Concerning The Canonization of the Spiritual Father Herman of Alaska
Beloved in Christ; Pastors and God-loving Children of our Church:
In our Archpastoral concern and care for the spiritual progress and well-being of all the faithful children in our care, and remembering that Our Lord gives to all of us the command to increase in our spiritual life to achieve the image of the perfection of our Heavenly Father (Matt. 5:48), and knowing how important it is to have before us in this saintly task the exalted example of such a spiritual feat in the name of Christ (I Tim. 2:12) already revealed in the life of the Holy Church, we your Archpastors and Servants declare, after a lengthly and all-embracing examination and consideration, in conformity with the Holy Canons and Traditions of our Holy Orthodox Church, that we have defined by our conciliar decision in full unanimity, and firmly believing in the consent of the Holy Spirit in this matter, to accomplish, to the glory of the living God, the canonization of the Venerable Spiritual Father the monk Herman of Alaska.
The Venerable Spiritual Father Herman of the holy Monastery of Valaamo was one of the first Russian Orthodox missionaries who arrived in Alaska in 1794. He remained for forty years on Spruce Island, near the Island of Kodiak, in the spiritual work of apostolic service among the natives whom he illumined by the light of the truth of the Gospel.
The Venerable Spiritual Father Herman was born in 1760 in the town of Serpoukhov in the County of Moscow. As a sixteen year old youth, he left for the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Hermitage near Petersburg where he became a monk, and where he was considered worthy to receive miraculous healing from a critical ailment while praying before the icon of the Mother of God. After having spent approximately six years at the Saint Sergius Hermitage, he departed for the Valaamo Monastery where he received as his Spiritual Father and guide the charismatic lgumen Nazaryi, who had been called to Valaamo from Sarov. Having such a guide, the future Spiritual Father Herman, while still at Valaamo, took upon himself physical and spiritual tasks, and later received the blessing to continue his spiritual feats in a hermitage which has since been called the Herman Hermitage.
The Blessed Father Herman labored in Alaska longer than all his devoted co-workers in the field of enlightening the pagans. His personal piety, which found its expression in continual prayer, severe fasting and the use of a rigid wooden bench as his bed, caused astonishment. But, still more important, Our Lord God gave him the great gift of compassionate love for those whom he led to Christ.
The Spiritual Father Herman gave forty years of his life to the service of people. He baptized them, taught them, prayed for them and interceded before the authorities for those who had been unjustly treated. His heart was filled with tenderness towards children. He founded an orphanage, a school for them; he was constantly concerned about them and gave them bread. The children themselves were attracted towards their Holy “Apa” (Grandfather).
The gift of foreseeing the future, as the fruit of a pure heart, amazed all those who came in touch with Father Herman. He had the eminent gift of convincing and enlightening non-believers. Testimonies have been preserved of this from highly educated people, converted to God by the Venerable Spiritual Father, to a living Faith in Christ, to participation in the saving Sacraments of the Holy Church. The grace of God was repeatedly manifested through his prayers. Fires ceased at limits indicated by the Spiritual Father and waters did not rise higher than the place where he laid a holy icon.
People were healed from their infirmities through his prayers. This grace of God did not cease after his departure from this life. In a short encylical it is impossible to describe in detail all the deeds of his holy life in Alaska. Those who met him once, those who had contact with him could never forget him. He is remembered by hierarchs; priests and believers living in America today remember him as an intercessor before God.
The day of his death was foreannounced from above to the Venerable Spiritual Father Herman; he knew the day of his wish. The Acts of the Apostles were read. The knowledge of the day of one’s death has always been considered by the Church as one of the signs of the holiness of the deceased. The remains of the Spiritual Father Herman were preserved until this time at the very place of his death, Spruce Island.
We believe that it was the will of God to reveal to us on this continent, and in this country, the Blessed Spiritual Father Herman as a sublime example of the Holy Life, for our spiritual benefit, inspiration, comfort and the confirmation of our Faith.
Therefore, we the Bishops of the local Orthodox Church of America, the beginning of which was laid in Alaska, have decided by the manifest will of the Holy Spirit, and our Archpastoral action, to canonize the Spiritual Father Herman of Alaska of blessed memory, and to enter his name in the catalog of Saints of our local Church in America.
The Lord permitting it, the church celebration with an appropriate rite of canonization of the Spiritual Father Herman will take place on 9 August 1970 in Alaska. Being filled with joy an the occasion of this forthcoming Great Feast of Faith, we invite all believing people to spiritually prepare themselves with proper disposition for this festival. While canonizing the new Holy Servant of God, the first in America, we once again confirm our faith in the divine counsel, in the perspective of which our local American Church is a historical fact, and we furthermore believe that our Church stands not on the unsure foundations of this world but on the evangelic covenant of Our Savior, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19-20).”
Through the Prayers of Our Holy Father Herman of Alaska, God grant us to fulfill his holy will in every place of his dominion.
VENERABLE FATHER HERMAN, PRAY TO GOD FOR US.
The Members of the Great Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America (The Metropolia):
Humbly,
+ IRENEY, Archbishop of New York, Metropolitan of All America and Canada
+ JOHN, Archbishop of Chicago and Minneapolis
+ JOHN, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western United States
+ NIKON, Archbishop of Brooklyn
+ SYLVESTER, Archbishop of Montreal and Canada
+ AMVROSSY, Bishop of Pittsburgh and West Virginia
+ KYPRIAN, Bishop of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
+ THEODOSIUS, Bishop of Sitka and Alaska
+ JOASAPH, Bishop of Edmonton
Given at The Metropolitan’s Residence
Syosset, Long Island, New York 11 March 1969