 1879 (aged 81) Moscow |
| Venerated in |
Eastern Orthodoxy Episcopal Church (USA) |
| Canonized | October 6 [O.S. 23 September] 1977, Moscow by Patriarch Pimen I, Russian Orthodox Church |
| Major shrine | Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra |
| Feast | 13 April (as of the 21st century where the Julian calendar is in use) [O.S. 31 March] (repose) 6 October (Glorification) March 30 (Episcopal USA) |
| Attributes | Vested as a bishop, with a moderately-long black beard, holding a Gospel Book or scroll |
Saint Innocent of Alaska (August 26, 1797 – March 31, 1879, O.S.), also known as Saint Innocent Metropolitan of Moscow (Russian Святитель Иннокентий Митрополит Московский) was a Russian Orthodox missionary priest, then the first Orthodox bishop and archbishop in the Americas, and finally the Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia. Remembered for his missionary work, scholarship, and leadership in Alaska and the Russian Far East during the 19th century, he is known for his abilities as a scholar, linguist, and administrator, as well as his great zeal for his work.
As a missionary priest he took his wife and family with him. In these territories he learned several languages and dialects of the indigenous peoples. He wrote many of the earliest scholarly works about the native peoples of Alaska, including dictionaries and grammars for their languages for which he devised writing systems; also, he wrote religious works in, and translated parts of the Bible into, several of these languages. His books were published beginning in 1840.
Saint Innocent was born Ivan Evseyevich Popov (Иван Евсеевич Попов) on August 26, 1797 into the family of a church server in the village of Anginskoye, Verkholensk District, Irkutsk Province, in Russia. His father, Evsey Popov, died when Ivan was six. In 1807 at age 10, Ivan entered the Irkutsk Theological Seminary, where the rector renamed him Veniaminov in honor of the recently deceased Bishop Veniamin of Irkutsk.
On May 18, 1817 Ivan Veniaminov was ordained a deacon of the Church of the Annunciation in Irkutsk. That year he also married a local priest's daughter named Catherine.
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