Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas 2009/2010

Dear friends,
Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Greetings to all of you at this joyous season of Christ's birth. I hope you've all had, or are having, a blessed and joyful celebration.

I hope all of you are well and have had many blessings during this past year.

It's been a good semester here. Since arriving in Alaska on August 6, I've gotten settled in a bit. I got used to the routine of class preparation. The students and their families are wonderful folks. St. Herman's Seminary has 10 seminarians at present. All but one of them are married and are here with their families, including about 22 children who love being here and are almost always playing around the grounds.

Kodiak is a beautiful place. And so far what people said has about the climate has proven correct: it has seemed milder here than in New England or NE Pennsylvania. The water keeps it relatively warm. Not far to the north, mainland Alaska is typically 20-25 degrees colder. Right now we are in the grip of a cold spell which will stay a while. The temp is predicted to hover around 23 degrees this week. But in Anchorage, about 250 miles to the north, it's hovering at minus -2.

I've visited Port Lions, AK three times now -- every few weeks -- and that's a beautiful place too. It's about 15 miles west of here. You reach it by boat or by plane. The 10 to 12 minute plane ride, when there has been a dusting of snow, is just stunningly beautiful, especially when the weather is perfect and we fly between the mountains, instead of around the island of Kodiak hugging the shore. Most of the time the ride in the small plane is just as smooth as that in a big jet. At Port Lions I've been officiating at services in the parish church. Port Lions was founded in 1964 when the village of Afognak, just north of here, was destroyed by earthquake and tidal waves. I've met some of the people who lived through that earthquake. Interestingly it was at Afognak that villagers saw the pillar of light rising into heaven when St. Herman of Alaska departed this life. That sighting is recorded in the life of St. Herman. St. Herman lived on Spruce Island which lies between Kodiak and Afognak. I've even met some folks whose great-grandparents witnessed that light.

One of the highlights of the fall was three days of lectures by Fr. Michael Oleksa, who talked about the need for cultural sensitivity -- or as he put, the need to discern and enter into some else's "beam of light" and to listen to their "story." Their story is their life and their history. Their beam of light is how they look at things and understand things and do things. Also as part of the lectures, he told many amusing -- or sometimes saddening -- stories, or anecdotes. It was very enlightening. Fr Michael, who teaches at the Univ. of Alaska, has written books on mission theology and on cultural sensitivity. He himself is of Polish background; his wife Xenia is a native Alaskan.

All of the seminarians, by the way, are Alaskan natives. Probably few of them are of full-blooded native; most have some Russian or Swedish blood. To me they seem -- in many ways, at least -- to be culturally much like other Americans living here and there in the 50 states.

During this past semester I took part in a weekly one-hour class on the Yupik language. One Yup'ik word is: Quyana! (it sounds like the 1st 2 letters in KYLE plus the last 4 in DONNA - thus KY-ONNA!! with a strong accent on the middle syllable). It means "Thank you!" An Aleut word you might know is "quyak" (kayak). The main native groups in Alaskan are the Yup'ik, the Aleut, the Alutiiq, the Tlingit, and the Athabascan.

You never know what Jesus is going to ask you to do to serve Him. This fall I was asked to attend basketball games at the local high school and middle school! The reason: the St. Herman's students have a basketball team for recreation purposes and they play against other local teams. I was asked to take turns attending these games along with other priests from the seminary faculty in order to help ensure that the atmosphere stays cool and doesn't get too competitive.

So that's a little bit about what I've been doing up here.

There is actually too much to tell. I could write a book about it, but there isn't time to do that. Yes, I too have my "story" to tell -- as do you also -- and I'm often rememering you, with each of your "stories".

I think of the words of my teacher, Fr. Alexander Schmemann -- "to love is to remember." He connected that with theology -- that in the memory of God all are remembered, with each moment of their lives, and that in that great Calling to Mind, they live, eternally.

While my memory is not so powerful as God's, I want all of you to know that I often remember you, with much love, and I hope you are praying for me and for all who are up here.

Yours in Christ,
Fr Juvenaly

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Aleut Orthodox Priest and Fisherman

November 2008

This is a story I wrote for the St Hermans' Seminary newsletter. It tells you something about Church life here in Alaska, which can be quite different from that in other places.

Alumnus Serves the Parishes of the Prince William Sound

The mission of St. Herman's Seminary is to prepare clergy and church workers to serve the Diocese of Alaska. One alumnus of the seminary now engaged in that service, is Father Alexei Knagin. Fr. Alexei, a member of the Alutiiq tribe, is the first native priest ever to be ordained who came from Kodiak Island, where St. Herman did much of his work, where the seminary in his name is located, and where St. Peter the Aleut was born.

