Homer, Alaska, September 16, 2026
Bp. John of Caracas (left) and Abp. Alexei of Sitka (right). Photo: odosa.org
OCA and ROCOR clergy concelebrated at an Old Rite parish in Homer, Alaska, last week, with His Eminence Archbishop Alexei of Sitka and Alaska of the Orthodox Church in America and His Grace Bishop John of Caracas and South America of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia sharing the altar at Holy Transfiguration Church, which joined ROCOR in 2023.
The gathering began on September 10, the eve of the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, with a Vigil lasting more than four hours. Archbishop Alexei and Bishop John were greeted by Archpriest Nikolai Yakunin, priest in charge of Holy Transfiguration Church, along with several other clerics, the Diocese of Alaska reports.
The following day, clergy gathered for the feast itself, beginning with the Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour and Typika, followed by the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy.
odosa.org
Bishop John has particular pastoral responsibility for Old Rite communities within ROCOR, and his presence gave Archbishop Alexei a close look at a parish whose liturgical customs have been preserved with unusual faithfulness. Watching the faithful at prayer, he noticed customs that closely mirrored practices still kept in Yup’ik and Unangan Orthodox villages elsewhere in Alaska: men and women standing on opposite sides of the church, women with heads covered, and children standing through the long services as a natural part of parish life.
Those parallels, born of very different histories, point to what the diocese described as a shared instinct running through Orthodox tradition—that worship is received, inhabited, and handed down rather than invented anew by each generation.
The visit continued in Anchorage, where the hierarchs and clergy gathered for services largely in Church Slavonic at St. Tikhon of Moscow Church, where Fr. Nicholas Cragle serves as rector. Archpriest Daniel Charles, chancellor of the Diocese, joined the gathering along with clergy and servers from St. Innocent Cathedral.
odosa.org
Taken together, the services in Homer and Anchorage reflected the range of Orthodox life across Alaska, from Old Rite customs to Slavonic worship to the Yup’ik and Unangan traditions still kept in villages throughout the state—each, in its own form, carrying forward the same inheritance received from earlier generations.
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