![]() Orthodox women who venerate Blessed Olga relate to her seemingly mundane, everyday piety. Bishop Daniel Brum of Santa Rosa, auxiliary to the Diocese of San Francisco and the West, sits on the commission and said they have not received any “formal communications concerning miracles,” but miracles are not necessary to glorify a person to sainthood in the Orthodox Church.Īnd in Blessed Olga’s case, her lack of miracles may be an asset. Then as more people venerate the person, local and regional church bodies collect documentation of visions, miracles and testaments to the experiences with the person - while alive or after their death - that point to the person’s holiness or closeness to God.Ĭurrently the Canonization Commission of the Orthodox Church of America is collecting documentation for Blessed Olga’s sainthood to approve a definitive written account of her life, which would then be presented to the Holy Synod. Local Orthodox Christians who knew the person first venerate him or her, by creating icons and praying to them, for example. In the Orthodox Church, holy men and women become recognized or “glorified” as saints in a bottom-up process. She carries a scroll that reads, “God can create great beauty from complete desolation.” A traditional robe with a cross pattern drapes over her shoulders and arms. Her wrinkled face, with a neutral expression, is wrapped in a white prayer shawl and backlit with a gold leaf halo. ![]() “Matushka“ means “mother” in Russian the title is often used for the wives of priests. Herman’s Seminary in Kodiak, Father Fisher smiled as he showed me an icon of Matushka Olga. Speaking while sitting in his office at St. Olga would extend kindness and healing and lift grief and shame, according to written accounts from her village. The intimacy of the steam bath creates space for meaningful conversation. ![]() She would invite women into the privacy of a traditional Yup’ik steam bath - a wooden structure with benches surrounding a stone to splash boiling water and create steam - where women would sit naked and could not hide bruises and cuts. She gave birth to 13 children, but only 8 survived to adulthood.īlessed Olga especially cared for abused women, according to accounts from villagers who knew her. Though Olga was poor, she shared her family’s food and possessions generously with others and seemed to intuitively predict when women were pregnant - particularly important in a village without a hospital. ![]() The couple traveled north in the summer to hunt and fish and spent winters in the village. Her husband established the village’s first post office and opened the only general store before his ordination and eventual promotion to archpriest. Jacob in the present canon of 13 North American saints, according to the journals of Father Netsvetov published by Limestone Press.īlessed Olga is remembered as a humble wife, mother, midwife and later a priest’s wife who knitted socks, mittens and other warm garments for her entire village, even tanning and sewing leather and fur boots. Olga’s ancestors converted to Orthodoxy under the teaching of the Aleut missionary Iakvo Netsvetov (1802-1864), now known as St. Today many in the Aleut, Tlingit and Yup’ik tribes practice Orthodox Christianity, including Blessed Olga’s Yup’ik people. In 1794, the Russian Orthodox Church established its first mission church in North America on Kodiak Island. Russian and Siberian frontiersmen working as individual fur traders introduced Orthodoxy to Alaska Natives as early as the late 1600s, baptizing their Native wives and kids in small chapels they built. ![]() It’s quite sure.” Orthodox origins of Blessed Olga “It’s safe to say it’s very close to her canonization. Herman’s Orthodox Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska, who was born in Kwethluk. “She’s venerated not just here in Alaska but in the Lower 48 and also abroad now,” said Father Vasily Fisher, the dean of St. Born Arrsamquq in the Yup’ik tribe, she’s considered a patron for sexual abuse victims, women who have suffered miscarriages and expecting mothers. Blessed Olga (1916-1979) is expected to become the first female Orthodox saint of North America, possibly as soon as 2023. ![]()
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