Fr. Alexei's original home was the village of Afognak on Afognak Island, just north of Kodiak. When much of Afognak village was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake, the inhabitants were forced to relocate to Kodiak Island, where they settled at what is now Port Lions. It was from the Nativity of the Theotokos Church there, that Fr. Alexei came to St. Herman's Seminary, seeking to receive the education and training needed to equip him to serve God's people as a priest in Alaska.

As a young priest, Fr. Alexei was assigned to Holy Resurrection Church in Kodiak, while also serving the spiritual needs of the Alutiiq villages on Kodiak. Later he was designated a "missionary priest for the state of Alaska," serving communities in Nikolsky, Atka, Unalaska, King Cove, and Akutan. Then, as now, he also labored at fishing in Alaska's waters, to provide food for his family and supplement his income. To this day, he serves village parishes of Kodiak for three months each summer, while also working at fishing.

Fr. Alexei received a directive from Bishop Nikolai to move from his beloved home parish and to relocate, with his family, to St. Michael the Archangel Church at Cordova, some 270 miles to the northeast. Based there, he also serves parishes at Tatitlek, Valdez, and Chenega. These four localities ring the shores of the Prince William Sound.

Fr. Alexei is at Cordova for most Sundays of the year. He visits the other three communities about once a month. A typical monthly circuit might begin with his departure from Cordova on a Friday or Saturday. He might travel 60 miles to Tatitlek, arriving on Saturday. There he would celebrate Saturday vespers and Sunday Divine Liturgy. A 20-mile boat trek on Sunday would then bring him to Valdez on Sunday afternoon, where he would serve vespers the same evening and liturgy on Monday morning. Fr. Alexei would then make an 80-mile voyage to Chenega, where he would celebrate vespers on Monday evening and Divine Liturgy on Tuesday morning. An 85-mile crossing would then bring him back to Cordova. This schedule would rotate so that from time to time each parish would have Divine Liturgy on Sunday. His exact schedule of visits depends on what feast is to take place, where he is, and the weather.

Each community has its own special conditions, challenges, and progress. At Cordova, a cornerstone was planted recently for a new church of St. Michael to replace the decaying old building. The materials are paid for by the people and corporations. Contractors who are friends Fr. Alexei has made over the years, are doing the excavation and construction free of charge, while the parishioners and Fr. Alexei himself do some of the work.

At Tatitlek, a typical Sunday or even a weekday will see about 30 people attending services. At Valdez 15 to 20 souls meet at the Baptist Church for Vespers and Liturgy. Plans call for building a new church by 2010. At Chenega, some 30 parishioners worship in a brand new church.

In each of these communities, all are appreciative of having a priest, even if only once a month.

In his work, Fr. Alexei stresses the importance of educating the people -- adults first, then children -- about all aspects of our faith. He uses every opportunity to catechize, and works on getting church schools organized. He carries the work of evangelization also to outsiders, speaking to the Protestant clergy at their weekly gathering at Cordova Baptist Church. Finding them receptive, he has taught them about the sign of the Cross and other things.

For his pastoral journeys across the Prince William Sound, Fr. Alexei had a speedboat with a cabin constructed, as the cost of flying would be prohibitive. The boat is equipped like a house-boat, so that when visiting his various villages he can sleep right on board, for convenience.

In good weather his speed is 25-30 knots; in choppy seas this drops to 12-15 knots, doubling his travel time. The waters are cold, and very often storms come up. Should his boat overturn, he would likely lose his life, unless he were to be saved by a miracle. He has adorned his boat with icons of Christ and the Theotokos in the cabin, and around the sides icons of the Alaskan saints are built right into the hull. He prays as his boat plies the waters, carrying him on his mission for Christ.

Our supporters and benefactors donate having in view the goal of helping to educate our future priests. To draw inspiration for the seminary's ongoing work, it's helpful to look at the work of our alumni, and to study the good works of clergy such as Fr. Alexei Knagin and many others, as they serve the people of the diocese as laborer in Christ's vineyard.

(Since writing the above story, I've gotten to know Fr. Alexei a bit better, and his family too. One person spoke of Father's expert knowledge of the sea, calling him "the finest waterman I know." Fr. Alexei also travels by jet, by small propeller plane, by ferry, and by car in his frequent travels around Alaska).

Monday, August 18, 2008

One week in Kodiak

August 18 2008

Things are settling down here as I prepare for the beginning of classes. Yesterday, Sunday, was a wonderful sunny day, but otherwise it has rained every day since the previous Sunday. But it is usually a gentle rain or a mist, not a hard rain. I am told this is typical Kodiak weather. The one sunny day made up for the rest.

