Religion in Alaska
Religious organizations
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
Built at the Request of the Tlingit Community
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Juneau is one of the most unusual Orthodox churches in Alaska: it was built in 1893-1894 at the request of the local Tlingit community, and the construction itself was carried out by Tlingit people working alongside Serbian miners. The land for the church was donated by Tlingit leader Yees Ganalax, with plans and funding sent from Russia. Bishop Nikolai (Ziorov) consecrated the church in 1894, and it has remained part of the civic life of Juneau ever since.
More detailsHoly Assumption Orthodox Church
Alaska Oldest Russian Orthodox Church
Holy Assumption Orthodox Church in Kenai, Alaska is the oldest surviving Russian Orthodox church building in Alaska, built between 1894 and 1896, and a National Historic Landmark. The parish traces its roots to 1844, when Igumen Nikolai Militov established the first permanent Orthodox community on the Kenai Peninsula. Today the church remains an active parish of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, holding regular services in Church Slavonic and English on the Julian calendar.
More detailsHoly Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral
North America Oldest Orthodox Parish - Since 1794
Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral in Kodiak, Alaska is North Americas oldest Orthodox parish, founded in 1794 by a Russian Orthodox mission. The church was elevated to cathedral status in 2001, and its current building, constructed in 1945, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Today the cathedral holds the holy relics of St. Herman of Alaska, drawing pilgrims from around the world year-round.
More detailsSt. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Alaskas Primary Orthodox Cathedral - Since 1967
St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Anchorage is the primary cathedral of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska and the spiritual center of Orthodox life across Alaska since 1967. The parish brings together Alaska Native faithful - Aleut, Alutiiq, Yupik, Athabascan, and Tlingit - alongside believers of Slavic, Greek, Ethiopian, and American descent. Services are held in English while carefully preserving Alaska Native and Church Slavonic hymns as a living part of shared worship.
More detailsSt. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Cathedral
Americas First Russian Orthodox Cathedral - Since 1834
St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Cathedral in Sitka, Alaska is the first Russian Orthodox cathedral built in America and a National Historic Landmark. The parish has worshiped here continuously since 1834, holding five services a week, including Sunday Divine Liturgy, Saturday Vigil, and weekday Akathists. The Cathedral is also home to the wonderworking Our Lady of Sitka icon, painted in St. Petersburg in the late 1700s and carried across the ocean to Alaska.
More detailsSt. Tikhon of Moscow Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church Overlooking Turnagain Arm
St. Tikhon of Moscow Orthodox Church is a parish of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, founded in Anchorage in 2003. The first services were held in a small house chapel downtown, and in 2008 the current church, built on land overlooking Turnagain Arm, was consecrated. The parish is named for St. Tikhon of Moscow, a missionary bishop to Alaska and North America who later became Patriarch of Moscow and a confessor of the faith during the early years of persecution after the 1917 Russian Revolution.
More detailsTransfiguration of Our Lord Church
Historic Russian Orthodox Chapel Overlooking Cook Inlet
Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Ninilchik, Alaska is one of the most recognizable and photographed Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska. The parish was founded in 1846, and the current golden-domed chapel was built in 1901 on a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet. Services continue here today, and the chapel and its historic parish cemetery remain a place of pilgrimage and living history of Russian Alaska.
More detailsSaint Nicholas Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox and Denaina Heritage in Eklutna Village
Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church sits within Eklutna Village, the oldest continuously inhabited Dena'ina Athabascan settlement in Alaska, dating back to 1650. Two churches stand on the grounds: an old log church, built around 1870 in Knik and later moved here - one of only a handful of surviving 19th-century Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska - and a new church built in 1962, where services are still held today.
More detailsLATEST ARTICLES AND INSIGHTS
St. Patricks Cathedral in New York
Gothic silence among the skyscrapers
On Fifth Avenue, surrounded by glass, flagship boutiques, office towers and the constant movement of Midtown Manhattan, St. Patrick’s Cathedral looks almost impossible. Its white marble walls and Gothic Revival spires seem to have been carried here from another age, yet that is exactly its power. It does not disappear among the skyscrapers. On the contrary, it makes the city around it feel even more dramatic. In New York, where everything reaches upward, this cathedral reminds us that height can be not only architectural, but spiritual.
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