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alashka, and a chapel was built at lytes, at Sitka. Then the Bishop made Oumnak.

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In 1861 there were in the Russian American colonies seven churches and thirtyfive chapels, several of them, including the cathedral, having been built at the cost of the Russian American Company, which also kept them in repair. The cost of maintenance was defrayed by voluntary contributions, and by the profits realized from the sale of candles. about this time the total capital of the churches amounted to more than 255,000 rubles, and was kept by the treasurer of the Company, interest at five per cent being allowed upon it. The contributions to the Church were made partly in money and partly in furs, the Company allowing the Church from seven to fourteen rubles for the skin of a sea-otter. The Company expended on behalf of the Church nearly 40,000 rubles per annum, and built a residence for the Bishop at a cost of 30,000 rubles.

At the time of the transfer of Russian America to the United States, the Greek Church maintained a considerable establishment, consisting of a Bishop, three priests, two deacons, and numerous aco

Oonalashka his headquarters, and now San Francisco is his seat, from which place as a center he administers the whole of his vast diocese, apportioning the funds at his disposal according to the needs of the various parishes.

There are among the Aleutians two parishes and one independent church or ganization. The parish of Belkovsky in the east embraces the Shumagin islands and the settlements at the south end of the Alaska peninsula; the Oonalashka parish in the west comprises all the islands from Avatanok to Attoo. The parish churches are at Belkovsky and Oonalashka or Iliuliuk village, but there is a small chapel at nearly every settlement, where unpaid subordinate members of the clergy read the prayers. Pribylof or Seal islands there is an independent organization, where the natives maintain a priest and an assistant at their own expense, and have erected, with some aid from the lessees of the islands, a fine church.

On the

When a community is too poor to maintain a priest or reader, the Bishop, with money supplied to him from Russia,

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Outwardly the Aleuts are intensely pious, greeting you with a prayer, and bidding you farewell with a blessing. Before a meal they always ask the blessing of God; when they enter a neighbor's house, they cross themselves, and in most of their dwellings there is a picture of a patron saint, towards which the members of the household turn on rising in the morning and retiring at night. They will assemble for prayer whenever a priest's services can be obtained; and no matter how long the service may be, they give it their whole attention without manifesting any signs of weariness or impatience. They listen with the greatest interest to the reading of the Bible, and keep all fast-days and other religious observances strictly. In every village there is a church or chapel; the churches being erected and kept in repair, and the chapels supported, by the natives. No other religious denominations have succeeded among the Aleuts except the Greek Church, the ornate services and frequent festivals of which appeal strongly to their taste. They willingly contribute towards the maintenance of a Reader or Deacon, who performs the daily services, and teaches the young people to read, first in the Aleut dialect, and then in Russian.

The best specimen of a Greek church and one of the most interesting structures in the United States is the cathedral at Sitka, whose dome and graceful spirelet are the most striking objects of that town, the peculiar green hue of their

roofs catching the tourist's eye ere the steamer has yet touched the wharf. The church is a cruciform wooden building, consisting of a nearly square hall, with a sanctuary to the east, and chapels on its north and south sides. It is well lighted by windows in and below the dome, which is supported by columns of the Byzantine order and has suspended from its center a heavy silver candelabrum. The church also contains eight fine silver candlesticks more than four feet in height. The belfry has a fine peal of bells, the orignal cost of which was 8,700 rubles in silver. On the altar used to rest a representation in miniature of the Holy Sepulcher wrought in silver and gold, and the communion cup was of gold set with diamonds. But many of the books and vestments which were formerly at Sitka are now in San Francisco, brought by Bishop Vladimir.