On a walk I saw the high school, the middle school, the hospital, a couple of lakes, and the St. Innocent School which is just down the road. Just as I passed the St. Innocent School, the bell was rung for vespers, so I stayed. The school has about 20-25 kids of high school age, most of them from "outside," that is, not from Alaska. I've also been to Wal-mart, Costsavers, and Safeway, which are two miles away. Most things you want to buy here, you get at Wal-Mart. Kodiak has some very nice restaurants, most of them offering locally caught seafood. There are McDonalds and Chinese restaurants and I saw a "Mexican-Hispanic Folk Center." Filipinos comprise about 40% of the population.

On another walk (I try to walk 30 minutes a day but often don't achieve that) just 2 blocks away I saw an old cemetery with maybe 150 graves. It's a small lot but between houses on a residential street. I've learned since that it's a military cemetery from the Fort Kodiak army post. I stepped inside the gate to look around the grassy graveyard. The stones are mostly small ones dating from the period about 1830 through 1908. I also saw a number of wooden crosses, Orthodox and other, some of them falling over. On various stones, I read, "Killed by Indians on Woody Island," "Native of Scotland," "Burned to death," "Native of Perry, Maine," and one stone marked the grave of a civil war veteran who died in 1868.

On Monday afternoon, the eve of the feast of Transfiguration, I remembered there would be a blessing of fruit the next day at the end of the services. I headed to a supermarket-sized convenience store in the nearby downtown area, Alaska Food for Less. I'd been told they in fact offer "food for more" and that Safeway has better buys on food. But in AK a lot of things are costly no matter where you buy them. Alaska Food for Less, I've since learned was until recently called "AC" (Alaska Commercial) and has been in business since the early days of American sovereignty. I selected enough fruit to fill a small basket -- 3 apples, 2 plums, a peach, 2 bananas, 1 orange, 1 apricot. The cost: $9.82 plus $.59 tax, or $10.41. The fruit prices ranged from $2-$4 / lb, with apricots $5/lb. Bananas were the best buy, at $1.28/lb, or about $.40 for a medium sized banana. Salmon berries do grow here -- these berries have the appearance of salmon-colored raspberries. Some people, I've heard, had gone salmonberry picking , and on the feast of Transfiguration some of the baskets brought for blessing contained only this local fruit.

Later I was told that when St. Innocent of Alaska was translating the Scriptures into the Alaskan native languages, there was no word in those languages for fruit, a common biblical word (on the other hand, the same languages have many different words for snow). While few fruits may grow here in Alaska, agriculture is conducted here -- I noticed in the store many packets of vegetable seeds, optimized for Alaska's relatively short growing season.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Arrival in Kodiak

August 11, 2008

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your prayers for our safe trip and that things will go well here. Please continue those.

Now, for some news. It's hard to believe that I have only been in AK for 5 days -- so much has happened since then.

The mountains of AK were beautiful as we flew into Anchorage. The city is surrounded by them and the whole state (the small part I have seen) seems to be full of mountains.

We arrived in Anchorage on August 6 -- the feast of Transfiguration -- but in Alaska, August 6 in church will not be observed until August 19, since the Diocese of AK is on the old calendar. So, up here there are still 2-3 more days before the Dormition Fast begins.

On Aug. 7 we went to St. Innocent's Cathedral in Anchorage. What a beautiful temple! I have seen few, if any, that were the equal of it. I attended a meeting of Metropolitan Herman and Bishop Benjamin Benjamin with the clergy. Bishop Benjamin is the administrator of the diocese and the metropolitan is the locum tenens, or temporary overseer. We had lunch in the parish hall of the cathedral. We then visited St. Tikhon's parish, the "A" Street Orthodox Museum in Anchorage, and the St. Alexis Mission. St. Tikhon's is an attractive new church. St Alexis is a mission parish presently meeting in an attractively furnished storefront in a new shopping mall. It's amazing how a plain new building can be beautified by the presence of a few good icons.

At 6 pm there was an akathist to St Herman at the cathedral, attended by many. The time in Anchorage was a chance to meet some old friends from St Tikhon's, including Fr Christopher Stanton, his matushka Mary Sarah, and their 3 small children, whom I had not met before; also Fr Daniel Andrejuk.

On Friday, the 8th, we flew to Kodiak, an hour's flight. Here I saw Fr Innocent Dresdow and met Fr John Dunlop, the dean of St Herman's Seminary, where I will be teaching. We visited the Alutiiq Museum and I walked around and got acquainted a bit with Kodiak. It is a place of rare beauty. While in Anchorage, one priest from western AK told me he thought Kodiak was the most beautiful place in AK (although he added that there are a lot of beautiful places in AK) and several people confirmed that it is called the "Alaska's Emerald Isle." About half of the island is a national wildlife preserve. Kodiak is the 2nd largest island in the US. The views from most places in the town are stunning. Right beside the town is a very steep hill that rises about 400 feet - perhaps at a 75 degree angle. houses are perched on the hillside; I don't know how they managed to build them. The hill is very green with thick brush, and is dotted with fir trees as well as houses perched on it.

