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In 1807, John entered the Irkutsk Theological Seminary. In 1817 he married, and on [[May 18]], 1817 he was ordained [[deacon]] of the Church of the Annunciation in Irkutsk. He completed his studies in 1818. He was appointed a teacher in a parish school, and on [[May 18]], 1821 he was ordained [[priest]] to serve in the Church of the Annunciation.
At the beginning of 1823, Bishop Michael of Irkutsk received instructions to send a priest to the island of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands of [[Alaska]]. Father John Veniaminov volunteered to go, and on [[May 7]], 1823, he departed from Irkutsk, accompanied by his aging mother, his wife, his infant son Innocent, and his brother Stefan. After a difficult one-year journey, they arrived at Unalaska on [[July 29]], 1824.
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