St. Innocent of Alaska

St. Innocent of Alaska was born Ivan Popov-Veniaminov on 26 August 1797 in the Siberian village of Anginskoye. Ordained a priest, he volunteered in 1823 for the remote Russian mission in the Aleutian Islands, and for decades he labored among the native peoples of Alaska and eastern Siberia with extraordinary devotion, learning their languages, translating the Scriptures and catechism into Aleut and other tongues, and even inventing an alphabet for them.

A man of many gifts, he was also a naturalist, ethnographer, and craftsman who built churches and schools with his own hands. After the death of his wife he became a monk and was consecrated the first Orthodox bishop of the vast territories of Alaska and the Russian Far East, earning the title Apostle of Alaska and Siberia. In 1868 he was elevated to the highest office of the Russian Church as Metropolitan of Moscow, from which he promoted missionary work throughout the empire. He died on 31 March 1879 and was glorified as a saint in 1977.