Veniaminov

Verniaminov was known for the dignity and respect he showed Native communities. Working with Aleut chief Ivan Pankov, he developed an Aleut alphabet and translated several religious works into the Native language. And in something unprecedented, Native students at the school were taught how to read and write their own language, just as they were taught Russian. He also collected the myths and oral history of the Aleut people, which he put into writing. During his time there, he wrote a two-volume study of the people and geography of the Aleutians.

In 1834 Veniaminov transferred to Sitka. While there, he learned the Tlingit language and completed the third volume of his Alaska studies on the Tlingits. Veniaminov stayed in Sitka for 18 years. A practical man, he helped design and build the first cathedral at Sitka. He instructed Natives and Russians in carpentry, bricklaying, and other skills. When a smallpox epidemic threatened the colony in the late 1830s, he helped vaccinate many people. Veniaminov returned to Russia in 1841, where he was named the first Orthodox bishop of Alaska and took the name Innocent. In Russia, he continued to oversee church activities in Alaska. In 1977, the Orthodox Church named him a saint.