Repose Ven. Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America
Vigil. Kept with an All-Night Vigil.
Fast day.
Commemorated today
- Repose Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All AmericaMonastic life on this site
The life we have written
Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America
The humble monk of Spruce Island defended Alaska Native people from colonial abuse, cared for the sick and orphaned, and showed that Orthodox mission must love the people it hopes to serve.
- Era
- c. 1756–1837; dates vary in the sources
- Region
- Russia, Kodiak Island, and Spruce Island in Alaska
- Category
- Monk, missionary, defender of Indigenous people, and wonderworker
- Feast
- August 9 and December 13
- Hieromartyr Juvenaly, Protomartyr of AmericaHieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
The title places them at America.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Martyrs Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugene, Mardarius, and Orestes at SebasteMartyr
What is known
A martyr died rather than deny Christ. The word is Greek for witness, and the Church uses it in that sense: the death is testimony, not merely a fate. Most of these deaths fall in the Roman persecutions before 313, though the title is not restricted to them.
The title places them at Sebaste.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Holy Virgin Martyr Lucy of Syracuse (304)Martyr · d. 304
What is known
A martyr died rather than deny Christ. The word is Greek for witness, and the Church uses it in that sense: the death is testimony, not merely a fate. Most of these deaths fall in the Roman persecutions before 313, though the title is not restricted to them.
The title places them at Syracuse. The year given is 304.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
- Gabriel the Hieromartyr, Archbishop of SerbiaHieromartyr — a bishop or priest killed for the faith
What is known
A hieromartyr was a bishop, priest or deacon killed for the faith. The clergy were often taken first in a persecution, because removing them scattered the community that depended on them.
The title places them at Serbia.
Beyond this, no life of them survives that could be checked — which is true of most of the saints kept on any given day. The commemoration is the record.
Appointed readings
- Wisdom of Solomon 3:1–9
- Wisdom of Solomon 5:15–6:3 continues in 6
- Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–15
- Matthew 11:27–30
- Galatians 5:22–6:2 continues in 6
- Luke 6:17–23
About this page. This is the Menaion date — the fixed calendar. Parishes on the New Calendar keep it on December 13 by the civil calendar. On the Julian calendar this same commemoration is kept on December 26 by the civil calendar. The movable cycle, which turns on the date of Pascha and changes every year, is on the calendar page. Where a life has been written on this site the name links to it; where it has not, only what the commemoration itself attests is shown, and nothing is added to it.