On the coast of Alaska, there exists a tiny plot of land known as Spruce Island.
In the late 18th century, the work of a single Russian Orthodox monk on this tiny island in the Pacific Ocean would transform the lives of an entire community.
This monk would spend 20 years of selfless dedication to the Alaskan Natives who were cruelly mistreated by the Russian settlers. He stood up for them when no one else would, built a school for their orphans, and stayed by their side through a deadly epidemic.
Thousands of these Native Alaskans would convert to Christianity due to his spiritual guidance, leaving his permanent mark on the Alaskan population which remains proudly Orthodox to this day. During his time on the island, he would show these people the true meaning of Christianity and was even used by Christ for multiple miracles.
This is the true story of Saint Herman of Alaska, the patron Saint of North America.
The Beginning: Saint Herman Gets Sent to Alaska
In the 1790’s, the Russian empress Catherine the Great decided to send a mission of Russian Orthodox monks to Alaska. The goal of the monarchy wanted to provide priests for the native population that was living under Russian colonization in Alaska.
50 years earlier, in 1741, a Russian expedition landed on the Northwest Coast of the Americas and discovered Alaska. This expedition turned out to be extremely lucrative, making money from the natural resources and fur trade. Russian settlers began moving to Alaska to harvest fur from local animals like sea otters and seals. These Russian frontiersmen began exploring Russia and the many islands of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska, known as the Aleutian islands.
This meant, of course, that the settlers came into contact with the Native Alaskans living in the area. These peoples, known to the Russians as the Aleutians, had been living on the Alaskan islands for thousands of years. The Russian settlers began clashing with the indigenous tribes and even forcing hostages to work for them.
Grigory Shelikhov, a fur trader and founder of the Russian American Company, sent word to Russia requesting that the Russian Orthodox Church send a priest to Alaska for the natives.
It was in these conditions that the mission of Russian Orthodox monks was sent to provide spiritual guidance to the native population. However, a harsh reality awaited them in Alaska. The missionaries were completely unaware of the cruel conditions they would find the native Alaskans living under within the Russian colony.
Ten monks were chosen to go to Alaska, including 8 monks from the monastery at Valaam, which is located on a large island off the Russian coast.
Among these ten monks was a man named Herman, who had been living as a hermit two kilometers away from the monastery for several years.
Not much is known about Herman’s early years, but most scholars agree that he began his monastic life in Russia. At some point, he joined the monastery at Valaam.
Although he was offered multiple times to be ordained as a priest or sent to China as a missionary, Herman preferred to live a simple life alone in Valaam.
His experience living peacefully at his hermitage on Valaam would have a huge influence on the choices he would make years later in America. Herman always preferred the modest way of life suited to a monk, and made a deep spiritual connection with his home on the island of Valaam. If it were up to him, he likely would have lived alone on Valaam for the rest of his life.
However, God had other plans for Saint Herman. Everything changed for him when he was chosen to be sent away to Alaska.
The missionaries arrived in Alaska in September of 1794, landing on Kodiak Island. These monks were shocked to find that the community on Kodiak Island was far from what was described to them. Native Aleutians were being exploited and mistreated, essentially being treated as serfs under the colonists of the Russian American Company.
Despite suffering horrible abuse from the Russian traders, the native population was extremely receptive to the efforts of the monks. Within the first year alone, over 7,000 Native Alaskans accepted Christianity and willingly converted, with the monks performing 1,500 marriages.
The monks openly opposed the exploitation of the Native population, making an enemy of the powerful Russian fur traders as a consequence.
Saint Herman was especially known for speaking out against the actions of the Russian colonists and defending the Aleutians against their mistreatment. He wrote letters home to Russia discussing the brutal treatment of the natives and expressing his wishes for the Tsar to send aid to protect the Aleutian islanders.
He won the love and respect of the native community, eventually assuming a role as the head of the mission in 1807. During his time on Kodiak Island, he would dedicate much of his time to caring for orphans in the community, a practice which he would carry on through the rest of his life.
Although he actively participated in the conversion and teaching of Christianity, Herman still refused to be ordained into the priesthood. He was always a hermit at heart, and his old ways of life were calling to him during the time he spent on Kodiak Island.