An Orthodox church consists of three parts: the sanctuary, for the clergy; the nave, for the faithful; the porch, reserved in the ancient church for catechumens and penitents. The sanctuary to the east, is raised by steps above the nave, and is separated from it by a screen called the ikono-stas, or imagestand. An ikon is an oil-painting, the whole of which, except the face and hands, is covered by heavy robes of chased silver, stamped with the mark of the Imperial Mint at St. Petersburg. The ikono-stas is the most striking and characteristic detail of the interior of a Holy Orthodox church; it is adorned with representations of Christ and the saints, and has in it three openings, furnished with doors opening inwards. The center doors are called the Royal Gates; they are double, but are not solid throughout, the upper portion being of open wood or metal work; behind is a veil which is drawn as the ritual directs. At Sitka the Royal Gates are of bronze, the panels

representing the Annunciation and the Four Evangelists; above them is the Last Supper in silver. The north side of the ikono-stas is adorned with an ikon of St. Nicholas, a painting of the angel Gabriel, and an ikon of the Virgin and Child. On the south side are a figure of Christ, and a painting and ikon of St. Michael, the patron saint of the church.

High above the bronze Royal Gates is a picture of the Transfiguration, below which is a portrayal of the same subject on an oblong canvas attributed to the master Raffaelle. The wall space to the right and left of, and below, the Transfiguration is occupied by other sacred. subjects. A somewhat ghastly painting of John the Baptist's head in a charger, and some pictures by a local artist are found in another part of the church, but are of little merit. The most beautiful object in the church is the well-known Madonna, in which the faces of the Holy Mother and Child are executed with as much skill and delicacy as in a miniature on ivory.

In the middle of the sanctury stands the altar, with a cloth of rich brocade thrown over a linen cover. Behind the altar is a representation of the Crucifixion, and before it a seven-branched candlestick. On the altar are a cross, a book of the Gospels, and a ciborium for the sacred elements. When the ciborium contains the Holy Sacrament reserved for the communion of the sick or absent, it has a burning lamp hanging in front of it. The raised floor of the sanctury projects westward into the nave, and furnishes a standing place for the choir; in the middle is the ambo, from which the deacon reads the Gospel. As the attitude of worship is standing, there are no seats in a Greek church; and as instrumental music is not employed, there is no organ. The choir sometimes stand in a gallery at the west end of the church, and consists of

men and boys, though the presence of women in it is not prohibited. All Russian church music is for soprano, alto, tenor, and basso; in good choirs there is also a contra-basso.

Among the treasures which the warden, George Kostrometinoff, brought out for our inspection was a miter, woven of gold and silver threads, and set with precious stones, chief among them being a single emerald of remarkable size and depth of color. Bridal crowns, too, were there, of gilded silver with crosses at the top, to be worn by bride and bridegroom during the marriage-service; and stoles of Genoese velvet embroidered in silver and gold by the nuns of Russian convents.

Later, on board the G. W. Elder, Mr. Kostrometinoff gave me some interesting facts about his Church. The warden and the priest at Sitka are responsible to the Bishop at San Francisco. There are about two hundred Russians at Sitka, and the resident priest there receives a little more than $1,600.00 a year and a house rent-free. The salary of the Bishop in San Francisco is about $3,850.00 per annum. The Russian government still contributes from forty thousand dollars to forty-five thousand dollars a year to the cause of religion and education in Alaska. In small villages, where there is no resident priest, a choir-master or Reader has charge of a chapel, and receives a salary of $37.73 a month, the money being sent out from London, and by the change from rubles to dollars resulting in this curious sum. In each parish there are many chapels, in one as many as eighteen. Besides those which have been mentioned there are churches at Killisnoo (built in 1889), at Juneau (built in 1894), at Nushegak on the Yukon River, and at the Apollo gold mine at Unga. At Jackson, California, is a church, and at Portland and Seattle

there are churches served by missionaries.

