Selections from Seminary

“Hypocrite”, Jesus says. That’s a hard word. It is so easy, when reading the gospels, to see that hard word spoken to others, and so hard to hear it as a word to us. We, too, are hypocrites. The hypocrites in this lesson (Luke 13:10-17) followed all the rules, but missed spirit of the Law. We, in the midst of the fast, focus on the fasting rules. Maybe we follow them and maybe we don’t, but, still, our focus during the fast is on the rules. So easily, we lose sight of why we are fasting. Fasting is exercise. Like the athlete who disciplines himself, who diligently shows up everyday, who pushes himself: in the same way, we show up. We exercise. And better than that, these are more than random rules the Church has passed down to us; this training regimen is time-tested and proven. Do this...and you will find eternal life. Fasting is exercise. Fasting also... acquires the Holy Spirit . St. Seraphim of Sarov explains this when he says, "Prayer, fasting, vigil, and all other Christian ...

St. Jacob of Alaska was also an astute observer of the native people: their habits, their customs, and sometimes even their disposition towards the gospel. Every once in a while, his journals have an aside to explain points of interest—the dangers of navigation and shipping in Alaskan waters, the entryway of native houses in different regions, and such—in some of which, he speaks about the people’s receptivity to the gospel: “In matters of religion, I found the Kuriles to be devout or, as one may say, ready to be devout. However, presumably because of very rare approaches to them on behalf of the Christian Religion, they have no proper understanding either of the Christian faith or of their obligations as Christians.” In another of these asides, St. Jacob offers an almost humorous comment on the Tlingit people as he dwells on the prospects of a Protestant missionary who has come to convert them: "February 28: (1829) A second three masted American vessel [the barque Volunteer, Capt...

Importance of Family Our town or region may not compare to 1800s Alaska, but there are plenty of lessons to be learned from St. Jacob that can be applied to any situation. Though little is made of it, St. Jacob’s relationship with his family seems to be key. He sailed to his first parish in Atka, his own mother’s villiage, with his wife and father. This simple fact challenges our modern, individualistic and independent thinking. Limitless Travelling It would be hard to find a page of St. Jacob’s journals that does not include travel in some form. Not to say that travel is the lesson we need to learn...maybe the opposite. And also not to encourage our modern propensity to extend ourselves beyond all healthy boundaries in the pursuit of achievement at work. Here is a man who would travel for months on the open sea, or on foot or sled to reach interior villages, not for personal glory, nor for good pay, but solely to fulfill the call of the gospel. The Love of the People It is clear that ...

A decade later, in 1849, after faithful service in the Yukon region, St. Jacob asked for an assistant. As Fr. Michael Oleksa says it, he was sent an “unhappy misfit”, Hieromonk Filaret, sent against his will to Alaska. He ended up attacking St. Jacob with a pistol and later an ax, and needing to be bound hand and foot and locked up. The next assistant arrived two years later, and was even worse, if that can be imagined. Hieromonk Gavriil was quite literally insane and leveled accusations against St. Jacob. "The new bishop from European Russia took Gabriel's accusations against Saint Jacob and his coworker Lukin seriously, knowing neither the Creole missionaries and their careers or the insane source of the reports." "In Sitka, the bishop immediately recognized the venerable missionary and scholar to be incapable of the crimes the crazy Gabriel, now deceased, had accused him of committing." It should make sense, but even a saint is not immune to accusation. ...

What is abundantly obvious is that life in Alaska in the early and mid-1800s was full of trials. Having only married his wife, Anna, in 1826, she fell grievously ill with cancer in 1835, and was sent far down the Alaskan coast to Sitka for medical treatment, before falling asleep in the Lord the next year. "This same day, May 29th (1836), I received the news of the death of my wife on March 19 of this year in Sitkha. She did not obtain the restoration of her bodily health, but she was cured spiritually, and, by the Will of God, entered eternity. On this occasion, to give me solace, my two brothers Osip and Anton, came here aboard the above mentioned transport vessel. Osip had leave to visit his kin. Anton had the opportunity to do so as he was aboard in the line of duty, serving as First Office on the brig. ... This day, then for me, was marked by various events [in my life] which were met unexpectedly." And barely one month later : "On the night of July 7th the will of...

One struggle I was looking for in the journals of St. Jacob is racism. St. Jacob was half Russian, half Alaskan native. And in much of the world’s history during this colonial era, racism is thoroughly embedded. I did find one reference of such an issue from Governor Chistiakov in Sitka, when St. Jacob, his wife, and father first arrived, the governor being described by Archpriest Michael Oleksa as “racist, opposing, and attempting to prohibit Russian-native marriages". Even then, mentioned in the same source, this governor was known to be anti-clerical. Meaning: he already did not like this priest coming around in the first place, much less his native lineage. There are copious examples of St. Jacob serving alongside other clergy when he had an opportunity, which would seem to suggest that such an animosity did not actually exist. Before leaving Novoarchangelsk (Sitka) for his assignment on the island of Atka in the Aleutian Chain, he concelebrated often: "March 25: On the F...

St. Jacob followed in the footsteps of many who came before him, not only the big names like St. Herman, St. Juvenaly, and St. Innocent, but more than that, the faithful, everyday folks who worked for the Russian-American Company and lived a faithful witness among the Alaskan peoples. What we find all over St. Jacob’s journals is mentions of locals who had been baptized by laymen and just did not have access to a priest. “It remained for me only to establish them in the faith and chrismate them." "I began baptizing 72 women in the morning. In the afternoon I baptized 54 older children of the parents who had been recently converted. The rite was finished by evening, a total of 126 persons, 33 boys, 93 women and girls. From this activity I became dreadfully tired and felt pain from standing so long... However, the spiritual joy at the sight of so many souls joined to the flock of the Christian Church compensated for everything, and the bodily weaknesses disappeared. That night ...