Additionally, his consistent efforts in speaking out against the Russian traders and their abuse of the Aleutians was making life on Kodiak Island hard for him, since he had now made an enemy of the Russian American Company.
So, after ten years building up the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Kodiak Island, Saint Herman decided to leave his role as a missionary and retire to Spruce Island, a much smaller Aleutian Island in Alaska.
Little did he know that his work was just beginning.
Arrival at Spruce Island
Some time between 1807 and 1811, Saint Herman left Kodiak Island for good and moved to assume the lifestyle of a hermit on Spruce Island. This island was separated from Kodiak Island by a mile of water, and was mostly covered by forest, making it a hermit’s dream.
Saint Herman lived extremely modestly, fasting often and surviving on a minimal diet of berries, vegetables, and mushrooms. His clothes were old and simple. He was described as wearing nothing but a smock made of deer skin, even in the winter. According to some sources, Saint Herman dug a cave on the island with his own hands and slept in the cave for the entire first year before building a small cell to sleep in.
When asked about how he feels living alone, he would respond by saying “I am not alone. God is here, as God is everywhere, and the angels, too. There is no better company.”
He named his new home “New Valaam,” after the island where he spent so many years as a hermit back in Russia.
Although Saint Herman escaped to Spruce Island with the hopes of living a peaceful life in solitude, he was not alone for long. The dedicated community which had come to love him so much during his time on Kodiak Island often ventured to Spruce Island to visit him. Almost entirely unintentionally, Saint Herman developed a close following of newly converted Christians, and even had a few disciples which studied directly under him.
Before long, a community had developed on Spruce Island. Entire families of Aleutian Natives moved to the island to be closer to their beloved Elder Herman. He had a strong love for them, and cared especially for the children and orphans.
While Herman was living on Spruce Island, an epidemic broke out back on Kodiak Island. This deadly disease was brought over from the United States and was extremely infectious, decimating the population of Aleutians.
At a time when no one else was caring for the native population being affected by this horrifying disease, Saint Herman came to their aid. He stayed with the sick and dying for the entire duration of the epidemic, visiting them and asking them to have patience, to have faith, and to continue praying through their illness.
Father Herman remained with the plague victims for the entirety of the epidemic, which lasted over a month. He worked day and night comforting the sick and preparing them for death. When the epidemic was over, he brought the orphaned children affected by the epidemic back to Spruce Island with him.
Saint Herman Builds a Church & School for Orphans
During the time that Saint Herman spent on Spruce Island, he focused much of his attention on caring for orphaned Aleutian children. Herman was known for his kind and gentle nature, and kids always gravitated towards him for this reason. He provided them with books, clothing, and food from his own garden on the island.
Due to his close connection with the local children and orphans, Saint Herman decided to build a school and orphanage on the island, as well as a small chapel, both of which were located close to his own cabin cell. Saint Herman taught at the school himself, teaching the children church music and the Holy Scriptures, in addition to reading and writing.
On Sundays and holy days, he would host the community at the chapel on the island for prayer and singing, and would preach to his followers. One woman, by the name of Sophia Vlasova, was so inspired by Saint Herman that she asked to live with him on Spruce Island at the school, which Father Herman agreed to. She lived there even past his death, watching over the orphans, and became one of his most trusted disciples.
Saint Herman’s Miracles on Spruce Island
Throughout his life, Saint Herman was known to have been used by Christ for many miracles. Early in his life, while still a monk in Russia, Herman became extremely ill and developed a large abscess on his throat. He knew death was near, and prayed the whole night to the Virgin Mary to be healed. That night, he saw the Theotokos in his dreams, coming to heal him. When he awoke, much to his own surprise and the disbelief of the physicians, he was completely healed. However, this would only be the first of Saint Herman’s miraculous experiences.
The first of Christ’s miracles through Saint Herman was famously performed in protection against a flood. While he was living on Spruce Island, a massive tidal wave threatened to cover the island. Saint Herman’s community came to him in fear, not knowing how to protect themselves against the flood.
In response to their distress, Father Herman retrieved an icon of the Virgin Mary from the school on the island. Taking the icon out to the shore where the tidal wave was drawing near, he placed it down on a sandy bank, knelt in the sand, and began to pray.
