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Our venerable father '''Herman of Alaska''' (1756 - [[December 13]], 1837) was an 18th century [[missionary ]] to [[Alaska]]. He, in 1970, became the first [[saint]] to be [[Glorification|glorified]] by the [[Orthodox Church in America]], concurrent with parallel services in another location by the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]. St. Herman is remembered by the Church on [[August 9]] and [[December 13]].

Herman of Alaska was a Russian Orthodox [[monk]] from [[Valaam Monastery]] in Russia who traveled with eight other monks in 1793 to bring the [[Gospel]] to the native Aleuts and Eskimos in the Aleutian Islands. As part of the Russian colonization of the Americas, Russians had been exploring and trading there since at least 1740. Thus, he marks the first arrival of Orthodox Christian [[missionaries ]] in North America. He built preached the love of Christ to the Aleutians and drew many to the Church through his [[charitable]] life, caring for their orphans, building a school for the Aleutians, and he often defended frequently defending them from the injustices and exploitation of the Russian traders. He was known to them as ''Apa'' which means "Grandfather." He lived most of his life as the sole resident of Spruce Island, a tiny wooded island near Kodiak Island.