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Juvenaly of Alaska

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[[Image:Juvenaly of Alaska.jpg|right|frame|St. Juvenaly of Alaska]]
{{orthodoxyinamerica}}
The holy, glorious, right-victorious [[hieromartyr]] '''Juvenaly of Alaska''', or '''Juvenal''', [[Protomartyr]] of America, was a member of the first group of Orthodox [[missionary|missionaries]] who came from the [[monastery]] of [[Valaam Monastery|Valaam]] to preach the Word of God to the native inhabitants of [[Alaska]]. He was [[martyr]]ed while evangelizing among the Eskimos on the mainland of Alaska in 1796. His [[feast day]] is celebrated on [[July 2]], and he is also commemorated with all the saints of Alaska ([[September 24]]), and with the first martyrs of the American land ([[December 12]]).
==Life==
He was born in 1761 in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and was named Jacob Govouchkin. In his monastic life he was [[tonsure]]d and given the name Juvenaly in memory of St. [[Juvenal of Jerusalem|Juvenal]], fifth century [[Patriarchof Jerusalem]] of Jerusalem. After becoming a monk he was successively [[ordination|ordained]] [[deacon]] and then [[priest]], becoming a hieromonk. He lived much of his early [[monastic]] life in the area around Lake Ladoga in northern Russia near Finland at the Konyavesky and Valaam Monasteries.
In 1793, a missionary group of eight monastics was organized at the Monastery of Valaam, near Lake Ladoga, to preach the Word of God to the natives of Alaska. This group of missionaries was led by [[Archimandrite]] Joseph (Bolotov), and included four [[hieromonk]]s including Juvenaly and Makary, one [[hierodeacon]], Steven, and two lay [[monk]]s including [[Herman of Alaska|Herman]]. Their destination was the Russian settlement on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, some 8,000 miles away across the length of Asia through Siberia and then the cold Bering Sea of the northern Pacific Ocean. The group arrived on Kodiak Island on [[September 24]], 1794, to an unexpected scene. The settlement was primitive beyond what they were told, and violence was commonplace. The promised church was not there, and the promised supplies for three years were absent.
==Martyrdom==
There are other, conflicting accounts of his martyrdom. In an article entitled "The Orthodox Church in America an Historical Survey" (''Russian Review'', Vol. 31, No. 2. (Apr., 1972), pp. 138-152 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-0341%28197204%2931%3A2%3C138%3ATOCIAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z], [http://www.zarubezhje.narod.ru/texts/Grigorieff01.htm]), Fr. [[Dmitry Grigorieff ]] writes: "Father Juvenaly was killed by the natives on the Alaska mainland in 1795. He had urged the people of a village there to send their children to the mission school on Kodiak Island. They agreed, and Father Juvenaly led a group of children to the seashore. On the way he was overtaken and killed by villagers who had changed their mind." (p. 139).
Regarding St. Juvenaly's Alleged Diary: "This mildly uninspiring document, which contradicts both Church and Native traditions about the saint's activities, was summarised in Bancroft's influential History of Alaska and accepted for a century as a major primary source. However, it is now very strongly suspected of being a forgery written by one of Bancroft's assistants." - Lydia T. Black, "The Daily Journal of Reverend Father Juvenal: A Cautionary Tale," Ethnohistory 28(1)33, 1981.
[[Category:Monastics]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Modern Saints]]
[[Category:Priests]]
[[Category:18th-century saints]]
 
[[ro:Iuvenalie din Alaska]]

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