At 6 pm we had a vigil service for the feast St Herman. This was held in Holy Resurrection Cathedral, which is a block from the seminary. This cathedral is the oldest Orthodox parish in North America, although the church building is about the 4th one, earlier ones having been lost one way or another. It was a beautiful vigil service.

The next morning we got on boats and made the 1-hour trip to Spruce Island. The day was beautiful, as were Monk's Lagoon and the island. The island has the beauty of a cathedral -- old growth forests are filled with great moss-covered trees covered. Colorful wildflowers are here and there.

The temperatures are comfortable. People confirmed that in winter Kodiak stays wamer than Pennsylvania or New England (seldom dropping below 20 degrees) while in summer it is cooler (naturally, being so far north). Another side of that nice climate is that it rains here a lot - 95 inches a year, and a lot of days are cloudy. But this weekend it was wonderfully sunny.

We walked about a third of a mile through the forest and came to the chapel built over the place where St. Herman lived. Here the Divine Liturgy was served. Bishop Benjamin served along with Serbian Bishop Maxim. Some nuns and some monks who live on Spruce Island and answer to Bishop Maxim were present, as were many people from the cathedral and seminary and also a group from the St Innocent School in Kodiak, I'm guessing 175 in all. The liturgy was 85-90% English, with the rest being in Yupik, Slavonic, and Serbian, with dabs of Arabic, Greek, and Romanian. We also saw the spring, and the hut where Hieromonk Gerasim (+1969) lived. The native peoples seem so reverent.

The day was just beautiful, the forest so peaceful. The beach has black sand and round, smooth and flat black stones. After liturgy there was a picnic on the beach and under the trees near the beach. The conditions (sun, temperature, etc) were perfect. Then another boat ride back. On the trip back I talked with a man who was originally from Greece, and had been a merchant mariner in the Caribbean, but about 20 years ago, someone invited him to Kodiak and he was so taken with the place he decided to stay there, and he has been there since. His wife (also from Greece) is also there, and she likes Kodiak yet not as much as he does (she misses Greece). For that reason he said they "might leave now" (This reminded me of a story in the Desert Fathers and so I told him the story. It is about a small group of monks living in the desert. Every single day, they get together and talk, and they say, "Tomorrow, we will leave and go away from here." But they never leave!)

While on the boat we watched puffins and saw an eagle and a sea otter. It was comfortably cool. It was about 60 degrees, and the sun was warm. I did not see orca whales or dolphins, but they say they are often there and sometimes swim along with the boats as they go to Spruce Island.

We returned to the church - it's just 3 blocks from the harbor, which is filled with all manner and size of fishing boats - there is a cannery in town which consists of a ship, the Star of Kodiak, that was brought in and permanently docked here to serve in that capacity. At church they had a meal of soup and bread and pies. Then, upstairs in church, we had vespers for the Resurrection.

Sunday morning liturgy was presided by Bishops Benjamin and Maxim. Met. Herman was present all weekend, but did not serve much, because of his sciatica. A bit later, there was a banquet in a nearby church. All the clergy had to stand up and introduce themselves, so I described myself as "the newest resident of Kodiak." This afternoon (Sunday) there will be an akathist before St. Herman's relics at Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Kodiak. For those of you who don't know, St. Herman was a miracle worker during his life and remains so to this day. He also strove to protect the natives from the depredations of the Russian commercials interests who tried to enslave them.

Today His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman, Bishop Benjamin, Archdeacon Alexei, Peter Ilchik, and Martin Paluch are leaving or have left. I am staying in an apartment at the seminary.

Now, I am faced with preparing for 4 courses - 3 in liturgics and 1 in canon law. I am very apprehensive about that, so I ask everyone to pray for me, that I will do a good job with these courses. In addition, I will be dean of students / chaplain and I will also travel (probably by small plane) once or twice a month to serve at a parish in a place called Port Lions.

That brings me up to date now. Again thank you all for your love and your emails, and please continue your prayers!

In Christ's love
Fr Juvenaly

[The above was a letter sent to friends five days after arrival in Kodiak]

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Why the title "Pillar Mountain Prospect"?

Kodiak, Alaska is my new home. Pillar Mountain lies alongside Kodiak city and overlooks it. From the prospect on top of Pillar Mountain, the Orthodox Christian Saints Herman and Juvenaly, along with Hieromonk Ioasaph, looked out and decided who would go where to conduct evangelical mission work, spreading the salvific good news of Christ. I picked this title, then, as an inspirational title for the blog.