Venerable Herman of Alaska (+1837)
The Venerable Herman of Alaska was born in 1757 into a merchant family in Serpukhov, a town near Moscow. His name and surname in the world are unknown. The blessed one was sixteen when he withdrew from the world. At first he laboured in the Holy Trinity hermitage of Saint Sergius near Petersburg, on the Gulf of Finland; about five years later, seeking solitude and silence, he went to Valaam: this monastery, built on the shore of Lake Ladoga, was cut off from the outside world for almost eight months of the year.
After he had been carefully tested in various obediences, the abbot Nazarius gave the young ascetic a blessing to live in seclusion in a secluded place in the forest.
It is thought that the Venerable Herman settled on Valaam in 1778. In the same year the blessed Seraphim came to the desert of Sarov. Saint Herman’s life on the island of Valaam closely resembles the labours of the great wonderworker of Sarov. Like the Venerable Seraphim, the ascetic of Valaam too was distinguished by a deep and thorough knowledge of Holy Scripture and of the writings of the holy fathers of the universal Church.
After fifteen years of labour on Valaam the Lord called Saint Herman to the labour of an apostle and sent him to North America to enlighten the pagan population of the thinly settled, harsh land of Alaska and the islands near it. For this purpose a spiritual mission was formed in 1793. At its head was placed Archimandrite Joasaph (Bolotov), a monk of the monastery of Valaam. Among the members of the mission were five more fathers of Valaam, and among them the Venerable Herman.
Having arrived on the island of Kodiak, the missionaries at once set about building a church and preaching. At his new place of labour Father Herman at first carried out his obedience in the bakery and managed the mission’s household affairs.
In 1799 Archimandrite Joasaph and his companions perished in the ocean during a storm. To help the missionaries who had survived, only one monk, Hieromonk Gideon, was sent in 1804 from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1807 Father Gideon finally left the missionary camp and laid the whole responsibility on the Venerable Herman, who until his end was the spiritual father and guide of the mission entrusted to him, and stood as a faithful watchman over the souls of the rational sheep. They meant to ordain the blessed father first hieromonk and then archimandrite, but out of humility he refused and remained a simple monk.
The Venerable Herman proved a truly good shepherd to the local population. The time of his end was revealed to the venerable father beforehand, and he gave instructions as to how he should be buried. On 13 December 1837 he asked his disciples to light candles before the icons, had them begin reading the Acts of the Apostles, and peacefully commended his soul to the Lord. The saint was then eighty-one years old.
