His Beatitude Metropolitan JONAH led approximately 250 pilgrims from around the world to Spruce Island in Alaska to honor and remember St. Herman the Wonderworker. Pilgrims walked the paths St. Herman walked, drank from a healing spring, venerated icons hung on the trunks of aged Spruce trees and attended a hierarchical divine liturgy at a small chapel built on the site where St. Herman once lived.
A monk of Valaam Monastery in the Russian North, St. Herman came to Alaska in 1794 to serve the native people and colonists in what was then Russian America. A tireless priest and friend, Saint Herman established the Orthodox Church in Kodiak, Alaska, cared for orphaned children and defended the people against arguably outrageous treatment by Russian colonial officials. Exiled to Spruce Island in 1808, Saint Herman continued to care for the defenseless, built an Orthodox chapel, and is credited with performing numerous miracles.
The August 8 event marked the 39th anniversary of the pilgrimage and the first one for Metropolitan JONAH. His Grace Bishop BENJAMIN, Bishop of San Francisco and the West and locum tenens of the diocese of Alaska celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Kodiak Saturday for those unable to make the rugged trip by boat to Spruce Island.
Following the liturgy on Spruce Island pilgrims enjoyed a picnic on the beach at Monk’s Lagoon, and upon their return to Kodiak, they shared a soup supper served at the Cathedral in Kodiak, followed by Great Vespers. In Kodiak, pilgrims were blessed to pray quietly and communally at the relics of Saint Herman, now housed at the Cathedral.
Throughout the weekend pilgrims also attended a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral on Sunday morning, a Grand Banquet Sunday afternoon and a festival in the park, sponsored by St. Innocent Academy, Sunday evening.
