St. Jacob’s Greatest Gifts to the Church

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 I made a written record of the day's events."

And then, two days later, he tends to the growth and development of the flock in this location:

"All those newly baptized, all that are here present, attended and prayed. One must imagine the joy in my heart at the sight of so many souls gathered in one place, more than 300, praying to God, people of various tribes, formerly hostile to each other, enemies, now united as the flock of Christ's Church, offering prayers to the true God. After the service I offered them a sermon, as to the reborn children, first declaring to them why I held such a communal prayer, that is, explaining that today is Sunday. Then I taught them Christian commandments, about prayer, Christian love, and Christian virtues, but most of all about human kindness, about peaceful and cordial coexistence between all people."

It is clear, these people were already Christian (that is, Orthodox Christian), even though they do not even know something so basic as attending church on a Sunday. It is an interesting point that St. Jacob does not complain about those who came before him. He is thankful for the spread of the gospel before he had even arrived, and he, just as St. Paul mentions, waters where others have planted. We should learn this same lesson for our own times. Especially in America today, there are many ways to approach the work, many different “styles” of Orthodox practice, and we need to appreciate the planting and watering that has gone on before us, realize the plants would not be here if not for those labors, and put in our own work to tend to the garden.