Gregory, besides the possibility that bishops might have been able to be married back then, there's also the possibility that St. Gregory's mother also took monastic vows, in so, not needing a divorce. It is also possible that they were divorced, since, even now, we have ROCOR bishops (2 to be exact) that that are divorced. Just a thought.
Getting to know the Saints: Tell us about your patron saint!
Holy Hieromartyr St. Juvenaly of Alaska
Well, it was suggested that I post the biography on my patron. Although I am not officialy baptized I am well on the way.
Holy Hieromartyr St. Juvenaly of Alaska
St. Juvenaly was the protomartyr (first martyr) of the Americas, dying as a martyr at the hands of natives in Alaska in 1796. He was born in 1761 in Ekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains of Russia, and was named Jacob Govouchkin. When he was tonsured a monk, he took the name Juvenaly, after St. Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem in the fifth century. He was ordained a hieromonk (a priest/monk), and lived for some time in the Konyavesky Monastery on Lake Ladoga in Russian Finland.
In 1793, Father Juvenaly and Father (later, St.) Herman, and others were assigned to be missionaries in Alaska, and they trekked 8,000 miles across Russia, Siberia, and the Pacific Ocean, arriving at last on Kodiak, Alaska on September 24, 1794. They worked with immense zeal, and within two years, more than 12,000 Alaskans had embraced the Christian Faith.
Father Juvenaly began missionary work on the mainland the next year, baptizing more than 700 Chugach Sugpiag Indians, later many Athabaskan Indians, then moved northwest toward the Bering Sea, but then disappeared. Although nothing is known for certain about the circumstances of his death, local oral traditions among Alaskan peoples tell of the martyrdom of a priest, which appears to have been Father Juvenaly, who apparently frightened some Eskimos who did not understand his gestures in making the sign of the cross, and, by the immediate order of a Yupiat shaman, Father Juvenaly was killed by arrows and spears.
His missionary activity was brief, but zealous and energetic, and showed immense success in a short time in bringing the saving Gospel to the native peoples of Alaska.
Holy St. Juvenaly, pray to God for us.
St. Juvenaly (with St. Peter the Aleut) is commemorated in the Synaxis of the First Martyrs of the American Land on Dec. 12.
Thy martyr, O Lord, Holy Hieromartyr St. Juvenaly of Alaska, through his suffering, an incorruptible crown did obtain from Thee, our God; for, rejoicing in Thy strength, he laid low his tormentors and did beat off impotent affronts of the demons also; at his intercessions save our souls.
I have a question concerning Saint John Maximovitch the Wonderworker(reposed 1966 I think). What is the OCA's position on him? Do they consider him a saint? They have (as far as I know) two institutions named for him -- a monastery in California and a parish in Georgia -- but he's not on their website directory of saints (only the St. John Maximovitch of the early 1700s is on their directory).
I believe him to be a saint - really, in reading about his works, I don't see how an Orthodox Christian can think that he wasn't a saint! Does anyone know if the OCA has an official position on the matter? If they have institutions named after him, then my assumption is that they must consider him to be a 20th century saint.
- Joe Zollars
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I believe I heard from someplace that Vladyka St. John refused to go into OCA Churches.
Jeo Zollars