The present State of '''Alaska''' within the United States of America was the site of the first Orthodox Christian [[liturgy]] held in the western hemisphere. The liturgy was conducted aboard the ship ''St. Peter'', that was anchored in Alaskan coastal waters, on [[July 20]], 1741, the [[Feast]] day of St. [[Elias]]. For the next one hundred years Alaska was the center of Orthodox evangelization among the indigenous population in Alaska, until the arrival in North America of the Orthodox immigration from the predominantly Orthodox lands of eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century.