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The Apparition of St. Nicholas at Juneau
and the Conversion of the Tlingit-Aukwanton
Which we commemorate on 7 December
In 1890, the Sitka Indians, headed by Prince Khliantych, informed the Russian priest, Fr. V.
Duhov, that the Yarkon (Prince) of the Tlingit-Aukwanton people of Juneau, Ishkhanalykh,
desired to be baptized into the Orthodox Christian Faith. To this, Khliantych added that he had
no doubt that the entire Tlingit-Aukwanton would become Orthodox Christians if the priest would
visit Juneau and baptize the Yarkon.
On July 26, 1892, Bishop Nikolai of Alaska and the Aleutians, visited Juneau and was met by
Tlingit leaders, who expressed the strong desire to be baptized. They also begged the Bishop to
build a church in Juneau, promising to donate land, lumber and labour.
Bishop Nikolai was curious concerning the obvious fervor and zeal of the Tlingits to be
baptized. Then the following miracle was related to him:
"A young Tlingit man had a vision. A venerable old (white) man came to him and advised him to go
to Sitka and be baptized. The young man followed the advice, and soon afterward became sick. On his
deathbed, he called for the elders of the village and told them that the same venerable old man
had come to see him again and told him to advise all the Tlingit people to be baptized. The young
man died, but his message did not die with him. Soon, other Tlingits began to have the same vision,
and the fervor to be baptized spread like a wild fire."
Upon hearing of this miracle, Bishop Nikolai left a priest in Juneau and promised that they would
have a church in the near future. On July 29, 1892, Yarkon Ishkhanalykh and his wife were
baptized. He was given the name of Dimitry, for the Holy Great Martyr Demetrios of Salonika, and
the Yarkoness was named Elizaveta, for St. Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. Upon
seeing their prince baptized, the Tlingit-Aukwanton people flocked to the priest to follow his
example.
In 1893, with a donation from Bishop Nikolai, the building of the church began. Yarkon Dimitry
gave the land, and the people kept their promise and gave lumber and free labour. The mind of the
people was set upon one thing: that the church be named for St. Nicholas. Whether the Saint
himself had directed this or not is not known for certain.
On November 22, 1893, the church and priest's dwelling were completed, and early in 1894, Bishop
Nikolai consecrated the church in the name of St. Nicholas, Protector of Mariners. The Tlingits,
like the Greek islanders, are a seafaring people whose principal occupation is fishing, and so
they have an especial love for St. Nicholas just as their brothers in Greece.
The fruits of Yarkon Dimitry's true piety were to be seen in his descendants. His son, Yarkon
Alexei, is known as "The Peacemaker," for his work in ending the warfare amongst coastal
peoples. His granddaughter, Alexandra Cecilia Kunz, has been shown forth as a confessor of the
faith in these last days.
The Tlingit people still fervently call upon St. Nicholas to protect them at sea. Through his holy
intercession, may this faithful Orthodox Christian people be preserved in the holy faith until
the end.
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