St. Herman of Alaska
| Herman of Alaska | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Venerable, Wonderworker | |
| Born | c. 1750s Serpukhov or Voronezh Governorate, Russia |
| Died | November 15, 1836 Spruce Island, Russian Alaska |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican Communion, Eastern Catholics |
| Canonized | August 9, 1970, Kodiak, Alaska by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and simultaneously in San Francisco by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) |
| Major shrine | Holy Resurrection Cathedral, Kodiak, Alaska (relics); Sts. Sergius and Herman of Valaam Chapel, Spruce Island, Alaska (burial site) |
| Feast | August 9 (glorification) December 13 (repose) November 15 (repose-alternate) |
| Attributes | Clothed as a monk, with a flowing white beard; sometimes wearing a wrought iron cross and chains about his chest. |
| Patronage | Americas |
Saint Herman of Alaska (Russian: Преподобный Герман Аляскинский, tr. Prepodobnyy German Alyaskinskiy; c. 1750s – November 15, 1836) was a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary to Alaska, which was then part of Russian America. His gentle approach and ascetic life earned him the love and respect of both the native Alaskans and the Russian colonists. He is considered by many Orthodox Christians as the patron saint of North America.
Biographers disagree about Herman’s early life. His official biography, which Valaam Monastery published in 1867, said that his pre-monastic name was unknown, but that Herman was born into a merchant’s family in Serpukhov, a city in Moscow Governorate. He was said to later become a novice at the Trinity-St. Sergius Hermitage near St. Petersburg before going to Valaam to complete his training and receive full tonsure as a monk. But, modern biographer Sergei Korsun found this account to be based on erroneous information provided by Semyon Yanovsky, an administrator from 1818 through part of 1820 of the Russian-American Company (RAC) in Alaska. He confused Herman’s biographical information with that of another monk, Joseph (Telepnev).
Another former RAC Chief Manager, Ferdinand von Wrangel, stated Herman was originally from a prosperous peasant family in the Voronezh Governorate and served in the military. He then entered monastic life as a novice at Sarov Monastery. This concurred with testimony of Archimandrite Theophan (Sokolov), and a letter written by Herman himself. These agree that Herman began his monastic life as a novice at Sarov, and later received the full tonsure at Valaam. A young military clerk named Egor Ivanovich Popov, from the Voronezh Governorate, was tonsured with the name 'Herman' at Valaam in 1782.
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