2007 Press Releases
Round Table on the Life of Saint Innocent, Apostle to Siberia and Alaska
August 31, 2007
A round table on the life of Saint Innocent (Ioann Veniaminov), Apostle to Siberia and Alaska, was held at the Saint Tikhon Humanitarian University in Moscow on August 26. The key note speakers at the conference were Bishop Seraphim of the Orthodox Church in America Diocese of Ottawa and Canada; R.O.C. Bishop of Yakutia Zosima; the Representative of the Orthodox Church of America to the Moscow Patriarchate Archimandrite Zaccaheus; and Consul General John Stepanchuk. The Consul General noted the contributions of Saint Innocent (the first Russian Orthodox Bishop of Alaska) to the spiritual and cultural ties between Russia and the U.S., especially noteworthy on the anniversary of 200 years of diplomatic relations between Russia and the U.S. Saint Innocent translated the Bible and other sacred texts into the Aleut and Eskimo dialects and created an alphabet for the Aleuts which is still used.
