Juneau

the city between the sea and the mountain

the Alaska state capital building

the Bear statue which is in front of the Alaska courts building
(state capital seen in the background)

the governor's house in the left background

a rainy day in town

shopping street on a rainy day

Red Dog Saloon

street entrance

interior

St. Nicholas Orthodox church

WELCOME to Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

Although this unique octagonal building was constructed with funds donated from Russia, and the six large panels in the front (called the iconostas or icon screen) were painted in Russia, there were no Russians in Juneau, and this has been an Alaska Native, mostly Tlingit Indian, parish since its founding in 1893.

Sitka was the capital of Russian America, and there were two churches: the Cathedral where Russians, Siberians and Aleuts worshipped, and a Tlingit church near the native village. The city of Juneau did not exist during the Russian era, which ended in 1867. Most of Alaska’s 87 Orthodox churches were founded by Aleuts or Aleut missionaries, but no Aleut or Russian missionaries came to Juneau

It was the Tlingit Chiefs in the Juneau area who took the initiative, inviting the Orthodox bishop in Sitka to visit, instruct and baptize them about a hundred years ago. After Juneau’s founding as a Gold Rush town, American missionaries introduced Protestant Christianity in the region, but, following government policies of the time, refused to allow the use of Tlingit language in the services or schools. Since the Indians were still the great majority of the population, they saw no reason to adopt the new, “foreign” language and customs of the newcomers, and asked to be received into the Eastern Orthodox

Church, knowing this religion had been using the Tlingit language for fifty years or longer at Sitka.

The Iconostas, together with a few Icons on the walls, tell this story:

As in all Orthodox churches anywhere in the world—the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, the Ukraine, Russia (the Orthodox Christian Church is composed of fifteen administratively self— governing Churches, with over 200 million members worldwide)—the central icons are of Christ, as infant in His mother’s arms on one side of the central doors, as Judge and Lord on the other side of the central doors, on which are always depicted the four evangelists, Saints Matthew Mark, Luke and John. This is to indicate that Christ came once, long ago, and will come again in the future, at a time least expected, and in the meantime, the Gospel Message links us to Him. By accepting the Truth, Christ Himself, as the Gospel proclaims Him, believers gain access to the Kingdom, represented by the Altar beyond the Royal Doors.

This Church was named for St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia, a city in what is now western Turkey. While considering being baptized, several Tlingit chiefs had a dream in which a short, bald, white-bearded man appeared to them and told them to go to Sitka and be instructed. When they met the Orthodox Bishop there, they also saw in the church an icon of St. Nicholas, a fourth century bishop, whom they all recognized as the man in their dream, and this church was named for him. His Icon is on the far right side of the icon screen.

There is a modern Icon, painted in the ancient style, of St. Nicholas, written in Slavonic, English and Tlingit on the right side of the church, under the lamp. There are about 75 Orthodox families in the Juneau area, most of them Tlingit. Services in this church, held about four times a week, are now conducted primarily in English, with some Tlingit, Eskimo and Slavonic, as befits the history of this community.

Mendenhall Glacier