August 7-9: Annual St Herman Pilgrimage
May the wonder-working prayers and intercessions of Saint Herman, by which Saint Innocent was saved in turbulent waters, provide peace and guidance to the path of righteousness for all in the turmoil of the world today.
August 7-9 2023. Annual Saint Herman Pilgrimage: Half a century later
The 2023 Annual Saint Herman Pilgrimage in Alaska comes exactly half-a-century after the first pilgrimage held in conjunction with Saint Herman’s feast day in August 1973. This year, festal services on August 7-9 in Kodiak and on Spruce Island will be led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon and His Grace Bishop Alexei of Sitka and Alaska.
Just two years after the triumphant glorification of St Herman in 1970, the “Mother Diocese” of the Church in North America found itself at a challenging and unsettled juncture. With the diocesan bishop called away to serve another diocese, a dearth of funding, and a perpetual shortage of clergy and lay leaders to meet the spiritual needs of the vast territory, Archpriest Joseph Kreta, the Temporary Administrator of the diocese, having convened the Diocesan Assembly over Labor Day weekend in 1972, saw fit to lead the diocese in pilgrimage to Spruce Island to fervently beseech the intercession of Saint Herman. The prayers of the Alaskan clergy and faithful to Saint Herman bore fruit, and Bishop Gregory was consecrated in Sitka in May. He made the Saint Herman Pilgrimage an annual event, tying it to the festal commemoration of the Glorification of Saint Herman (August 9). Since its first celebration in conjunction with the Feast of the Glorification of Saint Herman in 1973, the annual pilgrimage has taken place every year, always led by the Bishop of Alaska, and often presided over by the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America.
This year’s pilgrimage will begin on August 7 in Holy Resurrection Cathedral, Kodiak, departing for Spruce Island on August 9 where the hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:30 AM at Saints Sergius & Herman of Valaam Chapel. Following the Liturgy, there will be a picnic lunch hosted by the faithful of Ouzinkie and a visit to Monk’s Lagoon.
Images: St Innocent saved in the waters. Bishops Gregory and Herman traveling to Spruce Island, 1973.