Turning to his followers who had gathered behind him, he told them not to be afraid because the water would not go past the sandy bank where the icon was placed. His words proved to be true, and the island was miraculously spared from the flood.
Father Herman told his followers that this icon of the Mother of God would protect them against all floods in the future. He placed the icon under the protection of his disciple Sophia who lived at the school, where it is still kept safe for the community’s protection to this very day.
A similar miracle was performed through Christ to protect against a forest fire which was sweeping over the island. The islanders and the other monks were certain that the fire would reach the school and chapel within a day, destroying everything in its path. In response to the people’s fear, Saint Herman took several of his followers into the forest and instructed them to help him create a line about two feet thick of overturned moss.
After the belt of moss was complete, Herman told his people not to be afraid and to be at peace, as the fire would not cross the line of moss.
The next day, as the fearful islanders awaited the destruction of their beloved school, they watched instead the words of Father Herman come true before their eyes. The fire raged towards the clearing, but when it reached the line of overturned moss, it instead ran across the long belt and did not cross into the forest on the other side. The rest of the forest was saved from the fire, and Saint Herman’s community was once again protected by the miraculous intercession of Christ.
Before his death, Saint Herman predicted a future epidemic that would occur after his passing. He told of a plague that would come to Alaska and cause the Russians to unite the native Aleutian populations.
True to the Saint’s word, only six months after his death, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Americas, wiping out entire villages. Just as Herman had predicted, the colonial Russian powers reacted by united the Aleutians who remained alive but disconnected, being dispersed across the many islands. Out of twenty original islands, the survivors were brought together into seven villages, becoming united under the Russians.
This example was not the only case of Father Herman’s ability to predict the future. He told one of his young disciples named Constantine, who was then only twelve years old, that long after he died a monastery would be built on Spruce Island. Specifically, he told Constantine that exactly 30 years after his own death, all those were now living on Spruce Island would be dead except for Constantine himself, and told him this: “You alone will remain alive, and you will be old and poor, and then they will remember me.”
Of course, just as Saint Herman himself predicted, a monastery was eventually constructed on Spruce Island in dedication to Herman and the work he did for the Aleutian islanders. His memory is now honored in the very spot he lived and died.
Saint Herman Passes in 1837
Saint Herman lived the remainder of his life in peace on Spruce Island, spending each day practicing his modest lifestyle and teaching the children of the orphanage. After many years, he died on the island some time in November or December of 1837. He reposed peacefully in his sleep accompanied by his disciple Gerasim, who lit candles and read the Acts of the Apostles to Saint Herman as per his instructions.
It is said that, at the moment of his passing, the people on Spruce Island witnessed a pillar of light rising into the sky above his cell.
Before he passed, Saint Herman made a prediction to his followers about what would happen upon his death. He told his community that there would be no priest present to bury him, and so they would have to bury him on Spruce Island themselves. Once again, his word would prove true.
After Herman’s death, the administrator of a nearby colony sent word to Spruce Island ordering his local followers not to bury Father Herman until he could arrive to the island with a priest and a finer coffin for the burial. However, when the administrator and the priest attempted to make this journey over to Spruce Island, a wild storm erupted, stopping them from coming to the island. The community on Spruce Island waited an entire month for the storm to die down, but decided to bury Father Herman themselves in the ground, just as he had predicted. Only after his burial by his own followers did the storm finally break and the waters become calm again.
Nearly 5 years later, in 1842, a vessel was sailing towards Kodiak Island carrying Archbishop Innocent of Kamchatka and the Aleutians. While sailing through the Aleutian Islands, the weather became so dangerous that the ship could not land safely at their destination. As the ship was passing by Spruce Island, Archbishop Innocent looked towards the island and spoke out into the storm, saying “Father Herman, if you have found favor in God’s presence, then may the wind change!” Not soon after calling out to Saint Herman, the tides changed in favor of the ship, helping them reach their destination safely. In the days following his arrival in the Aleutian Islands, Archbishop Innocent held a memorial service over the grave of Saint Herman to thank him for his help in guiding his ship to safety.
