Espoo, Finland, January 14, 2026
Photo: ort.fi
The veneration of St. Olga of Alaska, America’s first female Orthodox saint, continues to spread throughout the Orthodox world, reaching as far as Finland where a parish community has dedicated new facilities in her honor.
The parish of St. Herman of Alaska in Espoo, Finland, had long outgrown its church hall, with parishioners and staff dreaming of additional space for meetings and activities. That dream became reality in November when the parish secured rental space on the first floor of a building near the church.
In late November, parishioners voted on a name for the new facilities, and on December 17, they were dedicated in honor of the newly canonized Alaskan saint. Among parishioners, the space is already affectionately known as “Olga’s Corner,” reports the Finnish Orthodox Church.
Icon of St. Olga at St. George Albanian Orthodox Church in Trumbull, CT. Photo: stgeorgetrumbull.org
The facilities were blessed following Liturgy on the Feast of Theophany, January 6. The new space, furnished by parishioners according to the community’s needs, will serve as a gathering place for meetings, fellowship, and shared activities beginning this spring.
The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America canonized St. Olga on November 8, 2023. Her relics were uncovered in November 2024, and on June 19, 2025, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon led the rite of canonization at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Kwethluk, Alaska.
At its session on October 30, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church formally added St. Olga to its own liturgical calendar. And Archpriest Alessandro Margheritino, Chancellor of the OCA, testified after a recent visit that her veneration is quickly spreading in the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.
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