Anga, Irkutsk Province, Russia, September 5, 2024
Bp. Alexei and Fr. Daniel Charles on the far left. Photo: OCA Diocese of Alaska
A group of pilgrims from Alaska and California, under the leadership of His Grace Bishop Alexei of Sitka and Alaska (Orthodox Church in America), recently arrived in Irkutsk, Russia (3,230 miles east of Moscow), to venerate holy places associated with the great missionary St. Innocent of Alaska.
The pilgrimage to Russia comes just two weeks after the Alaska Diocese celebrated the 200th anniversary of the arrival of St. Innocent, with services in Unalaska led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of Washington and All America and Canada.
OCA Diocese of Alaska
In particular, Bp. Alexei, Fr. Daniel Charles, and the other pilgrims will visit Anga, Irkustk Province, where St. Innocent was born in 1797, reports the Irkutsk Diocese.
Tomorrow, the American delegation will present the film Sacred Alaska at the Anga Youth House and will tell about the preaching of Russian missionaries among the peoples of Alaska in the 18th-19th centuries.
OCA Diocese of Alaska
According to the Diocese of Alaska, Bp. Alexei and the delegation have already had opportunity to venerate the relics of St. Innocent of Irkutsk and the wonderworking Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
OCA Diocese of Alaska
On Sunday, September 1, they joined in a diocesan-wide procession with the relics and Icon with 60 priests, four bishops, a host of deacons and altar servers, and more than 1,000 faithful. Later that day, the OCA delegation was take on a tour of churches where St. Innocent used to serve.
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