Current Day Spruce Island
Just as Saint Herman predicted before his death, a monastery was built on Spruce Island. Founded in 1983, the Saint Archangel Michael Skete is now located only three miles from the cell where Saint Herman spent his many years on Spruce Island. The monks at the skete live in complete isolation from the mainland, just as Herman himself intended to live.
Spruce Island remains a popular pilgrimage site today. The tradition of this pilgrimage dates back to 1970, when a celebration was held on Kodiak Island and Spruce Island after Saint Herman’s official canonization. The pilgrimage is held in August to overlap with Saint Herman’s official feast day.
Every year, hundreds of Orthodox Christians make the pilgrimage to Spruce Island to visit the grave of Saint Herman, who was venerated as a saintly elder by locals long before he was officially canonized. Pilgrims to Spruce Island have been known to honor Saint Herman by taking soil from his grave and water from the nearby spring named for him.
Many of Saint Herman’s relics were moved to the Holy Resurrection Cathedral on Kodiak Island years after his death for their protection because they were being disturbed by visitors to Spruce Island. Patriarch Alexy II visited these relics in 1993 and gifted the cathedral with an oil lamp. This lamp remains at the cathedral to this day, burning day and night. Its oil is used to anoint pilgrims who visit Saint Herman’s relics.
Conclusion: Saint Herman’s Legacy
Saint Herman was not officially canonized by the church until 1970. The canonization was held at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral on Kodiak Island by the bishops of the Orthodox Church in America.
Saint Herman became the first canonized American Saint, and is considered by many to be the patron Saint of North America.
There are multiple feast days held for Saint Herman. His canonization is celebrated on July 27th or August 9th, and his repose is celebrated on various days due to record-keeping mistakes, including November 15th, November 28th, December 13th, and December 26th.
Saint Herman is also celebrated on the Synaxis of the Saints of North America, being honored with a feast on the Second Sunday after Pentecost.
Following his death, Saint Herman was largely forgotten by the outside world, although the community in the Aleutian Islands continued to honor his memory. However, just as he predicted to his young disciple Constantine, he was finally remembered by the outside world exactly 30 years after his death. In 1867, Bishop Peter of Alaska began an investigation into Father Herman’s life to solidify his memory for rest of time.
Saint Herman was a selfless man who dedicated his life to the well-being of others. He had no interest in satisfying his own desires, and instead put all his energy into bringing Christianity to America and helping the people he found there in any way he could.
He used his voice to protect and advocate for the native Aleutians when no one else would, even though it caused him suffering due to backlash from the Russian colonists. When disease struck his followers, he sat by their side and gave them hope rather than abandoning them in fear of falling ill himself. He cared for the children they left behind, and protected them physically and spiritually on his tiny island hermitage.
Saint Herman is a truly an inspiration to us all, and his memory will live on in the hearts of the Aleutian Christians of the Alaskan Islands forever.
Sources
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Niklaus von Houck. (2019.) Creating an Indigenous Multicultural Faith: The Russian Orthodox Mission in Alaska and the Centrality of Cosmology. UW Tacoma Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=history_theses
Amy Slagle. (2009.) All-American Saints: Eastern Orthodox Saints as Models of American Cultural Engagement. Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality. Johns Hopkins University Press. 9(2): 174-188. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/363509/pdf
St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church. (2018.) Saint Herman of Alaska, America’s Most Glorious Doer of Wonders! https://www.saintherman.org/st_herman
St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church. The Life of St. Herman of Alaska. https://sthermanorthodox.org/patronsaint
Gabe Chang-Deutsch. Native People in a Pacific World: The Native Alaskan Encounter and Exchange with Native People of the Pacific Coast. https://www.mnhs.org/sites/default/files/historyday/categories/sample-projects/paper_samplechangdeutsch.pdf
Outreach Alaska: The New Alaska Mission. (2015.) St. Herman of Alaska: Our Venerable Father Herman of Alaska. https://outreachalaska.org/herman.html
Orthochristian.com. (2022.) The Life of Our Holy Father Saint Herman of Alaska. https://orthochristian.com/47984.html#_ftn23
Orthodox Church in America. The Saint Herman Pilgrimage in Alaska – A Long Tradition. https://www.oca.org/history-archives/saint-herman-pilgrimage-alaska-tradition