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The Bishop now lives at San Francisco, his cathedral being the church of St. Basil. The building, having been adapted from an ordinary house, is not a very good specimen of a Greek church: though its decorations are elaborate. The walls are covered with enlargements from famous pictures in the churches of Russia. On the south side of the ikon-stand is a picture of St. Basil the Great, kneeling in the robes of a bishop at the altar painted by the noted Russian artist Dumitrashko. other painting represents St. John, Chrysostom, holding a two-branched candelabrum in one hand and a cross in the other and there is a picture of Jesus showing the imprints of the nails. and the hole in his side to the doubting Thomas. On the north side are pictures of the Holy Virgin, of St. Nicholas proclaiming his faith at the Ecumenical Council, and of St. Innocentius, the Bishop of Siberia. In the nave or body. of the church is the copy of an old ikon of the Virgin of Tichoin in Novgorod; it is of silver-gilt. In the altar space is the bishop's throne. Bishop Vladimir was succeeded in 1892 by Bishop Nicolas, the present incumbent of the Bishops, being generally monks, have only one Christian name.

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The regular position of the priest is towards the east facing the throne, and during the celebration the details of the consecration of the wine and bread are not visible to the congregation. The Holy Sacrament is celebrated with leavened bread, and the chalice contains wine and water mixed at the table of oblations. Much incense is employed, the sanctuary and the whole church being perfumed at the beginning of the service, and repeatedly during the more solemn acts of the

celebration. Lamps and tapers burn. about the altar, and before the shrines and ikons; at the Easter matins and on several other occasions all the worshipers hold lighted candles.

It must be admitted that the cause of native religion and education suffered by the transfer of the Russian colonies to the United States. Formerly there were in the Creole settlements of the Kadiak and Aleutian districts schools, at which the children were taught to write, to read the catechism, some prayers, and a few chapters of the Bible, in the Russian language or in one of the native dialects, but since 1867 nearly all these schools have been discontinued. Veniaminof asserted that in his day in some places all the Aleuts except the young children could read well, but this is. rather doubtful. It certainly could never have been said of the Kadiakers and Koloshes; for the first books printed in the Kadiak language were not published till 1848, and there were none in the Kolosh dialects till several years later. These books contained translations from the Russian of prayers, hymns, anthems, the ten commandments, two of the four Gospels, and a small list of words and common phrases. At the present day, of the natives who are members of the Greek Church only a few can read and write, though in places where there are parish churches perhaps one third of the population have. an elementary education.

The natives and Creoles, all along the coast from Mt. St. Elias westward, are wedded to the faith of the Greek Orthodox Church, which in 1880 claimed 10,950 members, distributed over the parishes of Sitka, Oonalashka, Belkovsky, Kadiak, Pribylof, and the missions of Nushegak, Yukon, and Kenai. Of course, the church is poor, and most of the chapels are in the hands of natives.

and Creoles who are not clergymen. not clergymen. These readers drone lazily through the appointed services, and preside on feast days. The number of members of the Church is, doubtless, placed too high, and does not really exceed seven or eight thousand.

Speaking generally, it may be said that, except among the Aleuts, who have become thoroughly Russianized, the Russian Church never acquired any strong hold upon the natives of Alaska. Many of the Aleuts write and speak Russian, and are able to follow the church services, which are conducted in the old Slavonian language. But the preaching of the Russian clergy, with the exception of Veniaminof, made very little impression on the savage Koloshes and Kadiakers, who retain most of their old superstitions and practise Shamanism to the present day. The Kadiakers have had missionaries among them since 1794, but they show little interest in religious observances. Under Baranof's administration the priests were held in scant respect, even by their own countrymen. During the sermons the rough

traders and hunters squatted down and smoked, and sometimes even laughed so loudly that the priest could not go on with his duty. The priests baptized a few natives every year, and visited such of the villages as were situated near to the trading-posts, but they did very little to spread the word of God or to help and comfort the poor in their hours of suffering and distress: nor did they make any serious efforts to induce the natives to adopt more settled and industrious habits. Sir George Simpson and other travelers accuse them of being hard drinkers, and Mr. Dall mentions one, who, after serving for seven years as a missionary on the Yukon, thanked God, that he was about to return to Russia, where a glass of rum could be bought for twenty-five kopecks.

Yet on the fog-begirt Pribylof islands and in other dreary parts of the vast territory of Alaska, the brilliant services and numerous festivals of the Greek Church lend a few touches of brightness to the hard, dull lives of the natives, and help to save them from utter stagnation. Arthur Inkersley.

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