All Saints of North America Sunday

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Today, on the second Sunday after Pentecost, each of the local churches in the orthodox Church honors the memory of all the saints who lived and labored on their canonical territory, both known and unknown. The Church in North America is blessed to know and honor the following saints who shone in its lands:

Saint Alexander Khotovitsky (1872-1937), presbyter and martyr: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in New York and the northeast area of North America and as a parish presbyter in Russia and the Soviet Union, where he died in a
concentration camp as a victim of religious persecution under the communist authorities.

Saint Alexis Toth (1854-1909), presbyter: Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he converted from Uniatism (Byzantine Rite Roman Catholicism) in the United States and served the Church as a missionary, leading thousands of Uniates in North America to orthodox
Christianity.

Saint Herman of Alaska (1755-1837), monk and wonderworker: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in Alaska, where he lived the rest of his life in asceticism, cared for the local Aleut people and performed many miracles by the grace of God.

Saint Innocent of Alaska (1797-1879), bishop: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in Alaska (where he was its first bishop) and Siberia, introducing orthodox Christianity and native language literacy among their indigenous peoples, and ending his days as head of the Church in Russia.

Saint Jacob Netsvetov (1802-1864), presbyter: Born in Alaska, he served the Church as a missionary, introducing orthodox Christianity and native language literacy among the Eskimos and Indians of the Yukon River region of North America.

Saint John Kochurov (1871-1917), presbyter: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in Chicago and the midwest area of North America and as a parish presbyter in Russia,
where he was killed by communist revolutionaries after the fall of the Russian monarchy.

Saint John of San Francisco (1896-1966),

bishop and wonderworker: Born in the Russian Empire, he grew up in Serbia and served the Church as a bishop in Europe, Asia and North America and as a missionary to Russian emigres and heterodox Christian converts, performing many miracles by the grace of God.

Saint Juvenal of Alaska (1761-1796), presbyter-monk and martyr: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in Alaska, where he was killed as the first martyr of North America by indigenous pagans attempting to thwart the spread of orthodox Christianity among their people.

Saint Nicholas of Zhicha (1880-1956), bishop and confessor: Born in Serbia, he served the Church as a bishop in Serbia, was imprisoned and suffered in a Nazi concentration camp after Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia, and ended his life in the United States as the head of a seminary in Pennsylvania.

Saint Peter the Aleut (?-1815), martyr: Born in Alaska, he was killed in his youth by Spanish colonists for refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism when his hunting party was ambushed, arrested and held hostage in San Francisco, California.

Saint Raphael of Brooklyn (1860-1907), bishop: Born in the Ottoman Empire, he served the Church as a missionary to Arab immigrants in North America, where he was the first bishop consecrated on American soil.

Saint Tikhon the New Confessor (1865-1925), bishop and confessor: Born in the Russian Empire, he served the Church as a missionary in North America (where he was its first archbishop, organized the local church along the lines of multiethnic unity, and promoted English-language church life and missionary outreach) and a bishop in Russia
and the Soviet Union, where he died as the first patriarch of the Church in Russia since the 18th century and a victim of antireligious persecution under the communist authorities.

God is wondrous in His saints! All you saints of North America, pray to God for us!

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